This caught my eye

At the end of a story in our local paper about the most recent school board meeting, I saw this paragraph:

Two parents of special education students, who have regularly attended meetings since last fall, again talked about questions they submitted to administrators regarding their children. They had received answers to over 100 collective questions submitted and are now waiting for answers pertaining to their individual children. [The board president] said the questions are in the hands of district professionals and it would take time to answer them.

I expect there is more to the story than this. As a homeschooling parent, I am not "in the loop" with regard to issues in our local district. I do know that I have seen and heard a number of unkind remarks about these parents and about providing services and accommodations to children with special needs. I was rather suprised by this, since the townspeople who know us and who, more specifically, know my son, in general have been very tolerant, accepting and understanding. Perhaps I am merely hearing the opinions of the lunatic fringe?

At any rate, when I see that these parents have been advocating for their children for the past year, at least, and they do not seem to be making much progress, I wonder just how much of a battle we would have to wage to get O the accommodations he needs. But, again, perhaps there is more to the story....

Diane Rehm today

The second hour of the Diane Rehm Show today deals with bipolar affective disorder. Based on what I can hear over the homeschooling, it sounds like a very interesting program. Click on the link to hear the segment.

That old falling-between-the-cracks feeling

Let's get this out of the way first: I have tremendous respect for the Eides and their work.

Now then: When I read the article about ADHD and motivation, I laughed, bitterly. I have always been opposed to the idea of paying children for getting good grades. Now, I sit here and watch my son stalling, whining, and generally refusing to do his incomplete work. Did I offer incentives to get him to complete his work? Oh yes, I did. Current incentives include: a trip to the movie theater to see "Up;" purchase of awesome new binoculars for birding (I offered to split the cost with him 50-50); a stack of biology textbooks that O has been dying to get his hands on. Total cost?? Well, getting him to finish this work and move on would indeed be priceless.

So, I think we all can agree that these are significant incentives. This must mean the work was completed quickly and efficiently, and O is knee-deep in bio books and blissfully happy, right?

Wrong.

Math was completed over one weekend, wherein my husband dragged O, kicking and screaming, through half of a math textbook. The book report took two more weekends and multiple evenings during the week. The economics project, which was due two weeks ago, is proceeding on a similar trajectory. O sat at my computer for eight hours yesterday, and wrote one sentence. I deleted all games from the computer, password-protected my files, and advised the young man that I am able to track his internet wanderings. He insisted that he is motivated, he wants to be done with his work, he cannot wait to read that ornithology textbook, he is absolutely terrified that "Up" will no longer be showing when his work is done. He wrote one sentence.

So, here we are.

We met with O's new therapist this week. I mentioned the Eide's piece on ADHD and motivation. J said well, unfortunately, as is so often the case, the results are less clear-cut when dealing with individuals who have more than just ADHD. It can be complicated to tease out the underlying reasons for certain behaviors. Are they rooted in ADHD, or are they rooted in other disorders?

If I had a dollar for each time I have been told that, unfortunately, the situation is far more complicated when there are multiple co-morbid disorders, I would have enough money to hire someone else to sit beside O and make him finish his work. Until that happens, I guess I will pass the time by reading Gill's Ornithology. It's not like O will be reading it any time soon....

ADHD, incentives and motivation

Recently, the Eide Neurolearning Blog featured an interesting item on motivation in individuals with ADHD. "Rather than ADHD appearing as a fixed deficit in executive function, increasing evidence suggests that children (and adults) with ADHD behaviors are showing impulsivity mainly in non-reward situations." Thus, the solution might be to offer greater incentives to complete tasks. Perhaps we (parents and teachers) might have more patience and understanding for the child who would rather dash outside and play than complete his spelling homework.

Then again. . . .

FDA to vote on use of anti-psychotics in children

An FDA panel meets today and tomorrow to debate the use of Seroquel, Geodon, and Zyprexa in children. The panel will vote tomorrow on whether or not to approve the drugs for pediatric use.

Depression in teens

Time reports that a new study published in JAMA indicates that group cognitive-behavioral therapy may be effective in preventing episodes of depression in teens.

How not to write

Here is an article from USA Today that attempts, I think, to be supportive of homeschooling. The piece is so disjointed and poorly written, and so full of typos and flawed leaps of logic, that I am far less excited than I might otherwise be about its ostensible pro-homeschooling slant.