ADD and special ed. class - experiences? - ADD / ADHD Message Board

T-bone-Mama · 08-20-2007, 10:12 PM

My son, who will be in 7th grade this year, was originally diagnosed with ADHD in kindergarten. He is very bright and picks up new things amazingly quickly when it is something he is interested in, i.e. car facts or military history. Unfortunately, school subjects for the most part do not interest him, and although he is not a behavior problem he often zones out in class and is also very disorganized. He is classified "other impaired" (special ed.) because of the ADHD, and up until now has been mainstreamed with "support" - meaning he is pulled out for a short time each day for extra help, but is in regular classes. This past year (6th grade) he was re-evaluated because his grades were low, he was not handing in work, and was not paying attention. The ADD diagnosis was re-confirmed by a neurologist, with no learning disabilities noted. He had been on 36 mgs. of Concerta; she felt the dose was too low and we should either try upping it to 56 mgs. or switching to Daytrana or Adderal. (I chose to try the 56 mgs. of Concerta, since he was not having side effects on it. But he does not take it during vacations; will start one week before school)
Getting to my question: It was recommended that he be assigned to replacement math and lanquage arts, meaning he is no longer mainstreamed for these subjects and will be in a smaller group that moves at a slower pace. I agreed, but am not comfortable at all with my decision, and would now like to try him again in the regular classes with an increase in his medication dose. Has anyone here been in a similar prediciment? What are the pros and cons of the smaller self-contained classroom? My main concerns are: the stigma; he will fall behind and not be able to catch up; he will be grouped with children with more severe disabilities and behavior problems. On the other hand, his teachers say that he has already fallen behind because he is not able to attend to what is going on in the classroom. His standardized test scores were average to slightly above average, and he tested in the "proficient" range for all subjects on the state test.

rheanna · 08-21-2007, 12:00 AM

T-bone-Mama,

Special ed classes can be a positive environment if his teachers are willing to individualize lessons for him. That is, if he starts paying attention and learns a concept, will they be willing to let him go ahead to the next step (or work on more challenging problems on the same topic), rather than insist that he sit there bored out of his mind because the rest of the students haven't caught up yet?

The plus side of smaller classes is that he will have someone paying attention to him, and asking for his attention, all the time. He won't have as much opportunity to tune out. I would love to have had this opportunity when I was in school.

The negative side is that kids are testing the definitions of "us" vs "them", while they go through the process of defining who they are in relation to the rest of the world. Special ed kids are just one of the groups that are targeted as being "different", and it may be that your son might have to find other friends who are more open-minded.

As an inattentive type ADDer, I was lost in a large classroom, unless I sat in the very front row. In a smaller class I would have been able to engage more without feeling overwhelmed or confused. This may actually be a good thing for your son, in spite of the fact that its original intention is to help the slower students. If he has good teachers, this situation may be good for him.

--Rheanna

tomjayc · 08-21-2007, 12:48 PM

Mama,

I feel for you. But mostly I feel for your son. When I was in school, I was pulled out of my classes to go to special classes. I probably benefited from the smaller classes, but was humiliated to have to go. This was 30 years ago, before anybody knew about add. When I was going into the seventh grade I was told that I had to take basic math when my classmates were all going on to pre algerbra. This didn't help with my self esteme much because half of me thought that I was smarter than most of my class. My grades never once showed that though. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably have him go to the smaller class. Also, for his self estem, let him know about the famous people and inventors that also had ADD. ADD isn't all negatives. Some might even consider it a gift believe it or not.

index.html · 08-22-2007, 01:42 AM

T-bone-Mamma,

I understand your concerns. We have wrestled with the same issues. Would it be possible to for you to hire him tutors for math and language arts? Maybe being tutored together with the change in meds would be enough?

T-bone-Mama · 08-22-2007, 10:11 AM

Thanks for all your responses. Tomjayc, it sounds like you have a lot in common with my son, and I am afraid that he will feel the same humiliation that you felt. Middle schoolers can be so cruel to anyone who doesn't fit right in with the norm. He is not one to follow the crowd, but he is very sensitive to comments from other students. He also in many ways feels smarter than others, not in a conceited way but he is proud of his knowledge on the subjects that interest him, and he also speaks well. But he feels totally overwhelmed with school, and gets frustrated easily. A tutor is a possibility, I did ask around last year but several people that I spoke with did not have the time. (All were full time teachers) I will look into that again.