Executive Function Skills plus Assignment Check

[waverly]

This year was a bit rough in terms of DS turning in assignments, so I want to get ahead of it before middle school starts.

There are Outschool classes on note taking and studying that might be helpful, but since school just ended I haven't explored those for DS yet.  The other option is a tutor.  I'm hesitant to do an online course but in-person would mean he would have to bike himself to the library for tutoring, and I don't think he would go unless we forced him and drove him.  And these are during the day while I work.  I suppose I could do a weekly evening, maybe.  

My friend is a special ed teacher at the middle school.  She said this year, her daughter was really bad at turning in assignments.  She was in 6th grade.  She made her show her the assignment notebook and then show that the assignment was turned in.  Problem is DS did not write in his assignment notebook or bring it home.  So I think I need some kind of sticker chart.  I know it seems juvenile.  Tied to rewards and punishments. 

But something with daily boxes that says something like:

I wrote in my assignment notebook
I brought my assignment notebook home to be reviewed
I turned in my assignments for Classes 1-5
I matched my assignments from the assignment notebook to the assignments in the grading module.  (Our school used Skyward.)

Any suggestions?  Format?  Strategies?  Things that worked for your child?  

[186momx]

waverly, does he have a 504 of IEP through school?

DD has an IEP and we just did a zoom meet with the middle school SPED. One of our questions was how DD's services would look since we had only done them online. One of her electives will be called seminar and any and all services will happen during this elective time. The SPED said that they don't do pull outs in middle school because they want the kids to be 100% mainstreamed plus it loosed the embarrassment part. I have the opposite issue with DD and she gets really anxious when she has to hold assignments to work them with the SPED teacher because she didn't like them going to red and being late.

I would reach out to the school and see if they have a policy in place to help with this. I remember in middles school our homeroom teacher checked our planner and we earned points in that class for fun extras.

[waverly]

186momx , He has an IEP. They are supposed to have 30 minutes a day of homeroom/ study skills/ executive function but I don't know how that works yet since he hasn't started middle school yet. This is what they told me in his IEP meeting when I brought up this issue.

His 5th grade teacher was "concerned" about DS, but she had no initiative, so she didn't actually follow up on much at all, and only when I asked. So I kind of got the impression that it was on the parents. I emailed his advanced math teacher, and she also wasn't the greatest. She may have been a great teacher previously, but this was the year that she was retiring, and I got the impression that the ship had sailed. Anyway, what she said was Oh check his homework at home, but he never brought it home. He completed it in class, and I never saw it. But again, getting that impression from the teachers of- eh not my problem.

He gets OT, so I had also reached out to her, but by then it was the end of the school year. I like the OT, but she is very young, so when I ask her questions her answers are.... IDK, sort of missing the point maybe....

So I guess my point is that perhaps he is falling through the cracks at school despite my best efforts and reaching out to numerous teachers and OT, and it was still happening, so I still think I need to do something at home, sigh, unfortunately.

[secretagent]

ugh I don't have a solution. This is a HUGE issue for one of my ADHD kids (rising 6th grader). The assignment log hasn't helped and despite it supposed to be being checked by teachers, is not.

[waverly]

secretagent, that's what we ran into. In previous years the teacher walked through the classroom quickly to make sure the kid put the information in. The parents signed and the teacher signed it daily. This year the teacher didn't check at all, so he just didn't do it at all, and didn't bring it home. So I had no idea what the assignments were to even check on them. So the first indication that I had was X assignment missing in Skyward.

[secretagent]

waverly , in post-covid-ish world we are largely in Google Classroom for 5th up, so that helped, but the mental load in me is insane. I have a lot of FEELINGS on this and no solutions. And because my kid doesn't struggle academically, they don't seem to care even if work isn't "up to par" due to this sort of issue.

[expectantsteelerfan]

So my ds is in middle school, and their assignments are all on Canvas, which is online, but it was still time-consuming to go through and look to see if he had any missing because we had to do it class by class. So we added in to his 504 plan that he would stop in the special education teacher's room at some point during the day each day, and he would print a report to show any missing assignments (he could easily run and print this report as a teacher, but parents can't for some reason). He earns an extra 15 minutes of screen time for bringing home this paper and having no missing assignments (that he doesn't get until the weekend).

[waverly]

Jun 20, 2022 14:55:50 GMT -5 secretagent said:

waverly , in post-covid-ish world we are largely in Google Classroom for 5th up, so that helped, but the mental load in me is insane. I have a lot of FEELINGS on this and no solutions. And because my kid doesn't struggle academically, they don't seem to care even if work isn't "up to par" due to this sort of issue.

Yup, same. No one seems to care. He doesn’t struggle academically and before Covid was testing high in all areas. The pandemic definitely delayed some of that academic growth, but he’s still in advanced math etc. But then his grades are kind of all over the place mostly averaging to a B, so it does seem like there is a eh well this assignment doesn’t mean he will fail, so I guess it’s not important mentality. But I want him to turn in all assignments because it’s a good habit and especially math some of it are skills that build upon each other. And he needs the practice.

I didn’t know if that was a teacher specific thing or a your child is in 5th grade so they should be doing it thing.

[whattheheck]

Not me but a friend’s kid. Usually the assignments are written on the board before they even walk into class. Phones are typically prohibited but kid is allowed to pull out their phone and take a photo of the assignment. End of the day kid has a picture of each assignment that’s due and if there’s a missing assignment it’s easy to go back into photos and find the instructions.

[erbear]

My assignments are on the board and posted on Google classroom so I would not also track down a kid to sign an assignment book (I teach 8th). I’ve tried this accommodation before but it’s not been maintainable (I have too many kids) and most of the time, the kid hadn’t written down the assignment and when I made them do it, they were then late to the next class, which meant they missed the warmup or the instructions for the work.

With my adhd kid, we spend 5 minutes before she starts homework opening all the classrooms and writing a list of assignments. She numbers them and does them in whatever order she chooses. It’s a pain but it works and I have high hopes that at some point, she won’t need me anymore.

[waverly]

The kids had Google classroom last year but it was not advertised that assignments were on there and most weren’t. Only the ones that had to be completed on Google slides for example. Next year might be different with it being middle school and more classrooms.

They had Google classroom during elearning with all assignments but not back in person.

He does not have a phone.

He completed all homework at school and almost never brought it home so I was very out of the loop except for Skyward.

[formerlyak]

I wish we lived closer.

DS is a junior in hs now, but struggled with writing down assignments and putting his name on them. He does not have an IEP. He has many very smart friends whose grades didn’t reflect it for a long time because they didn’t turn in assignments, including one who is one of the best ELA students I’ve known but had to retake freshman English because he didn’t turn things in. I share all that to say even in kids without an IEP, middle school and turning stuff in is a struggle. DS’ sixth grade math teacher always reminded me that the grades that year don’t matter much and it’s the time for kids to learn all the school skills.

This past year, DS tutored two sixth graders with similar challenges. He’s sit with them. Make sure they understood their work and when it was due. Make sure they knew what resources were available at school (all students have access to study hall in any subject they want twice a week at our middle school). By mid-year, both students were doing great and didn’t need the tutoring anymore. May be worth asking one of his teachers if there is a firmer student who could do something similar for you.

[magma]

My just finished 6th grader (ADHD, NVLD) sounds similar, right down to the not writing in his planner or leaving his planner at school. His school is pretty good about getting all of the assignments in the online dashboard so that we can check too, but some slip through, or some instructions about assignments will just be given in class but not posted online.

Two things that helped him this year:
1) an exec function tutor who came to the house 1/week after school and helped him plan his time,outline big projects. stay on top of assignments
2) he has an accommodation that he won’t lose points if an assignment is turned in late. The neuropsychologist who did his eval suggested it to the school.

Good luck, I know it’s frustrating and frankly what works one month won’t always work the next.