Help with my 7 year old son.?

Question

My son has Autism and adhd, he cant get his act together. The school is having so many problems with him. He throws himself on the floor screaming whenever he has to do his school work. He is in a main stream classroom. He is smart just dosn't want to do the work. He will also make up stories and lys, to keep from getting in troble. He is on meds and also has a play terpist once a week. Any ideas how to get him to do his work and not throw tamper tantums?

Answer 1

My son also has both, he's 8 1/2.  We had major issues this year (3rd grade) with getting him to do his work.  What we found was that his classroom wasn't structured enough, there was too much environmental stimuli and he had difficulty with peer issues and connecting to his teacher.  We had such a hard time trying to get  the school to understand you have to find out what's causing his reactions rather than throwing a bunch of changes and new approaches his way.  High functioning children don't have the ability to communicate what's frustrating, stressing or upsetting them so they let you know by their reactions.  That's what he's doing now.  He's reacting because he doesn't know how to tell anyone what's bothering him or what he's struggling with.  It's up to you to figure it out.  Talk to the teacher, students, etc.  Find out what's changed, where he's sitting in class, how the class is organized, etc.  The school is bound by law to accomodate him and if you don't have certain things in place make sure you get it on his IEP.  

He should have preferential setting (sit on the outside front of the class),  post the daily schedule on the board directly in front of him.  Use a verbal and non-verbal cueing to let him know what's coming up and signals such as touching his desk as of way of redirecting instead of verbally drawing attention to him being distracted.  Also keep in mind that even though he's intellegent the environmental noise of large classes can have a huge impact on whether or not they can handle it.  Because our school had such limited options for classroom choice we choose to look at other programs.  We have since placed him in a smaller classroom where the pace isn't quite as fast, he's getting socialization skills work and he's able to mainstream for certain subjects and activities.  Since moving he did a complete 180 and is now being successful.  The problem we face in mainstreaming all day is he just couldn't handle everything.  Don't limit your options and check to see what your school district will offer for assistance.  Don't allow them to push you around if you feel strongly about something he needs.  Remember he's high functioning enough to know he's different and doesn't want to be but can't change who he is.  Trying to keep up with normal sometimes obnoxious boys can be too stressful on them.  .  Best of luck and if you need to talk just email me.

Answer 2

consider a school that is not mainstreamed.  his behavior affects everyone and isn't fair to the other children or the teacher.  discuss this with the school, pediatrician, & therapist.

Answer 3

does he have a one-on-one teacher at school that will talk to him nice and basically tip-toe around him so he does his work but doesnt get mad    if that makes sence

Answer 4

Without being there no.  My little brother has Autism and I used to homeschool him.  The thing that helped the most was sticking to a routine with consequences.  We had a rigid schedule 9:00-9:15: Reading (etc).

Also, if he didn't finish his work then he wasn't allowed to watch cartoons after school.  We ended up making a list of "school rules", and he was rather compliant by the end of the year.

Answer 5

1) Give a warning first. Explain the action that was wrong and let him know what will happen the next time.

2) No warning here, take the child by the arm, (he will fight you) bare his bottom and secure him. Give him a good 5 or 6 swats until he is crying and promising to be good.

3) Sit him down, tell him you love and let him knows this is what happens when he's naughty from now on.

It works like a charm.  The tantrums will stop.

Answer 6

At his age, maybe he's not ready to be mainstreamed the entire day, maybe he should be half and half, so he has a break from all the stimuli.  Or it could be something as simple as the pencil he uses bothers him.  Make up a story about a little boy like him, but use a different name.  The boy has a problem doing his work but is afraid to tell his mother, but when he does, she helps him and he feels better.  See if it gets you anywhere.

Answer 7

I was also having trouble with my son in school...He has OCD and the teachers wanted me to seek counseling for him but I also wanted a way to empower myself with knowledge on parenting him.  So after many hours of surfing the internet, I found a program called the Total Transformation Program.  I bought the program about 4 months ago and I now I feel so much more in controll at home and it has changed his attitude in school.  The program talks about managing challanging behaviors in children.