Ideas for adhd and odd IEP and BIP modifications?

Question

My 7th grader has ADHD and ODD. He is in special ed but goes to mainstream classes. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for modifications to help him with his problems with staying on task, easily distracted, and just being defiant toward teachers. He wants to do better but he doesn't know how because he lacks the self control neccesary to handle stressful situations. The school is no thelpful at all!

Answer 1

I am studying for my master's degree in special education.  I recently did a group presentation on ADHD.  Here are the suggestions we found in our research for coping with ADHD:

For the family/parents:

Managing Behavior

Use incentives before punishment to reinforce desired behavior

Set up a family system of rules and desirable behaviors that you can consistently enforce

Reduce Stress in home

Don't over-schedule or over-commit

Build in time-outs for family members

Talk to your child about ADHD- let them know its not their fault

For the Child Themselves:

Ways to Reduce Stress

Think about fun and relaxing things

Take deep breaths and think the words "calm down" until you feel better

Count backwards from 10

Listen to enjoyable music

For the Teacher/Classroom

Classroom Setup:

Individual desks rather than groups

Provide isolated area w/ few distractions for focusing or letting off steam

Listening center –

Earphones “tether” student

filters noise for new, difficult tasks

music for background for familiar tasks

tape recorded instructions

Seating:

Front row – minimize distractions

Near teacher desk – immediate feedback, close monitoring, easy access to help

Away from distractions – window, pencil sharpener

Near good students – modeling, positive peer pressure

Allow moving to another seat when needed

Recess is very important.

Decreases inappropriate behavior for all students

Effect greater in students with ADHD

Allow opportunities for movement

Allow to move to another seat

Allow to go to isolated area of room to blow off steam

Behavior Management

Never embarrass the student

Reprimands need to be:

immediate

in quiet voice

stand close to student

Loud, nonspecific yelling makes their behavior worse

Token economy:

earn points/stickers/tokens

use to purchase rewards.

Response cost:

Start with a certain number of points, etc.

Lose them for misbehavior.

Often more effective with ADHD students than systems where they start from zero.

School-Home Note

Teacher sends home simple note every day indicating child’s behavior

Parent applies positive or negative consequence

Found to be very effective in improving behavior

To help with distractibility:

Overhead projector – visual, light draws attention

Repeat directions, write them on board

Varied instruction strategies

learning task more novel, therefore more interesting than potential distracters

Use a multi-sensory approach

Use color & other novel qualities to highlight important information

Draw attention to important information, not irrelevant items

Answer 2

Just tell him that the teachers are there to help him succeed in school.  The teachers are not out to get him.  Their job is to see all students learning.  If the work is too hard for him and that is the reason why he is failing, then the teachers have no right to yell at him.  But if he is just unmotivated, he should be yelled at.  I know a special education teacher who would constantly yell at students when they are unmotivated.  The unmotivated students started to learn when there was a teacher constantly yelling at them.  Unmotivated students need this.  There is a difference between unmotivated students and slow students.  Many special education teachers don't know the difference, unfortunately.  And that is why some of them end up yelling at slow students! And the slow students have to suffer.  This isn't fair to them.  If this is happening to him, then you need to stand up and advocate for him.  He will be very thankful.

If the work is too hard, he should be placed in self-contained classes that way he can still learn.  (The best part about being in self-contained classes is that they don't have to take resource room; he gets another opportunity to be with general education students when he is out of resource room) Once he is learning, he will be happier and less stressed out.

Answer 3

Well I don't know what kind of accomodations are being made, so I'm going to throw some out.  Integrated classroom with what supports, co-taught would be great.  ADHD, if he uses medication make sure the doctor, you and the teacher agree, he's where he needs to be.  Perhaps he could have a job that allows him to move around physically, without taking  up too much of teachers attention, like taking attendance  to office, passing out homework etc.  Eliminate distractions, sit near teacher or near quiet peers.  Perhaps bring in study stations.  Chunk work, 25 problems have him do 5 show the teacher (to make sure he understands and give him a stretch) then do 10 more, then the last 10.  

Ask teacher what types of opportunities students have for peer learning, which doesn't require perfect quiet.  

For ODD in the classroom, the teacher's will have to understand the situation.  Find some good information and share some personal experiences.  Nobody knows your child better then you, share with the teachers your coping strategies.  Also encourage teachers to try to give your students a choice, whenever possible.  

Good luck!

Answer 4

Does he have learning problems? Did the school do a full educational evaluation to determine that he qualified for sped? Did this testing show learning problems?

If they didn't do one, they were suppose to and you can tell them to. They were suppose to see if he has learning problems.

Lots of kids 'act out' because they are frustrated for not knowing how to do their work and the teachers don't help them.

These kids are not behavior problems, they have learning problems and  it is the educational system failing them.

Since he does have an IEP, did the school do a 'functional behavioral assesment' to determine the extent of his behaviors? They are suppose to do this.

From this assesment, the IEP team (this includes YOU) are suppose to make a 'behavioral intervention plan' BIP

with POSITIVE things to do for the behavior.

This will be a LEGAL thing that they HAVE to do, along with the rest of the IEP plan.