After my epic, cathartic, and very personal post from last week, I’m going to do a few weeks of quick tips around the holidays. I’ll start with a few on standard and not so standard accommodations for students with ADHD. The first is my favorite, though not so standard: Competency based grading.
For someone who processes slowly, has limited attention, and who’s kryptonite is boredom, doing 30 math problems every night is a problem. Especially since I was an English/History kind of kid, math also wasn’t my priority once I got to high school. My theory was always that I shouldn’t have to be tortured by all those problems if I knew the material already. (Of course that’s the key, knowing the material.) I figured if I could do the last five questions or the last one in each section, I probably knew my stuff. As it turned out, my performance on tests bore that out. Therefore I wouldn’t be graded down for only doing a part of the homework if I demonstrated reasonably mastery of the material.
No system that I’m aware of offers this and they usually fight it. They really cling to the idea of homework being integral to the learning process though many studies demonstrate the opposite. The have some idea that as ADHD kids we are trying to get away with something, like it’s not fair if we do less homework. Frankly, I think it’s unfair that my homework takes me twice as long as my intellectual peer sitting next to me. The school doesn’t seem to have a problem with that though. Anyway, ask for it if your kids need it. It can make a big difference.
Standard Disclaimer: In an effort to foil my own perfectionist tendencies, I do not edit my posts much… if at all. Please and typos, mistakes, grammatical errors, or awkward phrasing. I focus on getting my content down. An imperfect post completed is better than a perfect post that goes unposted.