Any techniques help in making a kid slow down on his school work?

[Anonymous]

My just turned 13 year old has ADHD and all the "dys's" - dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyslexia. Math is a struggle. Well, it's all a struggle, but math especially. He's got a tutor and my DH goes over his math homework every day, which helps him learn the material.

He's already below grade level and he just failed his first test (59%), which was really just a review of last year. He knew how to do everything on this test. He failed for things like:
1. Question is something like "3.67-2.99 = ?" and instead he solves "2.99-3.67" (I'm kind of glad he at least included the negative sign in his answer, because that was a huge issue last year, but he got that one wrong.)

2. One question asks for mode, average, median and he forgets to find one of them; he probably would have gotten that if there were three different questions. Also forgot to include one of the numbers when he was adding them to find the average.

3. He's asked to put a set of numbers in order and he mistakes a -10 for a ten.

4. Transposes digits in a multiplication problem.

I could go on and on. We've told him a milllion times to slow down, to check his work. Extra time is not helpful because he's the first one done; he doesn't use the regular amount of time. If you tell him to go back and check his work, he'll sit down and look at his paper but not change anything, so he's not really checking.

He spends so much time learning how to do it and then just bombs anyway over stupid mistakes.
Any ideas? Techniques, anything?

[Anonymous]

I’ve had kids like this in class. What I do is make them write out every problem they miss, not just pop in a negative sign. They see how rushing is making them fail. Over time they slow down. I also offer an incentive for going back and really looking over the work before turning it in.

Is he rushing because of anxiety, or because thinking he’s going to be last? You can also try to have him take the test in a room away from other students, so he doesn’t feel competitive. Lastly, is he worried that he will not finish in time and might miss the next fun thing, like recess? I always told the kids that they would not miss anything fun, and if they took the test in another room, I promised to come get them before recess. You can also ask the teacher to put a note on his desk that says to reread the question before moving on to the next question, to be sure you didn’t skip something. I also would make the kid read the directions aloud to me and highlight them, for all problems, before starting work.

These are all test-taking strategies. He should have them taught by teachers. I’d meet with the math teacher and explain the history and ask her to help. She (or he) wants him to succeed.

[Anonymous]

I use chunking to slow down my students with EF issues. They want to get a task over ASAP, but I will only provide them with one step at a time. And I have a minimum amount of time between tasks. Like speed bumps and checkpoints.

[Anonymous]

I worked with my kids math teacher last year to reward my kid for slowing down. I sent in poker chips. He could bring them home and turn them in for roblox. By the end of the year he had slowed down and was showing his work.