School computer use requirement and ADHD disaster

[Anonymous]

We are generally a pro tech family. My ADHD kid is very tech savvy. However, I simply don't understand why the school is so reliant on computers to teach. It's very difficult for my kid who has impulse control and self reg challenges.

Our 10 year old now has to use a school computer at school and at home. I suspect some of this is carry over from the pandemic that wasn't rolled back. Math is no longer done on paper but via an algorithm based program. Spanish is now a educational game. And so on.

He's already been pulled in a bunch of stuff that I would call normal 10 year old dumb stuff but when it's on a school computer and during the school day it's amplifies into a bigger problem. As example, classmates watching sexual or offensive YouTube videos or putting their rosters on limited access Google docs.

Anyways, seeking advice on how to navigate this with the school. I can request some analog accomodations based on his nueropsych?

[Anonymous]

In MCPS, I tried paper analogues in the 504. The problem is that analogues don’t exist often - the Spanish game to reinforce vocab doses t have a paper equivalent (not even a vocab list exists to stare out!). And so on in all classes.

It’s infuriating but I haven’t found a solution. Either my kid’s ADHD interferes with his education or the school system’s lack of paper options does. #progress

[Anonymous]

My son has severe ADHD, and in school, took Adderall and had an IEP. He's now in college but he never got into trouble for looking at stuff he shouldn't be looking at in MCPS K-12. At home, he would sit at the dining room table so we could monitor his screen as we walked past his chair behind him. He often needed redirection from watching stupid Youtube videos, but the alternative was a med booster in the afternoon, which messed with his sleep.

Some of it is parenting. Some of it is meds. Some of it is brain maturity. You're going to have to deal with this until he can self-regulate better.

[Anonymous]

HS teacher here and it’s very frustrating for many of us also. This isn’t coming from us. We don’t have hard copies of books and they have taken away things we had years ago, like our access to making copies or budgets for supplies (white board markers, markers and things for the room). Some of pay out of pocket, others can’t or won’t.

And some school admin push tech more than others. I assume it’s the same in elementary. We’ve had years we were mandated to use it daily in class. They have thankfully eased off that now in my school.

I have ways to block the students from other sites and keep them on our assigned task while in the room but a good portion can get around our tech controls. They are smart.

[Anonymous]

Agree. FCPS and schools are too reliant on edtech. The data now shows that children, especially K-6 learn better OFF of screens. The data also shows the dangers of technology access for the youths mental health. Computers give kids huge distractions during school, access to unsafe and dangerous sites, and increase bullying, harassment, threats, and inappropriate photos. Students can also access AI chat bots, which are dangerous for youth and teens. There is tons of data and research to support all of this. FCPS does not have adequate tech controls to block sites, use surveillance, and address the online bullying. You need to complain to the school board and region principals.

Check out these references: Jonathan Haidt (author of The Anxious Generation, Tristan Harris (AI ethicist), Scrolling2Death (tech safety and edtech).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son has severe ADHD, and in school, took Adderall and had an IEP. He's now in college but he never got into trouble for looking at stuff he shouldn't be looking at in MCPS K-12. At home, he would sit at the dining room table so we could monitor his screen as we walked past his chair behind him. He often needed redirection from watching stupid Youtube videos, but the alternative was a med booster in the afternoon, which messed with his sleep.

Some of it is parenting. Some of it is meds. Some of it is brain maturity. You're going to have to deal with this until he can self-regulate better.

I really hate posts like this. "My kid didn't have this problem, so it must be your fault that your child does."

Great for you that your child's ADHD didn't cause him to impulsively misuse computers. But others with ADHD are different.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. This type of instruction is terrible for all kids, not just ADHD! I think that you have to accept and triage. Accept that schools are making this catastrophically stupid choice. Then triage to make sure your kid learns what they need to. Because this isn’t only an issue of distraction but also that the underlying curriculum and teaching method is bad for all kids.

So that means a couple of things:
1. You are going to have to get used to checking all the online portals regularly to make sure the work is getting done.
2. Proactively get math and writing tutoring. Don’t wait until 8th grade algebra when you realize your kid knows no math facts. We like Mathnasium.
3. Add to the IEP or 504 home-school communications so you can get more direct information about missing work or poorly completed work and redo it. I’m

[Anonymous]

I am a middle school special education teacher. I work with students like your son. There are options that I have utilized and which one works depends on the specific child. For some students, paper and pencil version is fine and preferred. For others, they may throw a fit and being given paper and pencil is worse than the computer. For some students, we use a first and then board. First you complete your assignment and then you get five minutes on a an educational game website. For other students, we freeze their computer to block access to any other site than the site that is given. No one size fits all but hopefully something will help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has severe ADHD, and in school, took Adderall and had an IEP. He's now in college but he never got into trouble for looking at stuff he shouldn't be looking at in MCPS K-12. At home, he would sit at the dining room table so we could monitor his screen as we walked past his chair behind him. He often needed redirection from watching stupid Youtube videos, but the alternative was a med booster in the afternoon, which messed with his sleep.

Some of it is parenting. Some of it is meds. Some of it is brain maturity. You're going to have to deal with this until he can self-regulate better.

I really hate posts like this. "My kid didn't have this problem, so it must be your fault that your child does."

Great for you that your child's ADHD didn't cause him to impulsively misuse computers. But others with ADHD are different.

Especially considering that the issue goes FAR beyond kids looking at YouTube videos at home instead of doing homework. Things have changed since PP’s child was in elementary and now the issue is that not only do kids have the distraction element but they also have all the instruction online using terrible algorithmic based programs.

About the only Ed tech I’ve seen that is decent is Reading Plus, which my kid gets assigned weekly. It is fairly well designed and he seems to learn some good vocabulary. That said, I’m not convinced that he wouldn’t learn better with old-fashioned vocabulary tests on paper. I suspect he would. But apparently the school district mandates use of Reading Plus. Otherwise this particular teacher has banned all tech from her class which I think is great.

I would be overjoyed if we got rid of all ed tech in schools other than pure word processing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a middle school special education teacher. I work with students like your son. There are options that I have utilized and which one works depends on the specific child. For some students, paper and pencil version is fine and preferred. For others, they may throw a fit and being given paper and pencil is worse than the computer. For some students, we use a first and then board. First you complete your assignment and then you get five minutes on a an educational game website. For other students, we freeze their computer to block access to any other site than the site that is given. No one size fits all but hopefully something will help.

Why tf would the school not block access for ALL kids? Unbelievable.

Also paper and pencil just is not available once the Ed tech becomes more integrated into the curriculum. It’s a lot more than just printing out a worksheet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a middle school special education teacher. I work with students like your son. There are options that I have utilized and which one works depends on the specific child. For some students, paper and pencil version is fine and preferred. For others, they may throw a fit and being given paper and pencil is worse than the computer. For some students, we use a first and then board. First you complete your assignment and then you get five minutes on a an educational game website. For other students, we freeze their computer to block access to any other site than the site that is given. No one size fits all but hopefully something will help.

Why tf would the school not block access for ALL kids? Unbelievable.

Also paper and pencil just is not available once the Ed tech becomes more integrated into the curriculum. It’s a lot more than just printing out a worksheet.

I am the sped teacher. This is middle school so a lot of time students need to do research and have access to explore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a middle school special education teacher. I work with students like your son. There are options that I have utilized and which one works depends on the specific child. For some students, paper and pencil version is fine and preferred. For others, they may throw a fit and being given paper and pencil is worse than the computer. For some students, we use a first and then board. First you complete your assignment and then you get five minutes on a an educational game website. For other students, we freeze their computer to block access to any other site than the site that is given. No one size fits all but hopefully something will help.

Why tf would the school not block access for ALL kids? Unbelievable.

Also paper and pencil just is not available once the Ed tech becomes more integrated into the curriculum. It’s a lot more than just printing out a worksheet.

I am the sped teacher. This is middle school so a lot of time students need to do research and have access to explore

No they don’t. Truly. Unless the assignment is a research assignment they do not need open access to anything beyond the app they are working on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has severe ADHD, and in school, took Adderall and had an IEP. He's now in college but he never got into trouble for looking at stuff he shouldn't be looking at in MCPS K-12. At home, he would sit at the dining room table so we could monitor his screen as we walked past his chair behind him. He often needed redirection from watching stupid Youtube videos, but the alternative was a med booster in the afternoon, which messed with his sleep.

Some of it is parenting. Some of it is meds. Some of it is brain maturity. You're going to have to deal with this until he can self-regulate better.

I really hate posts like this. "My kid didn't have this problem, so it must be your fault that your child does."

Great for you that your child's ADHD didn't cause him to impulsively misuse computers. But others with ADHD are different.

Read. He did misuse them. He just never got into trouble for accessing inappropriate sites. We dealt with it. We survived. Screens aren’t going away any time soon, so you’re going to have to manage too.

Point: it is possible to power through this even with severe ADHD. Yes, it sucks. No, your kid doesn’t get a pass for bad behavior or poor grades (in case the conversation is going there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has severe ADHD, and in school, took Adderall and had an IEP. He's now in college but he never got into trouble for looking at stuff he shouldn't be looking at in MCPS K-12. At home, he would sit at the dining room table so we could monitor his screen as we walked past his chair behind him. He often needed redirection from watching stupid Youtube videos, but the alternative was a med booster in the afternoon, which messed with his sleep.

Some of it is parenting. Some of it is meds. Some of it is brain maturity. You're going to have to deal with this until he can self-regulate better.

I really hate posts like this. "My kid didn't have this problem, so it must be your fault that your child does."

Great for you that your child's ADHD didn't cause him to impulsively misuse computers. But others with ADHD are different.

Read. He did misuse them. He just never got into trouble for accessing inappropriate sites. We dealt with it. We survived. Screens aren’t going away any time soon, so you’re going to have to manage too.

Point: it is possible to power through this even with severe ADHD. Yes, it sucks. No, your kid doesn’t get a pass for bad behavior or poor grades (in case the conversation is going there).

Again - your did was NOT in school in this era when screens and apps are totally pervasive. It’s bad for all kids and close to disastrous for kids with any learning differences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a middle school special education teacher. I work with students like your son. There are options that I have utilized and which one works depends on the specific child. For some students, paper and pencil version is fine and preferred. For others, they may throw a fit and being given paper and pencil is worse than the computer. For some students, we use a first and then board. First you complete your assignment and then you get five minutes on a an educational game website. For other students, we freeze their computer to block access to any other site than the site that is given. No one size fits all but hopefully something will help.

Why tf would the school not block access for ALL kids? Unbelievable.

Also paper and pencil just is not available once the Ed tech becomes more integrated into the curriculum. It’s a lot more than just printing out a worksheet.

Other teacher back again- the HS teacher. Yes, I block access for everyone except what we need to be on. Kids are equally addicted and off task these days. The controls are not perfect but help for a large percentage.

I have two teens myself and one has an IEP and one does not. We’ve used different combinations of controls and learning self management with tech over the years. This is not strictly a special ed issue any longer and that poster blaming the parent was not being fair. Parents can’t control their kids when they are in school and so many of them will get around anything we put in place.

My kid with an IEP is going to college next fall and currently has no controls whatsoever, thankfully, and can now self manage. He will need to be able to do that when he’s living on his own. He had very strict lockdown in everything when he was in middle school.