Off Task 50% of the Day

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am hoping you all can help me brainstorm some strategies to help my DD. She is in 2nd grade. I just got data for an upcoming annual review that is indicating that she is off task 50% of the day! They are reporting that she does complete her work over 95% of the day, but that it is rushed and not well done even though she is above grade level in most areas. In addition, she is reading instead of listening to whole group lessons. She also struggles when working collaboratively as she likes to be the "funny" one. When she is off task, she is often reading, but there are also a lot of times where she is talking to other children or getting them off task. She is getting P's in all areas except 1 or 2 I's in writing due to not having much written down. As with most children, her time on task goes up dramatically when she is in a small group, but that is not the way school works (sadly).

Do you have any suggestions for ideas that I can bring to my meeting next week? I feel like it is hard to monitor at home since what I see is the completed work which does not show me that the 30 minutes before and after the work was completed were off task. She is diagnosed with GAD and ADHD. The GAD was the primary concern for the beginning of the year as it was leading to horrible behavior including meltdowns. Now that that is under control (with an SSRI) and her behavior is better, this is the next thing to tackle.

Thank you for any suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Does she have an IEP? If so, add a goal for behavior that includes positive behavior rewards- otherwise see if they would do a positive behavior "chart" for her. When my children were in early ES, there were several children who had something taped to the their desk to remind them where they were in the goal. DS's was a very narrow football field and the football moved toward to the goal when he was "on task". It was located at the top of his desk. When he reached the goal line, he received a reward. It was not moved back and forth- just forward. Start small and build up.

[Anonymous]

She does have an IEP, but it focused on behavior not work completion.

Thank you for this idea! I love the idea of the moving football- though she would need something a little more girly for her personality, lol!

What type of rewards does your son get?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

I am hoping you all can help me brainstorm some strategies to help my DD. She is in 2nd grade. I just got data for an upcoming annual review that is indicating that she is off task 50% of the day! They are reporting that she does complete her work over 95% of the day, but that it is rushed and not well done even though she is above grade level in most areas. In addition, she is reading instead of listening to whole group lessons. She also struggles when working collaboratively as she likes to be the "funny" one. When she is off task, she is often reading, but there are also a lot of times where she is talking to other children or getting them off task. She is getting P's in all areas except 1 or 2 I's in writing due to not having much written down. As with most children, her time on task goes up dramatically when she is in a small group, but that is not the way school works (sadly).

Do you have any suggestions for ideas that I can bring to my meeting next week? I feel like it is hard to monitor at home since what I see is the completed work which does not show me that the 30 minutes before and after the work was completed were off task. She is diagnosed with GAD and ADHD. The GAD was the primary concern for the beginning of the year as it was leading to horrible behavior including meltdowns. Now that that is under control (with an SSRI) and her behavior is better, this is the next thing to tackle.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Does she taske pills for her ADHD?

[Anonymous]

No, she takes an SSRI to tackle the severe anxiety. We have spoken about medication for ADHD but she is so young for even one medication, and that would be two. Right now we are looking for ways to handle the ADHD without medication though we are not completely against it if that is what it comes down to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, she takes an SSRI to tackle the severe anxiety. We have spoken about medication for ADHD but she is so young for even one medication, and that would be two. Right now we are looking for ways to handle the ADHD without medication though we are not completely against it if that is what it comes down to.

What grade does she get for behavior and following directions?

[Anonymous]

She doesn't do well in either of those areas!

That is what her IEP focuses on. She does not have an academic goal (yet), but they focus on her behavior in school at work completion. But she is completing work now- very quickly- and then goofing around/reading.

Thank you for your help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, she takes an SSRI to tackle the severe anxiety. We have spoken about medication for ADHD but she is so young for even one medication, and that would be two. Right now we are looking for ways to handle the ADHD without medication though we are not completely against it if that is what it comes down to.

She's off task 50% of the day. What are you waiting for? Her to be off task 75% of the day?

It's not a matter of number of medications, it's treating medical issues your child has.

If she needed glasses to see would you try to accommodate around that vs. cutting to the chase and getting her glasses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, she takes an SSRI to tackle the severe anxiety. We have spoken about medication for ADHD but she is so young for even one medication, and that would be two. Right now we are looking for ways to handle the ADHD without medication though we are not completely against it if that is what it comes down to.

She's off task 50% of the day. What are you waiting for? Her to be off task 75% of the day?

It's not a matter of number of medications, it's treating medical issues your child has.

If she needed glasses to see would you try to accommodate around that vs. cutting to the chase and getting her glasses?

Given that ADHD medications can cause or exacerbate anxiety in kids with diagnosed anxiety disorders, the OP has good reason to be cautious. Hopefully she's working with a skilled doctor who will guide her through this process, as making decisions about medication for kids with multiple diagnoses is complex.

Also, what was the off task percentage of her matched peer? Data should have been taken on a randomly selected peer, under the same conditions. 50% sounds really awful, until you realize that most second graders are off task a high percentage of the time.

-- a parent of a child who does not take ADHD medication because of a co-occurring anxiety disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She does have an IEP, but it focused on behavior not work completion.

Thank you for this idea! I love the idea of the moving football- though she would need something a little more girly for her personality, lol!

What type of rewards does your son get?

Silly little things like small team helmets or one Pokemon card, it can be anything.

[Anonymous]

My DS with ASD/ADHD but no anxiety issues went through something similar in 2nd grade. Similar because he also had behavioral issues + being off task like 100% of the time when the developmental pediatrician observed him at school.

What worked for us was a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and a behavioral intervention plan (BIP). It's basically a schedule of what DS has to complete in a school day. He meets with his SN teacher in the morning, goes over the schedule, picks out a prize if he meets the goal, brings back the schedule checklist home to show us. He was getting 100% within a week since this was implemented. He is now in 3rd grade and the school still uses it. DS is a model student and a leader now.

DS had a choice not to use the BIP in 3rd grade but asked for it after two weeks. It makes his day very predictable and he really likes it. The school tried the FBA\BIP before he started on ADHD meds and while it wasn't as 100% effective, it was around 90%.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She doesn't do well in either of those areas!

That is what her IEP focuses on. She does not have an academic goal (yet), but they focus on her behavior in school at work completion. But she is completing work now- very quickly- and then goofing around/reading[i][u].

Thank you for your help.

Just this week DS's teacher taped a checklist to his desk to work on the issue with completing work quickly and not attending to the details. She started off with 4 specific things that he does well and are pretty easy to check. (in his case, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and one other thing that I can't remember right now.)
Before handing in any work, he has to go down his checklist. We'll see how it works. It's clearly not a panacea, but it forces him to just stop for a second rather than running through the work and putting it away. Hopefully in that brief pause he'll be able to regain some focus and check his work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, she takes an SSRI to tackle the severe anxiety. We have spoken about medication for ADHD but she is so young for even one medication, and that would be two. Right now we are looking for ways to handle the ADHD without medication though we are not completely against it if that is what it comes down to.

She's off task 50% of the day. What are you waiting for? Her to be off task 75% of the day?

It's not a matter of number of medications, it's treating medical issues your child has.

If she needed glasses to see would you try to accommodate around that vs. cutting to the chase and getting her glasses?

Given that ADHD medications can cause or exacerbate anxiety in kids with diagnosed anxiety disorders, the OP has good reason to be cautious. Hopefully she's working with a skilled doctor who will guide her through this process, as making decisions about medication for kids with multiple diagnoses is complex.

Also, what was the off task percentage of her matched peer? Data should have been taken on a randomly selected peer, under the same conditions. 50% sounds really awful, until you realize that most second graders are off task a high percentage of the time.

-- a parent of a child who does not take ADHD medication because of a co-occurring anxiety disorder.

--from a parent of a child who has ADHD and meds and anxiety and takes medication for both

Yes, it is complex, but OP's argument against ADHD meds is that that would be "two" medications. And Spinal Tap's amp goes up to 11.

Treat the symptoms and find someone who is qualified to do it. It takes trial and error and can change over time. Time to bite the bullet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, she takes an SSRI to tackle the severe anxiety. We have spoken about medication for ADHD but she is so young for even one medication, and that would be two. Right now we are looking for ways to handle the ADHD without medication though we are not completely against it if that is what it comes down to.

She's off task 50% of the day. What are you waiting for? Her to be off task 75% of the day?

It's not a matter of number of medications, it's treating medical issues your child has.

If she needed glasses to see would you try to accommodate around that vs. cutting to the chase and getting her glasses?

Given that ADHD medications can cause or exacerbate anxiety in kids with diagnosed anxiety disorders, the OP has good reason to be cautious. Hopefully she's working with a skilled doctor who will guide her through this process, as making decisions about medication for kids with multiple diagnoses is complex.

Also, what was the off task percentage of her matched peer? Data should have been taken on a randomly selected peer, under the same conditions. 50% sounds really awful, until you realize that most second graders are off task a high percentage of the time.

-- a parent of a child who does not take ADHD medication because of a co-occurring anxiety disorder.

--from a parent of a child who has ADHD and meds and anxiety and takes medication for both

Yes, it is complex, but OP's argument against ADHD meds is that that would be "two" medications. And Spinal Tap's amp goes up to 11.

Treat the symptoms and find someone who is qualified to do it. It takes trial and error and can change over time. Time to bite the bullet.

NP here. Totally agree as a mom of a DC with GAD, Asperger's and ADHD who is currently on a low dose SSRI and a stimulant for the ADHD--who is doing well on both meds.

[Anonymous]

OP here- thank you for all of your thoughts. Before starting on an SSRI we tried both stimulant and non stimulant ADHD medications. They all had bad side effects and made the anxiety out of control. He now happily separates and goes to school. He gets through school with no meltdowns. No more panic attacks. It is more than just deciding to put him on a second med, I am terrified of going back to his unstable self with exacerbated anxiety. I'm not quite ready to play around with his mental health until we've at least tried some in school strategies. Should these fail, then I will decide it is worth the risk. Thanks again for your suggestions!