ADHD/Anxiety and won't write

[Anonymous]

My son is 10 and in 4th grade. He was diagnosed with ADHD as anxiety but does not have learning disabilities.

However, this combo really impacts his writing. He has trouble organizing his writing and then gets nervous or shuts down when the teacher tries to help him work through it. This time, he just refused to make the changes she suggested and said the readers should understand what he wrote. I haven't seen his draft, so I don't know how muddled it is.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Any suggestions on an approach? i will work with him over the summer from scratch, to organize simple paragraphs and then simple essays. But is there any other good approach for this? Especially for the last few weeks of school? Or should I just tell the teacher to let him submit the paper as is, and take the consequences?

[Anonymous]

My child is around the same age and has exactly those issues. Does your ds have a 504 plan that addresses the issues with writing? My child can have the assignment modified so that less writing is required. A scribe can be used for other subjects, but not for writing. Is your son writing by hand or typing? Typing can be a good solution when writing by hand is physically difficult. Does he have access to a voice-to-text app? That can help too. Can he explain why he doesn't want to make the changes? As in, the idea of physically having to rewrite a paragraph is overwhelming or he disagrees that the content is lacking or confusing? My child has a very short temper when her mind is racing and I can't keep up what she's trying to communicate. If his diagnosis is still new, especially if he doesn't have a 504, then no, I wouldn't just have him deal with the consequences as though he's just being difficult. His brain doesn't naturally work in the way he's being asked to use it.

[Anonymous]

We had an IEP for this issue. It was severe. Things that were included were a scribe, being permitted to type, extra time and the like.

[Anonymous]

My child also has ADHD, which impacts his writing and organization, and is in 4th grade. He has an IEP. We're still looking for the perfect solution, but having checklists helps a lot. He has one editing checklist -- i.e. sentences start with a capital letter and end with punctuation, other grammar and sentence level issues -- and then his teachers are supposed to create a checklist for each assignment, such as paragraph has X number of sentences, include Y details about topic. Also, he brainstorms with the special ed teacher, using a graphic organizer and the special ed teacher as a scribe, so he can get the thoughts down more easily.

But it's a struggle.