Resource Class for ADHD

[Anonymous]

Our DS will be entering 8th grade next school year and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. The school is recommending a Resource Class (90 minutes) in lieu of an elective. The class is to help with homework and organization, which he desperately needs.
Does anyone have any experience with this class? Did it help your child?

Which elective would you give up - it is either Spanish 1B or IED. He is doing well in Spanish 1A (A average) so by skipping 1B he would need to take Spanish 1A/1B freshman year.

They also suggested we set up a meeting at the start of next school year to discuss a 504 plan.

[Anonymous]

I do not know about this class but I am a parent of a child recently diagnosed with ADD. We took our son to Pediatric Development Center for Occupational Therapy to assist him with organizational skills and other life skills that children with ADHD/ADD seem to stumble with. The OT was also instrumental in helping us understand and address his needs for the 504 plan.

[Anonymous]

It was great for my child. He used it to get organized, do homework or get the extra time he needed for some tests. He took his language and put off IED until high school.

[Anonymous]

We love the resource class, for our 6th grader.
He works slowly, and needs that extra time so that he isn't inundated with work after school, just when his meds wear off and he needs to get to his extra-curricular activities.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Just finished discussing with DS and he is really pushing back on the Resource class. He thinks his friends will think he is stupid and make fun of him.

I was hoping he would buy in without much convincing. Anyone have a similar experience? How can I pitch this to him that we will be good for him?

We tried telling him this will free up his after school time bu to no avail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just finished discussing with DS and he is really pushing back on the Resource class. He thinks his friends will think he is stupid and make fun of him.

I was hoping he would buy in without much convincing. Anyone have a similar experience? How can I pitch this to him that we will be good for him?

We tried telling him this will free up his after school time bu to no avail.

My ADHD 6th grader was in resource this year and he begged me to let him keep it next year. He got almost all of his homework done so we didn't have any fights about getting homework done when he got home after his medicine wore off. He decided to not do an elective next year and take a language instead. For him, it wasn't a big deal; no one teased him. And he almost got straight A's!

[Anonymous]

My son ended up having friends in resource. Your son may not even realize he knows kids in the class. If he really has issues he will need to come around to the fact that he is going to need extra help and resources so that he can advocate for himself going forward. Not sure how you get there because my son has always been on board because he was diagnosed so young. Maybe you make some sort of deal that he tries without for a certain amount of time and then check in to see how he's doing and he agrees to take it if his grades are below a certain point. I know kids who have started during the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just finished discussing with DS and he is really pushing back on the Resource class. He thinks his friends will think he is stupid and make fun of him.

I was hoping he would buy in without much convincing. Anyone have a similar experience? How can I pitch this to him that we will be good for him?

We tried telling him this will free up his after school time bu to no avail.

My son (sophomore now) pushed back very hard on going to Resource class when he was in middle school. I was shocked. Like you, I didn't think he would need convincing. But he was extremely upset and said "only dumb kids" go to Resource. I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings here - I am just telling you what he said. And when I discussed this with a few teachers and counselors, they more or less acknowledged the stigma among the kids, at least in my own son's peer group. I made another run at it when he was entering high school and he was adamant that "the bad kids" need Resource. Apparently there were some kids who were getting in trouble who were in Resource; obviously not everyone in Resource falls into that category! At any rate, we didn't do it and used support elsewhere at some inconvenience and expense.

[Anonymous]

Maybe he will come around to the idea of being able to get all his homework done before school is out. Is it possible to see if he has friends in the class ahead of time and it not be so awkward for him? I would think it would make more sense to continue on with language so he doesn't have to retake something. Praying it all works out for you! Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love the resource class, for our 6th grader.
He works slowly, and needs that extra time so that he isn't inundated with work after school, just when his meds wear off and he needs to get to his extra-curricular activities.

I'm the PP who wrote the above.

My son loves his resource class BUT. He's introverted and socially clueless so he doesn't really know or care that some may think it dumb. Plus it's a resource class specifically for GT/LD kids (gifted and learning disabled), so perhaps there isn't actually a stigma there. No one misbehaves or anything, and it's true that in his homeschool, there was talk of resource kids acting up - not that we observed anything ourselves, since DS ended up at this other school.

I would ask these questions of the counselor. On paper it seems as if Resource would be the best choice for him, but if it's not a good environment for him...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just finished discussing with DS and he is really pushing back on the Resource class. He thinks his friends will think he is stupid and make fun of him.

I was hoping he would buy in without much convincing. Anyone have a similar experience? How can I pitch this to him that we will be good for him?

We tried telling him this will free up his after school time bu to no avail.

My son (sophomore now) pushed back very hard on going to Resource class when he was in middle school. I was shocked. Like you, I didn't think he would need convincing. But he was extremely upset and said "only dumb kids" go to Resource. I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings here - I am just telling you what he said. And when I discussed this with a few teachers and counselors, they more or less acknowledged the stigma among the kids, at least in my own son's peer group. I made another run at it when he was entering high school and he was adamant that "the bad kids" need Resource. Apparently there were some kids who were getting in trouble who were in Resource; obviously not everyone in Resource falls into that category! At any rate, we didn't do it and used support elsewhere at some inconvenience and expense.

As a teacher, I see this, too. Most of the kids in Resource classes have a lot of behavioral and learning challenges while a few honestly just need a little organizational and homework support. One good thing is that the 504 Resource classes tend to just be for the latter group, while the IEP Resource classes are pretty intense with all the need and misbehavior. Assuming your school separates them, you could maybe make some headway with your kid if you explained that 504 Resource is basically a study hall for kids like him.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We reached out to his counselor and asked if there was any differences in the Resource classes. Received the following response:

There are two different resource classes. There is a special education resource class which is not available to xxxx and there is a 504/general education resource class that is for any student (who does not have special ed services) that needs help with homework and organization.

Hoping when we explain it this way to him we will get him to buy in. Also will try to explain to him that it would be beneficial to him to get his work done before the medication wears off for the day.

[Anonymous]

DD took a resource class at CJMS. She has ADHD and a 504. She had no behavioral issues and is a bright kid, but she was very disorganized and a shy kid who wasn't good about reaching out to teachers for help. The resource class was a complete game changer. She was resistant at first but ended up loving it. As a PP mentioned, she was able to get homework done and had less to do after school. That was a huge plus for her. She also learned some study skills and had the help of the resource teacher to problem solve and work on self-advocacy. We decided to do a year of a similar class in 9th grade. The issue is now we can't get her to give it up!