Reply to How do you make a super smart kid actually care about grades and school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Boy age 13. Just does not see the purpose in school and does not care that he’s failing.  Completely impatient with it.  Incentives don’t work. Punishment doesn’t work.   He politely just refuses or doesn’t participate in school projects.  Yes I know there’s a group of people here who just say take away all electronics and punish him till he complies but that just doesn’t work for this kid.  Some depression going on but it’s medicated. He just doesn’t care about  School but continues to do very well on standardized testing but grades are nearly failing in all subjects.  Can’t imagine how this is going to play out when we move to high school next year.  It’s been a full year with this attitude so it’s not just a passing phase. And seems to be getting more entrenched. Any advice? [/quote]

Your DS's medication is probably helping with depression and also decreasing motivation. Combine that with hormonal quicksand of MS age, and "Bob's your uncle." I would talk first with your DS's psychiatrist about the meds and what to expect.

Keep in mind that "not caring about school" is common with MS boys- at least it is with mine, and my friends have complained too. My DS was 50/50 weight/height last year to to 32/75 this year. He has almost a completely different body and still changing rapidly. Good for you to keep extrinsic rewards and punishment out of play- there is increasing evidence that it damages intrinsic motivation long term.

Finally, no work and doing well on standardized testing indicates a lack of challenge (previously mentioned). My DS is placing top of his grade in a district math competition and just failed a math test. He's verbalized that he finds his math class to be mind numbing-- he didn't even bother reading directions for the test. Missed every question- frustrating. [/quote]

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