Reply to Unmotivated/Struggling 7th grader

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[quote=Anonymous]I could have written this about my son, a 7th-grader at a local private school. He's been diagnosed with inattentive ADD and EF disorder.

He has accommodations at school, and his school is really supportive. He is still struggling with organization and time management, needs lots of reminders, has missing assignments every week, and has trouble keeping up with taking notes in class.

We also have been checking his assignments and grades on a daily basis and asking deeper questions about his upcoming and past assignments and upcoming quizzes and assessments. We also have strived to give him strategies to study and stay organized. We have also been in close touch with his teachers.

He still ended up with two Ds in his first trimester -- one in a class that he got dinged in for late work; the other in a class that he's always struggled with.

After taking a moment to despair, I decided to reach out to some of the Executive Functioning tutors here: https://www.labsch ool.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/Tutoring%20List%20for%20download%2010.5.20.pdf. I'm talking to two of them this weekend, so I'm hoping that one of them might be able to help.

FWIW, my daughter who's a senior at an engineering school had the same issues as OP's daughter at her private high school here in DC, and the EF coach was useless. She tried medication in high school, which was disastrous, and did not hit her stride until her sophomore year in college. She thrived on Zoom school and is now on the Dean's List, so there is hope with time. She also had social anxiety but has now worked through most of that. Sports, (including travel soccer), constant encouragement, time, and my modeling of social skills helped with that.

(Back to my son, though...) I also set up another meeting with the learning specialist at his school. We had met with them at the beginning of the year to put some structures in place, but after the first trimester grades showed that my son was still struggling, we needed to revisit this plan. I am hoping that he can meet with the learning specialist every week to devise some strategies, e.g., planning for longer-term and layered projects, study plans for quizzes and major assessments, and developing better time management and study skills. If he does not turn around this trimester, I doubt that his contract will be renewed.

We are considering medication; however, we are still struggling with that decision. We considered moving him to a less-challenging environment, but know that he would suffer in our overcrowded local middle school. He did not do well in our crowded elementary. We are still looking at our options and are keeping an open mind.

He also is depressed and works with a therapist on that.

I don't know if any of this helps. I'm also following this thread for more info.

I feel your pain, OP!
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