Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader has an IEP for extremely low processing speed and ADHD, and goes to resource. Nominally it's to receive organizational help and catch up on work, but its value has actually been to lighten his load in terms of number of classes taken (6 instead of 7), so he doesn't have too much homework. Despite a high IQ, he takes all his available time on schoolwork, and nothing we've tried has worked to get him to speed up. We've tried to request a lighter course load, but the IEP team says it's teacher-dependent and so far there hasn't been much decrease in homework.
My question is, how will a Resource class look on a college application? He has mostly As so far in high school.
The school is asking whether we want to do away with Resource altogether, since he doesn't need the Resource teacher's help. However we are concerned about the 11th grade workload, when he will take AP World History, AP English Language, AP Calculus AB and Honors Physics, which will all be time-consuming in their own way, I imagine.
Is doing away with Resource a good idea? Could he replace it with something super lightweight in his field of interest, ie social studies? Could he replace it with nothing at all, or would this look equally dubious? He is on track to meet all his graduation requirements.
Thank you for your opinions.
My sophomore also has resource. She has a 504 for ADHD. We switched her into resource for 2nd semester because she was getting buried in assignments, couldn’t keep up, and started having really bad anxiety as a result. We plan to have her stay in Resource throughout high school. She is in all honors courses, gets mostly As with an occasional B. The resource class, along with not loading her down with APs, keeps her mental health in check, which is far more important than how colleges will perceive her when she applies. Traditional schooling and ADHD do not mix well. We need to do better for these kids, as they are bright, creative, and can be extremely successful even though they struggle with having to manage 7 high school classes.