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It drains me that DS6 cannot go through any aspect of life without doing it with an astounding level of intensity - he wants to play games EXACTLY according to his own rules, he is ALWAYS talking and never stops to take bite or get dressed or get ready for bed unless we prompt him about 10 times per bite or item of clothing, we can't correct him with his homework AT ALL, he gets impatient if we stop reading them a book even if it's for a nanosecond, he refuses to play with any child unless HE has decided he wants to play with them, he will not take no for an answer when he HAS decided, he is MORTIFIED if I speak in a "cute voice" (according to him) in front of other kids because it embarrasses him, and so on, and so on, and so on. It's amazing that no aspect of life is so mundane that he wouldn't be intense about it.

Does this resonate with anyone? I am mentally exhausted before I even leave the house for work in the morning, and sometimes I really resent him for it.

Don't think that this goes away in college, either.

Struggling to convey to DD that, OH YES, you do in fact still need to attend class even when the professor is someone you have zero respect for-- even when (maybe especially when??) the professor is someone who takes over a week to return a voice or e-mail messages, and when that professor's office hours overlap entirely with a class in one's major... even when the class in question seems to be a complete JOKE...


Grrrr.

Yes.

I keep thinking no one else's kids can be this exhausting. I don't know where THEY get the energy from. They must drain it right out of us.

Thought I'd give an update after my rant earlier this week. I actually had a good (long) meeting with DS8's French teacher, as well as the school resource teacher (who writes the IEPs). French teacher explained that DS wanders around the class, talks to his friends (distracting them), refuses to speak in French, sings in class then denies he is singing, refuses to work on offered extensions (or does them in English).

It sounds like she was really trying hard to engage him (as well as accommodate his DCD), but not having a lot of luck.

They were really pushing us to explore the full gifted program (which he is eligible for, but doesn't want to go to). They are speculating that he's not engaged because his mind is going faster than he can provide output in French. They wanted to know if I had suggestions on how to engage him in the class. The teacher did say that his class is having a hard time in general speaking in French - it's not just him, but they sense he doesn't want to be there.

DS has told us (me and DH) that he enjoys learning French - and there is no doubt he can do it - he as a beautiful French accent and picks up vocabulary quickly. Language (verbal anyway) is a real strength for him. Last year he did fine in French (had trouble with the English teacher, but that's another story). My suspicion - it's mostly perfectionism and he feels uncomfortable making mistakes when speaking in French. But this is something he's going to have to learn to deal with - in FI, or not - no?

Unfortunately, I have not very many ideas for making him do things he doesn't want to - we have the same problem at home!

I did give them a few ideas, which they are going to try: we sent in a pair of noise-cancelling ear muffs - thinking it may help to reduce distractions and also be a physical reminder that he is supposed to be on task (he is very sensory and seems to like the pressure on his ears); the teacher will offer him breaks to go get a drink of water or walk in the hall when he needs to get up and move around (he has trouble sitting still long). THey are going to work on having him use voice recognition so that he doesn't have to always print his work (which is very slow).

So, we'll see - teacher reported today that he did better the last few days with the ear muffs working. We'll have to see if it continues after the March break (next week).

We didn't even have time to get into how to deal with his organization and EF issues, but they were really, really happy to hear we are considering having him do a private psycho-ed assessment, to see if there are any issues we are missing.

Yes, it certainly feels that way!!

Hugs... I know that my biggest complaint with DS although it doesn't seem quite so extreme. DS17 has gotten better in many many way but his grades still don't show his full potential. And English.. yikes the kid needs to PASS English and that means turning in all the little stupid pieces of homework and not just the tests & large writing assignments.

I long ago gave up attempting to correct homework. DD11 does her homework and I don't even look any more. It's her work, the teacher will correct it (or not!), and she doesn't learn from me pointing out mistakes - she just gets mad!

I still 'help' DS8 with with homework, but it's mostly prompting him to do it (or scribing when necessary).

It's great that your DS's teacher is proactively trying to help him in spite of how she might have appeared to have been dealing with it from her comments on the report card.

Our DS6's teacher warned me in advance that his report card wouldn't be great. She explained that she has to mark based on output and that his output is not reflective of his cognitive abilities. He hasn't been tested yet but she is quite convinced that he is gifted. It really helped that she warned me in advance, because his report card is rather average and not what I would have expected from him.

The problem is, DS6's homework is mostly reading at this point and he has to do it with someone. It's very painful sitting there if he's struggling with a word - I can't correct him because he'll get mad at me. But if it takes too long, he'll get mad at everyone. If only reading were one of his strengths! But alas, then the problem would lie elsewhere...

Oh that must be frustrating! We've had reading struggles too, and part of the problem is, he's tired in the evening when he has to do it. It's not the best part of his day.

I honestly wish teachers would get rid of homework - at least in grade 1 and 2. I just don't see the value - it's either too easy (and then just busywork), or something he struggles with, and sometimes - just can't do it at the end of the day.