Hi all, we were just in to talk to the staff at my son's school today about some of the issues going on right now with him. He is 6 diagnosed at different points with ADHD, ASD, anxiety, and Tourette's. Out of all of that we feel ADHD and Tourette's are most accurate/reflect what we see. He is taking a stimulant med in the morning and a dose at school over lunch period.
At the meeting today we determined that his most difficult times are times when writing is required and in art class, especially when they are supposed to color/draw. Today they did a stamping project and he was doing just fine. Both art and writing are also around the time when his meds are wearing off for the am dose. He also is reported to have a difficult time at group reading. We all agree that he seems to have good fine motor skills and that he is able to form the answers and even write them down. But he is extremely resistant to doing so.
He loves coding class and math and spends the majority of those classes on task (they are also at better times for his medication), but he is reported to be on task less than 10% of the time in writing class and to rarely comply with teacher directives at that time. He is often out of his seat. When I homeschooled over the summer I found writing to be extremely non-preferred as well. I usually allowed him to dictate after completing one sentence on his own.
His actual writing looks pretty good. He writes slowly and often misses words, but squeezes them in at the end when he notices the sentence doesn't make sense. Usually small connecting words like and, to, the, etc. He writes the bare minimum to answer the question, but gives much better oral answers.
He has been tested in the past for fine motor issues on various tests. He generally does quite well. When tested with the BOT II a year and a half ago (most recent test) he scored above average on fine motor precision and manual dexterity and scored well above average on fine motor integration. He scored well below average with a raw score of 0 on upper limb coordination. He also can't tie his shoes, ride a bike, catch a ball, pump the swing, etc. He isn't great at running/jumping. He is wonderful at climbing and balance IMO (based on the fact that he's always on top of the equipment at the playgrounds or at the top of trees.) He rarely falls or appears clumsy. He does look out of place with kids his age on a playground. He lacks the ease of movement/smoothness/speed other kids have developed. He is strong and can do the monkey bars if I help him with the swinging and, like I said, he's a great climber.
So, we are trying to figure out if he's just being difficult with a non-preferred activity, if he can't focus enough at that time when he's at the tail end of his meds, or if there might be a disability based reason for his trouble with these subjects. The teacher's all note his excellent fine motor when using small items to create intricate patterns for instance. They said he makes beautiful patterns and is able to focus very well. He is very particular and places the pieces perfectly.
Oh, and another issue. He is super competitive with his classmates. So we wonder if there could also be a competitive element. He is upset when they do their handwriting books because he's behind the other kids. Most of the reason he is behind the other kids is because he's off task so much, often concerning himself with the fact that they are ahead of him instead of working to catch up. He's ending up in the office most days and ends up spiraling and has a hard time reintegrating with class. This leads into his unmedicated period over lunch and recess and then he seems to calm down and re-enter class in the afternoon. He loves his school and most of his other classes. He reports enjoying language, music, math, coding, lunch, recess, and social studies. He also doesn't like gym.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The school has agreed to try giving him his writing work earlier in the day and giving him a free period at writing time if he gets it done early. This should help us tease out if the meds are involved. We all think that it's a bit more than that. He is so resistant to writing at home as well. It's always "You write it mommy," even for little notes and even when he in on his meds. Just a part of the basic difficulties of ADHD? A motor issue? Something else? Please help
