My question would be what has the teacher done to teach him adaptive behavior? Too many times teachers complain yet they've tried nothing outside of their standard canned response to help the child. Many general ed teachers think they don't have to make any adjustments - that the child should be classified and put in special ed. At least that's been my experience.
For example, my DS7 forgets to turn in his folder & other items. His 1st grade teacher will go into his backpack and selectively remove things she wants. If she can do this than why can't she also remove his homework? More importantly - how does this teach him to remember to empty his back pack and hand in his folder? It doesn't. She doesn't have to teach him much as he's way beyond grade level, the least she could do is teach him this skill. She could do a number of things to teach him this skill that would not take much effort or time. She chooses not to. She thinks he has ADHD (which he does not as per a neuropsychologist & neurologist/psychiatrist evaluation) and just wants to build her case against him.
Your son may be immature - may have asynchronous development. Mine does. :-)
Maybe a FBA is needed (functional behavior assessment). If you go this route you should insist on someone certified by the BACB - preferably a behavior analyst. This is a less restrictive & instrusive approach and should (in my opinion) be tried before medication - especially since so many gifted kids tend to be misdiagnosed. The behavior analyst could help the teacher with strategies to manage behavior.
For example, I would tell the teacher to cover the gerbil cage during instruction. I would also recommend some sort of extrinsic reinforcement plan for hand-raising, polite social behavior & remaining seated. Remembering essential things like turning in homework could also be reinforced.
As far as organizational skills, the behavior analyst can also address this but an OT can as well. You may want to ask his OT for some suggestions. I'm assuming he has an IEP b/c he gets OT for handwriting - you could ask that they add services to assist with organizational skills. It's my experience that this can be taught.
Good luck!


Last edited by FrustratedNJMOM; 03/15/09 10:11 PM.