Thank you for all the ideas and the great questions. I can't say that my son is very responsible in other areas of his life. School mornings are agonizing - having him get dressed, brush his teeth and come down for breakfast can be a half hour project. He just gets so distracted. If I ask him to clean up something from another room he'll stop five times before he gets to the other room (with me constantly telling him to move on)because he sees something he wants to look at, or read, or figure out. It's not a bad thing but it's frustruating at home and I think it's one of the things affecting him at school. He has to be independent at home because I have 4 other children and my husband is not home much. He is very sensitive to other people (i.e. opening doors, polite) and the teachers have said that he has always been a delight to have in class. His dad has ADD and I do relate some of his tendencies to my husband's but it is different. I have read quite a bit about Visual Spatial thinkers and in many ways he fits the profile - but with some of the characteristics he does not (very messy, unorganized, not good listening skills). Does anyone think that because he can't go through the steps with certain things that this may be a reason? I am a bit confused with exactly how a Visual Spatial child might approach school work.
When I got off the phone with the teacher she made me feel like he was just slacking off and he could do so much better and that he was supposed to be a "role model to the other children". No pressure there. Then after reading your advice and thinking about the fact that they have not challenged him until just now during the school year - well I think because it's been so long that he just doesn't care. When he's home and finds something he's interested in it's amazing to see the spark in his eyes.
But as Master of None asked - no, he nor I know how to get him engaged when it is something he is not interested in. And this scares me. But yes, I totally agree Master of None that "It sounds like if he says "I don't get it", that he either hasn't heard the directions, doesn't believe that he CAN think through it enough to figure it out, or doesn't get enough pay off from sticking with something to figure it out. To me it doesn't sound like JUST lack of motivation." Thank you for saying that as his teacher mad me feel such the opposite. I will definitely take a different approach when talking to him. I'm also going to get in touch with HEROES - thanks for the suggestion Grinity.
Kareninminn, I have to say that when it comes to boys and learning it is such a different world. My son is now starting to go through the social issues of being "smart" and being "cool". I'm sure this has something to do with it as well. I will be getting this book!
Thanks to all and again, any other suggestions or comisserations would be great.
Jules
