Platypus101,
Yes, my DS13 has ADHD and that is the main cause of his forgetfulness. I know that recently because he has a lot going on at his school that makes it much more challenge for him to keep on track of everything. His brain can only absorb so much and when the information overflows, he misses the extra ones regardless how important it is. That is the time that it becomes especially important for us to step in and help.

Your links are so wonderful. As a matter of fact, I forwarded one abstract from the link that relates to ADHD to the teacher. I also feel we need to advocate for our kids at school, especially to the teachers who don't quite get the reasons behind some behaviors, eg. deadline missing. It is not that my kid is lazy or intestinally trying to avoid work, it is how his brain functions that prevents him from doing certain job the regular way. That is why individualized accommodation is really needed. Most commonly used accommodation that our county or school offers is extra test time, which my son never uses it; or separate testing room or computer, which my son never uses. I feel the accommodation in most teacher's mind are above two types. My son is a twice exceptional, very talented with attention deficit. He can still doing well in his class, but I know that because of his deficit, he didn't get his full potential academically. School or teacher are busy with taking care of every kid, and they are unwilling to treat him any differently (e.g. set a specific reminder to him about deadline or assignment). I thus feel the accommodation we got isn't really a good accommodation that fits him. I will check out your link and hopefully find something that I can use to persuade school to revise his IEP to add more customized in class accommodation to him. This would be beneficial for even when he is in high school.

Thanks again Platypus101 for your wonderful links. I finally feel I've found the right place for getting advises for my son, after 13 years of searching on the internet forums since he was a newborn.



Originally Posted by Platypus101
In addition to mckinley's great practical suggestions on scheduling (especially the parts about breaking down into sub-tasks), I'd also suggest taking some time observing, and talking with your son, to try to get a better understanding of where the actual problem(s) lie. If he simply forgets deadlines, the advice above will get him going. But it is worth exploring if he actually has difficulty in grasping what and when the deadlines are in the first place. Or are there other issues that are keeping him from completing the work on time (for instance, ADHD, LDs, anxiety....), and missing deadlines is the symptom, not the cause?

Here's a couple resources I've found very helpful for both understanding what's going on in the kid's head, and practical ways to help:

Smart but Scattered (book)
https://www.amazon.com/Smart-but-Sc...94/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?i.e.=UTF8

ADDitude (website with sample article)
https://www.additudemag.com/high-school-planner-motivate-adhd-teen/