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I was diagnosed 3rd yr univ ADHD-gifted - now a Special Ed Assi
Hi all
This is my first time on the forum.
I haven't read all the posts, but just wanted to offer my ideas/thoughts/advice (take it with the whole salt mine, not just a grain though...) as I have a LOT of experience with education, advocacy, and supporting kids with all kinds of challenges, PLUS I'm one myself.
My background:
diagnosed 3rd year university: ADHD (inattentive subtype) LD (short term working memory) Gifted (98th percentile overall for IQ, suspected to be higher b/c of my anxiety at the time of testing)
-social anxiety developed b/c I wasn't getting the support I needed
-I had to basically design my own support system by figuring out what works for me, and how my brain works, and being proactive and honest
-graduated (hooray!) with a BA in Psychology, minor in human geography
I have 10 years experience teaching in some way or another: 8 years teaching swimming lessons to people of all ages and abilities; 2 years autism behavioural therapist; and a year and a half as a special education assistant (on call for all grades, just got my "permanent contract" at a high school!)
I love teaching, but trying to sort out my "issues" has made everything take a bit longer than what I see others in the same field doing... but I've come to terms with it since I'm getting feedback from people who've been in the field for years that I'm actually good at what I do.... hehehe... the psychology degree definitely helps.
My general observation from my own personal experience of figuring out how to learn best, as well as from seeing families/parents and teachers....
- you need to experiment with different things
-IT IS ESSENTIAL to ask your child what helps them...sometimes they won't know... b/c no one's ever asked them
-if they say "I don't know" you need to ask MORE SPECIFIC questions: is it harder or easier to understand instructions when... written out? demonstrated? told to you? coached through it?
- when people find what works, it makes them feel more effective/successful and you will see that in your kids (make sure you show that you noticed that the specific strategy affects their performance in this specific way... often kids won't process that it's worked well, and that it's a good strategy, and that since it's a good strategy it would be a good thing to use it again)
- colour code things keep it consistent with EVERYTHING in school. Math: blue textbook cover, blue notebook, blue math set (ruler, compass, calculator...).
-associated with above: in their agenda - write assignments for subjects with coloured underline. Math would be underlined in blue.
-schedule to be colour coded
accommodations:
- find a good special education assistant who knows how to give feedback on their performance WITHOUT being disrespectful (when you do , it makes others _. I know you want to be _. So what is a better way to do this? or... I notice that when , that happens/affects you this way. Is this good for you? What's something better you can do?)
- make sure your child is GETTING THE ACCOMMODATIONS. you'll need to keep on top of tests/quizzes... if you find out that your child didn't get separate space, then you take the education plan and say this is to be followed.
-I've seen it where the kids themselves don't want to have the accommodations, so then you need to go over why (so they can do better, which makes your child feel better)
-start working on TYPING skills AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
-again, start working on TYPING ASAP!!! you can type thoughts MUCH faster than writing, possibly before the thought disappears from our heads
That's all I got in general.
I'll go through and see if I can offer suggestions, strategies, resources for each of the posts.
Oh yeah, I've also dealt with depression and being bullied, so I have insight into all that.
My goals are to eventually have a job with a school board where I can look at what's NOT working for the kids with special needs and come up with ways (curriculum, instructional strategies etc) to correct them... I KNOW from talking to a lot of kids with ADHD and LD and other issues that they're super smart and our brains work in different ways than the rest of the human species.
I LOVE having conversations with kids/people with ADHD b/c I can let my guard down and just go off on tangents and the other person will follow my tangent and vice versa. I have the best conversations with others of my kind...hahaha.
Oh, one more VERY IMPORTANT THING...
Us ADDers KNOW that we say random things... but not acknowledging the thought and simply saying "OK you need to focus." doesn't help us feel better. It just reminds us that our brains are all over.
What I find helps get kids back on track is asking:
What made you think of that?
...and it will actually have to do with something they were working on or something you were talking about with them...
and when they tell you, comment that you see the connection, and then guide them back to what you were talking about.
if it's a school thing, it might help to write down the topic or key word as you talk about something, so you have a visual when you need to bring htem back.
Or have them make a mind map while they do readings...
OK that's all I got!
If you have specific questions/issues/frustrations, please feel free to message me and I'll ask some q's (some things you'll have maybe done/thought of...) and try to help you out.
My mission is to help kids KNOW they're smart in different ways, and everyone has cool things about them.
By knowing the issues while your kids are young, it's going to help them out a lot more when they're out in the real world... but it will take a lot of trial and error and succcesses.
:)
Best wishes to everyone,
Maki
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