HOME | CONTACT

Current Articles

• Time Management for High School Students

• Talking To Children About ADHD

• Easy-To-Read Advice Available For Children With ADD

• Helping Reinforce Spelling Skills

• Teaching Students Self-Advocacy Skills

• A Parents' Guide to Homework

• Creating Effective School-Home Communication

Time Management
A Discussion with High School Students

              The following is a summary of class discussions held with several classes of ninth and tenth graders regarding problems and stress with time management.  Together we talked about the problems they found in trying to manage time appropriately.  We then worked together to come up with some viable solutions.  This is a good activity for students confronted with heavy course loads and after-school demands.  It is useful as a single discussion or as part of a series of study skills sessions.

Problems Discussed: 

• Uneven load of work during the year

• Lots of commuting time

• Procrastination

• Extra Curricular Activities

• Other distractions get in the way (t.v., Internet)

• Want to maintain a social life

• Need to sleep

• Want time with family

• Keeping in touch with friends-many who live at a distance

• Chores

• Conflicts of due dates and tests – all clustered together

• Lots of deadlines to meet

• Staying up too late doing work

• Teachers each think their subject is the most important.

• Not enough time!

Solutions:

• Prioritize when you schedule yourself.  What is most important to get done?

• Use a study sheet to be specific about what to study.

• Make lists, then check off or cross off items as they are finished.

• Re-energize when you get home from school:

                  -  Catch up with family                    - Exercise

                  -  Take a power nap                         - Snack                     

• Try to stick to time limits.

• Use in-between times to work (such as waiting for dinner, waiting at an activity).

• Find a distraction-free, comfortable place to work.

• Use music in the background to help you focus.

• Use weekends to get ahead on your work, so the week nights won’t be so tight.

• Try studying with a friend.

• Schedule time with your friends and family

• Exercise and/or organized sports help re-energize, improve focus, may increase motivation to get work done and helps us actually structure our time better.

• Going to the library can be a good place to work.  It’s calm and there are fewer distractions.

• Try starting with an easy assignment first.  Or try your hardest one first to get it over with.  See which system is better for you.

• Tackle large assignments, because they can seem tedious:

1. Break down assignments into parts, with breaks in between.

2. Give yourself time limits on each section.

3. Spread your assignments out over many days, if possible.

• If you are involved in extra-curricular activities, use time before and after, as well as breaks in the activity to get homework done.

• Try to be more realistic about what you can do with your after-school time.

• Try writing homework down by due dates, as well as in the dates assigned.

Top of Page

Helping Reinforce Spelling Skills

Helping Reinforce Spelling Skills Practicing spelling skills does not need to be a boring task. You can motivate children to practice spelling words in a variety of formats through strategies that are multi-sensory and engaging:

• Write words in a sandbox with a stick.

• Write in snow, rice or sand placed in a shoe box top. • Finger paint words using shaving cream on tabletops; or pudding or whipped cream on paper plates.

• Write words in glue or liquid starch on pieces of cardboard. Then sprinkle any powdery material, glitter, yarn, beans, macaroni, sequins, etc., to create textured, three-dimensional spelling words. The act of tracing with fingers on a texture helps make a sensory imprint on the brain that increases memory and retention.

• Practice writing words on individual chalkboards (or dry-erase boards) with colored chalk (or colored dry-erase pens).

• Write the words using alphabet manipulatives and tactile letters (magnetic letters, sponge letters, alphabet stamps, alphabet cereal, letter tiles, linking letter cubes). Students can be given these manipulatives in large or small group lessons, to use in order to build words. (“Let’s spell the word hot; now make the word pot; try to spell spot, plot.”)

• Have students “write” the word on the palms of their hands.

• Write silent letters (ghost letters) in white pen. • Use the "rainbow technique" of tracing over each word at least three different times in different colors (pencils, crayons, chalk, or markers). Then, without looking, write the word from memory.

• Have students use colors to highlight the tricky parts of words (know, knee)

• Color code key elements/features of the word (e.g., prefixes/suffixes, final e). • Write the words by syllables in different colored markers. • Use mnemonics whenever possible to help students remember and learn memory strategies to apply in the future. Examples: Friend - I am a friEND to the END; Principal – The principal is your PAL.

• Play games that involve spelling: Hangman, Scrabble, Boggle (Parker Brothers) and Jumble Word Game (Cadaco).

• Create pictures using words. (Write look with o’s drawn as eyes; clown with a funny hat).

• Write words in the air using a stiff arm and large muscle movements, while sounding them out (sky writing).

Use song and movement to practice spelling words

• Pair movement while spelling words aloud (clap to each letter, bounce a ball, use a yo-yo, jump rope).

• Tap out the sounds or syllables in words (pencil to desk, fingertips to desk or arm, spelling word while tapping with one hand down the other arm (shoulder to hand).

• Spell words standing up for consonant letters and sitting down for vowels.

Other ways to practice, study, and learn the spelling of words

• Make a set of flash cards. Study each of the words with a partner (or parent). Put aside the words that were missed. Restudy them.

• Make up word skeletons. Example: _ _ s _ r _ _ e _ t for the word instrument. The child needs to fill in the missing letters.

• Practice using the copy, write, cover, check method (CWCC). • Use the “Look, Say, Write” method of practice. Look at the word and trace it with a finger or pencil. Then say the word, spelling it out loud while copying it. Next, write the word without looking and check for accuracy. Fix any errors immediately because it helps with remembering the correct spelling of the word.

• Use word sorts to provide students opportunities to work with words and discover common patterns. For example, students would place stopping, sitting and cutting in one column, while reading, playing and sorting would go in another column. Students can be asked to state the spelling rules for each column of words.

• Make the study of words interesting. Point out spelling irregularities. Discuss languages of origin of various words. Discuss words spelled with similar patterns and those that look very unusual.

• Encourage a broad range of reading, so that students are exposed visually to a large number of words from fiction and non-fiction texts.

Top of Page

Teaching Students Self-Advocacy Skills

No matter what their learning problems, students who know how to speak up for what they need will benefit in the learning environment. Teaching students to explain their own strengths and weaknesses to significant adults in their lives enables them to become more independent and confident. A student who is able to delineate the accommodations that work for him is able to provide a teacher with important information. Formal IEP’s and 504 plans list many of the required strategies for use in the classroom. In many cases, the student who is able to self-advocate will be the one to remind teachers about what he needs, whether it is officially mandated or an informal suggestion about something that is highly effective for that student.

To be a good self-advocate, a student needs to have an understanding of his own learning profile. In the early elementary grades, children can begin to develop this knowledge with the help of their parents and teachers. As they move on in school and grow intellectually and academically, their awareness of their needs will increase. As they mature, students use their experience to become effective advocates, so that parents may begin to pull back at the point that adolescents strive to become more independent. The student who has developed self-advocacy skills will be able to enter the world of college or the world of work with some invaluable tools.

Top of Page

A Parent’s Guide to Homework

Judith Stern, M.A.
Educational Consultant

Ask a “typical” parent what homework time is like in their home, and you will most likely hear a long list of complaints and concerns. This is not an easy task for many students. For the child with ADHD, the demands of homework may be especially difficult. So many of the skills required to manage homework well are those that may not be the specialty of the ADHD student: planning, organizing, listening, remembering, working independently and staying focused long enough to get the work done. Add on the fact that homework needs to be done at the end of the day, when children are eager to play rather than do more work. For those children taking medication for their ADHD, late afternoon and evening may be times that the medication is no longer working. It’s also the time that busy parents need to get dinner on the table and attend to the other children in the house. Patience and good humor may be stretched thin. Here are some suggestions for helping children get their work done, and still have some time left over for the fun that should be part of every child’s day.

• Help your child set up a homework schedule each day after school. Have him enter each of his assignments into a specific time slot, making his best estimate of how long he will need for that subject. Put in an “overflow” time for work that did not get finished as planned in the schedule. Homework schedules should include the times that the child needs to do chores or go to an after-school activity, so that the schedule can be realistic.

• Use a large wall calendar (or personal planner) to record due dates for long-term projects and dates of tests. Some students find it helpful to use the same calendar to break down large assignments into separate parts and write each section on to the calendar.

• Make sure that your child is filling in her assignment book each day. Have her check off each assignment as it is completed.

• Set up a quiet study area with good lighting and all the necessary study tools within easy reach (e.g. dictionary, calculator). Some students work better when their study space is removed from everything that is going on, so a quiet bedroom works for them. Other students do better when they sit near an adult who can answer occasional questions.

• Avoid the habit of sitting next to your child as he does homework. This creates a dependency that is hard to break. Instead, encourage your child to come to you only when she has a question or needs specific help.

• Set a cut-off time for homework each evening. Stick to it. For many children, they will get more done when they realize they have limited time in which to work. If your child is unable to finish homework within a reasonable time each evening, speak to the teacher to discuss reducing the load or giving additional time if necessary.

• Watch for signs that your child is having difficulty. Make sure to bring this information to the attention of the classroom or resource teacher, so that they can provide additional help that your child may need.

Here are some additional references on this topic:

How to Help Your Child with Homework by Marguerite Cogorno Radencich Ph.D and Jean Shay Shumm, Ph.D; Free Spirit Publishing Inc. (800-735-7323)

Helping Your Child with Homework; U.S. Dept. of Education (www.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/homework/)

For Children:How to Do Homework Without Throwing Up by Trevor Romain; Free Spirit Publishing Inc.

Top of Page

Creating Effective School-Home Communication

By Judith Stern
Educational Consultant

Children with AD/HD often experience a variety of difficulties in school. Good communication between their parents and teachers can help ease some of these difficulties. Teamwork oriented towards helping the child, rather than placing blame on a parent or teacher, can result in a successful school year. A teacher who continually finds fault in a parent’s involvement leaves little opportunity for solving specific problems together. A parent who interprets every statement and action made by a teacher as showing hostility towards the child will be unable to engage in a constructive dialogue to improve the situation.

Entering the school year with good faith that the parents and teachers of the student are truly looking out for the best interest of that child helps create a good first impression. Staying in touch during the year on a regular basis, sharing concerns and avoiding defensiveness, all help to make the year go more smoothly.

The following are practical suggestions for maintaining school-home communication that will minimize bad feelings and maximize the benefits of people working together towards a common goal.

• Meet early in the year to get to know each other and to discuss the child. For parents, that involves making a short presentation about your child. Let the teacher know some of the important background (keep it brief), what has worked in the past, what concerns you have about your child’s learning, strengths of the child, what you can do to be helpful. If there are special issues a teacher needs to know (such as side effects of medication), share these as well. For teachers, share information on how you run your class, what types of organizational systems you have in place, how you let parents know about homework requirements and missing work. Ask some questions about the child. If you have had experience working with students with AD/HD, bring that up as well, since many parents find that reassuring.

• Create a comfortable system for regular communication. You may decide on an email every other week, or a note written in the student’s assignment book when a message needs to be sent back and forth. Parents and teachers need to be considerate of each other’s time. Few teachers are able to communicate on a daily basis; few parents want to be called at work every time a child forgets his homework. Find a system that seems comfortable, then give it a try. If it needs to be changed eventually, make sure to clarify what will happen instead.

• Work out problems with homework as soon as they arise. A parent will be more helpful in getting a child to bring in missing work when he is notified on a timely basis. A teacher will be more likely to make reasonable accommodations for assignments when she hears how difficult they are for the child when he does them at home. This type of information sharing is essential. “Holding it in” and then conveying the news in anger many weeks too late creates an atmosphere that is not conducive to helping the student. Including the school counselor in the discussion can be a good way to receive more objective input when everyone is feeling they have run out of ideas.

• Remember the good news and let it be known. Parents appreciate a call from a teacher who wants to report something great that Johnny did that day. Teachers welcome a note from home describing Annie’s recent interest in doing her spelling homework ever since the teacher modified her assignments. It lets teachers know that a plan is working, and may inspire them to try other new approaches.

Once an effective system is in place, it is likely that parents and teachers will feel better understood and children will know that the significant adults in their lives are working together to help them.

Top of Page

Copyright 2010, Judith Stern, M.A.

Web site by Marc Nathan and Simply Computers Plus