help with schoolwork

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My son has AS. He is 10 years old and is in 4th grade. This is the first year he has verbally expressed that he is having a hard time focusing in school. This morning he said "Mom, I need a psychologist to help me focus in school." Sometimes, during homework, he gets frustrated b/c it's hard to focus and says " I need a pill to help me focus." My husband and I have always been against medication, but I don't want to be inflexible and not give him something that might help him. I have read about medication online, but I find it very confusing and, sometimes, frightening. I love the way my son is, and am trying to research different ways to teach to his strengths which means understanding the different ways he learns and comprehends. I would also like to add, that the school he attends has been wonderful with support, but sometimes I feel they "modify" his lessons to a point where he's not learning anything at all! If someone can please give me some information about medication (pro and cons) and modified learning techniques that might help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

You might need to drill down a bit more on what he means by trouble focusing. With my daughter, this year (3rd grade) has been much harder than previous years. I think it's because the curriculum requires more global thinking and intuitive problem solving-both are skills which she struggles with. The school has also modified the curriculum, curved her grading, and done work arounds such as giving credit when she verbally describes how to solve a problem. What I have done is worked with her after school A LOT. I work closely with the teachers to understand what they are learning and then basically double (or in some cases triple) the instruction efforts at home to help her. This has worked well. We do spelling test drills every night, we re-work through her math problems at LEAST 2-3 times a week and on the weekends. Plus in the car we practice multiplication tables. We are basically constantly drilling what she is learning at school in creative ways like making a game out of it. I have found my daughter does best with rote memorizing (which is difficult and takes longer than typical). So the constant drills are working.

Nearly all kids this age can have issues with focus. Unless his academics are falling severely behind, it is best, IMHO, to use this opportunity to try out various natural ways to get the job done. I have one child with AS and one that is most likely ADD and neither takes a pill; the ADD Meds have a short effective life, the child builds tolerance, but techniques last a life time.

Use a timer and schedule breaks. Experiment with quiet v chewing while working ( my son did his best work while eating carrots, go figure) v light music, in different locations in your home. Get permission to use a homework "timer out" system: if your child has stayed focused for 50 minutes (which can be broken into increments) then he is DONE with full credit for the homework that night.

One of my kid's former teachers does the later with all his students and it was magic for both my kids. Half the battle is the worry about how long it will take. The timer removes that worry.

Also, try visually breaking down the homework. AS kids can be overwhelmed by the volume on a page. If you block out everything but the one problem they are doing at the moment, they can have a much easier time staying on task. That was super important for us to do with my son in both fourth and fifth grade; by sixth he didn't need it anymore. Big sticky notes will do the job, or a copy over to a single sheet for each problem. When it got really bad we had permission to black marker the problems off so he knew he didn't have to do them at all.

My AS son is now in high school and my (untested but obviously) ADD daughter is now in middle school, and they both have learned how to do all their work with no help or adjustment from us. They just needed time to develop and integrate their own tools and strategies.

Good luck!

I wonder where your son has gotten the idea that he needs a pill? Has the school counselor or one of his teachers talked to him about it. If so, and without your permission, that would be really upsetting to me. There are other ways besides medication to improve focus at school, such as giving your son preferential seating in the front of the classroom close to his teacher. Perhaps, not having him get moved around to different seating everyday.

My stepson gets easily distracted by noise, so his teachers allow him to wear discreet ear plugs when they aren't giving classroom instruction. Sometimes, he chooses to sit at his own table when doing projects where the actions of the kids around him get him off course. He also was allowed to have a little squeeze toy with him, to "keep his hands busy" although he would then get in trouble for throwing it or it would get stolen from him so eventually, that technique went away.

We did all of this without an IEP, though we did meet with his school counselor and teachers to go over strategies that would work the best. He is now in 6th grade, and he has to move from classroom to classroom and there are even more distractions but so far, the same strategies seem to be helping. They even have this partially inflated cushion with little nubbins on it, that he can put on his chair that allows him to squirm around a bit more, as sitting still is very difficult for him. So, sometimes just having a combination of things can help.

I find homeopathic treatment very effective for Asperger Syndrome. It has helped my son greatly for the last 4 years. It might take longer than conventional medicine to work, but is totally safe and does not have any side effects at all. It does not mean that it solves all problems for AS. As new expectations arise and more growing up is done, children face new challenges that might set them back a step or two...