Teaching/Learning Bryce

As many of you know, I am concerned (and have been for a while) as to whether or not Bryce could be ADD. I did not want to do anything about taking him to a dr until he completed his first nine weeks of school and I had a conference with his teacher to get her opinion. Her opinion was that he was NOT ADD, and not to get him tested.

I am still skeptical!

I talked to my cousin, who has a child that is ADD. He advice was to watch him and wait until his first grade year. She said things seem to become clear in first grade. So, we wait...we watch...we take notes!

He is very hard to work with at home. He always has been. That is why he went into Kindergarten barely able to write his name. He just has very little interest in sitting still and working on work. Even if you try and make it fun, he knows it is work.

His teacher sent home three lists of words several weeks ago. We have been working on list A since then, and he has problems with the same words EVERY night. I have tried everything I can think of to help him sound them out or somehow get it. There were 18 words in list A. Last night, something FINALLY clicked with him and he got them ALL (after working on them for about 45 minutes). I took the words on the list and made flashcards because I thought it would be a little less overwhelming than a sheet of paper with three lists on it. The first time last night that he got every flashcard without my help, we stopped. I really wanted to stop on a high note with him!!!

I figured tonight we would struggle through it again, but this morning I went through them with him and he got them all, on his own, with little thinking time on each word.

It is very frustrating to work with him because he is always fidgeting. He is either picking at his feet or playing with his clothes or putting his hands in his mouth, but ALWAYS moving. It has got to make it hard to pay attention to what you are working on. My cousin gave me some tips to try with him while he is working. She said that they may work better standing up (we have been studying the words sitting on the couch - this morning we stood up and he barely had to think before he said the words). She also said to try giving him skittles or m&m's while he works. Something to keep his other hand busy.

I am hoping that since he is REALLY proud of himself for getting this first list done, he will be more excited about wanting to accomplish list B, and will have the drive to get through the next 18 words.

I am also hoping that I can have the patience to work through this with him, figure out his secret to get through homework and accept that he really may not be able to sit still while he works!! I have figured out he needs little to no distractions while he is working (which is not easy in this house)!