Old Hat

So Yesterday I attended my 13 YO ADHD-er's IEP meeting for next school year. This was the first one I have experienced this school year. I got to finally meet, in person, the school psychologist who has been working with the 8 YO on his social skills. From the feedback provided by the Jr. High teachers, the 13 Yo is also struggling socially. But anyways, it was interesting. They decided that "yes, he still qualifies for services". There has not been a big imrpovement in his organizational skills and I think he's regressed a bit since last year. I suppose that's not a huge surprise considering he changed schools.

I talked about our busy schedule and how every October we see a deterioration in behavior form him and we have concluded that it coinsides with the time between sprts. There has typically been a 5 to 6 week gas between sports at the time of the year. Also, the days are getting shorter and it's harder to give him enough exercise to burn off some excess energy. I think the group found it interesting to hear me say that.

I have to say that I disagree with the Math teacher's assessment that he is a B-C student. I think he's lazy. But then I did not see eye to eye with her in the Fall when she complained that he reads a book in Math class and then in the next breath tells us he's already had the material. Can somebody please turn on the lightbulb? However, when I talk to her last week about an incident, she was kind a reassuring that he just needed a little maturity. I appreciated that.

I had to giggle, the Social studies teacher found that he "was surprisingly prepared for class in spite of how unorganized he appears."

So what's a Mom to do? We have tried many methods of organizing and tracking of assignments. I feel like we have given him the tools now he needs to work with the tools. He's not willing to do that to a large degree yet. He has not found the motivation yet. I tried to provide inspiration by offering him money for grades. But that was not as successful as I hoped.

It took my brother until he was 25 to get his act together. Can I survive 12 more years? I guess my Mother survived.