Spelling Success for Back to School

Back to school. Whether you approach this time of year with anticipation or dread, it's about to happen. New teachers and classes, different rules and expectations, leave children and parents overwhelmed with excitement and anxiety. Below are six ways to send your child back to school with success.

Supplies - Most schools provide a list of essentials for each child to bring on the first day of class. Make sure your child has exactly what is requested, and save enough cash for those supply needs that crop up the first week of class. Stock up on all types of paper, writing utensils, art supplies, notebooks and folders during the back to school sales. Gather an assortment of calculators and reference books. There is nothing that gives confidence like the satisfaction of having just the right tool for the job. Check out our families' comprehensive list of supplies at http://www.goaskmom.com/MomsToDo/Staples_ADHD.html.

Communication - While summer is still in session, visit the school and meet the secretary and principal. Limit yourself to brief introductions, but offer your support to help make a great school year. Leave your name, telephone and email so the school can contact you if they need help. The first week of school, write the teacher a letter introducing your child, and briefly listing strengths and weaknesses. Share important information such as family situation and medical needs. Finally, tell the teacher you would like to meet during the second month of school to strategize ways to work together for your child's education.

Habits - Children usually crave routine. A couple of weeks before school, transition children to the schedule they will follow once the year begins. Send them to bed and have them get up earlier. Adjust mealtimes. Once school is in session, quickly establish routines for homework and chore. Make it a habit to prepare the next day's clothes, lunches, and school gear each evening.

Orientation - Familiarize your child with the all the places she will be during the school day. Follow the bus or car pool route. Arrange a visit to the school before it begins. Practice the route into the building. Find the bathrooms, the library, and the lunchroom. If your child is in middle or high school, let them walk their schedule until they feel comfortable. See if there are volunteer opportunities that will help your teen to feel more at home in the maze of corridors that line most campuses.

Organization - Buy into the adage "a place for everything, and everything in its place". A two drawer file cabinet works well as a center to organize a child's school/home communication, backpacks, shoes, and homework. Each afternoon, school gear and shoes go in. Before bed, add clothes, bookbag, notes and homework for the next day. In the morning, everything is in one spot, and makes it easier for the child to get dressed and ready. (For an ingenious organizing tool designed especially for our boys, check out our new "PAC-kit" student planner!)

Love - Insensitive classmates, missed buses, forgotten homework and misunderstood math can make school a traumatic place. Shield your child by expressing your love over and over again. Tell her you love her. Give him a hug. Hide a love note or symbol in an Algebra book. Offer your time, your understanding, and your prayers. With the teacher as your partner, wrapping your children in love is the best way to spell a successful beginning to the school year.

PS Again, one of the best back to school tools ever is "PAC-kit" student planner

Three Tips for … Back to School

Thanks to Alana Morales for this great guest post!

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Back to school time is quickly approaching – are you ready? I know I am. My kids need a set routine and unfortunately, as hard as I try, I can’t provide enough structure for them. They are ready to be back around their friends and I am ready for them to burn off some energy during the day.

Heading back to school means heading back into the land of homework, morning rituals and killer time management strategies. Here are three tips to help you prepare for the craziness of going back to school.

1. Student readiness. Sit down with your child and come up with some goals for the next school year. Once you decide on a few (I would say no more than 5), find a place to post them (inside of binder, over desk) and then make a plan on how you will reach those goals. Keep these in an easy to reach place as well.

Once this is figured out, try to come up with a school organizational plan. Who will go through the backpack daily? Where? Where will homework be placed? What about field trip notes, class newsletters, etc? Try to have this all figured out before school begins to keep things streamlined.

2. Teacher Readiness. Have you prepared a letter to your student’s teacher? Even if you don’t know who their teacher is, you can still write a draft of a letter or email. Explain your child’s ADHD, explain the accommodations that seem to work best for them and you can even tell about the type of support they can expect from you at home.

Being proactive will let the teacher know that you are ready to be an integral part of your child’s education. Just be sure to approach everything positively so, otherwise the teacher may be worried about what they will be dealing with for the school year.

3. Your Readiness. OK, so I’ve told you how to get your child and your child’s teacher ready for the new school year, but what about you? What have you done for yourself lately? Maybe you could go out for a nice quiet dinner, a pedicure or even a massage before the craziness of the year hits your family. One of the most important factors in your childs success is your attitude and ability to help them. If you are recharged, you will have more patience to deal with the challenges you will undoubtedly face. Don’t think of it as being selfish; think of it as a way to help you run at optimal efficiency. You need to be on your toes so much that you need to remember to take time for yourself as well.
Remember, getting things ready before school starts can make a big difference in preparing your family with as little stress as possible for an ADHD family. Enjoy!

Have a question about your child’s education? You can also follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/alanamorales.com for my mom and ADHD tips. More tips available at my online ADHD blog – www.MommyADD.com.

Alana Morales is the author of Domestically Challenged: A Working Mom’s Survival Guide to Becoming a Stay at Home Mom. You can learn more about the author at her website, www.AlanaMorales.com.

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Memorization Hint...

The human mind remembers best the first and last things it encounters. This is why telephone numbers and social security numbers are hyphenated. When studying with your child, sometimes it helps to break the sessions into small sets of information, so there are more beginnings and ends. If you have 20 vocabulary words, for example, study the first five after school, the second set right before dinner, the third set after dinner, and the last before bed.

Like this hint? Then you need to check out Memory Training for Students? For those of you that got the program, don't you love it? Write and tell me how it's going for you! If you missed my plug last week...Memory Training for Students teaches very powerful techniques to solve the problem of memorizing the information students need to know. It's great for school, and it's great for life. (Yes, I've used the stuff!) If you and your child have reviewed information over and over, only to have it disappear at test time or shortly thereafter, you need Memory Training. The program is an instant download of a set of five audio .mp3's and a workbook. They are fun to listen to, and easy to follow. Go check it out now, and then forward this newsletter to others - your child's teacher, your best friend, your family…

Visit our website at http://www.goaskmom.com.

Three Tips for Finishing Out the School Year - By Alana Morales

Ending the school year can be a joyous time. A time to look forward to a few months of no homework, a time to work on building skills (and not just video game skills) and a time for siblings to drive each other crazy on a much bigger scope. It's also a time to remain diligent about studies - you don't want to have your student trip up at the end of the year and undo all their hard work for the school year.

Here are my top three factors to keep in mind as you finish out the school year:

1. End of the Year Review. Talk to your student's teacher to get an assessment of your child's strengths and weaknesses. It will also be a good idea to get an idea of what you will need to be mindful of for the next school year. Some areas you can cover are:

• Classroom Accommodations


• Academic areas of strength


• Academic areas to work on over the summer


• Any social skill concerns


• Organizational skills they might need in an advanced grade


• Medication issues - review the coverage the meds provided so you know if you need to decrease or increase for the following year.

This is a time to get a complete overview of your child's academic progress over the year and plan for next year. It doesn't have to be a long, arduous process - send an email asking what you need to know. If you explain your purpose to the teacher, they should be more than willing to help out and provide feedback.

2. Keep Up with Social Skills. Since social skills can be a sticky areas for ADHD kids, find ways to maintain their friendships over the long summer. Have your student get phone numbers or email addresses of their favorite classmates so they can keep in touch.

To help your child foster new friendships, find a summer activity for them to participate in. Summer school or recreational classes are great and affordable ways to get your kids involved and keep them off the couch this summer. Your local newspaper is another great place to find local camps. Some areas even have camps that are specifically for ADHD kiddos.

3. Start Your Preparation for the Next Year. I know it seems early, but think about and brainstorm for the next school year. Here are some of the things to think about:

• What can I do differently?


• What worked?


• Is there anything I can streamline to make it easier for me/my child/my family?


• What supplies do you need to replenish your homework center? You can gradually add to this over the summer to prevent the before school rush.


• Updating your child's ADHD binder. Don't have one? In a future column, I will cover the basics of organizing an ADHD binder so you have all your students' information in one handy location.

You should also think about other things related to school. Did you have to scramble during the year to find a tutor? Take the summer to find one that you can use on a drop in basis. Thinking that an independent psychological evaluation will be helpful to have? Schedule one for over the summer. Many offices are scheduling several months in advance.

Stay tuned for the summer issues, where I will discuss 504 plans, ADHD binders and easy and fun summer enrichment ideas.

Have a question about your child's education? Email me at add@alanamorales.com to have your question answered.


Author Bio:

Alana Morales is the author of Domestically Challenged: A Working Mom's Survival Guide to Becoming a Stay at Home Mom. She is also a veteran English teacher and the mom of two ADHD kids. Despite being an English teacher, she dearly values her Psychology degree and is impressed at how often it comes in handy. You can learn more about the author at her website, www.AlanaMorales.com.


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Free Learning Styles Assessment Test

A Learning Styles Assessment is right for you if you answer most of these questions "Yes!"

•Are you frustrated with your child's low grades or lack of motivation?

•Is your homelife stressful due to homework hassles and poor report cards?

•Have you tried absolutely everything to help your child get higher grades?

•Do you have a bright child who seems to know information, then forgets it during the test?

•Are you truly serious about doing something different to help your child succeed?

Finding out your child's learning style with is key to helping your child really learn.
Get a free assessment of your child's learning style, and watch it raise grades and test scores! You'll find out how your child's personal learning style can create higher grades in 14 days with your free learning styles assessment!

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Modification for Classwork - Helping Kids Stay Focused

"With math homework we modify doing odds or evens if there are more than 10 questions. Also we just implemented a "dot" system. When she is doing classwork, she has to check in after doing X amount of problems and if she stays on track and finishes it in class she gets Dots. This encourages her to keep focused and helps the teacher know when she is struggling and needs help. The Dots are then sent home for us to use on assignments. We then uses the dot's on homework. One dot for one question she doesn't have to do. For example, if she has ten math questions, but earns five Dots in class, she only has five problems to do."

Even without the Dot rewards, this is a great system. For many children, the dots themselves are reward enough. Another good idea for this is to mark the intervals on the paper. If, for example, five questions are a Dot set, put a highlighted mark after question number five. The mark makes a goal, and reaching that goal gives a sense of accomplishment.

NOTE: This great hint is from a discussion on Facebook.



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Three Most Important Ways to Take Charge of Your Child's Education

Today's blog post features a couple of things specifically for families with children or adults with ADHD. The first is an article written especially for our newsletter by Alana Morales, the author of Domestically Challenged: A Working Mom's Survival Guide to Becoming a Stay at Home Mom. In addition to being a writer, Alana is also a veteran English teacher and the mom of two ADHD kids. Despite being an English teacher, she dearly values her Psychology degree and is impressed at how often it comes in handy. You can learn more about Alana at her website, www.AlanaMorales.com.

One of the best gifts a parent can give their child is a strong educational foundation. Parenting a child with ADD or ADHD and surviving the school age years is a tough enough task as it is. One of the biggest challenges we face when parenting our kids is striking a balance between helping them develop skills to improve their academic skills and allowing them to make mistakes and then learn from them.

Here are my top three ways to take charge of your child's education:

1. Communicate with the teacher. Being the parent of a child with ADD/ADHD takes a lot of work. It is vital to your student's success for you to remain in contact with the teacher. This does not mean that you need to email the teacher daily for reports, but regular contact with the teacher will help you keep tabs on things like academic areas that need improvement, how well medications are working (or if they need dosage adjustments) and how your child is doing socially.

At the beginning of the school year, introduce yourself to the teacher (or teachers) and just let them know that you will be keeping tabs on little Johnny's progress. Many teachers will be happy to know that they have the support of someone at home.

2. See if your child qualifies for classroom accommodations.
Many parents don't realize it, but if you have a child that has ADD/ADHD and it impacts their classroom learning, they may qualify for what is called a 504 plan. At the risk of being overly simple, a 504 plan is a legal document that protects your student and stipulates that the school must make certain accommodations in the classroom to level the learning playing field.

If this is an avenue you want to pursue, the first step is to mention it to your child's teacher. The teacher will then talk to school and set up a 504 meeting. In this meeting, you will sit down with relevant school officials to determine whether your child may benefit academically from accommodations.

3. Be supportive, but don't enable.
During the school years, it will be vital for you as parents to support your child in their education. The important point to keep in mind is that supporting does not equal enabling. Enabling runs the gamut, from doing things like completing tasks for them to making excuses for their academic performance (or lack thereof).

How can you tell the difference? Look at who is doing most of the work. If you are doing more than a minimal amount, you may be enabling. If your student doesn't get something done because they mismanaged their time, that is ultimately their responsibility, not yours, and they need to be responsible for their actions. Just because they have ADD/ADHD doesn't mean that you should be there to rescue them. If they are working on a homework assignment and it takes them two hours to finish, then write a note to the teacher explaining that it was a rough night. Don't write a note asking for more time simply because they didn't start their homework right away - this is enabling.


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