I'm in the process of conducting some research for my graduate program and I'm looking for feedback from parents of children with ADHD and their teachers. I'm specifically looking for information on the types/methods of communication you use to communicate with the teacher/parent. My son, who has ADHD, used a daily report card in the past. This came in various forms such as a 3X5 card, a full sheet, etc. Do you use a daily report card? If so, what format? Have you found it to be successful?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you,
Kristin Clark

We had conferences early in the year to identify the problem and what we were interested in having the teach address. sometimes we made suggestions, and sometimes we let them start first.

He ended up tested and came out pretty smart accross the board, so i basically said that anytime he wasn't performing to is potential, AT ALL, I wanted to know about it, because these things get ot of control faster than it seems possible. My wife was conciliatory. I was more direct or confrontational. We both were willing to bring in materials, video tapes, etc. to help the teachers understand why things might be needed.

the schools used daily assignment notebooks for all students, and for ours it really helps. My wife is not ADHD so she deals directly with "school and homework" issues with the kids better than I do. But when I declare that a situation is an urgent or important problem, my wife listens and moderates and takes action, or, in some cases, says "do what ever you want." We rely on my sensitivity to ADHD issues and threats, and her good judgement about how to deal with people.

Good Luck.

The school we are at sends a notebook home with him EVERY night with a written note in it indicating how much homework he has, and any other notes the teacher wants us to know. We write into it any responses we want the teacher to know. The boy gets in trouble if he ever forgets the book.

Works MOST of the time...

Thank you very much for your reply. My son's teacher also uses a notebook with a daily planner. I find it very helpful as far as assisting him with his organization and remembering his homework, etc. However, I find that the "good day" she writes in there or lack there of isn't sufficient. Do you get comments from the teacher in there every day or only when there's a problem?

Normally there is only things like what homework has been assigned, etc...

Special comments only when there has been a problem.

We have a communication book which gets sent home every friday unless she hits someone or does something stupid.

Hmmm…this is what I’m finding. I’m surprised that more teachers don’t use positive reinforcement to keep kids on track. I’ve found that it really helps to give my son some sort of positive reinforcement for a good day rather than a punishment for the bad days. My goal is to find out why there’s resistance to providing daily feedback for parents. Would you prefer to receive daily feedback from your son/daughter’s teacher so you could follow through at home? Are the teachers just too busy?

See if you can get a diary and ask the teacher to write something every day. We do ours on a weekly basis and if she's good, they write something good and if there's an incident, they send the book home on that day so we can be informed and deal with it.

That's a great idea. Thanks for the information. I'm trying to get my son's teacher to use a daily report card (one that she just has to circle a 1-5 rating on five questions). If I get daily feedback, I can reinforce good behavior at home. We have a token reward system in place.

I like the diary idea though. Is this the first teacher that's done this for you and is she consistent?

tokens are good. but for ADHD gentle quiet recognition is also a good thing...

rewarding "process" not "result" is important. the ADHD are already too hard on themselves for not getting the results that they want.

IMHO

Originally posted by specialkocc
Is this the first teacher that's done this for you and is she consistent?

She has two teachers - one on mon, tue and the other wed, thu and fri. The teachers use the book to write down how she has been so the other one can read it when they come in, then they send it home every week. It's pretty consistant. Also if she's good they put stickers in the book and draw smiley faces to encourage her. We have tried with other teachers but they were not as consistant.

Where I live we have the highest amount of stimulants prescriptions dispersed in the whole country (lower socio-economic area) so the teachers are more aware of the issues with these sorts of kids. Also, the principal carefully selects teachers for our kids so that things have a chance of working.

Thanks Wheel1975 & tudorose. You're both very helpful. I agree Wheel1975 that gentle reminders are helpful to keep our kids on task. I find that those work most of the time especially if he understands that he will receive positive feedback at home. If anything, the daily report card allows me to figure out where he's at. I've found that if I don't stay on top of it, his self esteem goes down the toliet. It's important to keep him on track.

tudorose-I'm glad to hear that your daughter has some consistancy...it really helps. It also helps to have the school work with you on placement. We have section 504 of the education code here which ensures that our kids get what they need (I keep that in my back pocket in case I need it but all is good for now.) Is your daughter on meds?

Yeah she's on dex and Luvox. She has OCD as well and that makes things a lot harder for her socially. The good thing is that she has a very good 'best friend' who shows her a lot of tolerance and understanding.

Both my boys started with communication books. It works great as long as you have one teacher all day long!

When they moved to middle school, all fell apart. They went from "A" students to "C's" and "D's". The lack of communication left them in the cracks and very devistated.

I would appreciate any advice as to how to improve this. We have struggled the past three years and found nothing that helps. The teachers are over worked and do not want to waste valuable time on student.

Any advice???? Please pass it along!

I understand your frustration! A daily report card of some sort would probably help if you enforce it at home. I'll email you a URL to a sample daily report card so you can see what I'm talking about. The one on my site is for younger children, but you could adjust it to meet your specific needs (you might have to have a seperate one for each period since they don't have one teacher all day long in junior high.) Bascially, you meet with the teacher/s to discuss the areas they think your child needs to work on (i.e. paying attention, homework, etc.) Then, you provide the teacher with copies of this daily report card. All they have to do is circle a number (rating) on a piece of paper and send it home. Tell the teacher that if he/she does this for you, you promise to follow up at home and reinforce positive behavior. You'll have to establish guidlines with your sons ahead of time and let the teacher know what those are. For example, X total of points earns X privilage. Less than that, they don't earn. I make my son earn EVERYTHING from television to playing with his friends (there's some tricks with this too.) You have to find something that they really want. If the teacher knows that you're willing to follow up at home, he/she may be more willling to circle some numbers on the rating scale on the daily report card. I can give you more detail if you're interested...just let me know.

my daughter has the assignment book as well. to be signed once a week by me....and in each class a folder to be brough home. we made an index card and taped to her locker door inside with a list of what to bring home every friday. it is working so far....


GigglyBabeB

My son brings home a daily folder in one side you will find a daily conduct sheet at the top it has 1-8 things like running in hall way, talking after being asked not to and so on....then it has monday thru friday with blocks next to them either a smiley goes there or a number to tell what he did and how many points got taken off for the day. The other side of the folder holds his homework sheet which he fills out at the end of the day then she looks to make sure everything is there and she signs it. It also has a place on there for her to write upcoming events or in taylors case if he has a good day...she'll write it there Taylor loves to hear this and seems to do better by seeing it. it also hold a sheet which i fill out everynight to tell what book read and how long....he is require to read at least 15 min. a night then i sign it. He is now in 4th grade and has been in the same school since kindergarden and they have always used this system. Expect in kinder. instead of smileys they used red lights red ment bad day...yellow had a warning and green a good day. I really like the way they do the folder it keeps me inform every day on how he did, i feel this is a good thing instead of wondering every day if he had a good one or bad. (The folder has to be sign everyday if not they will lose points..that way they know they half to bring it home)

Hope this helps
Tracy(tatorbugs_mommy)