Smart boy

[sereneorange]

Sometimes I just want to smack him.

Connor brought home his TAKS scores in Reading and his Stanford Test Scores. You can click on the images to make them larger, but the breakdown is in TAKS, he missed 3 and got a commended performance. This is notable because on 3 of his report cards, the child had an F in reading. It should also be noted that he reads constantly. IN TWO LANGUAGES. Ass.

The Stanford was a banner test for Connor again. There are 16 sections. In 11 of them, he scored PHS (Post High School) in spelling he is on a 10.7 level (10th grade is 10) and in thinking skills he scored 11.1. total mathematics he got 8.0 (two subsets were 7.9 and 8.5)So... his worst subject he is on level.

The boy had 3 f's on his progress report. We do everything we can. We are on top of him. We communicate with the teachers, we use positive and negative reinforcement, he gets his medication, we get him the reasonable accommodations allowed by law for ADHD. We are running out of ideas. He is just going to have to start making better choices. I cannot go to school and make him make the right choices. He will have to.

These are the test scores of a boy that is in danger of not passing the 8th grade.








Not quite sure what to do. This is the same problem my parents had with me, and nothing they did worked either.

Comments

[sdx.livejournal.com]

I had that same problem.
I would whoop the hell out of any of the tests they made us take (standardized, etc).
I would do great on most of the tests I had to take at school.
But I never would do homework - and I always had 0's, so I had a few F's and quite a few C's and there was no reason I shouldn't have been Top 10 in my school. It frustrated my teachers because they knew I was far more capable than that - and my fellow students thought I was lazy because I didnt need to study like they did and I let my homework type grades screw it up.

My dads solution was to ground me for six weeks at a time, but that didn't work, so I wish I knew what a solution was. Hindsight was a bitch, I wish I could go back and fix all that when I realized how important the little things were.

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

I was exactly the same, too. I think it is common with children with ADHD

[eonblue21.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem, though i always managed to pass (sometimes with C's or low B's)

The reason my grades were low even though I got a 1460 on my SATs was because I did not do my homework. It was not because I was 'lazy' or anything like that. It was because I felt the homework was beneath me, it didn't challenge me. I felt that if already knew all the answers wtf would I need to prove it to some 'stupid teacher'. The funny thing was in all my college prep/AP courses I got straight A's, because those were the types of classes that were based more on comprehension and less on 'busywork' as I saw homework to be. I can't count how many times I received the whole 'you have so much POTENTIAL'

In retrospect it was pretty stupid of me, but I had more important things to do (drinking, drugs, web design for making cash at night, playing drums)

I'd like to think I still turned out ok, and I still landed a job that I enjoy and make a fair amount of money at it.

I don't really know how you can FORCE someone into passing, but maybe try to explain that YOU know he knows the content, and you know that HE knows he knows the content, but he has to prove it to the 'stupid teachers' so that he can go into the career he wants to later.

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

"but maybe try to explain that YOU know he knows the content, and you know that HE knows he knows the content, but he has to prove it to the 'stupid teachers' so that he can go into the career he wants to later."

He is told that all the time. Actually, the annoying thing is that like me he does most of the homework, then he doesn't turn it in.

I am really hoping he gets into Harmony Science Academy for high school. That school is listed as one of the best in Texas and the US. They are SERIOUS about school and graduation is contingent upon his being accepted into a 4 year college. He doesn't want to go because the school is ugly and small. He is so going there if he is accepted.

[meowvatar.livejournal.com]

No kids, but my nephew (close to Connor's age) has similar issues. In his case, he has major problems with the school...and in his case, that is justified to some extent. First of all, they mixed up his records with someone else's and were treating him like a Special Ed kid when he wasn't. Second, teachers have many times not followed through on things they said they would do. That's his situation, and his parents are trying to deal with it.

Yours? Especially if you were like him? Good luck with that. When you were like that, do you remember why?

Another thing, if he is really smart, he may have figured out that he will get punished for hard work by more being expected of him. My brilliant husband and his brother figured that out and just got average grades because they didn't want to be superstars.

Sounds like a difficult situation. *hugs*

[vertigodreams.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem in school. I scored in the top 10 percentile with the standardized test crap (and apparently in California that means you get a $1000 scholarship). I never did my homework and when I did I didn't turn it in. The only AP class I took in high school was math, and I slept through it, but still got Bs or Cs. Plus, I pretty much failed at least 3 of my 8 classes in middle school, because I knew it didn't matter if I passed or not as they would still send me to high school.

What worked for me was NOT going to school. I went on independent study as a junior and graduated at the end of the year. Not with perfect grades, but with much much better grades than I had been getting, and I was taking college classes at the same time.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Sadly, some of us are mutants who basically don't work in the pod-people world of standard education. I did better in college because it was less structured and hence I could learn the material the way I needed to. But school was hell prior to that.

I don't know what to say

[jbluemoon.livejournal.com]

My daughter was a good student at that age, eager to please, followed the rules,etc. both at home and school. Her problem was that while she did all the homework turned everything in and made overall good average class grades, she suffers from "test anxiety" and would do poorly as a result. Unfortunately this would bring her grade down just as badly if not worse than if she blew off the daily work. (And I was exactly the same way as a child too.) Her problem continues to this day- only in college they don't have classroom assignments- it's all tests! As a result, she is struggling through college now. She won't give up though- it's just going to take her 6-8 years to get a 4 year degree taking one class at a time.

I don't know what to say about your boy, though Marilyn. I read all of your entries about your struggles with him and all I can do is send you good thoughts of hope, positivity- and courage. It's way tougher for a single mom to raise a son than a daughter. You have all my prayers to make it through this tough time in his life.
He'll be ok. After all, you said you were a handful when you were young and you turned out fine.

Re: I don't know what to say

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

Not exactly a single mother. Karen is a parent to him as well.

[roshov.livejournal.com]

Gee all his friends are going to move ahead and he will stay with the little kids. All his friends will laugh and make fun of him for not being smart enough to move to the ninth grade............maybe that speach will work?

[serene-orange.livejournal.com]

been doing it for years. Asked his school in 4th grade to hold him back. They will never do it because of his test scores. They won't even make him take summer school because of the test scores. they just keep promoting him.