How To End the Homework Battles With Your ADD / ADHD Child.

Are you tired of the nightly battles with your child? Ivana McGill, mother to 8 year old Ben, summed it up this way, "I couldn't handle it any more. After a long, tiring day at work, the last thing I needed to face was a battle over homework." But it was a battle she fought every school night.

I gave Ivana these tips to help her win the homework battle forever.

First, I told Ivana that she needed to enlist the teacher's help, because she couldn't win this battle on her own. Ivana spoke to Ben's teacher and she agreed to post a copy of the homework that she had given to Ben's class onto the school website, so that if Ben forgot to copy the assignment down, all wouldn't be lost.

If your child's school doesn't have a website, perhaps the teacher can fax or email the daily assignments to you, or give a typed copy to an elder sibling or neighborhood kid..

Ivana also spoke to the teacher and confirmed that the homework assignments that Ben received was made up only of material that had already been covered in class, and was not new material that Ben had to cover on his own. The reason for this is because kids with ADD and ADHD often have trouble tackling new material independently.

She also asked the teacher for regular updates as far as Ben's homework was concerned and they agreed that a weekly phone call would suffice.

Now that she had an ally in place, Ivana began to make some changes at home.

Ben's weekly schedule was pretty hectic. He had baseball practice, tuba lessons, was in a speech & drama club and he attended speech therapy as well. Ivana cut back and eliminated eliminated everything, except the speech therapy and the baseball (which Ben loved)

Now that they had much more free time, Ivana and Ben decided that homework time would start at 5:00 pm on the days that he had no other activities and 7:30 pm on the 3 evenings a week that he did.

Ivana also cleared up a space in her home office for Ben and put in a small desk and chair so that she could be near him as he did his homework. The home office was ideal for another reason and that was because it was far away from the TV and other household noise.

Ben's homework time became the ideal time for Ivana to answer her email, pay her bills or read a book. It seemed to make him feel better to have his mom nearby and not on the other end of the house watching TV.

I suggested that Ben work in 20 minute spurts with a 5 minute break in between. This proved to be a much more efficient way to work and, much to Ivana's surprise, Ben actually accomplished far more and more quickly than in one long homework session.

And I'm glad to report that homework has ceased become a battle in the McGill household.

End the Homework Battles - 9 Tips For All Teachers

A successful homework session starts at school. Here are some tips to help you to assist ADD and other special needs kids in getting it done properly and handed in on time.

1.Set aside some time each day for the students to copy down assignments into their homework planners or dairies. Assuming that children will copy the assignments down during the class without setting aside a specific time for this is a mistake. ADD and ADHD students find it difficult to focus on more than one thing at a time.

2.Write the assignments down on the board and then read them out loud to make sure that everyone understands exactly what needs to be done. Never assume that students understood your instructions, no matter how clear they may seem to you.

3.If possible, provide typed assignments for all the students. If that isn't possible, try to provide typed assignments only for those students who have special challenges, such as ADD. This eliminates the possibility that students will copy the homework assignment down incorrectly and leaving out vital details.

4.If there is a school website, post the assignment to the website as well so that students who lose or misplace the assignment can access it later on.

5 Make sure that the students copy each assignment down correctly, completely and on the right calendar page.

6.Pair kids up and let them check that the other has copied the homework assignment down correctly and completely.

7.Before dismissing them have the students work together to pack their homework planners as well as the material needed to complete the homework into their back packs.

8.Provide a checklist on the board of all the notebooks, textbooks etc the child will have to take home in order to complete the assignment correctly.

9.Lastly, especially in the case of children who have ADD, ADHD or a learning disability, try to reduce the amount of homework. For example, giving the student only 8 math problems instead of 20 will be enough for him to demonstrate that he has mastered the concept without feeling overwhelmed..