ADD son and course selection

<p>My son was diagnosed ADD and began taking meds second quarter of 8th grade this year. His grades immediately shot up from low Bs/high Cs to A's and high B's. His third quarter was all A's except for one high B, in an accelerated honors curriculum. So far, so good. In placing him in courses for next year, his school initially placed him in the non-honors sections of math and science. I strongly believe in taking the most rigorous courses, even if the result is a B rather than an A. I approached the math chair and she agreed to place him in honors Geometry. I am considering doing the same for science, but S does not want to take honors science. I wonder if I am pushing him too hard, and with his ADD I need to be more careful about overloading him. He is very bright, but has the typical ADD issues and must study more than others for the same results. Honors Biology will be more hours of homework; time he does not have unless he gives up a sport/club etc.... At the same time, I don't want to sell him short or let him sell himself short. Any of you faced the same issues and how did you resolve?</p>

<p>We had a similar situation, except it happened later. Son had a rough time in 8th grade, got diagnosed in 9th, it took all of 9th grade to figure out good meds for his ADD-inattentive problems, and then he had a perfect year in sophomore year. Because he did so well, we pushed him to take an honors-pre-calc class in Junior year – BUT THAT WAS THE ONLY HONORS COURSE. I’m very glad that we did, because as you’ve said, he got a B instead of an A, but he was challenged appropriately. HIs classes were more rigorous in Junior year anyway, so if he had taken anything beyond one honors course, it would have been a disaster.</p>

<p>This year, he signed up for three honors classes. He also developed a seizure disorder on top of everything else, and he ended up dropping honors calculus. It’s been an extremely rough year, so I would not advise too many honors courses. I think incremental pushes of advanced classes is a good idea. One honors course in 9th grade, maybe two honors courses in 10th grade if your son does very well on the 9th grade course, etc. If he’s doing sports and clubs on top of everything else (mine was not) then he has plenty to keep him busy, and too much to do can quickly overwhelm your son.</p>

<p>Also, these honors courses are very dependent on the teacher – if the teacher is great, and isn’t too overwhelming in the homework arena, then the honors course is a good choice. Have your son ask his friends if they’ve taken a certain honors course before, and see how challenging it is.</p>

<p>Thanks, schlepp. It is very hard to switch back into science honors at his school, once you embark down the other path. However, he does do a lot of other things: theatre, sports, etc…He will also have opportunities for other honors/AP courses in other disciplines later. I need to accept him for where he is now, rather than where I want him to be.</p>

<p>@vistajay - DS is in 9th grade. He was diagnosed after 9th grade started. He has gifted english and gifted biology this year. He could have taken gifted chemistry next year but I felt that since he is taking gifted english and AP World next year the load might be too much for his ADD so he is going to take the regular chemistry. He is fine with it since science isn’t his passion. I would listen to your DS and do what he wants. As long as he has rigor in other courses he should be fine plus remember he is the one who has to do the homework and at least from my perspective it’s a lot easier for my DS to focus on something he’s interested in. </p>

<p>Chill</p>

<p>I have add and I’m a sophomore
And this was my schedule</p>

<p>Ap chemistry
Physics honors
Study hall
Gym
Language arts
American history
French 2
Ap computer science</p>

<p>And I was fine</p>

<p>Add can’t restrict you from doing well in hard classes if you have the drive to do it </p>

<p>There is so much material in Bio these days… in my opinion it is a lot heavier study load than when “we” (parents) took it. If he doesn’t want to take it, I say let him skip it. I will say that to me it seems like there is little connection between whether one takes honors bio now and honors chem next year – I know you said his school has limitations, but to me it seems like they are not really very connected. If I were you I would have him skip the honors bio this year. If the year goes very well, go to bat for him with the school to explain why he didn’t take honors bio and ask to have them make an exception to allow him to move to honors chem next year if this year goes well and he is interested in doing it.</p>

<p>I have ADD and am currently working on a BS in engineering. I would agree with the idea of incrementally ramping up workload. It took me quite a while to be able to handle just a full load of classes. Now I’m taking a full load of challenging classes while simultaneously participating in a paid internship. Trust me, slow and steady is the way to go. </p>

<p>I would also suggest looking into alternative treatments to be used in combination with the meds. Consistent exercise (you said that he’s an athlete. So, this is probably already accomplished), high protein diets (may also help with sports), and neurofeedback are all legitimate options. I’m sure there are more that I can’t think of off the top of my head too.</p>

<p>I agree that Honors Bio has nothing to do with Honors Chem. Math ability is more useful in chemistry than in biology.</p>

<p>We had one kid who was ADHD (seems to be derived from anxiety but who knows – not my field) and another who is severely dyslexic and secondarily ADD. Both are bright but the latter is exceedingly bright. With the first one, Ritalin and extra time induced a shift from B to A- at a competitive private HS (she ended up in the top 25%, I think). Yoga and meditation always helped, but the Ritalin helped more. Competition made her anxious and we kept her in the second tier courses. Much better for her. She got into one of the best universities in Canada (she’s dual US/Canadian citizen) to study biology and then transferred into a program to become a Nurse Practitioner – she’s very happy and working very hard as a student and at a hospital. The immediate focus of problems in the hospital helps her. Putting her in the more competitive course would not have worked well.</p>

<p>The other one needed constant intellectual challenge and so we put him in honors science and math at the public HS. The latter was too slow for him and he needed to learn to write, so we did partial home-schooling and he would do the HS year-long math course in one semester of two 1.5 hour sessions. He takes Adderall sometimes to focus, but finds it impedes creativity. In sophomore year, he seemed to be struggling a bit with Honors Chemistry amidst the general pain of school for a dyslexic and the chemistry teacher suggested he drop down a level. He refused and did what he always did. Create a challenge for him and he blows it away. He got an A or A+ on every test or quiz from that point on. Dropping down would have bored him and would have been a disaster (for learning and self-esteem). I really protected the self-esteem and it has paid off big time.</p>