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We just sent in our six year-old's Montessori application for first grade next year. Our suburban public school system has an amazing reputation, and the passi

We just sent in our six year-old's Montessori application for first grade next year. Our suburban public school system has an amazing reputation, and the passing rates for standardized tests are some of the highest in the state. Sadly, our little Aspie with ADHD issues has already expressed his dread of first grade. He doesn't want to do "seatwork", "paperwork", or any of the other drudgery that our local district tells him is "his job". [Quotes indicate words used by teachers with the best of intentions.] I can't figure out the value of this pseudo-rigor. Maybe I'm unusual in my autodidactism, but I can't think of anything I know which I (1) find valuable and (2) learned by force. I bought a K'NEX roller coaster kit and helped him put it together. At first, he didn't grok the pseudo 3D instructions or the way the pieces fit together. However, after an hour or so, he was rotating our partially assembled segments in his head to compare them to the illustrations. But, this doesn't count as rigorous seat work. Oh well. Our school actually does an excellent job of avoiding the binary incentives of No-Child-Left-Behind and attempts to provide somewhat individualized instruction to students. Ohio has yet to adopt a value-added measurement scheme, and I wonder how our district would fare, especially if achievement was normalized for socio-economic status (the average household income is over $100K, a high number for Ohio). We hope that the Montessori school's motivated teachers can use their freedom from mandated curriculum requirements, standardized testing, etc. to facilitate our son's exploration of what interests him. I don't care if his education is seen as incomplete, unbalanced, or otherwise non-standard so long as he grows to become a curious, thoughtful, and creative person. When has someone with these qualities ever failed because he had some perceived weakness in his childhood education?

pbhjpbhj 14y ago
>When has someone with these qualities ever failed because he had some perceived weakness in his childhood education? // Define "failed". Failed to get a job, too right. Failed to fit in to society, check. Failed to be happy, seems to go with the territory(!?). Will you excuse a short aside:I'm interested in the diagnosis of a 6yo as having ADHD - what procedures and tests were performed to come to that decision. In my, albeit limited, experience of primary aged (4-11yo) boys if they're not running around half the time like some sort of sugar rushing lunatic then they're the exception to the rule. Can he sit and watch a TV show for 20 minutes without leaving to do something else?
- acuozzo 14y ago
  > Can he sit and watch a TV show for 20 minutes without leaving to do something else? ADHD causes __attention_regulation__ difficulties. Many mistakenly see it as a simple lack-of-attention, but fail to realize that hyper-focus is also a common symptom. I suggest reading the first few chapters of ``More Attention, Less Deficit'' to gain a basic understanding of ADHD.
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    I'm naive about ADHD but not that naive. I was specifically interested in the TV part rather than trying to suggest that if they could concentrate [on TV] that was asymptomatic of any disorder that might have been diagnosed. Thanks for the reading suggestion. At what point does ignoring people (or bodily needs, or whatever) because you're focussed [which is genuinely something I do] become "hyper focus" and how is one differentiated from the other diagnostically?
- btilly 14y ago
  If you think that ADHD boys are running around half the time like some sort of sugar rushing lunatic then you do not know what ADHD actually is. It is not generally a problem of too much energy and lack of focus. Rather it is a problem of inappropriate focus, frequently very intense. For instance my nephew would get so interested in whatever he was doing that he would fail to realize that he needed to pee, and then after he peed his pants he would get very upset that people were making him change his pants when he wanted to do something else. It becomes a problem in school when children are unable to follow repeated directions because they are unaware that directions have been given, because their interest has been caught by something - anything - else. Disclaimer: I am the parent of a 7 year old who has been identified as likely having ADHD, though I have not yet done the official screening.
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    Sounds like I have ADHD. >identified as likely having ADHD // Yes this is the part I'm interested in, what's the diagnostic process you've gone through?

pbhjpbhj 14y ago

>When has someone with these qualities ever failed because he had some perceived weakness in his childhood education? // Define "failed". Failed to get a job, too right. Failed to fit in to society, check. Failed to be happy, seems to go with the territory(!?). Will you excuse a short aside:I'm interested in the diagnosis of a 6yo as having ADHD - what procedures and tests were performed to come to that decision. In my, albeit limited, experience of primary aged (4-11yo) boys if they're not running around half the time like some sort of sugar rushing lunatic then they're the exception to the rule. Can he sit and watch a TV show for 20 minutes without leaving to do something else?

acuozzo 14y ago
> Can he sit and watch a TV show for 20 minutes without leaving to do something else? ADHD causes __attention_regulation__ difficulties. Many mistakenly see it as a simple lack-of-attention, but fail to realize that hyper-focus is also a common symptom. I suggest reading the first few chapters of ``More Attention, Less Deficit'' to gain a basic understanding of ADHD.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  I'm naive about ADHD but not that naive. I was specifically interested in the TV part rather than trying to suggest that if they could concentrate [on TV] that was asymptomatic of any disorder that might have been diagnosed. Thanks for the reading suggestion. At what point does ignoring people (or bodily needs, or whatever) because you're focussed [which is genuinely something I do] become "hyper focus" and how is one differentiated from the other diagnostically?
btilly 14y ago
If you think that ADHD boys are running around half the time like some sort of sugar rushing lunatic then you do not know what ADHD actually is. It is not generally a problem of too much energy and lack of focus. Rather it is a problem of inappropriate focus, frequently very intense. For instance my nephew would get so interested in whatever he was doing that he would fail to realize that he needed to pee, and then after he peed his pants he would get very upset that people were making him change his pants when he wanted to do something else. It becomes a problem in school when children are unable to follow repeated directions because they are unaware that directions have been given, because their interest has been caught by something - anything - else. Disclaimer: I am the parent of a 7 year old who has been identified as likely having ADHD, though I have not yet done the official screening.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  Sounds like I have ADHD. >identified as likely having ADHD // Yes this is the part I'm interested in, what's the diagnostic process you've gone through?