Two from the Washington Post

I found this blog, How to Handle Homework, in The Washington Post. I offered the following comment:

I agree with much of what is said in this article with some exception. Focusing on the comment, “The child is responsible to the teacher for the homework,” I would replace that with “The child is responsible to the teacher in school and to the parent at home. Although most parents will support the teacher in the assignments sent home, the parent remains the authority at home and must have the final say if homework assignments are interfering with normal life.”

I also found this video, A Parent-Teacher Conference Gone Wrong, there. It is an exaggeration and somewhat silly but also highlights a point. I offered the following comment.

What I find interesting in this video is the underlying issue of hierarchy, sadly missed in understanding problems in parent-teacher relationships in general, and homework in particular. The video is an obvious exaggeration, but one can respond with sympathies for both the teacher and the parent. In each case, the dialogue goes awry when individuals take charge of issues outside their zones of control. It is really the parents' decision about the value of the various sports the child attends and the parent has a right to emphasize the learning issues that need to be addressed in the 504, particularly if the child's reading levels are so far below grade expectations. On the other hand, the teacher needs a reasonably free hand teaching in the class, without threats to her job and without excessive pressure to meet standards promulgated by political forces, not well-grounded in educational practice. In the end, homework becomes the battleground for these conflicts because, by its nature, it traverses the boundaries between home and school.

 

Here is the embedded video:

 

 

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Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.

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Recent Study on ADHD

There is a new study that is making the news today finding a delay in brain development for children with ADHD. Although the study is new, the results are not surprising as there have been other theories and evidence that support this line of thinking. The implications may be that the ADHD child is capable of learning at his or her age and grade level, but not capable of complying with the behavioral demands that go with that age. We medicate these children to get them to comply. We then demand that they keep complying when they get home. It seems clear to me that we should not be fighting these kids against their inner natures 24 hours a day. It’s one thing that place demands on them during the day for the sake of giving them the education they need. It is another thing to keep pressuring them through the afternoon and night, and make them do more schoolwork when they get home. If their brains are a few years behind, at least in the area of behavioral control, then we should let them act and play based on where they are at in a developmental sense. With little research to support homework as a policy for all, it should be a standard accommodation in a 504 plan for children with ADHD that homework assignments be waived or greatly reduced.

For other comments on ADHD, visit these recent postings:

Early treatment of ADHD.
Homework, ADHD, and the 504.
Homework, ADHD, and the lifespan problem.

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

Visit the website
Read book reviews of The Homework Trap
What is The Homework Trap?
A Roadmap to Success
504 plans

Homework, ADHD, and the life span problem

 

I read an article in the Denver Post entitled “Advocate for your child withinschool systems.” The article reports one parent’s experience with a child who has ADHD and the difficulties she had over her first ten years of education. The parent then came across a brochure, “My Child Hates School … and I Do, Too.” I don’t have a copy of that brochure but it appears that this parent finally learned that while the school was not providing accommodations, her child could have protections based on this developmental disability.

I think all parents should have this information, but I also think that it is critical that we go further and understand what protections help and are actually needed.

For the most part, protections come in the form of a 504 or IEP. They can only consist of provisions and accommodations of which the school is aware. Considering the 504 plans I’ve reviewed, it appears to me that they mostly consist of good teaching practices, which should be used for all students, and a few specific ones for the ADHD child – e.g. extra time, preferential seating, tape recording, hard copy instructions. I have yet to see a 504 plan that includes homework relief.

Without homework relief, the 504 will be highly ineffective for the child with ADHD. That child may or may not be medicated. Either way, the child will be struggling to hold it together through the full school day. That child needs relief, not more work, when he or she gets home. That child does not need extra medication since it will invariably interfere with appetite and sleep. That child needs to play, to burn off steam, and to get refueled through a peaceful home that offers respite and relief.

The problem with more time is that it is absolutely meaningless as an accommodation at home. At school, more time is actually redistributed time within a fixed school day. The child may go to school from 9 to 3. If he or she spends an extra 15 minutes completing a worksheet or test, that is 15 minutes less of other things to do. If the student takes the SAT, it is not a problem to stay into the afternoon to finish a test one Saturday of the year.

But where does the extra 15 minutes, or ½ hour, or couple of hours come from when the assignment is sent home? Maybe extra time means no penalty for handing the assignment in a few days late. But as long as the assignments keep piling up, there is no true accommodation at all.

My general formula for homework trapped children involves time bound homework. For children with ADHD, I strongly recommend an even shorter period of time.

When you go for your 504, keep this formula in mind. More time at school; less work at home.

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

Visit the website
Read book reviews of The Homework Trap
What is The Homework Trap?
A Roadmap to Success
504 plans

On being specific

Today's video was inspired by an article sent to me by a follower of The Homework Trap. The article invited comments about how homework policy should be changed. It got me thinking about the importance of being specific when dealing with the school about what you want for your child. We're all emotional about our children and it is easy to fall into the trap of sharing our emotions without being clear about exactly what we want the school to do. I offer a simple model:

Time bound assignments
Penalty reductions
Parents with full authority over the home

You may have other ideas about what your child needs. Whatever it is, I think it is important to keep those proposals simple and clear.



Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

Visit the website
Read book reviews of The Homework Trap
What is The Homework Trap?
A Roadmap to Success
504 plans

Homework and ADHD

Children with ADHD require greater reductions in homework than othe children require. And they need these reductions while having full access to the regular classroom. These reduction can be incorporated into a 504 plan. The following video explains why this is required. The concept is also included in my book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.



Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

Visit the website
Read book reviews of The Homework Trap
What is The Homework Trap?
A Roadmap to Success
504 plans

Homework and ADD

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with a family: mom, dad, grandma, and 12 year old boy. The boy was well-mannered and seemed like a normal child. His mother told me that they had had ongoing problems with him at school. He did well in class, but did not get his homework done. His mother was called in by the school starting around third grade. She told the teachers that he had trouble focusing on the work and thought he might have ADD. The teacher scoffed, the demands kept coming in, and homework would go on all night long. In fourth and fifth grade, the same. Then in sixth grade, his teacher decided he had ADD and, based on that opinion, the school did a 180 and was now pushing hard for diagnosis and treatment. In effect, his teacher wanted this boy to take medication. She did not want to revise the requirements. The child did not seem hyperactive to me and his mother made the point that he had ADD, not ADHD. I shared my thoughts that homework time should be capped and that it is an error to conceptualize the problem just as the child not getting his work done. Rather, we should conceptualize the problem as the child is spending too much time on homework. Reduce the required time and the child is more likely to comply and more likely to actually get some work done. If this child is inattentive at school, he was certainly paying attention to what I was saying and eagerly and appropriately joined our conversation. He seemed very willing to work for an hour if he could then be free, and his parents seemed to think that would work for them as well. I don’t know if this child has ADD. I didn’t get the feeling that he did and it is an overly diagnosed condition these days, but, who knows? It would require more information than I had in this fairly casual context to know. But the point is that this was an average seeming family with competent parents, certainly capable of looking at their son and making decisions on his behalf, and if they are battling with him long into the night, not because they choose to but because they feel forced to, they cannot really help and guide their child. I mentioned to the parents that they should make the decision to cap the time. I shared with them the norm in education, an hour per night per grade, which could be used as a standard. I suggested that they make that decision, firmly and not subject to negotiation, and see what the teachers do. In my experience, even if they don’t agree with that decision, many teachers will modify their demands once the parents are clear this is the decision they have made. I also point out, that if their child truly had ADD, that could also be the basis for constructing a 504 plan. I cautioned them that the one problem with a 504 plan is that most schools are not yet aware of the model I promote, so 504 plans often include “more time,” not “less work.” The other issue with ADD, which did not seem appropriate for this particular family since this child’s “ADD” was either non-existent or mild in nature, is that children with true ADD or ADHD, need even lower time caps on homework than ordinary children need. I’ll explain that piece in a future blog post.
Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

Visit the The Homework Trap website

Homework Trap and Learning Disabilities

Over the summer, I plan to place a greater emphasis on the homework trap and learning disabilities. My model highlights the notion of under-the-radar learning disabilities, and I also place specific emphasis on homework problems associated with ADHD. I'll have more comments and add some video comments as well (this is a getaway weekend for my wife and me so I'm not in a good setting to make a video for the next couple of days). I'll also intermix my posts with posts about the petition for the National PTA to take up homework reform. There has been a call for personal homework story videos and I will be making mine next week. Follow this link for more information about that petition.

For today's comment, I will direct you to an article I read on the cost of literacy. The article reports on the success these parents had sending their child who has learning disabilities to a high priced school. They found the school well worth the price. Obviously, this is not a solution that is accessible for every student and even if school districts identified all of these kids, you would get a lot of resistance in these times of fiscal austerity getting schools to agree to pay for such a plan. Perhaps, you could fight under federal disabilities law and win.

I think there is an important back story to this story, and it is found in two lines written in the article. They are:

"The first year I’d have to sit w him to do his homework we had to have these incentives. He was often crying. Not because it was so hard but because he was scared of doing it," and (referring to his new, private school)

"Basically, school starts at 8:15 and finishes at 2:30...He sees the occupational therapist there. They also have a social worker who does a type of group therapy there so they have a class that they take that is getting them used to having a learning disability and some of the other issues that might go along with that. Also she’s available for one on one for kids who are frustrated, sad, angry. We’ve availed ourselves of all those services."

If we combine those two comments, we see that the child is capable of thriving in a time bound setting, but was struggling before because of the homework demands. If we eliminated homework, or at least capped it by time, as we do for the school day, the child will begin to thrive. Note that the special services this child is getting in his special school are being given within the boundaries of his school day, not as an add-on at a learning center on top of homework assignments, and the result is predictable.  Both his learning and his sense of well-being have improved. There is no reason why public schools cannot let children, in far more cost effective ways than sending them to private schools, successfully learn by simply using time containers, assessing rather than punishing the problems, and providing reasonable instructional strategies and interventions during those specified times, and then letting the child relax, refuel, and play.


Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

Visit the The Homework Trap website

Using the Summer to Plan for Homework Next Year

With the summer around the corner, parents of homework trapped children, everywhere, plod on to the end, as they anticipate a brief period of relief. Even if the school sends summer work home, it’s not the same. It probably won’t get done, and unlike what happens during the school year, the consequences will be slight to none.
But now’s the time for parent to think of their own “homework” for their homework trapped children. What do you plan to do this summer so that next year won’t be the nightmare it has been?
My recommendation is to map out in your mind how you want the next year to unfold, and put it together in a very specific plan. Present it to the school, and, if you don’t feel you’ll get support, ask for a meeting and a 504 plan. The plan should have three primary components – time limited work, penalty reductions, and a clear statement that you are the head of your home. If your child is in middle school, there also ought to be an identified person in the role of a study skills teacher. For more information, watch my video.
Visit my website

The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers
Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with 35 years of professional experience in dealing with many different psychological issues. He is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers and currently works in his own private practice.

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Time to think about 504s

As summer draws to an end, it is time to think about what you want for your child next year. If you have had chronic homework problems, your child needs relief. Once there is homework relief, you can start observing rather than pressing your child, and consider what he needs in order to succeed. If he's already in middle school, you need for the school to have someone on their staff who can negotiate among the teachers so your child has priorities for using his limited homework time. I would back off from trying to micromanage the schools in deciding between good and bad homework in favor of giving them a fixed amount of time for homework to be done in your home, and leave it to them to decide among themselves what's the best way to use that limited time. Here's my recommendation for your 504 plan. I explain the psychological reasoning behind it, in detail, in my book:
1. Time bound homework. Require ten minutes per night per grade. Create homework sessions that start and stop with a clock.
2. Reduce penalties. Modify the penalties so that the child gets rewarded for the work he does and cannot fail because of homework that was not done.
3. In middle school, assign a study skills teacher. This teacher works with the student to develop study skills, provides extra time to complete assignments in school, works with the teachers at establishing priorities, and serves as the primary contact for the parents.
4. Recognize that the parent is the head of the home. Establish an understanding that in fine tuning their efforts to get the child on a positive track, teachers and parents will work together, but that for matters in the home, the parents are the ones who have the final say.
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