Well it’s time for us to decide what to do this summer! Having a child with ADHD and finding a camp can be a challenge in more ways than one. I’m actually late so I can say ‘goodbye’ to early bird discounts.

In the past years I’ve ruled out summer school and gone for taking the summer off. But school is getting harder and more demanding so I’m thinking about enrolling my son in summer school so he can keep up next year. My son does not like change (what child with ADHD does) and already has anxiety over the next school year, so I am thinking that continuing with academics into the summer will help out.

With four weeks of summer school, 2-3 weeks of camp plus family vacation time summer will be over is in no time. So will this be too much, and will he have enough down time? I am starting to re-think our plans already!

This is going to be short, but I just wanted to emphasize how valuable support groups and classes related to ADHD can be.  They certainly have been for my family and me. My fellow blogger, Erika, and I met at a Parent to Parent class through CHADD, and we continue to support each other.  Our sons now attend a wonderful social skills group together. For more information, click on the following:

*CHADD

*Meet-up.com

*Yahoo Groups

Many of the Yahoo groups are web-based, only, but they can be very helpful, nonetheless. In ways, they are better, because you can remain anonymous.  If you want a local group for social interaction and can’t find one, I highly recommend starting your own. You can find out how by clicking here or here.

The term, ADHD, is unhelpful and inaccurate.  It stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  I don’t believe my son has a disorder, and his attention may or may not be a deficit.  That is completely dependent on the situation.  This morning we had a tough time with math which included teary eyes (his) and frustration (both his and mine).  But right now he is upstairs working on his iPad Mini, creating an animation project that he’s been glued to for almost an hour.  Who’s to say he has an attention deficit?  There’s a funny bit Steven Wright does talking about his nephew with ADD.  It’s very short, well under a minute and worth watching.

Wright is right!  People with ADD/ADHD have an amazing ability to focus when they are doing something they enjoy.  The term for this is hyperfocus.  This quality can be beneficial when someone is doing something creative.  In some ways it can be detrimental to an individual’s relationships and health.  People might spend too much time doing one thing they enjoy while neglecting their spouses, their children, and their work.

What I’ve started doing with my son, so he can learn to regulate his activities during free time, is to set a timer.  If there are no meals, jobs, or errands in the immediate timeline, I have him set the timer for an hour.  After that he needs to take a 10-15 minute break and do something completely different.  To be honest, when I first began having him do this there was a bit of opposition, but now my son is used to it.  Though it’s still not a perfect system, it really has gotten better with practice.  Taking regular breaks is good for everyone.  I like to think (or at least hope), if it’s managed well, hyperfocus can really be a gift and allow those with ADD to create amazing things without harming their health or their relationships.

The truth is, we don’t all learn in the same way.  We have our own, unique learning styles.  The three most basic categories of these are auditory, visual, and tactile/kinesthetic.  Some children might learn better while listening to the teacher, or maybe looking at illustrations and graphs.  Others might learn better doing hands-on activities.

Like my son, many kids with ADHD do better when they can touch and move while they are learning.  As a homeschool mom, I have researched educational methods that complement my son’s individual learning style, which is primarily a combination of visual and tactile/kinesthetic.  Since I am relatively new to homeschooling, I have so much more to learn.  The amount of resources available is actually overwhelming.

For now I will just give some input on math.  This past year, we’ve been working with the RightStart Mathematics program.  The really great things about it are all the manipulatives and games that are included, so my son can touch, see, and do.  Also, the instruction seems more interactive and conceptual than many math programs I have come across, and the lessons have been easy for me to teach.  I won’t say it’s perfect.  My son still has difficulty focusing sometimes, which leads to some frustration and conflict.  This conflict is largely avoided, however, by taking more frequent breaks and limiting the length of the sessions.  Overall, I definitely recommend the Right Start program.

The following are recommendations by other homeschool parents for kids who are more visual and tactile:

*Math-U-See
*Touch Math
*Teaching Textbooks

All of these programs have really great websites which allow you to make an informed decision.  I’m strongly thinking about Teaching Textbooks for next year, just to see how it is.  It is interactive and mostly computer-based using CD-ROMs.  My son is such a techno kid that he might really like it.

For more information about learning styles, I recommend the following books:

Discover Your Child’s Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson

and

Multiple Intelligences:  New Horizons in Theory and Practice by Howard E. Gardner