Dear Loved Ones,
Around the second month, we can plan for a predictable backslide.
At some point the brain stimulating newness, of the new year, becomes not so… new…anymore. The brain is les stimulated and not serving our struggling students quite as well.
It’s a bubble bursting, raining on our parade kind of a time. Emotions and attitude are getting bigger, while answers to our questions are getting shorter.
It's not failure, it's nature. This year we will have a better semester. We will not see it all as failure, anymore.
We will expect the expected, and embrace the opportunities that the challenges bring us. This month we will use the academic mistakes to create healthy habits and teach the benefits of catching errors and tracking the fixes.
Enjoy!
Most ADHDers tend to be at their best and the most ‘normal’ at the beginning of the school year. While the majority of (neurotypical) students flounder within the newness of change, ADHDers and struggling students, have a very different experience.
Of course, things are only new or novel for only so long. It’s a tough time for struggling students, as the reality of the struggle sets in. It turns out the pattern of struggles continues and mistakes are beginning to show up again.
Despite all of their effort, things begin to slip. Their brain is betraying them, by forgetting and not listening, despite the student’s mindful efforts. It’s demoralizing. The ego takes a hit, and the increased struggle levels them feeling, “stupid.”
Meanwhile, hearing from others that the mistakes are from not caring enough or lack of effort. It’s no wonder they begin to hide and lie to keep people from knowing about their mistakes.
Supporting Our Students Through The September Backslide Phase
An increase in workload combined with a decrease in memory function is a tough combination. It's time to add a step to our daily check in routine. We need to support the working memory, as less is being remembered from one time and place to the next, with the A.R.T. Log Strategy.
The schedules will begin to get busy now, along with an increase in workload. We must manage our time as it becomes more limited. The first step to managing time, is to see it by Visual Time Mapping.
The September backslide has it's effects on grades, and it will be time to add an extra step to the weekly grade report meeting. As we aim to catch and track the blunders, we will use the Radar List to manage the most challenging phase of the semester.
