ADHD son does Algebra in head - not on paper

My 13 yo ADHD son (who may be gifted as well) does his Algebra work in his head and does not write down on paper how he got to the answer. I have heard of other children doing math in their heads and only writing down the answer because they can't explain how they know the answer. His Algebra teacher has told me that if he does not do the work exactly how she has shown the class to do it, then she will give him zeros on all of his papers and he will fail the class. Consequently, he is failing her class and his IQ is 126 an his math scores on the WJ III are in the 99.5 percentile. (He is on an IEP for his ADHD.) His math teachers in the past have always been amazed at his math ability and have tried to support him and let him blossom, but this teacher only seems to care about doing things her way or not at all. She also has told me that she has never had an ADHD child be tardy to class or turn in assignments late, so it's apparent that she is unwilling to deal with the fact that my son has ADHD - I feel like she wants him to be like everyone else so it's easier on her. I'm afraid that she is going to make him feel bad about himself because he's not exactly like everyone else or exactly what she wants him to be in her classroom. I want to handle this positively and work with this teacher so that my son can have a successful year. Any suggestions on how to handle this with the teacher? Thanks in advance!

kitty

I agree that kids have to learn to show their work eventually, if only to review so they can learn from their errors. However, I do NOT agree that the student should have to peform the operations "exactly as she [the teacher] has shown the class to do it." My oldest was very similar, brilliant in math but poor at showing his work. He had a teacher who had him in tears over PERCENTAGES when he was in 6th grade. I said, "Patrick, you have known how to do percentages since third grade. What's the problem?" He said, "I can't do them HER way!" I found out later that the teacher graded the students' papers by having them trade papers and listing out HER steps on the board, and they got one point for every step they showed. If Patrick used different steps, or combined two steps into one (which he could easily and legitimately do in many cases), he would lose a point. So instead of doing the calculations and showing his work, he was having to memorize HER calculations and show HER work. This was absolutely unreasonable and was very upsetting, prompting a visit from me to the principal. We met with the teacher and I found her incredibly rigid and irrational, suggesting that "math is just a mechanical process" and asking Patrick to submit his planned problem-solving strategies to her before leaving school for her pre-approval if he wanted to deviate from her approved approach.

Yes, it is important to learn to record your thinking, but some teachers ARE rigid and unreasonable in their expectations. I think you will need to talk to the teacher and find out what they are really expecting. If they want him to learn to write down how he gets from point "A" to point "B", all well and good. But if she really is expecting your child to imitate her reasoning and marking him down for any signs of independent thinking, it's time for a new math teacher!

---- Steve