suggestions wanted!!

Rama,

There is always a reason for school refusal issues like you are describing. The trick is to figure out what it is. Has this child been tested for LD as opposed to ADHD? How does her native ability (e.g. IQ) compare to her achievement? Are there any emotional issues that might be affecting her? Does she have stress at home? Is there anyone to make sure she sits down at the same time every day and does her studying? When she studies, is there anyone available to answer questions? What about hearing and vision testing? Are there any physical issues that might make it uncomfortable for her to sit for extended periods? Is she bored by the work? Does she learn better by a hands-on approach rather than by sitting, listening and reading? Does she even know what you are supposed to do when you study? (Lots of kids don’t know this, especially the smart ones who are often able to grasp things without great effort but who run into problems as they get older and don’t have the study skills.) My point is that there are lots of reasons that kids don’t do there work. Sometimes its an issue of can’t, sometimes its an issue of won’t, but in either case you’ve got figure out why before you can decide what to do about it. Neither punishment nor reward is likely to be effective unless you know the reason for the behavior you are trying to improve.

Andrea

What are you tutoring her in? And what do you mean by study exactly? Often people use this word interchangeably with memorization. Is that what you mean? She refuses to sit down and memorize the definitions to the weekly vocabularly list or refuses to memorize the names of the state capitols?

Or she refuses to sit down and do homework?

I’d give different answers depending upon your answer. If the latter and she’s refusing to do all homework, I’d ask her why. An extremely intelligent even 8 year old girl will have an answer and probably one that would provide good insight into what she’s thinking.

Sometimes extremely intelligent people don’t need to to study. I’d also ask how you know she has to study. How are her grades in school?

Thanks Sara and to answer your questions:
firstly she started school in India but later went to NY with her parents Here she was tested and put in a special school. with lesser number of students she learnt her lessons well.She is a very quick learner and knows most of the things she’s s’posed to know.I teach her math.Her mother usually takes up her studies but brought her to me since she felt that her daughter might respond to somebody else.
Study as in doing her work, she has a test coming up in two weeks time and I cant get her to sit for more than 10-15 mins at the most..Studying just doesn’t interest her.this happens in school too, so though the teacher knows that the child is intelligent and learns fast but there’s no written work done.
I hope I have given a more clearer picture of my predicament!
Hoping for some suggestions:)
Thanks

It’s a little clearer but not completely clear yet. What testing has this child had? Who tested her for ADD/ADHD? What other testing has she had particularly in regard to her writing?

And what kind of school is she at now? If she did well at the “special school”, why is she not at that school anymore?

I’d also say that is she will study for 10-15 minutes at a time, that’s not so bad. Give her a 5 minute break after 15 minutes and let her move around. Then go for another 10 minutes followed by a five minute break.

Sometimes you can’t change the learning style of a student. Sometimes you have to plan around their learning style. But I’d still want this child to have full testing done. Children usually want very much to please the adults around them. That she has trouble sitting still long enough to do that is yet concerning to me. Few children if any are truly interested in the school tasks we give them. They’re interested in making the adults around them happy and that she can’t produce written work in school can’t be a function of her lack of interest in the work. Something else has to be going on with this child.

What does she say when asked why she won’t write in school?

http://www.nfgcc.org/quotes.htm
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/
http://www.sengifted.org/articles_counseling/Webb_MisdiagnosisAndDualDiagnosisOfGiftedChildren.shtml
look at some of the things listed on these websites….they describe some of what you wrote:)

I can relate to this both as a child and as a parent and an aunt.

The kids in my family are very quick with verbal and reasoning skills, slow or very slow to develop physically especially with fine coordination. So with primary school tasks, we could see the answer immediately but handwriting was a difficult, slow, and often painful task. Naturally we developed all sorts of avoidance of written work. Later on in school some of us did well if we had been taught to write well; those who had poor writing instruction had serious school problems.

I run into this a lot with the students I am tutoring now. The latest wave over the past five to ten years seem to have had almost no writing instruction; they were apparently left to pick it up on their own. Some cope although you couldn’t really call them good writers, while others just slide further and further downhill as work demands increase.

I have had moderate success, when the parents are willing to be patient for a month or two, with reteaching handwriting skills from the ground up, and then teaching how to do written work in the reading and math books, step by step. Once the student finds the work doable and not painful, the avoidance usually reduces to a more normal level (*some* work avoidance is normal, and a too-cooperative student can have other problems).

.She is a very quick learner and knows most of the things she’s s’posed to know.

If she knows most of what she needs to know, why does she have to study for more than 10-15 minutes? For an 8 year old who’s been in sitting in school all day, I wouldn’t think they’d be able to sit still for more than 15 minutes or so without a break. Give her a break when she’s restless. If she knows most of what she needs to know anyway, she has the time to spare. Her attention span will likely lengthen as she grows older.

As for written work, if she is able to sit for 10-15 minutes why does no written work get done at all? If she’s unable to sit for even a few minutes without one on one support, I’d seriously question wonder if this child is adhd.

If the little girl is able to focus and write, then the problem is not ADHD nor dysgraphia, nor poor fine motor skills. I agree with Sara that you need to determine the cause and it will help you address the problem. I have two suggestions that might help if the problem is not ADHD or other neurological issues. You could write a contract with the child. Determine what would be reinforcing for her (please avoid using candy) and give stickers for each unit of work you would accept. You can base it on time spent working or written assignment completed… whatever. A certain number of stickers ( a % of the total possible) would result in a prize or privilege (time on a computer for games, a walk in the park, playground time, time to draw…). Start low to guarantee success so she buys into the system. For a child of 8, I would give the reinforcement at the end of your session.

Another issue is sometimes one of control. If you let the child help set up the work schedule and the criteria for success, the child is more invested in producing the work. I developed a system to help with that for my ADD son. It’s geared to help with time management, but he started doing his work more when I stopped nagging. It’s called G. Whiz…I Finished My Homework! You can see it on my website www.gwhizresources.com

Good luck,
Fern

I agree with Sara! I did not do any “studying” to speak of prior to perhaps 6th grade at the earliest (except maybe for spelling lists and the multiplication tables). I think it is unreasonable to expect an 8 year old to spend a lot of time “studying” things they either already understand about or are not really very interested in. The very idea of “studying” is something that comes into play when children move from the concrete reasoning phase (which last until about age 11 or 12) into the formal reasoning phase, where abstractions and ideas become more important. For a child in the concrete phase, they either understand the material or they don’t, and if they are motivated, generally they will work to understand the concept, maybe practice a little, and then move on.

It sounds to me like an issue of motivation. Why should she study? What’s in it for her? Expecting her to think about the idea that studying NOW will improve her test scores at the end of next week is not reasonable. (I have a hard time convincing my 16-year-old son of this!) I think our schools are asking things of children at younger and younger ages, and many of those things are not developmentally appropriate things to require of younger children. If she is getting the material and understanding it, she will see no need to study, and in my view, she is correct. She should be allowed to play and do normal things that an 8 year old does when she gets home from school, and studying should NOT be emphasized for at least the next 3 or 4 years. The main thing I would want for a child of this age is to learn that they can succeed in learning what they want to learn. Study skills come MUCH later. Stressing them now will turn her off to school and to learning, IMHO.

Hope that helps!

Have you ever stopped to consider that the stubborness you describe may will. Why dont you find a passive student and the three of you work together. Your first student will feel proud and self assurance will rise. She will get to be the “boss”. Your second student will get to learn with and from a peer. You will have time to teach both of them respect by monitoring how they interact. You can be right there when the wrong words come to stop, explain, and replace those words. You may have win, win, win situation. It worked for me.(I was the “boss” 15 years ago.)