Hi Ruchie,
Everyone so far has offered some helpful thoughts! I work with highschoolers everyday as a school psychologist, a number of whom have a diagnosis of ADHD. What you told the mother sounds like it came from your observations of how she interacts with him and from the things she says to you about him. So my guess is you are really on to something in their interaction pattern. But, if this boy really does have ADHD and what he is doing in school is related to it , the school should be doing something to help him. He may be too impulsive to make better choices without some system in place to help him with that. In fact, it is illegal for a school system to suspend a student for more than 10 total school days in a year if his poor behavior is related to his disability. Something else I wonder is whether ADHD is an accurate diagnosis. Many children are given that as an initial diagnosis and then more complicated mental health concerns become apparent in adolescence (such as, BUT NOT ALWAYS NOR ONLY, bipolar disorder). This is often true in families with histories of more serious mental health problems. If this boy has not been evaluated by his school system to see if he is eligible for special ed services, you might want to encourage the mother to have this done. While he might grow out of the immature aspects of ADHD, he is at risk for never graduating if he doesn't get more control of himself soon. There are all sorts of self-esteem as well as future employment issues at risk here, too. He may need medicine to help him with this as well as special services in school. Perhaps this is more than you wanted to hear, but I hope some of it is helpful. I imagine you are an absolute gift to him! I can just hear how positive you are with him, which he loves, I'm sure. But also, kids with attentional problems thrive on one-to-one assistance. I am glad you are there for him and I bet his mother and he are too!! Happy New Year!
Andie
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Re: The boy I tutor...any advice...urgent!
