Homeschooling A Child With A Mental Health Condition

[SapereAude]

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of you have children with a mental health condition and you have had to home-school them?

Are you able to share any tips on how they can benefit the most from these challenging times?

Background:- Miss 7 (grade 1) has ADHD, is on medication but still finds it hard to concentrate. I'm working from home whilst trying to home-school her again so I'd appreciate any tips you can share please. I'm sure there are others in the same boat or similar too. 🙂

Take care. Thanks in advance.

[Matchy69]

Hi SapereAude I to have kids that have ADHD,anxiety,depression and Autism.I found having routine for the kids for home schooling and making it like a normal school day helped maby even having them wear the school uniform.It was a difficult thing and understand what you are going through.

Tale care,

Mark.

[pvroom]

Do you have an OT, psych or speechie?

[SapereAude]

Miss 7 has a paediatrician who has prescribed her a common ADHD drug. She was also seeing a psychologist under a mental healthcare plan but we haven’t been able to continue with it as she has exhausted her covered visits and we can’t afford to pay for extra visits.

[Elizabeth CP]

I home schooled my son years ago. He was in high school & had different issues to your child so what worked for me might not work but you can decide if it might help.

I did the most difficult tasks in the morning when he was fresh. For particularly challenging tasks I used to set the timer & he would do as much as possible before the timer went & then he was allowed to run around outside for a short time before coming back to the task. This enabled him to focus on the task properly knowing he had a break coming up. After lunch we went for a ride/ bike ride together. He enjoyed riding & was happy to ride back & forward while I walked. On return home he was happy to do the subjects he found easier.

I had him enrolled in distance ed so the teachers there marked his work & gave him feedback. This avoided me being the one setting the work or marking it. I was just involved in helping & encouraging him which sat better with my role as parent. It doing remote learning ask your child's teacher to provide the feedback. Small successes are encouraging.