Losing things at school

Avatar for toryanna
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Losing things at school
5
Tue, 08-14-2007 - 7:13am

Victor is having a blast at school. I love the fact that he finally loves school. However, he has forgotten his agenda three times at school and only gone to school for 6 days. I don't know how we can help him remember the agenda because the kids in 6th grade are supposed to be responsible for their own agenda. I wonder tho, he always forgets his agenda in gym/health class, and I wonder if he is worried about missing his bus. He tells me that he's not, yet he's always forgetting it there. We go in to write his IEP for this school in two weeks, so things will get better then but I don't want things to get out of control before then. Any ideas to help him remember his agenda without having the teacher check his backpack for him?

Alexis

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-29-2004
Tue, 08-14-2007 - 1:28pm

Is his homeroom the last period, then his teacher can check. My daughter was the same (NT child), so bought those inter office envelopes. The teacher checks inside the envelope and sign it. After my daughter finished her homework, I would check to see if it had everything and would sign. I always made her hand carry and she would leave it on the teacher's desk in the morning.

take care,
Anandhi

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-14-2007 - 9:16pm

There are a number of things that you can do. Soemtimes the simplest is a checklist. If you put a card in the front pouch of his backpack with a list of things he has to remember on it (maybe even laminate it so it stays). Then when he is getting ready to go, or even when he is packing up for the day if it is before gym, he would check the little list and just make sure everything is there. Provide LOADS AND LOADS of praise when he remembers everything and uses it.

On the list I would put
-agenda
-jacket
-lunchbox

(then add books or homework if he needs to bring that home. For us we have a set of books at home so it is a non-issue)

The other option is to leave gym 10-15 minutes early and go to the resource room and check in with the teacher there if there are lots of things he has to remember. Like which books to bring home, what papers he needs, etc. But if it is just a couple things let him try first until he gets into a routine and remembers without the list.

Another thing too is he should perhaps get into the habit of getting his backpack ready before he goes to gym. Typically he is not going to need it there I would think and if it is already packed he doesn't have to worry about it.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2007
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 3:07pm

Alexis,

I'm so glad to hear that Victor is enjoying school! It is a hard year for students to adjust to whethter NT or special needs. I teach science in 6th grade & understand how important the agenda is for students in middle school. I like Renee's ideas about the list & Victor packing his backpack before PE class. I'm not sure if the PE teacher will be able to allow him extra time to get his stuff together. There are liability issues with allowing a student to be in a locker room alone or releasing students early from class at the end of the day. Think carefully about what you want put in his IEP. My son has a 504 plan & we have listed 15 accomadations! OK, maybe I went overboard, but I felt they were all important in helping DS cope & excel in school.

Teachers are always willing to work with students and parents when it comes to agendas. I have many students who forget their agendas or don't write in them (SpEd, ADHD & NT). I've only taught 3 dx'd Aspie's & they have all been more OCD types so they were always good about doing that. Anyway, is Victor writing in his agenda & just forgetting it in his PE locker? If he is not writing in it or not getting it before his 1st period class the next day there are usually a couple of options. If he forgot his agenda make sure he has some backup papers that have a set up like his agenda for the days of the week & classes. You can make up your own in Word or often teachers have extra copies. I have a stapled bunch for each month for students who can't afford to buy agendas or who lose or forget them. Teachers are usually willing to also initial that students are copying what should go in their agenda for each class. However, since we teach so many students (125-200) we do make it the responsibility of the student to ask us to initial it each period of every day. I only initial it if they write down what they were supposed to. At my school they write the classwork & the homework for each class.

HTH,
Janet

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 8:22pm

I had to laugh at your "more OCD" type comment. I get that. Actually I have one of each kind of Aspie. My son never forgets a thing and if he does he goes into full meltdown as soon as he notices. he is almost hypervigilant on things like homework to where it is unhealthy. My daughter would forget her head if it wasn't properly attached to her shoulders. But it is so true that there are both kinds.

Cait and Mike had the same mainstream 5th grade teacher. Cait for the entire day, no aide until the end of the year and then 1/2 day. Mike had her for about 1/2 then 2/3 of his day and always had a 1:1 aide.

Mrs. W was SOOOOOO frustrated with Cait. Convinced Cait never tried, was unmotivated, I wasn't following through, etc. She was the one who kind of pushed asking for the aide for Cait. Cait is a great, compliant, sweet kid, she just has the organizational skills of a gnat with ADHD. Mike on the other hand would work for 2+ hours a night to finish each thing on his checklist (which his aide helped him with until he learned it). He was so ocd that I would try and tell him to stop and modify his work that he would throw a fit. He couldn't stop until it was ALLLLLL finished no matter what! He works very slowly, had comprehension issues, etc.

I had to convince the teacher that he needed the work modified. She was convinced Mike was soooooo smart and such a stellar student that he should be in her class ALL DAY long and do ALL the grade level homework despite the times he threw a fit in her class because he was confused or stressed.

At anyrate, it is just funny how there are different types of kids with AS and you reminded me of that story.

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Registered: 01-25-2007
Fri, 08-17-2007 - 5:06am
We have the same problem. We finally insisted that it be included as a goal in his IEP. At the beginning of the year an aide will help him pack his backpack using his agenda to make sure he's bringing home everything he needs. The hope is that as the year progresses he will increasingly be able to do this on his own. When my NT daughter first went to middle school and had lockers I taught her to put the stuff she had homework in, in the top of her locker and the stuff she didn't in the bottom so that at the end of the day she could just grab everything from the top, shove it in her backpack and race to the bus. This is one of the things that will probably always be an issue. I can imagine my son carring a blackberry everywhere when he's an adult to remind him of what he's supposed to do:)