Homework Accomodations NYC - ADHD

[Catherine NYC]

Hi -

I have a 14 yr old son with ADHD (inattentive type) and I am looking for a list of possible homework accommodations that have been used by others in a NYC public school successfully. Has anyone had success getting all their kids work listed on Google Classroom? 

Last year, teachers did not "check in" homework during class time so I would only find out it had not been completed when his grades were posted a week-ish later. Is this normal? I think we need immediate notification if he doesn't hand in the work. And he needs to do it at school that day or have a plan. 

Anyone had success with a homework schedule from the teachers? I asked last year and was also told that it was too difficult for the different teachers to give this to me. So I had some teachers with paper homework schedules, others emailing my son directly, and others with a Google Classroom assignment or paper. 

It was too much for me to follow and he wound up failing a subject, which really sucked. 

I am trying to get on the right foot this fall and had a frustrating conversation with a teacher yesterday. Now I am feeling overwhelmed again and could use some feedback from other parents. 

Thanks in advance!

Catherine

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I am not in NYC, but just in case no one from there responds, I'll try to respond in a general sense.

I assume that "check-in's" is an accommodation already written into the IEP?  If so and if the teachers are not following this accommodation, you need to inform the case manager, process coordinator, spec ed director, IEP team, etc. to make sure this happens.  You also might want to tighten up the language regarding this accommodation.  For students with ADHD, I like to suggest check-in's for "initiation of, staying on, and completion of task."

As far as getting all teachers on the same page in terms of homework, that could be more difficult.  I would request a team meeting and try to get as many of his teachers as possible there (although technically, the school district only has to bring one).  Then discuss your issues with homework (always putting it in terms of his ADHD) as a team and see what you can come up with as a solution.  For the teachers that are not present at the meeting, ask the case manager or process coordinator to inform them of what was decided.  It would be best to have it detailed in the IEP document itself, but the team may not want to dictate to teachers how they handle their homework.  There is also the fact that teachers will change at semester.  But even if you can get some kind of informal agreement in place (follow up with an email to the team as to what was decided upon during the meeting), that would be better than the chaos that appears to be happening currently.  I do think "notification of incomplete assignments upon due date" would be reasonable to put into an IEP.

[JSD24]

I'm not in NYC and my district put into their school board policy around the same time they started giving all students in grades 7-12 a laptop that all teachers will post all assignments online.  Checking the assignment book was a thing with my oldest but it wasn't needed with her younger brother with the change in policy.  They even made assignment books optional for all students when they made this change.

If K-12 is getting students ready for college, I'd say that 99.99% of colleges have their assignments posted online.

My other thought is:  are teachers posting the assignments on the portal when they are assigned?  If they are, you & your child could be checking the portal to see the assignments.  Pretty sure our portal said if the assignment was an in-class assignment or a homework assignment.  This could also be an IEP accommodation:  Teachers will post all assignments on the school portal when assigned or they much check student's assignment book that all assignments are written in the book.

Like Carolyn said:  teachers need to follow the IEP.  If they are supposed to check the assignment book & it's not happening, they are out of compliance with the IEP.  The solution is to go up the chain of command or file a state complaint.  You can also do both & file a complaint if talking to the school isn't working.

[EmilyM]

I agree with getting more specific wording on what the check-in means. Google Classroom and the like are quite common now, does the school use such a system? This could be as easy as reinforcement of an already existing district tool.

Immediate notification, if you're meaning that literally, of something not turned in might be an unreasonable expectation, though. I don't know many teachers that could realistically have the time to do that right then and there. Could you get a day or two for a homework extension to give reasonable time for the teachers to notify you and your son of the missing work with time to complete it?

Edited August 31 by EmilyM