Despairing 4th grader

[littletoaster]

School has been in session for several weeks now. Last week at open house the teacher told us that a lot of times our 9 year old son doesn't pay attention. He seems to have trouble concentrating and paying attention at times, especially when it is not very interesting. Most of the time he comes home without homework or he doesn't have all of it with him. At this point, we are starting to despair....what are we going to do with him....how can we convey to him how serious school is that he is just hurting himself? He was tested for ADHD, but doesn't have it....
Short of taking all the fun stuff away, do you have any suggestions?

Susanne

[Amy2]

Perhaps you shouldn't think of taking fun things away from him, but rather, trying to make things more fun. It sounds like he is bored with his school. Maybe he isn't challenged enough. Speak with the teacher and find out what homework he is supposed to have, and ask if, for a week at least, she could ask him specifically if he has all his work to take home. Then when at home, try to find a way to make doing homework a happy, fun thing rather than punishment or a chore.

Amy

[AnnW]

Is this new behavior? How did he do in school last year? What is he saying about why he isn't gettig his homework done? How many outside activities is he involved in? Perhaps that is taking time away from homework. I think I would ask alot more questions before I started punishing.

[strawberryfire]

This happened to my younger brother in school, it was found out that he has adhd, but is above average in the maths deppartment, so a lot of his problems was that he was simply bored, as he tended to tune out once he "got" it.