It’s pretty fair to say our youngest and the traditional education system aren’t a good fit. It’s not that he isn’t smart: in fact I think he’s probably the smartest one in our family. Yet he has not been very successful in school, to the point where last semester he failed two of his subjects. The more he fails, the more he comes to believe he’s stupid, which breaks my heart. He has all the symptoms of a kid with ADHD:

  • Has difficulty following instructions
  • Has difficulty paying attention at school and at home
  • Loses things needed for activities at school and at home
  • Appears not to listen
  • Doesn’t pay close attention to details
  • Seems disorganized
  • Has trouble with tasks that require planning ahead
  • Forgets things
  • Is easily distracted

I’ve been at my wits end as to how to help him and I was dreading him going into another school year.

However this term he’s in a program called MAD, short for Music, Arts and Drama. They spend their days learning in a kinetic way: they start with yoga and move on to do everything from set building and video producing to dance and singing. For the first time in his school life, his learning style seems to be a match to the program’s teaching style, and he appears to be loving it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed – he so much needs to have a successful year. Otherwise, I can see him just giving up and dropping out.

Last night there was a parent information night, and at the end one of the instructors mentioned how well Jamie was doing. That was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I realized that I need to hear praise for his work almost as much as Jamie himself does. I’m not sure teachers understand how difficult it is for Joe and I to go to parent/teacher interviews year after year and hear the same thing: Jamie is very bright, but needs to focus more, be more organized, put more effort into his work. He’s disruptive. He’s this, he’s that. Can’t they think of a few positive things to say? Some teachers have made me feeling guilty, like I’m not being a good parent and should be ensuring that Jamie gets his homework done on time, etc. Little do they know how much effort, heartache and tears have been expended in our house in an effort to make that happen.

MAD might not be the solution to all Jamie’s problems, but it certainly is an encouraging start. Thank you Mary and Jeff.