Lose choice time?
DS (in 1st grade) was dx'd with ADHD last spring and he is oppositional, as well. He is medicated, but needs frequent breaks from school work. I suspect he also has a fine motor issue as he's very resistant to writing, but it's still too early to tell or to get any help with that apparently. His teacher just discovered that he's been stashing his writing assignments, unfinished, so that he could join choice time. She sends home any work he doesn't finish in school as homework (always writing), which I completely agree with and support, and told me that she's not going to allow him to have choice time if he doesn't finish in school. I agreed with it at the time, but now that I've had a chance to think about it ... I think it's going to hugely backfire because he really needs a break several times a day.
If it was your DC, what would you do? I'm thinking maybe having him cut choice time short to go back and work would be better or at least worth a shot. Although, he wouldn't be able to concentrate well with everyone else doing choice while he's supposed to be working either.
Re: Lose choice time?
I would share my concerns about this with the teacher and let her work it out in the classroom in whatever way she feels best motivates your son to get the writing done.
My first grade DS is also pretty surly about writing. He did a year of O.T. for fine motor from the summer before K to this past summer, and it has made the writing tolerable. He LOVED going to O.T. appointments, too. He got to do lots of gross motor stuff that helped strengthen his fingers, hands, and arms, which made the writing he needed to do during therapy more bearable.
Our insurance rejected it, and it cost an arm and a leg, but it was worth it!
Going into an abbreviated choice time only to get yanked out early sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
I agree. I just know he needs a lot of breaks. Well, maybe he'll only need to learn this lesson once! I will check back with her next week and see how it's working out. Should be interesting. I'm going to ask for that eval too, thanks Auntie.
Could it be that your child has figured out that "hey, I don't need to write at school, I can do it at home?"
As for choice time being lost for work being incomplete I'm not sure. I'm a teacher and I would know that someone like your child NEEDS choice time. How about setting a small writing goal at first. He writes one sentence (let's say) and if he finishes this, he can get choice time. Eventually the goal will become bigger, and then he knows he has to work a little before he can have choice. Maybe even starting with one word on the page. Give the poor kid a confidence boost!