14 yr old not doing schoolwork

[Guest guest]

I need ideas from others who have been in the trenches. My son was diagnosed

last year so we're still trying to figure things out.

My 14 yr old is in 8th grade and can't keep up with the work. He's smart and

able to do it but for some reason he doesn't do it at school. He puts his head

on the desk even when he's told he can go down to the special ed area and work

on it there to avoid distractions. He has ADD like many of our kiddos. Since

he doesn't do it at school he has to do it at home. Every time I think he's

finally caught up 2 more teachers tell me he's behind. Currently he's failing 4

out of 7 classes simply because he doesn't turn in the work. Last night he

worked for 2 hours and completed about 1/3 of his work. His IEP says the

teachers can reduce the amount of homework at their discretion and I know some

of them have.

I have an appt with a neurologist and his pediatrician this month. He gained 3

inches and 20 pounds this past year (gotta love puberty) so they may have to

tweak his meds and give him a higher dose because of the weight gain. I'm sure

hormones aren't helping anything. It was bad enough for us and we're fairly

normal, I can only imagine what it's like when you have problems controlling

your emotions to begin with.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Ginger in Dallas, TX