DS15 will be a sophomore this fall. He went to a private school for 9th grade and had a mix of success and failure in the system. He has ADHD-Inattentive which profoundly affects him in all domains of life. He is currently not being treated for it although we are striving to find a good doctor with extensive experience with ADHD. DS has a diagnosis and has had some testing but we need more thorough evaluations. Here is what I know and why I am asking about MFW HS.
He has ADHD-I and his working memory is quite low. He operates at about the ability of an 11-year-old in terms of working memory and emotional control. He is easily overwhelmed. Low working memory impacts all domains of life and has quite an impact on writing. He has low epinephrine and norepinephrine. I believe he has a written expression disorder/dysgraphia. His motor skills are fine now but his abilities with the written word are below level despite a lot of work. He failed English at the school due to not doing the research paper and not writing all of the assigned essays. He CAN write but finds it almost impossible to write argumentative essays or critical thinking questions about literature, to meet arbitrary word counts and to manage large projects (ie research paper). He needs to grow but I have to know I can flex the assigned work. He also needs interesting yet streamlined reading and work. He is intelligent and easily bored. He likes discussion. He likes to read and is a strong reader. He is SO asynchronous in his abilities and it is hard to meet his needs.
I like how MFW HS integrates history, literature, Bible and writing. I like the schedule grid with clearly laid out assignments. I like that the work isn’t busy but meaningful. It seems in balance to me. Here are my questions:
1. Are the writing assignments scalable? How are the writing assignments guided? Are there explicit, step by step instructions?
2. Can the research paper be rescheduled? I want to do this with him but perhaps not at the beginning of the school year. However, I will talk with him about it! He may feel that he can do it if I’m with him and he has no other large writing projects to do. At his school he was overwhelmed by too many writing projects at once. ** I don’t have access to a WHL guide to see the pacing and the steps and the topics and the instruction.
3. We don’t want to focus on argumentative essays based on literature. If there is an assigned essay of this type will the integrated plans allow me to skip it or to substitute a different type of writing?
4. This DS needs to practice simple, clear, structured writing and be able to try different types of assignments. He is creative and would like to be able to demonstrate that he can write. He needs to practice writing but also stretch a bit.
5. Should I call the office to ask these questions?
I want to say that we have to consider WHL rather than AHL. He studied OT survey as a freshman and we need to move on from Ancients. If MFW can work then I want to keep the door open to finish the cycle with him.
Thanks for your help.