ADHD and homework

[Whatwasthatagainagain]

DD has just started year 2 and her teacher has raised the possibility of ADHD. Not a massive surprise as we have remarked on ADHD-like behaviour at home but it's been okay at school until now.

Her homework is a huge struggle. She has 20 minutes daily plus longer tasks for the weekend (maybe 1.5 hours worth). But because she struggles to concentrate it takes easily twice that.

We have long days - 7.30am to 5.30pm - and I think trying to get her to do more work in the evenings is just making things worse as she's already tired and becomes very resentful.

Academically she's fine, bang on track for her age. I'm wondering if we could ask her teacher for less homework so she has more time to rest and recharge to make the school day more productive for her.

YABU - just do the homework and stop complaining!

YANBU - would be better for DD to have less work and more time to decompress.

Thanks

I would ditch everything other than reading during the week some spelling practice and times table practice in the car. Inform (rather than ask) the school it is a parent decision as she is struggling with overload.

I wonder if recording the answers might be the way to go... she's quick to know the answers but it takes ages to write them down. But maybe that just means she needs practise with her handwriting!

Two things from a very experienced teacher and Senco
1: a class teacher should not be telling a parent that their child may have ADHD. It is incredibly unprofessional. The correct protocol should be to look at the areas of concern, discuss an appropriate SMART intervention to address one of the issues, then review. Assess, Plan, Do, Review. All in consultation with the Senco and parent. Following an APDR cycle, it may be decided to consult someone with more knowledge such as an EP or SALT then adjust the APDR.
2: a child who has only just started in Year 2 should not be given such a ridiculous amount of homework. It’s counter productive, can make the child develop a sense of failure and is now considered very poor practice. You believe that because your child is (unsurprisingly) struggling with this homework there must be a problem. In reality, the problem is with the teacher who thinks this approach to learning for 6 year olds is in any way appropriate!

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/homework

Thanks for this. I appreciate your knowledge as a SENCO. For what it's worth, the teacher wasn't the one to suggest ADHD. She told me about the issues in the classroom and I asked if we should consider ADHD and maybe get a test, and she said it might be a good idea. I just didn't want to write all that in the OP 😅

The Year 2 homework does stand out a bit... i remember with my other children finding Y2 a bit overwhelming, and now they are in Y4 and Y6, they don't have as much homework as my little one!

Well you’re the parent. Be the parent and change her school.

If the homework is that bad in year 2 then I agree with the previous poster who said move her to another school. That level of homework is completely ridiculous.

Seems a lot. In Y2: mine did reading, spelling and X tables. But spelling and X tables was about 5 or 10 minutes usually done on the school run.
If it's written work then it's too much. Although I'm pretty sure they can't enforce homework at primary school age. You can ask for less but if they refuse just do what she can. Whatever she does in 20 minutes is it for the day.

Reading, spelling and tables are the only homework Yr 2's need.

What else is she expected to do beyond that? It sounds ridiculous.

Personally I'd prefer a teacher to say what they're wondering about rather than leave you in the dark not knowing what they're thinking might be wrong.

Well yes I am the parent, but I'm not the education professional and nor do I think it's necessarily the best idea to yank a 6 year old out of school without maybe discussing the problem with her teacher first.