Child cannot focus on school work

[herringboneparquet]

DS who is 14 just cannot get started on any school work task. It is absolutely infuriating.

He will sit there for ages, staring at a blank page or out the window, looking up stuff on his ipad (can't take it away as he needs it for the work), getting something to eat or drink, playing with the cat etc.

I've tried being kind and asking if he needs help.

I've tried being really harsh and raising my voice and imposing punishments.

I've tried rewards.

Nothing helps.

For context, he is diagnosed ASD and is currently not attending the school building due to overwhelm and anxiety. This is work he has been sent home. He has no issue with the level of work, it's at his level. He cannot explain what it is that is stopping him. Once he gets started he can get a bit done but can't work for long.

He has been assessed for ADHD and they did not give a diagnosis.

Has anyone come across this before and do you have any tips on what I can do to help?

Have you tried breaking it down into smaller tasks so it seems less overwhelming?

even if the work is at his academic level does he actually understand what is expected of him? Can he explain to you the task he has to do?

does he have a set time table at home for when he should be working and a clear workspace?

dont let him behave like this

Well that's a really helpful fucking answer, thanks

How confident are you that the decision to not diagnose adhd is correct?

Also does he have an ehcp? If not I wokld get the ball rolling with applying for a needs assessment asap as an Ed psych assessment may help identify the best way to support his learning.

I think you need an ed psych to work this out preferably one who specialises in ASD

What are your practical suggestions to go alongside this?

As you probably know, “chunking” work for kids with SEN is really helpful so that they can be organised and know what’s expected. You’ve probably got a “now and next” timetable set up for him? Does he use any fidgets or weighted aids to help settle and ground him? And scheduled reward time that will give a quick Dopamine kick to get him inspired? Is his environment right for his needs?

It’s hard to know what to suggest as obviously every child is different. It’s incredibly tough and frustrating. I’d suggest concentrating on rewards for getting started and having a go, and avoid punishments or taking anything away as that’s not been helpful for us.

Good luck, he’ll get there eventually.

Would a walking pad help? He could put some faint music on, set the walking pad away and walk. Then while walking can consider his thoughts about whatever he has been asked to do. Once he has burned a bit of energy and distracted his limbs enough then he can choose to sit and write (or have the paper on a higher counter nearby).

Sometimes if I'm feeling a bit distracted with work ill take the laptop to a high counter and just being mobile kind of helps keep me more engaged on the task.

Please have a look at developmental language disorder. 1 in 14 children have it. It is the most common issue to have with learning and struggles to do written or any work. Does he also struggle with his peers? Or seem younger then his peers.

Has he also been assessed for dyspraxia ?
That can cause a short attention span and they struggle to focus on the task

What do you expect people to say? Refusing to start is entirely under his control, he is choosing not to.

You have no understanding of special needs do you?

Not very

The tasks are broken into small parts yes and he does understand what he has to do.

No he doesn't have a set timetable because I've been trying to pick times where I feel he would mentally be able, but this will be my next thing to try, thank you for suggesting.

I second an EHCP if DS doesn’t already have one. If he does you need an early review. Has DS had Ed Psych, OT and SALT input? Has he tried assistive technology &/or a scribe? Have a look at executive functioning difficulties.

Why isn’t DS attending school? How long has that been the case? (Not asking to be nosey, if it is an ongoing issue DS is entitled to more than work sent home).

Yes I do, I am a senco, and I recognise when someone is twirling their mother around their little finger.

We are in Scotland and they don't do EHCP here or anything equivalent. The Ed Psychs are HOPELESS. They will not get involved with individual children at all - just give advice to the school. They actively refuse to attend meetings etc.

His behaviour is super common with students with ASD.

As others have said the work needs chunking more and then some additional scaffolding like sentence starters to help get things flowing. I encourage my DD to go through the text first and highlight any words she doesn't know and to look them up in a dictionary first - it doesn't require any real brain power but gets her started and is useful when learning key vicab. If he knows all the words, get him to highlight all the nouns/adjectives etc the aim is to get the work started and break the initial ice.
Another problem can be fear if making mistakes so get him a mini whiteboard to try his answers out on first.
Another technique would be to get a large white board and different coloured board pens so that he can write standing up - he can then take a photo of his work and upload it into his document.

Where does he work? It's also very common for children with ASD to struggle to do school work at home so if you can dedicate a separate space / even decorate a shed or go to the library so it feels like a work area then this can help.

Wow. There's some unhelpful comments on this thread. I want to follow for practical solutions for my Son too who also has autism and who struggles with this. Please be kind to op, if she's like me she's going through an exceptionally difficult time. You obviously have no idea how difficult it is to parent a child with autism.

Thank you - all good ideas and will give them a try. I'll try and think of some different rewards/systems.

As you are in Scotland, have a look at Enquire.

What's a walking pad?

If that’s true, you need retraining and educating, fast.

Interesting thanks. Yes struggles with peers but that's obviously linked to the autism.