Angry April, Mad May- why is the end of the school year so unbearable?
Let’s talk about the ADHD/autistic/LD student experience in the final grading period of the year.
For many of us, the last quarter of anything is the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and the time to muster up one last burst of energy to make it to the finish line. This reality is often inaccessible to the student with disabilities-unless provided with the appropriate support. [I promise I will get to the support part- but let’s set some ground work about burnout and the ADHD/autistic/LD child.] The student on an IEP/504 has mostly likely been using the absolute maximum effort throughout the school year just to survive to this point. They are tired, and dare I say one of the many buzzwords, they are burned out! Students without disabilities can experience burnout as well and it is not exclusive to a particular population.
What is burnout? A state of emotional, mental or physical exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress. In children there might be increased irritability, decline in academic ability, loss of interest or motivation and signs of fatigue. It’s important to remember that every individual experiences stress differently and we all have varying degrees of tolerance. Although as adults we might dream of the perceived ease of being in grade school again, it is the most challenging academic/social-emotional time some of our students have experienced.
Students with disabilities are at a higher risk of burnout because they are already working 10x harder than their peers to keep up with classroom expectations. Many students are trying to give it one more burst of energy to make it to the end of the year, there just isn’t much gas left in the tank to fuel their efforts. This is why consistent accommodations and preventative interventions are critical to student success. Even if a student is successful most of the year, we need systems in place to support seasons of burnout-especially when there is a history of inconsistent achievement.
So… how do we support our unmotivated, exhausted and irritable students at home?
Accept that they will be moody and irritable through this process, and still praise their efforts as soon as they start steering in a productive direction. Honestly, this part is annoying as the adult, but I have found approaching the children with empathy specifically with the topic of school is more effective than trying to reason with them about how their excuses do not excuse them from their responsibilities.
When excuses are made my go to scripted responses is something like this, “I understand you have an explanation for this [missing assignment/failing grade], but this is a chance for you to practice accountability. This is your grade now, and you are responsible for recovering your grade to [A/B]. What are some action steps you can begin to take to get yourself there? I'm here to support you with the steps you want to take.” Students feel some type of way about calling an excuse an excuse, so I choose different words at the time of intervention.
Top action steps prompted for missing assignments and failing grades:
Email communication with the teacher! This is a great opportunity to model proper etiquette when writing an email to a teacher. Recently, a parent asked to be included on the teacher emails to be able to see the communication and I’ve been thinking about making it common practice to have my students CC parents and reply all.
Set up a tutoring appointment. Usually another emailing situation. Many teachers have tutoring schedules posted, but it is best to confirm a time because of the meetings teachers are frequently called for morning or afternoon. Make a date on the calendar of when the student will go in for tutoring instead of a generic “I’ll go in.”
Routine Check-ins. You can start these at any time! A routine check-in is a set time of day or a particular day of the week where you look at canvas (for LISD) or student agenda to ensure all assignments are current. Think every Tuesday afternoon or every day after school (give time for transition after school: get a snack, take a breather outside & generally chill for 20-30 mins.) **Bonus** for looking ahead a couple of days to see what is coming up! The end of the school year is notorious for lots of projects with longer timelines.
Body Doubling. Students will inevitably end up needing to complete missing assignments at home. The activity of body doubling requires each person participating to work independently on their own task side by side to remain accountable to staying focused on the task. This helps with the feeling of missing out on something fun because you have to do something not so fun. Sit with your student while they do their work and do work of your own. Your work might be reading your next choice book or folding laundry. It helps to keep the environment minimally distracting.
Assistance breaking down a task. Students often get stuck on a task when it feels too large to complete or they get to a step they struggle to complete independently. On larger projects, help your student break it down into smaller steps (maybe even take breaks between steps) with check-in points with specific guidance and encouragement.
Every student wants to do well in school. Even the student who struggles to remain motivated and successful throughout the 37-week school year. Acceptance is the first step of the support process because it is incredibly frustrating to be caught in the cycle of burnout that results in the common challenges of missing/late/failing work. Your student is not doing it on purpose and need more support to meet the expectation.
This post has been inspired by students I am currently seeing on a weekly basis. I would even venture to say more than half of my caseload is feeling the challenge of running out of steam in this final grading period. They will require more frequent check-ins, explicit instruction on completing tasks and loads of encouragement.
Hang in there parents! Nothing lasts forever and summer will be here soon.
This is one approach to understanding a student’s learning experience. This is not medical advice.
