Jenny can now draw cubes (3-D) and many animals, knows her shapes and colors and most letters by sight ( she's in Kindergarten). But she WILL NOT attempt to write any letters and when given a worksheet will "play" dumb. She wouldn't even point out circles to me this morning - well, she pointed out two after I raised my voice, but then shut down again and would not point out any more. Is this normal for DS kids? I don't get it, she knows these things and she is capable, but she will not do them. The teacher has tried stickers, treats, everything Jenny likes, but she will not do her schoolwork. What's the use in school if she won't do anything? Sorry, but I am frustrated. I know Jenny is strong-willed, but how do I get thru to her? Last year in school she was babied and was allowed to throw fits to get out of doing things, now it's a fight to get her to do anything. She is still not potty trained, again something that I believe is a matter of not wanting to. She can "pee" on command and hides when having a bowel movement, then comes over to me and says with a grin "Jenny's stinky" and proceeds to grab the wipes, a pull-up, and a baggie. She's a smart girl, but bull-headed! Help? Ideas? Suggestions? Yes, I know, calm down mom, she will get there. I just worry about her future so much - the local group homes here have had an abundance of sexual abuse charges and theft charges against workers - seems every time I turn around there is another report. I don't want that for her, but with her brothers both being bipolar, I have no idea who will take care of her when I am gone, both boys want to , but I worry about them being able to be on their own too. I guess I am just a worrywort.

Well Noah is stubborn too, but he likes school. Now he has homework almost every night, just reading stories that have pictures so that he can relate the picture into the story, like " The chicken says cluck", or things like this. He was doing these this morning and I was amazed, sounded just like he was really reading this story . His teacher told me that most children with Ds do NOT read with sounding out the words like most children, but read by memorizing what words look like. But hey,if they can read, who cares how they get there. Noah's letters for this month are I T and N and we have them taped to the front of the refrigerator and whenever he wants something to eat we do down the list I IN IT and so on. Sometimes he won't do it, so we don't pressure him because then he just gets more frustrated. But I will say that having sisters all around him sure helps. He will do any type of homework as long as my 11 1/2 year old twins play teacher and make it fun.

My daughter with DS is too young for me to give you advice except I do have a 12 year old who has dyslexia. Since he was in first grade I have been frustrated with his refusal to do homework even though I was sure he could do it. A 20 minute homework session would inevitably be at least an hour long with one or the other of us running out of patience. Your daughter's behavior may be a result of general frustration with school so that even the things she can do, in her mind, become overwhelming obstacles. I found the whole way for me to keep my temper was to busy myself with other things--one winter I knit an entire sweater while my son did homework--it kept me calm, I had to concentrate on it, and if I put it down to snatch the pencil out of his hand and just do it myself, I would lose my place--that sweater helped me keep my sanity, believe me. This year my son is in a private school that specializes in kids with language based learning disabilities--it has made a world of difference. He is doing virtually the same type of homework as he did last year but now he has the confidence to do it--he does it on his own without any of the frustration that we used to have. I guess I would go talk to the teacher and see if there is some way to make the homework more platable to your daughter. Hope this helped, and believe me I feel for your frustration.

As far as the potty training, my daughter (non DS) was similar in that she wanted a diaper on to poop. Finally I casually said to my sister in front of her "You know I think kids that poop on the potty are old enough to chew gum (something my daughter desperately wanted to do). We would mention the gum chewing from time to time when changing a poopy diaper and finally it just clicked and she started to poop on the potty. Maybe there is some "big girl" thing that you could bribe her with --just a thought.

Thanks for your ideas! I finally got her to do the circles, and of course it was quick. My best friend said that it sounds like she is bored - distinct possibility since she did her other paper (rhyming) which she is not a pro at yet, without any fits. I think next time we will save the "new" stuff for last so I can use it for a bribe to get her to do the "easy" stuff. And here I thought she was my easy one. . . that's what I get for thinking, huh? LOL!!!!

Lisa, your daughter is beautiful. I have trouble getting Sam to do much but he loves the computer and will play computer games and educational games on the computer. He loves praise. So we use that. I still have not been able to get him potty trained and he is 8 yrs old. I know he could do it if he wanted. He is always dry thru the night. I just started putting regular underwear on him at night before bed. I'm hoping he will like the feel better then pull ups. He also refuses to poop on the potty always hides and does it in his pull ups. Lately it seems as if everytime he gets on the computer he does it. It drives me crazy. I never thought I would be changing diapers this long. Katarina who is 3 1/2 does much better and pees and poops in the potty a lot but can't be trusted to always tell me yet so she is still in pull ups. It would be heaven to get them both potty trained before XMAS. What a present that would be. I would try more praise in getting her to do home work and see if that helps, and yes she probably is bored with the eazy stuff. It might be time to move on to more difficult work so she can be challenged.
Mary Beth

Jen is absolutely beautiful! But I hate to tell ya.....SHE SOUNDS JUST LIKE ANGELA!!!!

That could be good or bad, depeding on how much you like to hear swearing, and how much stamina you have to outsmart the smart one! I call Angela my chromosomally enhanced Einestien. She knows all her stuff, but at least 50% of the time refuses to do it.

Wow, she is beautiful. As far as her no longer being the easy one, my three kids seem to take turns being the tough one or the easy one. Just when you have it all figured out, they flip on you--so frustrating. Good luck