[Bright Music] >>Homework.

The word gives kids shutters and triggers PTSD flashbacks in parents who recall their own dealings with protractors and prepositions.

As the debate over the value of homework rages on, educators continue to embrace the adage that practice makes perfect.

Try telling that to a child with learning and attention issues whose patience and ability to stay focused have been ground down like a number two pencil after an exhausting day at school.

Homework can test any child's limits, but for youngsters who learn differently, struggles with executive functioning which impacts their ability to plan, organize, and prioritize can mean homework leads to meltdowns and breakdowns that lead the child feeling down and out about education.

The good news is that while there is no one size fits all solution for helping neurodivergent children conquer homework, there are strategies parents can tailor to suit their child's needs that can transform homework from horror to hurrah.

On this episode, we visit a Midwestern mother of kids with ADHD who long endured stressful homework sessions but fortunately found a solution that has made homework less, well, work.

Next, our panel of national experts reveals what makes homework for neurodivergent kids a struggle and offers winning strategies for acing the assignment.

Later, you'll meet our latest difference maker, a teenage car buff and photographer whose loving portraits of classic rides turn the saying seeing is believing on its head.

But we begin in Montrose, Minnesota with Bryana Petry for whom homework became a battle last year when her twins entered middle school.

After trying nearly everything to power through homework, from scheduling study time to handing out rewards, she found the solution to set her children up for success hiding in plain sight.

Health Day's Special correspondent Mabel Jong brings us their story.

[Serious Music] >>For a lot of students, homework can be a real chore, but for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, it can be almost painful.

Completing tasks such as writing down assignments, bringing home books, and remembering due dates is often a struggle.

One that impacts not just the student but the entire family.

Bryana Petry and her identical twin sons, Miles and Owen, know the frustrations well.

>>When the boys were little, I had an in-home daycare and I could definitely tell when they were toddlers, the hyperactivity was definitely noticeable.

The impulsiveness came a little bit later when they were more getting into school.

The whole general concept of that inability to focus was definitely apparent once they got into the elementary school.

>>Miles and Owen, who are now 12, were officially diagnosed with ADHD when they were six or seven.

But Bryana initially held off on treatment.

>>I wanted to wait to see if we could overcome the obstacles.

Unfortunately waiting made them fall behind in school and then it started to affect their personalities more, the anxiety, depression, they could see that their peers were moving ahead of them and that they were struggling.

>>Bryana knew they needed individualized education plans, IEPs, and worked with the school system to get them in place.

>>They were they struggling with reading and the handwriting and that kind of stuff, just too many distractions in the classrooms.

The teachers were making accommodations like preferential seating and more one-on-one like check-ins.

>>But when their teachers started assigning homework the battles moved from the classroom home.

>>It was a challenge for starters getting it home.

Unfortunately, by the time they got home from school, they were burnt out with the sitting.

When we had to do homeschool stuff for COVID, it was a disaster and I swore that if it happened again the next year, I was gonna pay someone to do it for me because they fought me.

I don't think that it accomplished anything.

They weren't learning.

We were both just or we were all just getting really, really frustrated.

>>Miles and Owen recalled the hardest parts about getting the work done.

>>The motivation definitely.

All day long at school is just tiring.

Then you have to go home and eat and then you're still tired 'cause of how long the day was.

>>When COVID hit, like everyone was outta school.

So we had to do it online also.

So we weren't getting it done at all.

>>Bryana tried many of the recommended accommodations such as creating separate homework spaces, shortening worksheets, scheduling study breaks, and using a reward system.

But she says all too often the work never made it back to school.

Then came sixth grade and the challenges got even bigger.

>>Just having to switch classes so much, I think they were overwhelmed with the amount of teachers and the amount of classwork.

The school that they go to has a binder that they're supposed to bring home and back to school every day.

They discovered very quickly that that was not practical with my kids.

We were lucky if it made it home.

Very lucky if it made it back to school.

Whether the homework was done or not was, you know, not even relevant at that point if they didn't have their stuff.

>>Luckily the boys' teachers and caseworkers also noticed their struggles and started letting Miles and Owen keep their binders at school.

>>So during school hours, theyre pulled a few times a week and all of their out of school homework is completed in school in small groups with the teacher right in the building.

It doesn't have to leave, it doesn't have to come back.

It doesn't take, you know, effort and energy from us but it still accomplishes the same things.

>>Bryana made sure this change was written into the boys IEPs and says she's lucky they have a strong special education support team.

>>We've noticed a vast improvement in their grades.

You know, they're still taking the standardized tests, they're still doing all of the stuff that's required in the education system.

They just don't have that big heavy weighted, oh, you didn't bring back your 45 assignments that you were due this year, so you automatically fail.

>>And that's a big relief to Miles, who has a more positive outlook on homework these days.

>>I would probably say it's way better now than before because like I had homework today, it was, and I finished it in school.

>>Miles and Bryana also have some advice for parents and children with ADHD.

>>There's lots of resources, there's counselors, caseworkers, social workers, usually the schools have a psychiatrist that they work with and just utilize those resources and if you don't get the answer the first time or if someone blows you off, then go to the next person and just keep trying.

>>If you're struggling like this just please I'm, I, please listen to us, like find a teacher after school.

>>We asked the twins what they wanted to be when they got older.

Owen said he wants to become a chef and feed people in need.

Miles may be a fisherman.

Their mom says she just wants them to be happy no matter where their education leads them.

I'm Mabel Jong for A World of Difference.

[Upbeat Music] >>Thanks, Mabel.

Next let's meet our experts who will tackle the homework battles.

[Calm Music] Tom Flis is a board certified and licensed behavior analyst and licensed clinical professional counselor who has more than 20 years of experience working with children and adults diagnosed with developmental disability across multiple settings including in home, schools, inpatient, outpatients, and out in the community.

He currently serves as the clinical director for the Center for Autism and as the behavioral services manager for inpatient units at Shepherd Pratt in Baltimore, Maryland, the nation's largest private nonprofit provider of mental health, substance use, special education, developmental disability, and social services.

Kara Grimes is a school psychologist and mental health counselor with SPG Therapy and Education, one of the largest multidisciplinary providers in California.

Grimes boasts expertise in school-based mental health, JEDI, which is justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, and disability identification.

She has a background in theater, film and digital production and advocates for therapeutic storytelling through arts, education, drama therapy, and psychoeducation.

Michele Patestides is a learning specialist and certified coach at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, America's first accredited college or university dedicated to educating students with learning and attention issues.

A former public school teacher with a master's degree in special education focused on varying exceptionalities, she specializes in strengths-based student support techniques, teaching, and program development skills.

And we're gonna start our conversation with Tom.

So Tom, tell me why is homework such a struggle sometimes for children with learning and attention issues?

>>Yeah, to answer that question we really have to look at the learning process as a whole.

The ultimate goal of learning in a traditional classroom setting is to cast as wide of a net as possible, but that net can't catch all, right?

So if this one size fits all approach, well there, there really isn't a one size fits all when it comes to our kids learning.

Students with learning difficulties or differences might not be able to register or process that information in the same way that their neurotypical peers might.

So when homework is centered around the way that neurotypical students learn, students with learning differences might experience challenges like having difficulties understanding or becoming distracted from their their work.

So that's one, I think, not understanding or having the tools to solve those academic problems in the classroom is certainly going to generalize to other areas such as completing homework.

And look, I think this point is very relatable to parents themselves.

Concepts of being taught to our kids today are very different than when we were kids.

You know, when I'm helping my own child with their math homework, you know, he is completing them correctly, but I have no idea how he came to that conclusion.

Right?

And that is frustrating to me as a parent.

So just imagine how overwhelming it is for our students who have difficulties with learning and attention, especially when their performance is being assessed and graded.

Another thing I want to point out is the environment itself.

Kids may have sensory needs or sensory aversions and if the home environment is loud, disruptive or distracting in any way, that can certainly make completing those assignments difficult.

So again, difficulties in the learning process and learning environment both can lead to those struggles that some students experience.

>>Thank you for that.

And thank you for giving me a PTSD flashback about helping my child with homework, Tom.

So Kara, what are some of the common challenges that students with learning and attention issues face when completing homework?

>>Sure.

There is a variety of different challenges that students with learning challenges can experience.

It's largely going to depend on what your students' personal learning experience is like.

Some common ones can be emotional regulation concerns, difficulty focusing on school and classwork as a whole, especially when that classwork is brought home into a different environment.

They could also be experiencing fatigue.

Think of how we feel after a long day of work and all kinds of different interactions we have with our coworkers and other people.

Then having to come home and you might have to take back more work.

It can be really strenuous and really stressful and your children are experiencing something similar, especially if they're neurodiverse.

Also anxiety and even overstimulation coming back from school with the loud noises, bright lights, children laughing, play.

All of these things can generalize in the home setting when they're completing schoolwork.

And generally what the, what challenges your student experiences in the school setting will usually follow them back home.

But with the difference of environment in home, it's likely going to be a little bit different than it is at school.

Probably less children, less teachers, less movement, less transitions, but depending on their experience at home and their peers at school, these things will follow themselves back and forth.

>>All right, well thank you.

So Michele, obviously the frustration that builds when you're having struggles with homework can possibly lead to emotional outbursts from children.

How can parents help to turn the temperature down on that and help their kids power through the homework assignments?

>>That's such a great question, Darrell.

Yeah, that happens and it's going to happen.

So when those emotional challenges start intensifying that's when parents really need to know, okay, it's time to take a break.

Children stop benefiting from the homework and when their emotions are starting to derail them and their parents, important to take that time out.

Parents know their children, you know what you can do to help them calm down.

Something like some deep breathing, maybe taking a walk, listening to music.

Once the child has been out of that emotional challenge period, then they can come back and after that deescalation, resume once they're calm again.

And that's when it's time to resume the homework, not before.

It's important also to remember to just keep those positive structures and routines and predictable setups for doing homework and also knowing, okay, this is time to take a break and we'll come back to this a little bit later.

>>All right, thank you, Michele.

So Tom, if you have a child who's having these homework struggles and he's banging his head against a brick wall night after night after night doing his homework and not having much success, are there any long-term implications with these challenges for the student?

>>Yes, I absolutely, and again, if you think about it as we go through the school year, you know, students are forming those building blocks to be able to solve and answer more complex problems.

When a student is struggling to learn those basic building blocks of the material that's being taught, that can be incredibly frustrating for them and make it very difficult for them to perform in academia.

So what implications does that have?

This can decrease their confidence.

It could lead to thoughts that they don't measure up with their peers.

They can have a lot of negative self-talk.

Certainly it can have an impact on self-esteem and most likely it does.

Kids who have trouble with their homework could have increased anxiety well at homework time and it's highly likely that they will have significant amount of anxiety that builds over time.

This might lead to a number of things, they might begin to get frustrated.

They may have, you know, it could lead to possibly outbursts or episodes of anger.

If parents and teachers don't address those issues early on those problems can certainly lead to a snowball effect.

When left unresolved, that frustration could really spark some behavioral issues at home and out in the community as well as, you know, the, again, the child thinking, you know, really negatively about themselves.

>>So Kara, there is a raging debate about the value and benefit of doing homework in the first place but I'm wondering whether children with learning and attention issues do get any benefits from doing homework on a nightly basis or whenever it's assigned.

>>Sure.

Homework for learning diverse students can be very beneficial in a lot of different ways.

Particularly it gives them the opportunity to practice their learning supports and their learning goals in a safe, low stakes environment like home.

>>Watch the full ask the expert segment on our website at awodtv.org if you wanna learn more about this topic.

You can also watch or listen on Facebook, YouTube or on your favorite podcasting platform.

Next, let's meet our latest difference maker.

It's not unusual for a teenage boy to have a full throttle love affair with cars.

So in that respect, Anthony Schmidt is ordinary.

It's only when you look at his photographs of vintage automobiles that ordinary shifts into higher gear.

Using his iPhone, Anthony composes photographs of model cars that appear life size and realistic.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook even took notice in a tweet of Anthony's deft skill at employing a photo magic trick called forced perspective photography that Anthony taught himself when he was six years old.

That was just a year before Anthony was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and just a few short years before he published his first book of his work, "Small Cars, Big Inspiration."

And you heard right, I said first book.

Anthony's second collection, "Shifting Perspectives," is also drawing raves as is his family for choosing to be transparent about his learning difference rather than stashing his neurodivergence in the trunk.

Correspondent David Dejohn brings us his story.

[Upbeat Music] >>Welcome to my collection tour.

>>Meet Anthony Schmidt.

>>Okay, starting you off here.

Got a '59 Studebaker Silver Hawk.

>>At the tender age of 15, Anthony's collection would rival that of someone five times his age.

>>We got the original owner right here.

>>That's the original owner.

>>Yes.

>>He also owns a vintage Ford.

>>This is what the original color was, so I will be repainting this one pretty soon.

>>And then there's his collection of model cars.

>>Where should I start?

>>Anywhere?

>>Start with a '50, 1950 Dodge right there.

We have a '55 Thunderbird, a Bel Air, a Chrysler New Yorker, a complete stranger fixed it up for us and delivered it to our house and said, "Here you go Anthony, this is yours."

>>The collection continues from the garage to the hallway.

>>Okay, here we are.

This is my very first car right here.

A 1929 Lincoln four door sedan.

He's the guy who hoards all these cars.

That's a '63 Avanti being towed by a 1954 Ford F100.

He went to a old age home, he had nowhere to put it and he wanted just to donate it all to me.

So the cabinet and the cars used to belong to him.

He just donated the whole cabinet with all the cars in it.

>>And, of course, Anthony's bedroom.

>>This is the oldest plate, 1920.

>>Like most everything else, the license plates have been donated too.

>>Here's a Mercedes-Benz, a class from '97.

Back in 1955, Elvis- >>Anthony loves cars so much he can even mimic some of his favorites.

[Imitates Car Engine] Like it's like, like it kind of rumbles like an older car, but the Ferrari is like woo woo woo.

>>The police have actually asked for Anthony's help in identifying crime vehicles.

>>I usually help solve crimes by identifying cars and leftover parts from crime scenes.

>>It's this natural ability that makes Anthony so special, an ability he credits to his autism spectrum disorder.

>>Like it's like a magnifying glass, like autism's a magnifying glass for like life, basically.

Like you see more than like the normal person would see with a perspective and with anything about life, basically I see more of.

>>And that ability probably led to Anthony's greatest accomplishment.

Photography.

He's published and sold thousands of books and calendars that showcase his work.

His style is called Forced Perspective Photography which brings together his love of collecting and cars.

>>Retro photos like this that was set in 1961.

This photo right here at Burger Master looks really good.

Old cars, old photos look great >>To show you what he means, we drove off in his vintage Ford in search of a great background.

Anthony drives with his mom by his side and dice dangling in the windshield.

Together they found a perfect backdrop with the sun setting behind a beautiful Seattle meadow.

Model cars are placed on a prop table and arranged to look full size.

His photography gear is nothing more than a simple iPhone camera which he's been using since he was a little boy.

>>I handed him my iPhone when he was six years old where other parents would be worried about screen time.

I was just interested to see what he would do and create with it.

And he, at six years old, already created these beautiful little scenes that I was amazed.

>>Pictures were arranged in a book and advertised on social media.

Word spread.

And soon Anthony became a celebrity.

NBC News did a story on him and he's made several guest speaking appearances.

What social media platform are we on right now?

>>We're on...

Checking out all my different ones.

Well, Facebook, we got 1.8 million.

>>Wow.

>>1.8 million.

>>Those views on Instagram, we got 56.6 thousand views.

>>Today Anthony released his second book called "Shifting Perspectives."

So young, so talented, and so enthusiastic.

His secret, he doesn't take no for an answer.

>>Like for instance, I had this one doctor that one time that said, I won't amount to nothing.

Like I wanna prove him wrong.

>>He really said that?

>>Yes 'cause he and people have said different things like these services are, our services aren't meant for you.

What's wrong with this kid?

>>How does it make you feel?

>>Not bad, I don't feel anything about it.

I just laugh at them.

We're gonna spray this down now.

>>Always working on something, Anthony is an inspiration to not only the neurodivergent, but to all who are in search of passion.

>>Whatever passion you have, you should just keep doing it.

And like if someone says, "No, you'll never be good at that thing.

Stop it.

It's a waste of your time.

Passions are distractions," like people like that, you should just ignore and keep doing it.

>>Keep doing it, Anthony Schmidt.

Reporting for a World of Difference, I'm Dave Dejohn.

[Upbeat Music] >>Thanks David, and congratulations Anthony Schmidt for making a difference.

And that does it for this edition of a World of Difference Embracing Neurodiversity.

I'm Darryl Owens.

I'll see you back here next time.

You can watch episodes of A World of Difference on the Beacon College Facebook and YouTube channels and on the show's website, awodtv.org.

The website also provides tip sheets and other resources for your parenting journey.

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