Greetings HSBBW

Welcome! I joined for the same reasons more than 10 years ago and this site and the people on it were invaluable in helping me help my son through high school and college baseball. Have a great ride.

@Iowamom23 posted:

Welcome! I joined for the same reasons more than 10 years ago and this site and the people on it were invaluable in helping me help my son through high school and college baseball. Have a great ride.

Thank you @Iowamom23. My main concern now is how to maximize my son’s performance in the classroom. He has some learning disabilities (dyslexia, adhd) but does great with small groups and 1-1.

If anyone has experiences/ideas about helping student athletes with learning disabilities becomes  best students they can be, I’m open to suggestions.  

Thank you again for the warm welcome.

Welcome!  I think I joined when my oldest was 12 as well.  Lots of good people here.  I’ve learned so much.  My biggest takeaway is; control what you can control.  Bigger faster stronger.

@Iowamom23 posted:

Welcome! I joined for the same reasons more than 10 years ago and this site and the people on it were invaluable in helping me help my son through high school and college baseball. Have a great ride.

Dyslexia is tough to deal with and, at some point, if not already, it can become a self-esteem problem.  The good news is that with technology there are so many new strategies that can help a person with dyslexia recognize problems and improve reading strategies. 

Back in the day, I might have been diagnosed with ADHD.  I had such a hard time sitting in class.  However, I was straight A's.  I always felt that I knew what the teacher was going to teach and could not focus on what they were trying to teach each day.  In fact, I had a Health Teacher who came to me one day in class, grabbed me by my neck, and threw me on the ground.  He told me that I would never be allowed to sit in his class again.  Again, today, there are strategies that your son will have to use if he wants to play.

I have coached a lot of people with learning disabilities.  Several have gone on to play in college.  There is a level of discipline that will be required of your son in order to get the grades to play.  It will help a lot if you and your family can establish routines that meet his needs and gives him structure in order to get his homework completed and prepare for assessments. 

My son has ADHD (inattentive presentation), but I never medicated him. He graduated high school with a 3.83 if I recall. Key thing was to make sure he's in the right level classes and advocate for him when needed. Copy of the notes and a central location of assignment due dates and quiz/test dates is a definite must for him. We also did a lot of small things at home; which are universal to help anyone regardless of ADHD or not. List making, asking him to repeat what was said, gave him shortened broken up tasks, kept him on a routine, audio version of books for reading assignments, music without words and dimmed lights when he was trying to study to block out other distractions; stretching/yoga breaks. Those are things that come to mind.

If he is good with small groups make sure that stays on his accommodations sheet. There are accommodations that he can get for the SAT/ACT when he's at that point, but he has to have them in his 504 accommodations.

@CoachB25 posted:

Dyslexia is tough to deal with and, at some point, if not already, it can become a self-esteem problem.  The good news is that with technology there are so many new strategies that can help a person with dyslexia recognize problems and improve reading strategies.

Back in the day, I might have been diagnosed with ADHD.  I had such a hard time sitting in class.  However, I was straight A's.  I always felt that I knew what the teacher was going to teach and could not focus on what they were trying to teach each day.  In fact, I had a Health Teacher who came to me one day in class, grabbed me by my neck, and threw me on the ground.  He told me that I would never be allowed to sit in his class again.  Again, today, there are strategies that your son will have to use if he wants to play.

I have coached a lot of people with learning disabilities.  Several have gone on to play in college.  There is a level of discipline that will be required of your son in order to get the grades to play.  It will help a lot if you and your family can establish routines that meet his needs and gives him structure in order to get his homework completed and prepare for assessments.

Thank you for your insight. Right now he’s reading at grade level and gets all A’s and B’s in his Classes (except a C in P.E), but as his class work intensifies, I’m anticipating some challenges.

@Momball11 posted:

My son has ADHD (inattentive presentation), but I never medicated him. He graduated high school with a 3.83 if I recall. Key thing was to make sure he's in the right level classes and advocate for him when needed. Copy of the notes and a central location of assignment due dates and quiz/test dates is a definite must for him. We also did a lot of small things at home; which are universal to help anyone regardless of ADHD or not. List making, asking him to repeat what was said, gave him shortened broken up tasks, kept him on a routine, audio version of books for reading assignments, music without words and dimmed lights when he was trying to study to block out other distractions; stretching/yoga breaks. Those are things that come to mind.

If he is good with small groups make sure that stays on his accommodations sheet. There are accommodations that he can get for the SAT/ACT when he's at that point, but he has to have them in his 504 accommodations.

Thank you. He does have a 504 with details about what accommodations he needs. Your suggestions are great. His mother puts a lot of time and effort into helping his organization skills and I’m sure I can also help provide more structure as well.

@Dadof3 posted:

Welcome!  I think I joined when my oldest was 12 as well.  Lots of good people here.  I’ve learned so much.  My biggest takeaway is; control what you can control.  Bigger faster stronger.

Thank you for the welcome and words of wisdom.

@Momball11 posted:

My son has ADHD (inattentive presentation), but I never medicated him. He graduated high school with a 3.83 if I recall. Key thing was to make sure he's in the right level classes and advocate for him when needed. Copy of the notes and a central location of assignment due dates and quiz/test dates is a definite must for him. We also did a lot of small things at home; which are universal to help anyone regardless of ADHD or not. List making, asking him to repeat what was said, gave him shortened broken up tasks, kept him on a routine, audio version of books for reading assignments, music without words and dimmed lights when he was trying to study to block out other distractions; stretching/yoga breaks. Those are things that come to mind.

If he is good with small groups make sure that stays on his accommodations sheet. There are accommodations that he can get for the SAT/ACT when he's at that point, but he has to have them in his 504 accommodations.

Something you said echoed in my head “repeat what was said”.  How can I translate this to the field?  Is there enough time in a practice to be so accommodating to individual players?

We have great relationships with his coaches. how would you suggest I communicate my son’s needs to them?

his baseball IQ suffers largely due to his adhd.

Have you considered letting him catch or pitch. Catcher is an excellent position for kids with ADHD. This is my son who is now a sophomore. They are involved in every play and decision.

I have to be honest. When he was younger I tried explaining to a few coaches that my son had ADHD and that he may need things broken down or repeated some understood others did not. Sometimes it takes a special coach that understands your kid and appreciates him.

After a while I stopped explaining to coaches and instead taught my son that when coached you have to make eye contact, ask lots of questions if you don't understand and if working together one on one repeat the instructions back. It took several years for the lesson to sink in. That has really helped him. A frequent comment now is that my son is a highly coachable player.

My son is like yours. He has ADHD and had reading and speech delays when he was younger. He's now an high honor roll student 4.0 GPA taking some honors and AP classes and is extremely self driven. It took a village when he was younger to set him on the right path. He had an incredible teacher that actually taught him how to study, outline and stay organized.

But I always told him that school was his job and I expected him to put forth his best effort always but if he was struggling we would do whatever we could to help him, tutors, extra help etc.

I also express a great deal of interest in his schoolwork and help him with studying and other school related things. The more positive reinforcement you can give whether through attention, time spent together and little rewards here and there the more he realizes you care.

I also held off on video games and cell phones for a long time.

@BB328 posted:

Have you considered letting him catch or pitch. Catcher is an excellent position for kids with ADHD. This is my son who is now a sophomore. They are involved in every play and decision.

I have to be honest. When he was younger I tried explaining to a few coaches that my son had ADHD and that he may need things broken down or repeated some understood others did not. Sometimes it takes a special coach that understands your kid and appreciates him.

After a while I stopped explaining to coaches and instead taught my son that when coached you have to make eye contact, ask lots of questions if you don't understand and if working together one on one repeat the instructions back. It took several years for the lesson to sink in. That has really helped him. A frequent comment now is that my son is a highly coachable player.

My son is like yours. He has ADHD and had reading and speech delays when he was younger. He's now an high honor roll student 4.0 GPA taking some honors and AP classes and is extremely self driven. It took a village when he was younger to set him on the right path. He had an incredible teacher that actually taught him how to study, outline and stay organized.

But I always told him that school was his job and I expected him to put forth his best effort always but if he was struggling we would do whatever we could to help him, tutors, extra help etc.

I also express a great deal of interest in his schoolwork and help him with studying and other school related things. The more positive reinforcement you can give whether through attention, time spent together and little rewards here and there the more he realizes you care.

I also held off on video games and cell phones for a long time.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s inspiring to hear your son overcame his challenges with the right support.

I had a 2.5 hr long phone conversation with his coach last night (not anll baseball related) and I feel like he gained a lot of understanding of how my son learns. He’s gonna have a phone call with my son the day after practice so my son will have to verbalize the concepts they worked on in practice. He’s very understanding , accommodating and has long term development in mind.

My son does pitch and catch, but also plays all over the field so learning the intricacies of each position has made progress a little slower perhaps.

Thanks again for your input.

My son was never diagnosed as ADHD, but one of my former teachers later became a substitute for one of his classes. She told me I should have him tested because he didn't sit in class. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently it was pretty broadly understood that Duncan did not sit in class. He always stood at the back of room. As I started asking questions the teachers all agreed he was very respectful and not disruptive so they let it go.

As I result, I read a book called Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys — which focused a lot on the ways in which boys learn differently from girls to begin with and also had some great tips on dealing with a lot of different situations. I highly recommend it.

Sounds like you are already handling this aspect properly but do make sure you communicate with all of his coaches, teachers, AD's, etc. along the way.  I had a young man come through our HS program and the mom was determined to keep his learning disabilities and challenges with meds private/secret, despite my inquiring more than once.  Dad was out of the picture.  Mom also tried to keep it as private as possible with the school as well.  Ultimately, he ended up off the team and often suspended from school because too many were not aware of his situation and were put in the position of having no choice but to take disciplinary action.  I am certain that the outcome would have been far better had she been open with communication and taken advantage of the help available.

Welcome to the community! I found this board very late in my baseball son’s journey (he was in the minors), but I’d have been much more informed if I’d come across it sooner.

Being a dyslexic in my 60’s with two dyslexic sons I have some opinions on the topic.

They didn’t diagnose dyslexia or offer accommodations in my day; I was just a poor student that dropped out of HS without finishing the 10^th grade. I was 17 and living on my own when I realized I wasn’t stupid, I just think and learn differently than most people. Once I understood it, it became my superpower. Thinking differently has made all the difference in my career. In many cases a dyslexic’s “in the box” thinking is “out of the box” for everyone else.

As for my two boys, my eldest is a staff engineer for a high profile tech company and his brother is a MLB pitcher. Both received 504 accommodations and were much better for the help. The engineer struggled until middle school, and then everything clicked into place. The ball player never enjoyed academics but always made sure he was eligible to play.

Dyslexia is a learning disability, but it can also be a blessing…

@JucoDad posted:

Welcome to the community! I found this board very late in my baseball son’s journey (he was in the minors), but I’d have been much more informed if I’d come across it sooner.

Being a dyslexic in my 60’s with two dyslexic sons I have some opinions on the topic.

They didn’t diagnose dyslexia or offer accommodations in my day; I was just a poor student that dropped out of HS without finishing the 10^th grade. I was 17 and living on my own when I realized I wasn’t stupid, I just think and learn differently than most people. Once I understood it, it became my superpower. Thinking differently has made all the difference in my career. In many cases a dyslexic’s “in the box” thinking is “out of the box” for everyone else.

As for my two boys, my eldest is a staff engineer for a high profile tech company and his brother is a MLB pitcher. Both received 504 accommodations and were much better for the help. The engineer struggled until middle school, and then everything clicked into place. The ball player never enjoyed academics but always made sure he was eligible to play.

Dyslexia is a learning disability, but it can also be a blessing…

Thank you for your welcome and taking time to respond. Congratulations on raising two boys into successful and productive men. That’s my main goal as a father.

My son’s “disability” does present itself in many positive ways and that’s something I’ve always found pride and joy in. Every child is unique, but I definitely feel like I have something special. Also despite his challenges in the classroom, his teachers see leadership qualities in him which I hope baseball emboldens. as I’m sure playing sports has played a pivotal role in his character development.

Your ball player son and mine share a disdain for academia, and he prefers to work with his hands, but I’m also hoping things start to click while he’s in middle school like your other son experienced.

Either way, it sounds like personalized support, patience and consistency is key.

Thanks again for your support.

@Fanofdagame posted:

Thank you @Iowamom23. My main concern now is how to maximize my son’s performance in the classroom. He has some learning disabilities (dyslexia, adhd) but does great with small groups and 1-1.

If anyone has experiences/ideas about helping student athletes with learning disabilities becomes  best students they can be, I’m open to suggestions.  

Thank you again for the warm welcome.

My mother brought my younger brother in to see the pedatrician way back in the late 1960s as she thought my younger brother was "slow".   As it turned out, my brother was perfectly normal but the Doctor pointed to me and told my Mom that I was not normal as I was climbing the drapes in the Drs office (or so I'm told).

I was diagnosed with Hyperactivity and ADD as a young child.  I think they added the H to ADD more recently to come up with ADHD.   My parents did the normal thing back then and tried changing my diet which I don't think helped a lot.  They tried prescription ritalin, but that was too much.  I recall my parents explaining to me as a child that my clock runs "faster" than other people, and that I have to learn to slow things down to process and not jump ahead when I'm talking.   My parents did a pretty good job of teaching me to listen, process, pause and then speak if required.   This worked well for me as I went from a child into my teens.   I always did well in school, but found it mostly boring until college.  My mother is the hero in all of this as she kept me focused and motivated on my school work through junior high & high school.  I was not allowed to play sports unless I made the honor roll.  Yes, my parents didn't fool around and that got me focused.  My mom was a former teacher who had 3 sons at home, and plenty of other things to do as my Dad travelled a lot.  As I got older in high school, she was not reminding me as much about homework and projects, etc but she did come behind me to doublecheck the work was done.  By the time I got to college I knew what I had to do and how to do it.   Growing up, this was never easy for me or my parents, but this is the way we dealt with it.   To this day, I have to slow things down, process, pause and then speak.   As an adult, when I'm listening to someone speak, I've learned to focus and not multi-task.   Multi-tasking is my kryptonite.

I hope this helps in some way.   Good luck!

PS...When I played baseball, I was a catcher.  Perfect position for me, as it always kept me busy and thinking.

@fenwaysouth posted:

My mother brought my younger brother in to see the pedatrician way back in the late 1960s as she thought my younger brother was "slow".   As it turned out, my brother was perfectly normal but the Doctor pointed to me and told my Mom that I was not normal as I was climbing the drapes in the Drs office (or so I'm told).

I was diagnosed with Hyperactivity and ADD as a young child.  I think they added the H to ADD more recently to come up with ADHD.   My parents did the normal thing back then and tried changing my diet which I don't think helped a lot.  They tried prescription ritalin, but that was too much.  I recall my parents explaining to me as a child that my clock runs "faster" than other people, and that I have to learn to slow things down to process and not jump ahead when I'm talking.   My parents did a pretty good job of teaching me to listen, process, pause and then speak if required.   This worked well for me as I went from a child into my teens.   I always did well in school, but found it mostly boring until college.  My mother is the hero in all of this as she kept me focused and motivated on my school work through junior high & high school.  I was not allowed to play sports unless I made the honor roll.  Yes, my parents didn't fool around and that got me focused.  My mom was a former teacher who had 3 sons at home, and plenty of other things to do as my Dad travelled a lot.  As I got older in high school, she was not reminding me as much about homework and projects, etc but she did come behind me to doublecheck the work was done.  By the time I got to college I knew what I had to do and how to do it.   Growing up, this was never easy for me or my parents, but this is the way we dealt with it.   To this day, I have to slow things down, process, pause and then speak.   As an adult, when I'm listening to someone speak, I've learned to focus and not multi-task.   Multi-tasking is my kryptonite.

I hope this helps in some way.   Good luck!

PS...When I played baseball, I was a catcher.  Perfect position for me, as it always kept me busy and thinking.

Thank you for this, I enjoy hearing these stories and I do find it helpful. He’s never been medicated and every year his increased maturity seems to gain ground on his disability.

Welcome to the board!   And I look forward to you sharing and asking questions.  It’s a great community here where you’ll get brutally honest advice that comes from the right place.  

@TexasLefty posted:

Welcome to the board!   And I look forward to you sharing and asking questions.  It’s a great community here where you’ll get brutally honest advice that comes from the right place.  

Greetings TexasLefty. I appreciate your sincere welcome to the group. I’ve been reading through threads for a while and there is wealth of knowledge and experience that I’m grateful to learn from.

One thing I have to share is beginning this week I’ll be giving my son a weekly assignment. It consist of him choosing 1 game to watch a week (any level of play) and he’s to choose 1 defensive play and one at bat. He’ll explain in writing why he chose the plays and what happened. Nothing too heavy, just a weekly exercise to get him looking at the game with a little more focus and intent.

You aren’t seriously giving him a writing assignment on baseball games?  

Just remember he’s 12, won’t come close to developing into a protectable player until he’s through puberty and needs your friendship and support more than he needs baseball.

I was hands-off with baseball because I didn’t know a darn thing about it.  It’s turned out great though.  My son loves it and owns his training.  So it can be a good thing to be the emotional support rather than the technical support.

@TexasLefty posted:

You aren’t seriously giving him a writing assignment on baseball games?  

Just remember he’s 12, won’t come close to developing into a protectable player until he’s through puberty and needs your friendship and support more than he needs baseball.

I was hands-off with baseball because I didn’t know a darn thing about it.  It’s turned out great though.  My son loves it and owns his training.  So it can be a good thing to be the emotional support rather than the technical support.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^

Put gas in the car, but let the athlete drive. It’s their journey, we’re just support and opinionated passengers.

@Fanofdagame

Just gonna add that we are all able to post here and you should feel free to put things out there and get responses that you might not have been expecting.  

Recently, I had a post and I reached out by DM to some on that post.  I didn’t realize my words were misinterpreted as trying to brag or something.  I think they thought I was a d$ck.  I especially wasn’t trying to come across that way.  So keep the dialogue going and, like I said, this group will be brutal but honest ( or honest but brutal).  Welcome to the board 😁😁

I agree, quickest way to make him hate baseball is give him homework.  Don’t need to do anything but play and have fun.  Maybe some lessons if he needs them.  At 14 or so maybe a trainer.

Just my .02.  If I did that with my sons I don’t think they would have continued playing.

@Fanofdagame posted:

Greetings TexasLefty. I appreciate your sincere welcome to the group. I’ve been reading through threads for a while and there is wealth of knowledge and experience that I’m grateful to learn from.

One thing I have to share is beginning this week I’ll be giving my son a weekly assignment. It consist of him choosing 1 game to watch a week (any level of play) and he’s to choose 1 defensive play and one at bat. He’ll explain in writing why he chose the plays and what happened. Nothing too heavy, just a weekly exercise to get him looking at the game with a little more focus and intent.

Instead of writing, maybe he can share (verbally) what happened in the game and why he thinks it happened.  Possibly this will give him some deeper insights why certain strategies or tactics work or don't work in a particular game.

So, back when I used to coach a 12-year old travel team I wrote down 14 Hall of Famers names and put them in a baseball cap.  My plan was for each one of my players and coaches to pick a name in the cap, research the player and when called upon after practice tell his teammates about the HOFer.   I allowed written notes on a flashcard.   After practice, I'd pick someone to tell us (1-2 minutes) about the their HOFer.  The goal of the exercise was to teach 12 year olds about baseball history and its best players.   But, not every 12 year old boy loves history or any form of homework!   Bottom line...50% of the kids liked doing it and 50% didn't.   You know your son best.   

Just my experience.....good luck!

How about on a sunny day you take your son to a college baseball game and buy him his favorite food or ice cream. While there maybe play dumb and ask him casually to explain a few of the plays he thought were interesting or cool.

My son a catcher would sit there and explain some of pitching calls to me and and critique the pitcher's overall delivery and how he would approach them if he was at bat. I enjoyed his commentary.