Homework that Works Podcast by David Poeschl.


Hello, my name is David Poeschl and I'm a parent adviser with Matrix Parents at Marin CIL. This is another in our series of monthly podcasts for the year 2024 to 2025.

Today I'd like to talk about homework and students who are neurodivergent. And one thing that I found in my experience, and I know a lot of studies show this, is that there's a clear need for a line between home and school for a lot of our children.

And we'll talk about that in a minute as to as to the reasons for that. But just taking that as a supposition and fitting homework into that equation, we can see that that's going to be a in oil and water sort of situation. So, what I recommend for particularly younger children is to either have no homework or to have homework be a time that's a structured time for a preferred activity.

I don't believe in having them take work home if that's an issue for them. If you've experienced this, you've known the battles over homework and even getting a start. And I just don't think those are worth it. So, you know, in the best of times, homework is going to be difficult for these kids. And I do recommend particularly elementary years, is that the PTA and the NEA, the National Education Association's guidelines for homework be followed, and that is ten minutes per grade.

And so, ten minutes in first grade or 20 minutes in second and so on. So, let's though go back to you have a child who hates homework, can't stand it or do it. And the teacher is insisting that homework be completed. And a couple of things with that. First, I would say that, you know, if a teacher is insisting that it be done, I think that's incorrect.

In, in early years and in looking at it, you should look for is this a skill that your child has already learned in school and that they were doing practice on at home. And so that's important because certainly you don't want to have to be teaching a new skill at home. So, the thing with homework, with that, if it's practice ING a skill and it's something that's, you know, that has to be done, then it has to be it should be limited to the minimum number of either problems or, you know, whatever the prompt is.

So, your child is not spending more time. They have to do anything when it gets up to those ten minutes per grade. I think that it that it should stop. So, to introduce though, the idea of this structured time, which is going to have to happen in upper elementary years and through middle school and high school.

I think a reasonable way to do that is twofold. First of all, I would introduce a time that's structured in the evening for the child to do something that's a preferred the quiet activity, either something that's a favorite video or a favorite book, or a favorite time doing something, something of great interest to the child and make that for a specific and make that for a specific amount of time.

And once that routine is sort of established over the course of a couple of years, then you can introduce homework slowly into that, into that equation. But doing it in a positive way. And what I mean is that let's say that your child is in fourth grade, and there's 40 minutes of homework for them to do.

And set that up is to have an accommodation where your child, first of all, that's the limit of the 40 minutes per night. Secondly, it's done in a positive way where the child, if they finish the homework, gets a very preferred activity. It could be the new the activity they were doing earlier in their childhood or something that they're interested in currently.

If they don't do the homework, then they're not allowed access to that activity. You come with an agreement with your child, and they understand that they're in control of the situation and that you're subject to the same agreement that when it comes to providing the reinforcer or not providing the reinforcement, the reinforcer, that's not up to you. That's up to your child because they hold the reins, they hold the control in terms of who does the work.

A lot of people would think that this is bribery. And you can go and listen to, my original positive behavior support plan, program, which talks about bribery. And I'm sure I'll do a podcast on bribery at some point. But bribery is a whole different issue, which this is not. It's a play on reinforcer. And, just at this point, just, I guess you can assume I'm right or maybe go back and listen to those who disagree with me, but that's, that's what the, the research is showing.

So, let's take a little deeper look as to why homework is such a big deal for so many of these kids. So, children who are neurodivergent often look at the world. They do look at the world in a different perspective. And part of that perspective are clear lines between different parts of their life and to somewhat of a greater degree, to a pretty extensive degree than neurotypical people.

School is school, and home is home. And I've seen case after case of children experiencing real trauma over homework and causing, frankly, trauma to their household members. So, the need for a child to have a safe haven away from school is of vital importance to not only the child, but to their families. For the of their mental health, frankly.

In addition, there might be other factors at play, and one that's very common is where a child works really hard during the day to keep it together. They're working to fit in with other kids and all of the stimulus that's coming in. You know, all this sensory stuff is coming in, and that's a really tiring time.

And they come home and they're exhausted. They need that, that time at the end of the day. Another issue can be that if the work isn't clearly defined, if there's not a set beginning, an end to it, and where this comes in is that a lot of times, neurodivergent kids need, projects to be chunked, to have them put into specific pieces with set timelines so that it's a much more, workable, identifiable way of looking at the work.

Another thing might be that the work is too hard, and the student hasn't learned the skill sufficiently to practice it. And that's what we talked about at the beginning, that you should not be your child's teacher to the learning needs to be done as school with you as the encourager and helper with work at home. But teaching is a bad idea for a parent for a lot of reasons.

There's the conflict. You're not a teacher. You may not fully understand how the teaching is. The teacher is teaching. So, if you're having this issue with school, you can call an IEP meeting to talk about an accommodation that either eliminates or modifies how much and what type of homework there will be. Again, early grades. I have no problem.

Eliminate it altogether. And as mentioned previously, I do run into general ed teachers who believe that homework, as it is assign needs to be done as it assigned. But bringing that nationally recognized, those nationally recognized standards from the PTA and the NEA is usually pretty helpful. And IEP team members, such as the school psychologist or other special education professional should be on your side in this because they understand these issues.

So for all the misery and the heartache and the real trauma I've seen over the years about this, I have real doubts of the value of it and all of it at all with some of our children that I know that it has to be done in schools, but it's a, it's a difficult issue for them. So, it is important though, because of that, that they develop study skills, but because of the nature of these children's need for flexibility, we need to look for alternatives.

So, I talked about the preferred materials for children in a at a young age, as far as giving them a preferred activity to do during that time and then developing that routine and then introducing real homework for the positive behavior support plan with it. And you know, this is a time again with, you know, it happens pretty much consistently with anything.

We talk about a special education this or you know, the square pegs fitting into the round holes. And homework is always going to be difficult for them. But understand as they grow up, many of them are going to find an area of interest almost all of them find an area of interest that is consuming, you know, a passion to dive into something they find fascinating.

So, involve doing work and finding something to do that's normally not an issue. It's finding that interest, finding that strength that, that exploration, that you can structure that time to use it for that. And I think it's vital for our kids to find what they're interested in and encourages it, encourage it. It often helps with the difficulty that school presents to have something they excel in.

So, I think a combination of work that has to be done in the form of schoolwork, but with an accommodation to reduce the volume to the minimum required amount, I think is the appropriate thing. And certainly, the elimination of any redundant practice needs to be a third activity that leads to positive cognitive processing improvements. For example, a first grader might love PokŽmon, memorizing the names and functions of the characters.

Great memory learning. There are as many ideas as possible that will foster expertise and preferred areas, while dealing with the drudgery of regular homework. To make this work was a matter of really doing those preferred activities first, and then mixing in, the drudgery parts of it with those positive reinforcement aspects would be my suggestion for homework.

Well, that's it for this broadcast of this podcast. Thank you very much. We appreciate you joining us. Remember to call our helpline at (800) 578-2592 for further assistance. Our parent advisers at Matrix Parents at Marin CIL are here to help. Take care now. Bye.

© 2025 Marin Center for Independent Living (Marin CIL). Podcast author, David Poeschl, Parent Advisor at Marin CIL.