How do you motivate an 11 year old?

I’m a big supporter of positive reinforcement. Pets, kids, adults, everyone needs it. As my co-worker said last week when I sent her a note thanking her for something “no one ever gets tired of hearing they did a good job!”

But when it comes to some kids though it can sometimes be a little challenging. Sure you can use TV time as a “carrot” and withholding their gaming consoles as a “stick”… but what do you do when this doesn’t work?

Yes, a cool certificate will motivate a student for doing a great job on something (sorry, had to plug a link there!) but how do you get them to even do that something in the first place?

My friend’s son used to be an A+ student. Since moving to a ‘better school’ he has suddenly exhibiting signs of what the psychologist has diagnosed as ADHD. He reads at a High School level and is completely bored doing worksheets and assignments. He can’t get into the gifted program because his grades are so bad. His parents are at their wits end.

He is one of the most intelligent kids I know. He and I can have a discussion on cell phone features and interface design and websites and you’d think you were talking to an adult. I’m afraid he’s going to start shutting down.

Any ideas?