Do Accomodations Work?
You would need to be more specific about his needs. When is his attention the most trouble? Are there certain classes he loves and has no problems with and others where he zones out? Does he have problems with handwriting?
The list is child specific. There are certain areas where most ADHDers have problems but mainly, each one has his own specific set of needs.
Talk to the teacher and think about the issues you see. You can then pinpoint the areas of most need and work together to address those.
Accoms can be a great tool to use or they can be a panacea the school hands out because its easy for them and shuts you up for a while. They can then say that they did what you wanted.
Once you can be more specific, we can tell you what we found most useful. There are accoms which can make a tremendous difference for your son and we will try to help you find them.
As I work through my denial on how to deal with my son's ADHD, I'm learning a lot about his rights in t he public school system ... i.e. our right to get an IEP under either IDEA or 504. Every ADHD book has something to say about forming a team and getting accomodations, but they don't say what those accomodations might be or how successful they are.
Anyone been through this, and what helped or didn't help in the classroom?
My son needs help with attention and activity levels, plus he's very bright. What sorts of things might I expect the school to do?
TillyT
Just for example, my son sits front and center in order to help his concentration. He is able to use the classroom paraprofessional for recess monitoring (making sure things don't get out of control), he also accompanies the class to music (b/c the music teacher is not very good handling kids) to help my adhd son stay focused and not get into too much trouble. In addition, we are pursuing occupational therapy to help with his handwriting, we are pursuing organizational help to help with his writing skills, etc.
There is a ton that can be done, the key is you have to be a strong advocate for your child and make sure they get the help they need. The school will be much more willing to help you if you work WITH them, rather than against them. Form a partnership with the teacher to work together to help your child succeed.
Was your son dx by a neuropsych? Frequently, a neuropsych's report will list the kind of accommodations your child will require to succeed in school. Quite honestly, while you can make some generalizations, each child with ADHD requires a different set of accommodations geared toward his specific challenges. Chapter 5 of the book, Parenting Children with ADHD, by Vincent Monastra gives a good overview of disability law, the process to obtain accommodations, and a long list of possible accommodations. It might be worth taking a look at.
The first step I suggest you take is researching the process in your school district. Who should you write to to set up the first meeting to discuss your son's challenges in school? Who should be in that meeting? What kinds of testing will the school district accept to prove your son's disability? Make all requests in writing and send them certified mail. You definitely have to protect your son's rights by crossing all your t's and dot all your i's in this process.
I don't want to be discouraging, but frequently it is more difficult for bright children with ADHD to obtain accommodations (and it's almost impossible to obtain school-based services because they tend to do well academically in spite of having ADHD). My 12-year-old son (dx ADHD, anxiety, tic disorder and migraines) has an IQ in the highly gifted range, and has always received A's and B's in school. Although he struggles tremendously with attention, written output and organization, we have never been able to convince our county school system that he needs accommodations because his good grades indicate "no educational impact." We tried twice -- in 4th grade and 6th grade -- and failed both times. If we were to pursue this path again, I would definitely take an educational advocate into the meetings with us.
Good luck!
An IEP basically gets Special Education services for a child. If a child is not having academic difficulty then most likely the child will not qualify for Special Education services and the all too famous IEP. If you do qualify for Special Education services remember that Special Education is a service not a place. The IEP is a plan for the year that has measurable goals and objectives...if you do find that your child qualifies for Special Education you along with your child are members of the IEP team.....I believe that students must be included ( they are frequently absent from meeting) in this process if they are going to achieve the goals that are written on the IEP....it is hard to meet goals if you don't know what they are .
Ha. The prior post of behaviors wanting to change or whatever, that is my son too. Some of the things have gotten better with age. (he is 10 now and in 5th grade- the one about climbing over his classmates before he even realized he was doing it...he is a little better now about that stuff but he still invades personal spaces all over the place.)
He was tested in 1st grade because they suspected he was gifted. He was given a battery of tests at a psych office, and the overall IQ score was 125. The psych stated that this was "more than likely an underepresentation of his true abilities." and then I say, "DUH" taking the tests, (almost 4hrs worth) with a 1hr break inbetween for lunch, I am certain after the first 15min he was standing on his head doing the work. 
My only thing is, how can you really figure out what the IQ is of an ADHD child? Won't they always perform below their actual potential due to the factors that they have to overcome? I wonder if all of our kids aren't little Einsteins.....Would they have put Einstein on medicine back in his day if the alternative existed? I have read that he was escentric in a bad way-loner, obsessed with numbers, etc....put him on ritalin!!!
Front of the room placement is an excellent idea ... at least eliminate some visual distractions.
From reading about getting special services, I am guessing the first attempt is going to bring the dreaded ""no educational impact" phrase into play. What I really want to see is accomodations that mediate the effects of ADHD enough that he can take advantage of his intelligence ... he gets so frustrated and that is only going to make his behavior worse.
Good advice, Smallmom, to take an advocate to the meetings. I do have Vincent Monastra's book, and will re-read his stuff on accomodations.
As to specific things he needs help with:
1) Staying in his own space -- this is the biggest one at school. The child has no sense of his own body and its boundaries, and would climb on a classmate before he even noticed he was doing it
2) Sitting in his chair -- that's in, not on the back, under, around, or beside!
3) Being quiet when it's needed -- teacher's pet peeve
4) Handwriting -- teacher thinks he's rushing, I think it's fine motor control issues
5) Finishing assignments -- does this with one-on-one feedback during the process, but not if left to his own
6) Working independently -- this might be the biggest one at home .... very hard to get anything done when he's around because he just doesn't play on his own, always looking for more feedback!
Just making the list helps ... I like this teacher, but I'm seeing that she doesn't understand what's not working for Tristan.
[QUOTE=joemom]
you along with your child are members of the IEP team.....I believe that students must be included ( they are frequently absent from meeting) in this process if they are going to achieve the goals that are written on the IEP....it is hard to meet goals if you don't know what they are .
[/QUOTE]
Great point joemom, & one I never thought of! We have an IEP meeting coming up soon, I think its a wonderful idea to include the child so they understand what is expected!
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Hello All, This is my very first time to this site and I found it to be very informative. When I was reading some of the your messages, I felt that I was listening to someone talk about my baby. My son who's 9 yrs and in the 5th grade has also been diagnosed with ADHD about 3 years ago. At first I didn't understand anything about ADHD. The only thing I've ever heard about it was kids with ADHD were put on medication that would have them sitting around like a zombie. Before my son was diagnosed, his teacher would call my job each and everyday! Some of those days I had to leave work to take him out of school. One day his principal call me and told me if I wanted my son to attend school I had to sit in class with him everyday until he learns how to behave. Ignorant me did just that! For about a week I took off of work and went to school with him. I hated it!!! First, I was losing the source of income we had. Then I sat in his class and to me the entire class was ADHD! The teacher was young and new and she had no control over her class. I was really hot when my son first record card came out and he had all "U" on his report card. I sat with my son every night and did homework so I knew that something wasn't right. I had him evaluated. The school tested him for a learning disability and he score above grade level. But he still had problems with staying in his seat, yelling out, staying in his own space and staying still. So I decided to tried the medication. He did a little better at that school but it still was hard for him to still on task with the entire class running, yelling out, throwing things and whatever else they wanted to do. We move and he changed schools. A totally different envoriment. So now he gets all " G's and E's". However, he is still having some behavior problems. The accomendations that we decided on in our last meeting would probably help if his new teachers had a copies of his 504 plan prior to the start of the school year. My son has 2 tearchers, one of them just recieved a copy of his 504 plan last week. I asked her if a copy was available to his other teacher and she assure me that she also had a copy. But today, the other teacher called and said that she had asked for a copy but hasn't recieved one as of yet. This is the 4th week of school and his teacher still doesn't not have a copy of his 504 plan. So I had to call his school and request that copies be given to his teachers. My son failed two quizes because he wasn't given enough time to complete them. He got all of them right he just didn't complete enough of the problems to pass the quizes. My son asked me to sign the quiz so that he could return it to his teacher and I signed it and wrote on the quiz "was my son given enough time to complete this quiz?". When she finally decided to contact me she told me that he was given the same amount of time as the other students because at that time she wasn't aware of his 504 plan. Thanks for listening |
TillyT:
First, PSM raises a good point. Is the school pushing for solutions, or are you pushing for solutions? If it's you and not the school, then it's likely you will need test results that document his ADHD dx. And if it's you, it's highly unlikely the school will do that testing. So if your son hasn't been evaluated by a neuropsychologist, you're probably going to have to go that route, both to confirm the dx and to have the supporting documentation. (If he was dx by a pediatrician, it's probably not good enough.)
Second, I've been told by many doctors who have worked with my son over the years that a school doesn't have to provide an education that challenges a child's cognitive abilities. A school has to provide an education that the child can access. Even if he is capable of doing higher than grade-level work but is held back by ADHD, the school must only provide a grade-level education. This is where gifted kids with ADHD get caught because they're bright enough to do grade-level work, but get bored because it's not challenging. This is another reason my son never received accommodations because he has always been in GT programs and accessing above-grade level work. We were told on more than one occasion that if he couldn't handle GT work, we should just move him back. That would have caused problems of their own.
Precious:
Welcome to this site! I hope you find it a supportive and informative place. You illustrate an important point -- while it's all well and good to obtain 504 accommodations, parents still have to watch like hawks to make sure they're implemented.
See if you can get a iep.
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