Not sure what an IEP or 504 plan is...so no, we don't have one of those.
I think the school's main goal (if I understood the assistant principal correctly) is to see if any Special Education is needed. My kids are doing well academically, and my son is even above average on his math and reading, but if this would help them to do better, I'm all for it.
I guess I should set up a meeting with the principal to learn more about it. I want to do everything I can to help my kiddos, but after being warned about the school by the dr, it makes me leary to get them involved since they seem to be doing allright academically at this point. I'm just so overwhelmed right now.
Thanks guys for the input...it's helping me cope!
If my son was above average in math & reading and the school was not calling every day about behavior and sending him to the office, I would not consider a Spec Education evaluation. The benefits for my son would have to outweigh the time, energy, and effort that I would have to spend dealing with the IEP team. It can be very political, draining, and downright unpleasant. Not to mention, once you're in, the IEP team has to decide if you can exit. Without agreement, he stays in.
Your child's condition needs to be impacting his ability to access the core curriculum to qualify.
does she have a IEP or 504 plan in place??My 6 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD back in November of last year. Before we got him on a medication that worked for him, he was once again in the principal's office and when I told her that he had ADHD and was being treated, she asked if the school had done an assessment yet. I had explained to her that the only thing I had done was the doctor had a few of his teachers fill out a Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Teacher Rating Scale. She suggested that I set up a meeting with them to do the school's assessment, but I opted to wait. Partly because the doctor told me at his initial appointment that the schools here weren't very reliable or cooperative when it comes to children with ADHD. (and I have to admit, the schools here aren't very cooperative when it comes to ANYTHING. This has got to be one of the worst school districts in TX!)
Well now my 8 year old daughter has been officially diagnosed with severe ADHD and possibly Bipolar. We have known since she was a toddler that something was wrong, but she made good grades and never had many major issues in school until this school year. We've always had problems with her at home, and things have gotten really bad over the past few months and things are starting to get bad at school now too. Luckily, her teacher is much more cooperative than my son's teacher, and her case is so severe that I'm now wondering if I do need to have my children "assessed" by the school.
Is it enough to have the doctor's diagnosis and treatment? Or do they get more help from the school? My son is doing so great now that he is on the right dose and type of medication (Daytrana 10 mg), but my daughter has not yet started medication (still waiting on the music teacher to turn in her Vanderbilt scale) and quite frankly, she needs all the help she can get.
Any suggestions? Does anyone else work with the school on this? How is that working out?
TXMomof339493.4767708333The school will do an evaluation that focuses on the "educational impact" of her problems. If she's making good grades then they may not even do the testing. If you can afford a private evaluation by a neuropsychlogist, that's the way to go. It's very thorough and can identify any learning disablilities as well as confirm the dx she's already recieved. It's also hard for a school to argue with.
I had the same problem...... look on the ADHD Issues in Schools message board under Letting the School Know.
So far we have not let our school know because of the labelling and stigma attatched in our small small area. My 5 yr old ds is doing very well academically and since starting medicine (adderallxr) his behavior has smoothed out enough that he has not been constantly in the office, suspended and kicked off the bus.
His teacher called to check on him the other day when ds was out sick and commented that his behavior had setttled down to normal. We have not told the teacher about the dx or medicine either.
DH and I decided that we would tell if we felt ds needed help in school. Other wise we would keep it a private family matter.
Given the severity of her case and possible BP, I'd approach this VERY methodically. You need to realize that schools are very data driven in their decision making process. IMHO, no.....just having a doctor's diagnosis is not going to swing it if you want to successfully negotiate the best possible services and an IEP for her.BETHANN,
Thanks for the info. Yes, the doctor knows my concerns, but she is pretty sure it's just a severe case of ADHD because she doesn't show the characteristic symptoms of Bipolar. I was just concerned that might be it because it runs in my side of the family. We haven't started meds yet, but we should have them by Saturday and we will be watching her very closely. Thanks so much for the info about the medications, it helps a lot to know this since I worry about the Bipolar more than the doc does. But hey, SHE'S the one with the degree, and she is an excellent doctor, so I trust her diagnosis.
TXMomof 3,
I read that if one has both ADHD & bipolar, that the doctor needs to treat the Bipolar FIRST, then go back and treat the ADHD. ADHD meds. only makes the bipolar worse.
Are you sure she is bipolar? Does your doctor know what you think? Be careful with adhd meds.
Both are treated successfully when done correctly!
Take care!!
My 7 yr old son is on Med's for ADHD, his first year of school was a NIGHTMARE, and so was his teacher. Had LOTS of meetings with princpal, vice princpal, teachers, all wanting him to go to special Ed, for slow learners at a different school. Then when he went to 1st grade we had a true angle of a teacher, and we put him on med's during the 4th week of school. My hubby and I decided NOT to tell the school about the ADHD or the Med's, he has now been put in the gifted program at school. We still have some problems with behavor at school. I was about to tell the school about his ADHD when I was at the school, their was one of the teacher walking down the hall with a child and she had him by the arm and in a VERY stern voice said "YOU HAVN'T HAD YOUR MED'S TODAY HAVE YOU!!!" at that point I promised myself that my child would never be marched down to the office like that. I know each school is different, but we live in a small town and this is the treatment that our kids get when they have ADHD. Our schools would rather send them to another school than to deal with them.I worry about that too just a mom. We are in a small community too, and to tell the truth, I don't have many nice things to say about our schools so far. I have three kids in school (2 in elementary, 1 in junior high), and with the ADHD matters aside, the schools are just awful. Most of the teachers really shouldn't be teachers (but there is one or two good ones), the buses are falling apart (the kids' bus has broken down and left them stranded four times this year so far), and fund-raiser money that is supposed to be for new playground equipment "magically" gets spent on other things like digital cameras for the teachers, TV for the teacher's lounge...etc. This is just a FEW of my gripes...LOL. Which is why I posted this topic, because since my kids don't have any problems yet academically (thank goodness, straight A's for both my ADHD children), I'm not sure if they will benefit from me telling the school about their issues.
Glad to know I'm not the only parent in a small town with concerns about the school! We moved here two years ago from another small school district, and those schools were just awesome. They seemed to REALLY care about the kids. But here, I think most of them are just there for a paycheck.
We know my daughter definatly has ADHD. We suspect the bipolar because it runs in the family. I think we will just treat the ADHD for now and see how things improve. Still undecided on what to do about telling the school, but thanks to the replies so far, I'm doing my research!
I would recommend getting a private evaluation done by a neuropsychlogist. This would give you a much clear idea about what was going on with your daughter. I would be hesitant to want to go the bi-polar route just based on rating scales.