Hello Everyone,
Tonight I have parent/teacher conferences and I would like to get some advice on what to ask for Dylan (my 6-year old newly diagnosed with adhd).
He will get an IEP but how do I know what to ask for or what to say? I've read some articles about requesting he sit away from the window or places that are distracting...but what other things do I ask or talk about..?
Any advice is welcomed and greatly appreciated!
Many Thanks! *hugs*
Julie
JulieElizabeth40596.3196064815Preferential seating is the term used. Specify placing him in the area of the room he finds least distracting and also where the teacher can keep an eye on him and make sure he's staying on task. ADHD kids often do best sitting in the front middle, but that's not always the case. My child no longer needs preferential seating, but when he did, he needed to sit away from the doorway. Hallway noises were too distracting for him. He also did better in the back of the room because he kept turning around to see what was happening behind him.
My child also used to benefit from their being an empty desk available in the back of the room. If he was distracted in his current seat, he could move there and work independently. At that point, the desks were grouped in a rectangle.
He also did best being positioned on the end of one of those rectangles. It provided fewer distractions to have a person on only one side, and it gave him a little extra fidget room.
That's a lot about seating. You also can put in an IEP that he be given breaks as needed. Schools often give a child a "break pass" when they need to take a walk. At my child's school, they do it as asking the child to take a note to the office. The child doesn't know the note's content, but it says something like "Just taking a walk because I need a break."
If he's having trouble focusing on in-class assignments, you can ask for them to be broken into smaller pieces. It would mean completing a chunk, bringing it to the teacher, and then getting the next chunk of work. Focus sometimes improves when the assignment is smaller. Also, getting up and giving the work to the teacher gives some kids a needed movement break.
If he's very fidgety during class, sometimes it helps to squeeze a stress ball or something else while listening to the teacher. Similarly, during circle time on the rug, my child used to sit with his back against a wall. That helped him stay in his own space.
At that young age, he might be having issues with standing in line. While teachers normally rotate who stands at the front and back of the line, you can put into an IEP that your child have a permanent spot.
If homework is taking forever, you can ask for a reduced workload.
Good luck with your IEP meeting!
Mom2ADHDboy40596.451099537May I ask, how do you know that he will get an IEP? Has the school evaluated him and agreed? How did your meeting go?Thanks for asking..they treated it just like a regular parent/teacher conference, which is what it was but they knew I wanted to talk about the adhd. I'm a bit disappointed. Not in his teacher but the special education teacher that had a dumb look on his face when I asked what plan is used with students with adhd. He stalled and said that my son is so young and that in kindergarten they already do a lot of getting up and moving around a lot. (??)
Someone asked about an IEP. He already had one actually for his social/emotional...he has seemed to lag behind. So I figured that we'd talk about if the IEP plan would be changed or whatnot. Again, a dumb look and then "oh yes, I will have to take a look at that..."
Incidently, he is now off the meds. He got to be way too moody at school and he just changed and was miserably unhappy. When I reported this to the pediatrician she said that we may want to take him to a psychologist as there may be something else going on since the meds usually help. My thought was ... ok.. could it just be the brand of meds? Perhaps he would do better on another? But I didn't fight it. I am going to take him to a psychologist on March 9.
I'm pretty low about everything. Seems like he has been through so much this past year with another medical issue, his parents divorcing, his granda passing away, moving and his two dogs had to be given up.
Thanks for letting me vent and hopefully I will be much chipper next time I log in.
Hug,
Julie
It sounds like you need to be working with a child psychiatrist or a developmental pediatrician. Your general pediatrician does not sound knowledgeable about ADHD meds. It can be trial and error to find the right medication. The side effects you saw happen sometimes, but it doesn't mean no ADHD meds will work for your child or that there is something else going on.
As for the school situation, they don't sound very knowledgeable, or at best, were ill prepared. If you want the IEP altered, submit a written request that you want to reevaluate his IEP. If you don't want to formalize it yet, then send an email saying that you know there wasn't time to discuss the ADHD issues at the parent-teacher conference, and you'd like to set up another meeting to discuss how the school is going to handle whatever issues you are seeing at this time. I'd spell out the issues you'd like to see them address so they can think about these things in advance of your meeting.
Thank you so much for listening and responding. I really appreciate it. *hug*
My son is going to go to a counselor next Wed. I guess they have to see a counselor first prior to the psychiatrist. Anway I am making sure that this psychiatrist is knowlegable in regards to treating children's behavior issues (adhd and beyond)
I think perhaps I will back off the school for a bit until we have a few sessions at the pscychiatrist so that I am not looking before I leap. But when I do I will definitely take your advice and send them a request to address the issues and whatever diagnosis he ends up having.
~julie
DS had an exisiting IEP for speech. Just last week we had it modified to include ADHD. Basically we added all the things his teacher was already doing for him to ensure it continued for next year. He takes test at the teachers desk, has longer time frame for test taking and has test and classwork broken into chunks so he is not so overwhelmed. His Teacher's son has ADHD and she has been very helpful in this process!