Maria: How do I get my son help? I live in a small town and they say they don’t have funding for special needs. My son has ADHD and is on medication and the vice-principal is new and doesn’t want him in school. he has 6 referrals.
ADHD: MY SON HAS ADHD AND THEY DON’T WANT HIM IN SCHOOL
I have a child 5 yrs old, with ADHD/OCD with behavior issues. Last school year she lost 2 grandparents and ran off playground and got 1_1/2 blocks off school grounds. She was suspended for 10 days w admin hearing. After researching I requested 504. Another suspension occurred in 3 weeks. I requested evaluation. She was given IEP but could only return on abbreviated days. This was from march-june. Today we had IEP meeting to discuss her ESY results which she was given a total of 7 hrs ESY for 7 missed days of instruction and thier suggestion was to start her on abbreviated days this school year. I blatantly refused. How do they determine or justify abbreviated days? Also she has a para. They have told me that she just can’t handle full days.
The school is required to address her needs. This needs to include comprehensive evaluation, & observations to address her needs. Even if a shortened day is needed for now, there should be a plan for increasing her time. Your state parent training & information project is a great resource to assist you in what your options are. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
In July 2016, the Office for Civil Rights published three documents about Section 504 and students with ADHD after investigating complaints about disability discrimination. OCR found many teachers and administrators are not familiar with this disorder, or how it affects a student’s ability to access a school district’s program. When schools fail to identify, fail to evaluate, or conduct inadequate evaluations of students with ADHD, this failure could deny FAPE to these students who need special education or related services. The Resource Guide published by OCR explains that a child who has behavioral difficulties and a child who seems unfocused or distractible may have ADHD – they need an evaluation to determine their educational needs. For more information about ADHD and to find these new legal resources, go to the Wrightslaw ADHD page.
Just to clarify, ADHD is a medical diagnosis. The schools can screen through their evaluation process, but they cannot diagnose. There are many tools for both parents and educators. It truly takes a team approach for a student to be successful. I’m sure there are schools and teachers that don’t meet the needs of students with ADHD, but let’s look at both sides of the issue. There are schools that have excellent programming with parents who don’t carry their weight. Given the right tools students with ADHD can be successful and normally are very successful in their careers because they can multi-task and are project oriented.
Totally agree Debbie.
Your state parent training & information project is a great resource to assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
I just found out that my son has a Advocate with that Parent Center Hub because when he was smaller they use to come to the house. Can they help with my problems that I have at school? He is 9 years old now and I Don’t know what to do .I didn’t send him to school yesterday and today he went to school and he was sitting at the office not in the classroom because he got in trouble.
Maria, yes follow up to see if the advocate is still available. Also, most states have a general information line to help parents/families find resources for help with various issues. In most states, it is called the information line. Just dial 211 and obtain some guidance. You can google 211 to obtain more information. Chuck gave you an excellent resource and also call 211 and go from there.
Thank you. I know about this law that no child left behind I really don’t believe that is true because the school my son goes to doesn’t believe in that they don’t help at all and they want us to vote for people that don’t know anything about kids all they want is to sit there and do nothing. WE live in a town where no one cares about the children all they want is the money for disable children in schools and they send them home as soon as the class starts or to the office they use to send him outside with some other teacher from the 8th grade with kids way older then I found out because of pictures they would take with my son.