i know what you mean. I am on my 2nd year trying to get help for my 8yr old son in 3rd grade.a friend helped me write a letter to get a FBA=functional behavioral assesment done through the school with all of my childs teachers /team participating.i sent a letter to the principal and special ed director. maybe you should do the same.also my sons grades are excellent so again after the schools eval this year my cse meeting is cancelled. i was told not to tell the school district too much and get a independent neuro/pshy.you need info just like the school got to be a advocate for your child.i'll keep ypu posted.also go to your districts septa meetings or special ed meetings.and learn the law and rights of your child-the school district is not helpful but the teacher and me have set up a behavior program that follows from school to home to help us communicate and keep my son aware of what we need from him,expectations,consistancy ...etc -good luck-

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I have not had to do this yet. For my son so far it's worked out with his teachers ok but i know someone not so lucky and she had to go get a advocate for her son to make the school accomadate his needs. It made a huge difference in getting what her son needed. Next yr my son start Jr high (6th grade here) and i am worried since it won't be just one teacher all day but up to 6 different ones. I will bet getting a advocate if need be.

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Patience.. this is always helpful. Take a look at the laws in your area. however, requesting an IEP evaluation is within your rights. You must put it in writting and they (the school, principle, teachers, and district) are required to comply with and evaluation within a set amount of time. This is a Federal Law and by knowing your rights - you will be your child's best advocate. A students "good" grades are not enough to disqualify them from having accomondations - in fact even gifted children receive IEP's. Take a look at this website for more information and continue to do research. I have been a loud voice at my son's school and continue to read all information that I can get my hands on. I have even took classes at our local junior college on "Exceptional Children" & "Children with Special Needs". Good luck.. I hope this is helpful for you. Don't give up!!

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/iep.index.htm

http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html

http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/winter01/mistakes.htm

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We, too have struggled with the do we/don't we questions off accomodations at school. Our son is now in 3rd grade and has a fantastic teacher (her own son is ADHD) that really understands. However, with all of the pressure for time based testing as the children get older, our own doctor strongly recommends a 504 plan rather than an IEP. Because he is very bright and does well in all his subjects, an IEP is not required. The 504 plan allows some "looser" accommodations such as more time to complete a test as well as some private signals or key words the teacher can use to reign in certain behaviors without humilitating the child. Whatever your choice, don't give up! Good Luck!

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I just wanted to put my two cents in here. First of all, know that you are not alone in your struggle to get appropriate accomodations for your child. It doesn't matter what one counselor says he/she thinks the outcome of the evaluation will be, it is your right to have a complete and thorough multi-factored evaluation done. The MFE process is a TEAM process, and you are part of that team even though there are those that would like to conveniently forget that little piece of information. As others have said, just because a student's grades are "ok" does not automatically mean that they do not qualify for services. If your child has a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD and there is a significant adverse effect on his/her performance, your child is entitled to receive accomodations. In fact, with the current shifts in K-12 education, and the increasing adoption of the RTI model (Response to Intervention), we should start seeing more, not less, interventions and accomodations in the classroom. This model provides accomodations for ANY child that needs it, regardless of whether or not they are on an IEP...something that should make sense, but seems revolutionary to many teachers and administrators.

Don't be intimidated by teachers or administrators that try to strong-arm you into thinking that they are the "experts"...you know your child better than anyone. In fact, a great deal of educators I have met really don't understand ADHD well at all. Getting effective interventions and accomodations in place becomes increasingly important as our kids move into middle school where more than one teacher, differing teaching styles throughout the day, differing types of assignments, and all the other related chaos that comes along with early adolescence.

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Initially when my son was in third grade (we live in CA.) my son was diagnosed with ADD and the school gave him a 504 Plan. This was OK in third grade where overall the workload was manageable and my son managed to complete h/w with my assistance. But as soon as he started fourth grade my son's grades started to plummet as the workload dramatically increased especially the writing part, also organization skills were supposed to falling into place. This did not happen with my child, in fact he started to fall apart. I can only tell you what my son's fourth grade teacher advised my husband and I to do...STOP helping my son immediately with h/w and anything else school related. The teacher stopped helping also and it was painful to observe my sons grades deteriorate even more. Alas, shortly after I received a report card showing a couple of subjects had hit rock bottom. I then scheduled an IEP Meeting where my son's former teacher (Bless her) stressed how my son was struggling and then he was tested and everyone agreed he needed an IEP. My son will graduate from Middle School in the summer and because of the accommodations in place my son now attains excellent grades in all of his subjects.

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Take comfort and be patient! See if you can get a psych to write you a letter of recommendation. If the child has ADD/ADHD, then they have a learning disability and are entitled to school help. I went with a 504. My son has been diagnosed since 3rd grade, and he started 7th grade/middle school this September. I panicked for about 4 months straight in anticipation of misery, frustration, boredom, you name it. We have lucked out! Getting up and moving every 45 minutes turns out to be the best thing for him. Plus getting PE right before his hardest class, math (honors algebra!!). It is still up and down, but lots lots easier than I anticipated. A teacher even asked me why he needed a 504, and then, "Is he on medication?" I started laughing. But the psychologist rec and the pediatrician rec and the psychiatrist recommendations were the firepower I needed to make them all listen. Good luck and hang in there. The comments on this post are invaluable. You're not alone and it will all work out. Wendy

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I am a elementary school teacher and a parent of 2 with ADHD and one autistic child. Let me just say that school and teachers are on your side, they just may not be as informed as you are. I like to say "teachers are like pediatritions, some know about ADHD and some do not." My advice is to start with your child's teacher. Chances are that you both see the same problems. But don't stop there. Some teachers are great and will do accomadations on their own, but these are not legal and will not follow your child to the next grade level. If your child is justy struggling with ADHD issues and you do not suspect any other learning disablilities then a 504 is best. Schools may be hesitant with these because they are legal documents that set goals and procedures for everyone in t e general ed classroom where teachers may not be as used to do them. Don't back down! Just ease the teacher inot it. The accomadations you are asking for do not give your child an advantage over the rest of the class - they just level the playing field. My son struggled with doing 25 questions of math a night for homework. His arguement was why should I when I can do the first 5 right? His teacher agreed and shorter assignments were given. My experience with 504 is that they need to be in place before your child goes to middle school and then updated as needed. If you don't have it in place before going to middle school, then you will find even more trouble getting one started. The claim is always the number of students a counselor has to work with. Trust me, it is January and I still have not met with the 504 team at my son's middle school even though I have requested and call every two weeks since the end of November. (Teachers have not turned things in, etc.) As for not doing homework - don't do that. Put your requests in writing and get to know your school and district policies (check their websites). You shouldn't have to play dumb to get help. I feel your pain and I'm a teacher. Remember we are not all perfect and as informed as we should be. Pass along this web site to your child's teacher, I pass it along to parents who ask me.

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In 6 hours my husband and I are having a meeting with our son's (age 7) school principal and school psychologist. He has been diagnosed with ADHD for a little over a year and recently diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and Depression. He also has a Coordination Disorder for which he sees a private Occupational Therapist. He is now attending his third school since beginning Kindergarten (he's in 1st) and I went in before school started to prep the psychologist on his needs. She wanted to play the wait and see game. I took the evaluation in that we had done privately and the school still refused to help. So, we had another evaluation done from another psychologist and took it to the teacher and psychologist in Oct. They still insisted nothing was wrong and he was doing fine. We knew differently, especially when we received the progress report showing failing grades and Unsatisfactory in conduct. Apparently, they had him on the RtI plan (Response to Intervention) and had not bothered to inform us. RtI is new to our district so we knew nothing about it until we requested testing and they told us they would have a meeting to determine if our son had failed the RtI. Plus, all of the accommodations they made, they have now taken away.

Anyway, my point is, I too was wondering if it was this hard. My mother was an educator (high school counselor and special ed teacher) for 32 years and my mother-in-law still teaches special ed. I thought since we knew people in the district and knew the "lingo" it wouldn't be that bad for us. I was sooooo wrong. All I can say is, document, document, document and never give up. Make sure and keep an education file for your child. Keep any communication you have with the school and any medical evaluations together in the file. That is making my life easier. Good Luck!

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I echo all that these very kind folks have told you. I'll add this: Try a book that I found enormously helpful "Making The System Work for Your Child with ADHD. How to cut through red tape and get what you need from doctors, teachers, schools, and healthcare plans." by Peter S. Jensen, MD.

If nothing else, this book helped me to see that I wasn't alone. It also gave me knowledge and words to say/write when communicating with the schools!

You didn't mention where you are. I'm from the Minneapolis,MN area. There is a growing number of helpful doctors and advocates in my area!

You go girl!

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But it took 3 years of begging, and one very carefully worded letter. I took wording right out of the ADA and IDEA laws and codes, and put them into a letter that told them basically that I knew my son's rights, and that if there was 'substantial evidence' that there might be a problem, they had to test. There was still the formality of a committe meeting, but just as they were saying "No way" before the letter, they were saying "When would it be convenient for you to come sign authorization, Mrs. R?" What a victory! And we get the results on Friday. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the letter that got it done. If that doesn't work, then an advocate or a lawyer. But try being firm, and even bossy if you have to! Good luck! Suz

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Get an advocate. I am in the process of trying to 'help' my 9th grader thru the school year. School is not important to him. He doesn't understand why he needs some of the courses he has to take. Like English, History, math...well, you get the idea. Anyway, my step-mom is helping by advocating (she was a teacher at a school for kids on their way out of the system because of various difficulties in regular school. Not handicapped, just difficult). Anyway, she knows of things I would never even have considered and I've read varied books, articles, forums, whatnot for many years with two ADD/ADHD sons. Anyway, an advocate can tell you what is available, what you truly need as helps, and can see that the school system puts them on paper and makes the necessary accomodations. And sometimes you can get an IEP, not a 504. Just because a child tests high on tests, doesn't mean he can do the work. A good advocate can explain further. If they are having an issue with what is being taught and not understanding it..... Maybe not the 1st time, but at some point. As my step-mom keeps saying, the parents actually have all the power. It's just getting the teachers, school administrators and psychologists to understand your child isn't a problem, but that there are challenges that need to be reviewed and that your child needs assistance with some parts of his learning. Maybe a scribe because his hands get tired taking notes, or he holds his writing utensils so tight and low to the point that he is straining his hand/wrist/arm writing and gets writers cramp really fast. Scribe will solve that. Or maybe he needs to be in the front row of the classroom (or the closest possible position to where the teacher is always at when actually teaching/talking to/with the class) to keep distractions to a lower level. Kids used to help each other out when they were struggling, it's not allowed today so much. So teachers are stressed, administrators are overstressed because there are too many children in these schools and not enough people to 'mentor' (I believe we choose our mentors, not have them assigned). My school has 2 guidance counselors for 600 students. Tell you anything. They don't care, don't understand what they are supposed to be dealing with and actually don't want to either because the kid moves on and will become someone else's challenge. Good luck.

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After 3 years of fighting for my son who has ADD and anxiety issues, I finally succeeded and he got his IEP! He is very bright., maybe in the gifted range like his two sisters, but his ADD is so significant that the score wouldn't be accurate, so we didn't test. He always had average grades in advanced classes, but they were achieved on medication. Unfortunately, he is so sensitive to all available meds, including off label Provigil, that he was unable to take them for long. We were turned down for testing in 6th grade. His anxiety worsened with each passing week. We had him privately tested in 8th and were ready to try again, but knew his testing wouldn't be enough. At the 6th grade meeting we had been told that even if he had issues his grades in advanced classes would keep him from getting the IEP. This time I knew what needed to be done to get his IEP before entering high school--I took him off all meds and watched his grades plummet in the third quarter of eighth grade, five weeks prior to the IEP meeting. It was the most painful thing I had ever witnessed. Although we told him just to do what he could and not worry about it, his anxiety increased to the point that he ended up in the nurses office at least twice a week with full blown panic attacks. Twice he was sent home because he was inconsolable. By this point in the school year, the teachers had seen what he was capable of and witnessed his weight loss because of medication. Watching this bright kid fall apart, they were in my corner this time and he got his IEP 8 weeks before entering high school. That was 4 years ago and, while things haven't been perfect, I don't know how my son would have made it to his Senior year without his IEP.

Now the problem--My son's journey hasn't been easy, but he has generally been successful. He stayed in honors classes, but as the weighting of tests increased, his grades have dropped each year. He has three times attempted AP classes and had to drop because his anxiety was so great that he froze on tests. On four occasions his grade earned all semester long dropped a letter grade when he froze on the final. He has never received a D in high school (at the semester end, anyway) until the first semester of Senior year when he had a C for 20 weeks and dropped to a D when he froze on a two hour final. Does anyone have any experience or ideas about how to get the final weighted differently? He has extended time, but that doesn't help when he is in the throes of a panic attack. His teachers understand the problem, but their hands are tied. With only one semester remaining, he is in danger of losing his college acceptances and scholarship offers. To give you an idea of what he is capable of, he got a 26 the first time he took the ACT and a 27 the second. He wasn't pressured because he knew he could take the test as many times as necessary.

Thanks for taking the time!.

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