How to Seek Assistive Technologies for Your ADHD Child in the Classroom
Your child may have a right to educational assistive technology. Here’s one idea for approaching your child’s IEP team about gadgets in the classroom.
One of my favorite things about writing an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) parenting blog is having the opportunity to offer monthly giveaways of books or products related to ADHD, its common comorbid conditions, and learning disabilities. For those of you whose child has an IEP, I’m happy to offer you ammunition to convince your child’s school to provide a MotivAider.
Wrightslaw, a respected source for practical and legal information about special education, recently added a page to their website devoted to assistive technology. There, they explain that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) requires the IEP team to consider the assistive technology needs of all kids with disabilities, to provide the technology needed without regard to cost, and to provide training to teachers in how to utilize the technology to benefit those kids. There is a lot of information on the page (and I haven’t sifted through all of it) but it didn’t take me long to find a reference to the category of assistive technology that covers the MotivAider in a checklist (PDF download) created by the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative.
Feeling bummed that you didn’t win a MotivAider? Don’t count yourself out just yet. Do your homework on your child’s educational rights to assistive technology. Create an intelligent, thoughtful, positive pitch for your IEP team about how the MotivAider will help your child. Then, call an IEP meeting. (You might even bring a plate of still-warm homemade cookies to the meeting!) If all of our contest entrants do that, more than 160 schools could be ordering MotivAiders soon!
Happy advocating, parents! Please let us know the outcome of your efforts, good or bad.
