School & Child with ADHD

Good morning! Now that a diagnosis has been made it will be easier to get an IEP and/or 504 plan in place. I think talking points should focus on your daughters strenghts/weaknesses and what IEP/504 plan goals you have for her and what the school can provide. It's best, I think, to all meet together as a team. I think after you meet with a therapist to talk about what behavioral therapies are best then let the school know so you are all on the same page and your daughter has consistency at school and home.

Best of luck!!!

Has the pediatrician actually diagnosed her with ADHD? A diagnosis usually includes involving the school by having the teacher fill out a questionnaire.

Federal law (No Child Left Behind) mandates that schools provide testing and treatment if a child needs help in order to learn. You can have her tested by the school district to see if she has any other learning difficulties. Frequently there is more to the difficulty in the classroom than just ADHD.

The evaluation is done by an office within the school district. You can call the district office to find the number. My granddaughter's school didn't seem familiar with this program a few years ago.

My grandson is diagnosed with ADHD, apraxia of speech and Aspergers. He was tested, receiving therapy, and has an IEP (Individual Education Plan) that outlines goals and what the school will do to help him meet those goals. My granddaughter does not have a learning disability but she was tested and has been diagnosed with ADHD and has a 504 plan that has her getting extra help with math and language.

You can Google No Child Left Behind as well as IEP and 504 plan to get more information. Those are just the terms I can remember. The Internet has lots of information. I suggest that you'll get lots of ideas for what to ask and what they're legally required to provide.

My daughter started the evaluation process with her children's pediatrician, who then referred her to the district's program. It was the district office that gave her the most information and the most help in arranging plans for her children. In Oregon the office that does this within each district is called the Intermediate Education Service District.

I think all of my kids have it, but only one has been diagnosed with ADHD. He had an IEP and now has a 504. There's a website I turned to for information like this. It's called wrightslaw.com. It will give you all that information.
Nutrition and supplements have been helping my kids. I heard giving these kids sugar doesn't help at all. I've been giving my kids protein at breakfast which helps. Many kids with ADHD are deficient in magnesium, calcim, zinc, B6 and essential fatty acids (fish oil or flax seeds). Son also developed tourettes and when I gave him the supplements, it completely went away. Reducing dairy helps as well.

Younger son has had some behavioral issues. Good nutrition and vitamins helped him.
However, if you try this all and she is still having a problem, then you might think about medication. I would do that as a last resort.

I agree with Jo. Please don't rule out medication so quickly. We've tried a lot of strategies over the years to help our son and the only thing that has given him a normal life to a notable degree is medication. It's not something to take lightly, but it's also not something to fear or dismiss.

No one "just puts" a child on medication. It's part of a larger approach to helping a child. Medication combined with therapy has been shown to have the best results in treating ADHD. Talk it over with the specialists and address any concerns you have with them.

You can get an IEP or 504 plan, but honestly, if you're sending a child with ADHD to school who's not on medication, there's not much they can do.

I recommend joining CHADD and subscribing to ADDitude magazine. Both are super resources as you start addressing your daughter's condition.

I would not skip medicating, I didn't skip medicating and it is one of my decisions that I look back and clearly see it was the correct decision.

Medications are the only thing that will correct the disability, then you need behavior modification to do the rest. By only doing one you will not be successful. Think about it using born without a leg, would you say to the child, hey lets try therapy and see if you can learn to walk with one leg first? No one would do that because you are very clearly setting them up for failure. You would get a prosthetic leg first then therapy.

Well starting therapy without medication has the same effect on kids with ADHD. Add to that these kids already have fragile self esteems you are going to do more damage than starting the meds first.

What I mean is think about what you are saying, you can control this through behavior modification. Well they can't, so then they fail. So then you are saying they are a failure so I guess we have to do the meds. How would you feel if someone pretty much called you a failure for doing something you just can't do?

Sorry I don't mean to be so dramatic but it really concerns me when parents won't give these kids the medication needed to be successful.
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Oh, so far as the school goes they can create an IEP. Two of my four went all the way through college without an IEP. Still if you go that route you need some idea what you are doing, you need to be your child's advocate. No two kids are alike, you need to understand what they need. You can't expect to go in with okay so she has ADHD, fix her. You are the parent, you must be the guide in this.

The medication for ADD/ADHD can be such a blessing for a child suffering with this diagnosis. NONE of us want our children to need any medication, but if they have asthma ... they get meds, allergies ... they get meds. ALL medications have side effects that can be adverse but the treatment can make a huge difference in their lives. Listen to your pediatrician and the teachers who work with children on a daily basis. Yes, I've been there with one of our children and I was originally sad they got this diagnosis. But, after they started the meds (Vyvanse) we have seen such a difference in their grades and they are so much more happy and attentive in class. I wish we had spoken to the dr. sooner so our nights of struggling for hours with homework and the struggling in class to keep grades up might have not existed.

I definitely recommend asking for a 504 which will ensure accommodations to help your child in the classroom. As a mom and a teacher (who has dealt with ADHD at home and at school), I will say to talk to the teacher, approaching it as a partnership. That way, the teacher will be open to it. We recently have changed up our son's diet (we found that food dyes did NOT help him in any way) and added a non-stimulant medicine. We also have our child run up and down our street in the morning to wear him out a bit before school. :) Fish oil is also supposed to be helpful. He isn't perfect now (I haven't found a pill for that yet :) but we definitely have seen improvements with all of these things. Good luck!