Why Do Schools Need a Diagnosis for Services?

Thats kind of like saying, why do I need a prescription to get pain medication when the pharmacist can clearly see I'm in pain.

A have to agree with Dad on this one. There is only so many seats and they must go to those that need them most.

By the time they are entering kindergarten a child should already be seeing a doctor regularly. If they aren't it could be argued the issue is not severe, the parents are not committed to helping their child.

I have to wonder though if you understand what they mean by diagnosis. My son entered kindergarten with a diagnoses of social delay impacting learning..blah blah blah. He was not diagnosed Autism Spectrum until he was going into his second grade year.

The diagnosis they are looking for is not Autism, ADHD, LD, they are looking for a professional to say there is something wrong here and this is what must be in their IEP.

Have you considered that if his "difficulties" are not that bad he may not need services?

It all goes back to getting funding. If there aren't official records of each child's diagnosis, then the state and federal funding for special needs isn't paid to the center or the school.

It is to make sure the very limited number of seats they have are used on children who need it.

Without testing, parents might enroll their kids because they don't like their current teacher, kid being bullied, or they think their child is slow when a problem is unrelated.

Because someone has to pay for it, that's why. Just because you think a kid seems to clearly be ADHD doesn't mean he is necessarily ADHD. Also, the neurodevelopmental pediatrician may have seen sensory processing traits but not all thus the lack of a diagnosis.

A delay does not necessarily mean there is a need. It seems you are getting confused by a "want and need". Two different things. There are very limited resources and those resources need to go to those that truly need them and not to those that just want them.

Because these services cost money. And a disability/delay can only be properly diagnosed by a professional, not just "demonstrated." I mean, can you imagine how crazy it would be if everyone who suspected their child had some kind of delay or condition demanded these resources from our already struggling school systems?
The money and resources are there for kids who TRULY need it, and it takes quite a bit of testing and evaluation by professionals to make that call.

It's money.

Who provides these services? People who need to be paid for their time. How do the schools hire these people? By knowing how many children need these services. How do they know how many children need special services? Via diagnosed problems.

OTW... There's no way to apply for funding, hire teachers, operate programs.

The meds are no biggie. NO ONE can legally say you have to medicate your child. Granted people do illegal things all the time, but in the end, it's the parents' choice.

Something to know: an 'official' diagnosis is often easily $800. Free diagnostics will often have a 6-18mo waiting list. And thats even assuming the parents want one. The diagnostic process, similarly, is a looooong affair with multiple providers. It can be a very challenging process, or it can be fairly simple and straightforward. So, yes, 'needing' a diagnosis can be very frustrating... But without the diagnosis

1) there is no program, because there is no money
2) the wrong services are worse than none at all

It has to be exaggerated because tax payers are paying for it!

I'll pay for your kids extra help if you pay some of my medical bills.

Most delays are delays. Kids develop at different rates, they need time not treatment.

I am a teacher, and from my experience, it's all about money. I honestly think it's all a crock and waste of time. Me and my coteachers have been pushing all year for one of our students to get help, but for some reason it still has not happened. This child is in 5th grade, and is on about a 2nd/3rd grade level. I honestly do not know all of the rules and procedures necessary to be tested to get help, but it obviously is leaving some kids behind.

This reminds me of the song "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Most of us would like to NOT have to put a label on our children, but we want them to get the help they need.

The way things work is that in order to get the help, the govt needs the diagnosis in order to fund the help. So it's either you get the diagnosis and get help, or DON'T get the diagnosis and don't get the help. Kind of like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, for those who really don't want their kids to be labelled.

And then what comes to mind is the rest of the song "But if you try sometimes..., you get what you need." That's what you have to decide - will you or won't you, to get the help?

Sorry!
Dawn

Seeing that this is a "free" service, to the families at least, the children need to have a valid reason that can be proved ON paper as to their attendance and reason(s) for services. And for the school to help they must interfere with his ability to function AT SCHOOL.

Its all about the allmighty dollar. The schools rcieve federal funding for the kids, more if they have particular diagnoses than others. It is all about money. If you feel that your child has a delay, or something that warrents a "diagnoses" and your child will need services from the school, then go ahead and get one. You as the parent can refuse any and all treatment as well as meds so do NOT feel forced into anything. Good luck! :)

B.B.,
I don't care if they want to call my child an ALIEN. A diagnosis opens a lot of doors and gets children the help they need. Its a hard pill to swallow as a parent, but I go along with it because it gets my son what he needs.
R.

Because anyone can say their child has need of special services and can demand them. If everyone could do this all the funds for special programs would be used by kids who didn't really need it.

On the other hand if you have a legally qualified person who diagnoses a need then insurance and other funds are readily available.

It gives the need credibility.

Well - my daughter is having "difficulties" with math. Does that entitle us to taxpayer money for her to get special treatment or is it my responsibility as a parent to take care of her and any issues? My daughter isn't handicapped or special needs in any way but as I said, she's having difficulties. So where do you draw the line since all this costs money? And masking a small amount of pain with medication isn't always the best idea...

The services are provided under IDEA which provides educational services for individuals with DISABILITIES. period. If a condition is not diagnosable, it's not a disability for these purposes.

Even WITH a diagnosis from a doctor, kids are necessarily entitled to services... an educational diagnosis is different from (although often related to) the clinical one.

In a sense the CAN get services based on demonstrated delays or needs, but they have to demonstrate them TO someone, and that person has to diagnose them.

HTH
T.

My son is in an early intervention preschool here in CA similar to what you are referring to as a town preschool for children who need additional support. The federal IDEA act governs special education which should be carried out uniformly across all 50 states. A diagnosis is NOT needed to get these services. In my son’s instance, my son is in early intervention preschool because he has demonstrated a speech delay sufficient enough that if he were not in early intervention preschool he would fall behind academically. His disability code is speech impairment and there are about 12 other disability codes ranging from hearing impairment to intellectual disability to autistic traits etc. My son has not been diagnosed from the medical community. A diagnosis is sought by some parents in an effort to bolster their child’s case into receiving special education services. The school will take this into consideration but will ultimately base their decision on their assessments. You can always appeal a refusal of services and in an appeal process I most definitely believe a diagnosis will help.

Their funding is probably diagnosis dependent. It makes perfect sense to me personally that a school especially set up for kids with additional needs is more expensive to the tax payer and therefore the need of each child should be confirmed by a qualified professional. While I feel for the borderline cases, it's hard to see how the system could function otherwise.

Having the diagnosis entitles the person legally to receive services. Having an evaluation done by the school system helps target the areas that a child may need help and very often the school can give services based on those evaluations. For someone with suspected ADHD there would be a neuro-psych test done by the school to see how likely ADHD is and if the behaviors are likely to affect the child's school performance.

With SPD, they have the neuro-psych and triennial testing to see if they qualify.

The problem is that just having the school do the evaluations doesn't replace a diagnosis. And it shouldn't replace a diagnosis. It's illegal for the school to make a diagnosis. And having the evaluations by the school doesn't entitle someone to receive services. The child may be on the cusp and the school's eval isn't as accurate as the ones done by a child psychiatrist, child psychologist, pediatric neurologist, or developmental-behavioral pediatrician.

Having the official diagnosis gives the parents legal power to say to the school, "Here's the proof, and now my child is legally entitled to services." The school will take things more seriously, some cases. In our case with my autistic daughter, the kindergarten/learning center's psychologist didn't see any signs of Autism and attributed all of her delays to "just being delayed." in spite of what all her teachers observed. I had to get the diagnosis or she would never have received services.

Now at 9 1/2 I'm thankful I pushed it.

With my 11 year old we just got an ADHD diagnosis. That's forcing the issue with her middle school to give her certain accommodations in a 504 plan. Without that diagnosis, as much as I hate it (and it's very accurate) she needs it.

If this is about labeling and categorizing children, stop. That's not what it's about. It's about ensuring a child gets what they need to make sure they have the same chance at an education as their peers that they're entitled to have. I understand the desire to resist a diagnosis. Believe me.

I would imagine they need a diagnosis to know how to treat/support your child. If you come in and say they are ADHD and he's actually on the Spectrum, he could get the wrong help. Also, paperwork/documentation may be necessary to receive funding for the additional support.

Some schools require it to give the children special help cause they get govenment money for it. Luckly my son's school is not like that. Yes he may have ADHD but I don't wish to put out the money for testing since I won't be medicating him even if he does. I may have to get him tested down the road but his school gives him specail help anyway. It all depends on the school as to if he will get what help he needs without it. Just because he is diagnosed with something and the school gives specal acomidations to him does not mean even if the dr tells you to medicat you have to. That is your porogative as a parents.

Good luck and God Bless!

I don't know about other states, but in NJ at a public school, the school is responsible to provide the services needed for that student. When my son was in Kinder he needed speech and occupational therapy. The school brought someone in to diagnose him and I took him to a specialist aswell.
With a diagnosis is better to provide the correct services the child needs.
What the mother needs to do is push the pediatrician to give her a diagnosis or go to a specialist that can give her the correct diagnosis.
I know is frustrating and it also has to do with money, but in the long run it
is the best choice for the child and his wellbeing.
Blessings

I agree with you. Pushing for a diagnosis to me is a way for them to very likely indirectly affect your child getting put on meds. Let's face it - these days with a diagnosis comes meds, and (as a general rule) doctors can tend to be "diagnosis-happy". (Why wouldn't they be with all the greats prizes they can get from the big pharma companies when they prescribe their meds?) A drugged up kid is an easier kid to manage for them. That's just my 2 cents though.

Because the services cost a lot of money, and tax dollars only go so far. I hope the child in question gets the help he needs.