I need some help and advice from parents or special ed teachers who can help me with an issue with my 11 year old son. My son was diagnosed with a learning disability in writing 2 years ago. He is still receiving resource services for this. About 8 months ago he was diagnosed with ADHD by our family doctor and was put on medication. The school has been told about his diagnosis. My son is currently in 6th grade (big transition year) and has been having problems during the last period of the day with not being able to stay in his seat, acting impulsive, and according to his teacher over socializing. I think some of this is due to the fact middle school doesn’t have recess and he is not able to burn off the additional energy and have time to socialize with his friends as he did in elementary. However, getting back to the issue his behavior in his class class of the day is getting him lunch detention and after school detention. I know my son and after awhile the detention will become ineffective and I know the school will next try and put him in in school suspension or out of school suspension. I do not want this to happen because my son has never been suspended or placed in in-school suspension in his life. I am planning to have our family doctor fill out a form that the school district provides called "Medical Report of Pupil Referred for Special Education Services for the Other Health Impaired." I plan to add his ADHD to his special education record. His ADHD does effect his behavior and I want to the IEP to address that. If I took the steps for this on his IEP would the teachers and school have to think twice before always putting my son on lunch detention/after school detentions? I am not trying to get him out of being responsible but I do believe the problems he has are contributed to the ADHD.
As a side note, he is on medication and it is effective. He is on a low dosage and I have no plans of increasing the dosage. When he was on higher doses the side effects were not worth the "cure." I appreciate any sound advice, insight, and knowledge anyone can provide.
I am curious to know if any of your child’s teachers have ever expressed concerns that they observed signs of ADHD in the classroom.
As an elementary special education teacher (6 years plus), I believe you are taking the right steps to have your son’s needs addressed.
You should definitely let the school know that you want to meet with the school based support team to update your son’s IEP to include his recent diagnosis. The school has to comply with your request within 30 days. Not only should his IEP state that he has ADHD, but it should also include how his teachers need to accommodate his needs such as allowing him time to be active or giving him his own personal recess time. Maybe he needs a period of physical education everyday.
Once his IEP stipulates how he needs to be accommodated, it is unlikely that he would get detention for behaviors that are symptoms of his ADHD. If you find that it still happens once his IEP is updated, I would request another IEP meeting and ask for the team to come up with additonal ways to accommodate your son. Best of luck!
I am curious to know if any of your child’s teachers have ever expressed concerns that they observed signs of ADHD in the classroom.
As an elementary special education teacher (6 years plus), I believe you are taking the right steps to have your son’s needs addressed.
You should definitely let the school know that you want to meet with the school based support team to update your son’s IEP to include his recent diagnosis. The school has to comply with your request within 30 days. Not only should his IEP state that he has ADHD, but it should also include how his teachers need to accommodate his needs such as allowing him time to be active or giving him his own personal recess time. Maybe he needs a period of physical education everyday.
Once his IEP stipulates how he needs to be accommodated, it is unlikely that he would get detention for behaviors that are symptoms of his ADHD. If you find that it still happens once his IEP is updated, I would request another IEP meeting and ask for the team to come up with additonal ways to accommodate your son. Best of luck!
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Good for you, Mom! Schools cannot always do the best for every kid, so I am glad you are working to advocate for your son. I would also highly encourage you to have him start learning more about his differences and what he can do for himself.
Yes, if the ADHD is in his IEP, the school must consider that when disciplining him. It would also be a great idea if the IEP Team (which includes you) developed a Behavior Intervention Plan for him as part of the process. This is a plan for how he will be dealt with when he is breaking rules and needs consequences. A school psychologist can be very valuable for this. You all agree ahead of time that when X happens, the consequences will be Y. A good BIP includes rewards when your son does control his impulses, or shows progress, not just negative consequences.
Since you know your son, your opinion is very important. If you go to his meeting with some ideas to share that will help, too.
I might suggest that they find a way to help him get the physical movement he needs to release his energy. They should have a different consequence besides taking away his only free time. Maybe you could get a daily report card on his behavior and he could get his consequences at home – missing tv time, or extra chores, for example when he breaks rules, and extra good stuff for a good day. I have seen this work well with some of my students.
Also, check this website for tons of articles and advice – you can even get a magazine subscription.
http://www.additudemag.com/
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special ed teacher for 30 years and counting
is teh medication wearing off at the day?
i had a child that was on a 4 hour dose and it would wear off after 1 1/2 hours! tehy switched to the 8 hour dose and it wore off after 4 hours!
is it possible to explore other meds that may be longer acting or give it to him a little later?
is it possible to shcedule gym class or some other more active class at the end of teh day
when any student is exhibiting recurrent behavior teh school should do a FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT-FBA (iep or not) and a BEHAVIOR INTervention plan (bip)–which would stipulate what the consequences of the behavior would be–and ways to avoid it…can he be allowed time during lunch to run errand around the school–maybe deliver flyers or supplies to classrooms for example–or help out in a preschool room
by law a child should not be punished if the behavior is a result of disability
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