Labels help get accommodations, in our experience, because they help force the education system's hand to acknowledge a problem. I have seen schools label ADHD too much so they can get kids overmedicated. I have seen schools ignore problems because they don't have the funding for the accomodations (so, SO much). Ihave seen schools ignore actual diagnoses because they don't have the resources to accommodate. I have just never encounted a school egregiously labeling-for-pay. But perhaps your area is just different than the places I have lived and worked.
EDIT: I don't know why I consistantly misspell accommodate.
Me too, lol, ...yay spell check
Re: "labeling for pay" ...I'm not sure I'd put it that way. They can't put any label on a child just to get more funding. There has to be a legitimate diagnosis from licensed professionals. A parent doesn't just say "ok, tag my kid with ASD" ...and then presto, more dollars. Not at all.
Also I'm really curious about how schools get kids medicated for ADHD - I'm assuming it's by pressuring the parents? In our district that simply doesn't happen.
It's the parents' decision, and I wonder sometimes if the school is even allowed to ask if a child is medicated. I'm thinking possibly not, because this would be considered confidential medical info.
Frankly, it is confidential. It's none of the school's business. Period. The only time knowledge of any pharmaceutical taken would be required would be if they were involved in administering a child's dose mid-day.
It's pretty funny, actually... they're soooo vague about it... "Have you given any thoughts to some of the treatment options the psychologist recommended?" They won't actually say it directly. I reply with "You mean are we medicating him? We haven't taken that off the table, but we're not trying that at the moment since he's pretty happy and functioning well." Yet the same staffer will say "What about OT? Have you looked into that?"
I feel badly for parents who feel pressured to medicate their kids - I'm guessing there are schools who apply undue pressure. This to me indicates a systemic problem with public education. I think I'd home school at that point.
