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My son (age 11) has been diagnosed with ADHD. We are treating it right now with Strattera pending an eval by a neuropsych. The doctor said he would be eligible for accomodations or modifications at school. He already has an IEP for Pragmatic Language Disorder. The school sees no signs of the ADHD so I'm not sure what we'd even ask them to do. I'd just like to start thinking about it so I'm asking for ideas and tips on what sorts of things you have asked for from the schools regarding ADHD?

Thanks.

My son also has an ADHD diagnosis (combined type) and I too had no idea what to ask for. The school had some ideas which they've implemented:

- shorter assignments
- frequent breaks
- desk position (at the side of the class so he can get up and move around without disrupting others)
- seating close to a reliable "buddy" student who can prompt him to resume work when needed

Oh, just looked at the clock. Speaking of DS, I need to get his breakfast started, but I'll come back later with more...

Bump!

I'm back I met with DS's teacher today and she was commenting on how he dreams the day away, but it's as if "his mind is going a mile a minute and class is too boring for him so he retreats to a more interesting world." She also said he "does better with more challenging work."

This last part is something I think ADHD and giftedness have in common - if the work is too easy the student will struggle to focus. This is something else that could be added to an IEP: "work that offers additional challenge" or something like that.

Not sure if these are IEP-ish enough, but here are things I know teachers have done to help kids with ADHD :

Create a "signal" for the teacher to use to reengage a student (touching their shoulder, tapping their desk softly, etc).

Letting a student work on several assignments "simultaneously" - does writing until hand tires, switches to reading or wordsearch, back to writing etc. Rotating tasks is often how adults with ADHD manage (often unknowingly) their distractability.

Rewards for good choices /success that offer stimulation : sorting out broken crayons /used-up markers (my clients LOVEthis task for some reason), run note to office, help pass out papers, help clean white board, etc.

Letting a student stand at their desk to work (some teachers have no issue with this - others can't STAND when a student is up) .

Why do you think ADHD is being mentioned when you don't see it? I would fight against putting a diagnosis on an IEP that you don't agree with.

My DS has been blessed with teachers who don't mind this And now that you mention this, I think this is also in his IEP.

He's historically been placed at the side of the classroom so that he is free to move around as he wishes. Interestingly, his current teacher has placed him right in the middle of the class, with the hopes that being surrounded by on-task kids can motivate him. There's plenty of room around the desks - they're the kind with the moveable chairs (which he couldn't have when he was younger because he'd tip them) - so he can be in the middle and still have fidget room.


Or, Petunia, if you think the ADHD provisions could help him, you could have them state directly in the document that you're not sure about the diagnosis.

In my DS's IEP both his diagnoses are listed as "provisional" which basically means "confirmation pending." It allows him to get support while still being clear that the diagnoses could be wrong.

Evemomma - I was really leery about this too. I heard somewhere that a diagnosis can't be removed from a file unless another assessment is done by a qualified professional. When I asked about this I was told that a child's file is the property of the parents, and not the school. I don't know... as of yet I haven't tried removing anything from his file, because so far everything is helping him.

To clarify, we see the ADHD at home but the teachers at school don't see it. It's like he's able to control himself at school but falls apart at home. I am 90% sure it is ADHD; my husband is doubtful. It's all very confusing. I'm thinking we want to do the Neuropsych eval but the appointment is several months out so right now I'm moving forward with the ADHD to see if that helps and maybe gives us some peace.

And, like I said, I'm not sure that I'm even going to share this with the school yet. I just wanted to be ready with some ideas if I need to bring it up with them. I think he might need help with organization (I'm doing a lot of it) and maybe some reduced assignments like copying vocabulary words from a paper to individual index cards. Last time he had to do this, it took him over three hours to copy about 20 words, identify their part of speech, and write a synonym and antonym. The idea is for them to use them as flash cards to study but he never touches them once they're turned in for a grade.

Make sense?