Davidson County school wants to retain my ADHD 2nd grader HELP

[Dbledeez]

Originally Posted by heathers5469

I moved my 2 children from Long Island NY to NC 4 yrs ago, and as for moving to the Triad area which is in Davidson county it was a very bad choice for us, I am thinking of moving again so I can provide the right services for my children who both suffer with A.D.H.D my son is 7 and daughter 12, my daughter is receiving some form of extra services but is still failing, No one in 4 yrs here ever thought to put an IEP in place till a friend of mine in NY told me about it, once I said something they jumped for my daughter but my son has (failed 2nd grade) and THEY asked for a retention, My son didn't fail...Davidson county schools FAILED HIM, I had him tested at his psychologists office although his I.Q a little low, his scores on ALL subjects were middle to above grade level, the test were taken on a 1 on 1 kind of setting, he excelled, putting my very hyperactive child in a group setting he cannot focus the school ( teacher & counselor) very noticed his decline never picked up on his not working, I don't understand why my son was pushed aside now oh lets leave him back? they say 3rd grade will be to much for him to handle, and cannot test him for any special education services till next yr, do to his having NOT been diagnosed with a learning disability do to his test scores, doesn't having A.D.H.D warrant extra services by that alone..I am so lost in what to do, I want the best for my son just don't know if leaving him back is the right thing to do....Please help!!!

I'm not sure you're addressing the root of the problem here. Perhaps no one thought of an IEP for your son in the last four years because that would make him three years old. I didn't know 3 yr olds got IEP's.
Why did you get him tested? What was he doing? What kinds of tests did the psychologist administer? What is the clinical background of this psychologist? Which of the ADHD criteria made him diagnosable? Have you gotten a second opinion from a psychiatrist? Were there any other diagnoses for your son and/or daughter? Were you not notified of his progress throughout the school year and was it not ever mentioned that he was in danger of failing? How could he fail if he passed all the subject tests for second graders?

What other factors could be contributing to your children's difficulties?

[Snort]

Heather,
There's a lot of erroneous info on this thread and it's going to cause you even more confusion. Let me just say that you have a say in if your kid is retained or not. You can refuse retention. You have a right to an SST meeting, but not a right for your kid to be tested. The information gathered may not warrant testing in the eyes of the school psych.
And, don't worry about the school psych being more for the district than for you and your kid. The vast majority of school psychs are good advocates for the children and will want to see best placement and services offered. There's always a lazy bugger out there who doesn't want to add to his or her caseload, but they're rarer than the conscientious kind.
If you want to send me specific questions or info that I can help you understand, feel free to do so.
No need to worry though. You have more control over your children's education than you realize.

[anifani821]

I agree w/ SNORT's advice . . . and also think Dbledeez brought up a lot of valid questions. I had read this thread earlier and my feeling was that you were getting advice f/ people (on some replies) who did not even live in this state and are not familiar w/ the laws/schools systems here.

[heathers5469]

Thank you all for so much advise, But after A LOT of though, Have decided to leave him back this one year, even though his tests come back my child being average to above, his maturity level just is not there, He needs help in many areas ( behavioral as well as social) With the help of his Dr's and hopefully the school (we will see what happens next year) I am sure my son will be okay, I will make sure he gets whatever services he needs, I had a long talk with him and tried to explain what was going to happen to him, he was upset at first, cried, then as I explained it he seemed to be okay, so I am crossing my fingers, getting him a tutor for the summer and hope for the best! thank you so much to everyone who has written on this subject, Anyone with 1 or more children with ADHD KNOW what it is like, and twice the load when your a single parent like myself! Heather
ps- My son has been on medication for 2.5 years only reason being he is extreemly hyperactive, some of you had asked or though maybe he needed medication, it was not easy to put my 5 year old on them but I actually had no choice as for my sanity or the teacher and other kids in his classes, he is turning 8 and has not slowed down one bit meds or not and he has tried them all, as for cutting out sugars and things, I am diabetic so we dont have that in the house anyhow, he is all natural hyper. haha

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by heathers5469

Thank you all for so much advise, But after A LOT of though, Have decided to leave him back this one year, even though his tests come back my child being average to above, his maturity level just is not there, He needs help in many areas ( behavioral as well as social) With the help of his Dr's and hopefully the school (we will see what happens next year) I am sure my son will be okay, I will make sure he gets whatever services he needs, I had a long talk with him and tried to explain what was going to happen to him, he was upset at first, cried, then as I explained it he seemed to be okay, so I am crossing my fingers, getting him a tutor for the summer and hope for the best! thank you so much to everyone who has written on this subject, Anyone with 1 or more children with ADHD KNOW what it is like, and twice the load when your a single parent like myself! Heather
ps- My son has been on medication for 2.5 years only reason being he is extreemly hyperactive, some of you had asked or though maybe he needed medication, it was not easy to put my 5 year old on them but I actually had no choice as for my sanity or the teacher and other kids in his classes, he is turning 8 and has not slowed down one bit meds or not and he has tried them all, as for cutting out sugars and things, I am diabetic so we dont have that in the house anyhow, he is all natural hyper. haha

Heather - I think that you are very wise to consider his maturity level in all this. Doubtless, you have talked to teachers/counselors or read that boys at that age often need some extra maturation b/f being ready to tackle a school environment and perform at the typically expected level.

I had a hard time trying to decide what to do about my son as he turned 5 y/o seven days after the cut off date. The school would have let him enter kindergarten at 5 under the circumstances. He was small for his age and I decided - hold him back and give him another year to grow a bit. Turns out several of the mothers in my neighborhood did that! We were so glad we did, b/c even by the next school year, several of our boys were still smaller than most of the other kids. And I believe having that extra year helped him mature some so that he was able to adjust better. (BTW - he is now 25 and 6'2" tall, LOL!!! Hard to believe he was once the little guy in his class!!!)

This may be exactly the things he need in order to acclimate better to a school environment - and be able to perform at a higher level. Work with the specialists and hang in there. I know it is disheartening when in the middle of such a situation, but w/ your continued support and determination to help him succeed . . . you all will make it through this period - and one day, you will be like me and look back and remember these decisions - and feel you did the right thing.

[asil2]

My child is also in Davidson County schools and was just diagnosed with a learning disorder. It took them a year and a half to diagnose her. As a parent I am very active in my childrens education. I knew there were problems and I was in constant contact with teachers, speech therapist and all the others involved with her education. I don't think the school failed her because it took them so long to diagnose her. They needed to compile information to compare. They couldn't walk in on the first day and say "you have a learning disorder" without grounds to do so. I love my daughters school. They offer speech therapy, time with the sld teacher, they have after school tutoring, they have parents that offer assistance during school hours, they pull upper graders to tutor the younger kids and her teacher has been great with modifying her work and allowing her additional time to complete it. It has been a struggle this year but we have made it to 3rd grade. Look into the school more and see what programs they offer. Talk to your childs teacher every year and explain the situation. Good teachers are equipped to work with these students and starting off a plan early in the year can be beneficial.

[shirljo1]

As a special education teacher in NC, I thought I might be able to give you some info. that might help. However, I would first like to say that there might be issues here I do not know about, and eligibility for special education is a team decision, of which you are a part. In addition, one on one help is simply not possible, unless your child is severely and profoundly disabled. More than likely it would be small group instruction for specific areas.
First, by law, the county has 90 days to complete an evaluation if you request one.
Second, it sounds like your child would eligible for services under the OHI (Other Health Impaired) classification. To determine eligibility as OHI there are several things an IEP team should look at.
Most importantly, is the impairment causing adverse educational performance? If they want to retain your child, I would say that is a "yes". The team then needs to look at evidence that they child requires specifically designed instruction (the cornerstone of special education). Again, if your child has not been successful in the regular curriculum, I would say that is also a "yes".
There are several other areas, such as research-based interventions, which should have been used as soon as your child demonstrated issues that caused a teacher to think retention would be beneficial, that would be used to determine eligibility.
Third, you need to provide documentation from a doctor that your child has ADHD and that it causes limited alertness, including heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment.
Fourth, even though your child showed no evidence of a learning disability (that would be a discrepancy between ability and achievement) in the evaluation you had done, that does not mean that his ADHD is not interfering with education. I have heard of schools saying, well, his academic scores are in the average range, so therefore he does not need specialized instruction. When it comes to ADHD, this is often not the case. More than likely, he needs direct instruction in executive functions as well as academics, and not many people understand the need for this. Even special education teachers, I'm sorry to say.
Sorry this is so long, but I hoped it helps some. I hate to hear of a child struggling with these kinds of issues.