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I have a child with ADHD and her former school was begging us to let them classify her as special needs. I know it was for additional funding, but still, I was not going to let them classify her as special needs, when IMO there was no need.
How is ADHD even close?
No disrespect or anything, but I don't get it. When I think of special needs children ADD/ADHD does NOT come to mind.
I think it depends on the child. Some children are just fine as long as they stay on a certain medication and/or special diet. Other children still struggle and need special help to stay on task, out of trouble, and be productive in school.
It may open certain programs to her also. Have the person detail why it would be a good idea and work from there. You may feel the reasons are shallow or valid. But not enough to go on right now.
It depends upon the severity of the ADHD, and whether the ADHD significantly impacts the education. My son's ADHD is moderate to severe. It certainly impacted his education.
It also depends on the school. How well does the school (or school system) handle differentiated instruction?
Additionally, how is your child doing in school? Are there difficulties? Was the school beggining for funding reasons, or did the school really see some problems?
Some kids need to go to the resource room (or whatever a school calls it) where the special ed teacher can help them stay on task in a smaller group setting for certain times, like sitting down for 15 min to do math worksheets, etc.... Without an IEP or 504, I don't think the school is allowed to do this.
Well basically, they ignored her and she was in trouble for not paying attention all the time.
Then she was bullied in class by other kids, cause she was always in trouble and her teacher would ask in front of the class if she took her meds that day, so he would know if she was going to be a problem or not.
Those were part of the reasons (not to mention physical abuse, and bullying) that we pulled her out of school and currently home school.
Funny enough, the school couldn't "cope" with her if she missed her meds, yet she hasn't taken them since March, and she is VERY attentive, listens and retains, and isn't antsy or hyper during our school day. But then again, we take a 10min break every 30mins, and we have a full hour (or more) daily for recess/pe. Maybe it is that she gets some of the energy out, or maybe it's cause we cater her learning to a way she retains/understands, or maybe it is cause it's a one on one thing, or maybe it's cause we are her parents, or maybe she is learning to control her impulses better; I dunno.
I guess my original question was I don't get how ADD/ADHD children are classified as special needs. I just don't see it. Now my best gf, her son has CP, to me, he is special needs. Autistic children are special needs. I don't think ADD/ADHD is special needs.
Well, I kind of think you answered your own question. A child is special needs if their academic needs cannot be met by the way the regular classroom is run. Many schools do not do a full hour of recess/PE, nor do they take a 10 min break every 30 min, so that is why a school would consider it special needs. You are making the proper accommodations at home, which a school would probably have to write into an IEP to accommodate. Doing anything like having her take a break in the back of the classroom to taking a walk around the halls has to be considered in the context of least restrictive environment. My very hyper kindergartener sat at a table with 2-3 other kids, as the kinder classroom was set up with 4 tables of 3-4 kids. The teacher, special ed teacher and counselor all thought he might do better with his own desk but it was huge to-do over whether it was ok to separate him from the other kids, etc....They couldn't just put him in his own desk, even with my verbal consent. They had to get it in the IEP and hold it against the standard of least restrictive environment.
I am not saying it was a good school your daughter attended, it sounds terrible what they did.
Well basically, they ignored her and she was in trouble for not paying attention all the time.
Then she was bullied in class by other kids, cause she was always in trouble and her teacher would ask in front of the class if she took her meds that day, so he would know if she was going to be a problem or not.
Those were part of the reasons (not to mention physical abuse, and bullying) that we pulled her out of school and currently home school.
Funny enough, the school couldn't "cope" with her if she missed her meds, yet she hasn't taken them since March, and she is VERY attentive, listens and retains, and isn't antsy or hyper during our school day. But then again, we take a 10min break every 30mins, and we have a full hour (or more) daily for recess/pe. Maybe it is that she gets some of the energy out, or maybe it's cause we cater her learning to a way she retains/understands, or maybe it is cause it's a one on one thing, or maybe it's cause we are her parents, or maybe she is learning to control her impulses better; I dunno.
Maybe it's also because she's not in a traditional school environment, with all those other children in the classroom and the prevailing attitude that you experienced. My son behaved (and still behaves) better at home. He is still ADHD, though (in addition to PDD-NOS).
I have a child with ADHD and her former school was begging us to let them classify her as special needs. I know it was for additional funding, but still, I was not going to let them classify her as special needs, when IMO there was no need.
How is ADHD even close?
No disrespect or anything, but I don't get it. When I think of special needs children ADD/ADHD does NOT come to mind.
Can anyone explain this?
Some children do need accomodations in the classroom due to their adhd, and some school districts require that they be classified as special needs/ADHD in order to receive help. Some adhd kids don't need accomodations, thus no need to classify as special needs.
My 14 year old dd has adhd-inattentive type. She is on meds that work and does not need accomodations in class. Her school is unaware that she has ADD.
I think it was likely because she works better with direct help, as you seem to indicate with her behavior since you have been home schooling, and one classroom teacher could not be as attentive to her as needed them to be. Perhaps they wanted her to have an aide to help her focus and be that one-on-one that makes a difference. Maybe it was because she was disturbing the other students in the class by being disruptive and distracted from the group learning as a whole... I agree with one the PPs- ask the school WHY they felt that special support services would be beneficial.
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