Add/ADHD Meds Question

Here is the thing I have seen. Kids so dang out of control that the school has said get the child tested. If the child is diagnosed and no improvement yes they have said we cannot handle the child. The thing is it is the behavior that gets them kicked out and it is after years of the school trying to get the parents to discipline, therapy, anything. To speak to the parents, "the school told me I had to drug little Damion or he had to leave!!"

What I am saying is I have never seen a school kick a kid out just because they are unmedicated and have ADHD. I have seen kids kicked out because they are out of control and making it impossible to teach the other kids in the class.

That is why I would consider a news show like that stirring things up. The meds are just the last, lets make this work. The child has been failed by their parents for years.

I'm actually shocked that none of my daughter's teachers ever caught her ADHD. She has the combined type, so she is both inattentive, and has hyperactivity and impulse control issues. However, I'm also a fairly strict mom when it comes to manners and self-control, so even though I really felt like I was failing when it came to her, I guess she was still more polite and restrained than many of her classmates! (I find that both shocking and sad.) I think her teachers just figured she was kind of a spaz, but they didn't really care because she was still able to get good grades. I guess the teachers had bigger issues to contend with, so my daughter kind of fell through the cracks. The only feedback I'd ever get would be, "She cries all the time," or "She has a hard time dealing with her friends." Her constant misery prompted me to pull her out of public school. Only when I began homeschooling her did I really see the ADHD clearly. When she was supposed to be doing her math, I'd look over and see her face down on her chair, spinning it in wild circles. Or she would be having an animated battle in between her eraser and her pencil. I took her in for assessment, and the child psychiatrist was shocked that nobody ever picked up on this before. Anyhow, now she's on Adderall and doing a lot better!

It's illegal for teachers to remotely suggest a diagnosis. They're not board certified psychiatrists. I know it happens, but most teachers are smart enough to follow the laws.

No one would want a child without ADHD on ADHD medication. It's like giving a neurotypical child multiple cups of coffee! You'd have an extremely wired child. The medication only works on people who actually have the brain disorder, and for them it's calming.

As a parent of a treated child with ADHD, I can understand teachers being frustrated by parents who choose not to treat the condition if they know their child has it. This is a serious medical condition that can be not only disruptive to the entire class (and a danger, if the child also is aggressive) but the child with the condition can't learn appropriately and gets hit with a lot of negative feedback and disdain. I feel for the frustration, but at the same time, teachers simply can't dictate treatment.

I really wish people were far more sensitive and knowledgeable about mental health issues. I am floored by all of the people with think they know it all without any personal experience or an appropriate medical degree and certification.

ETA: Julie S. Our son was kicked out of preschool before we exhausted medical options. It wasn't until he got in with a psychiatrist after being kicked out that he got treatment and could go to school again. He was too out of control to be in any school environment until he was treated.

Kinda sorta.

When my youngest son was in 1st grade at his first parent teacher conference his teacher suggested he be evaluated. She had a child with add/adhd so she was EXTREMELY familiar with the behaviors as well as she'd been a teacher for a LONG time.

HOWEVER, this didn't come as a surprise to me. I pretty much knew by the time my son was 18 months old that he had issues. I had put off having him evaluated or put on meds to see how he did first.

I think for a lot of parents ... it's not that their kid doesn't have a problem that needs to be addressed (whether it's strictly lack of an appropriate outlet for energy, add/adhd, or something else) it's that they don't want to ADMIT they have a problem. Their little precious couldn't POSSIBLY have an issue ... oh no it's those mean old lazy assed teachers who want to do nothing but medicate ALL kids to make their job easier.

Does every kid that acts up in school need meds? Of course not ... but if your child's teacher says there's a problem with your kid ... do SOMETHING about it ... figure out what the problem is AND FIX IT.

Edited to add after swh: the only problem with medication being left to families and doctors is how that child affects the ENTIRE classrooms ability to learn. My son's behavior was very distracting for the OTHER students ... even though he was still learning just fine. His behavior also made it impossible for them to test to see where he was in his learning to see if he was on track or if he needed more help.

By all means try everything else first if you want ... but if it DOESN'T work ... then you're going to have to do something you might not really want to do ... not only for the sake of your child but for the sake of the other children your child is disrupting and impeding. If you still refuse ... then you will have to deal with the consequences of that.

And when I say "you" I mean the general "you" not any person in particular.

I think a school has a right to expel students if they are hurting other students and/or the teacher and/or damaging school property.
The school has to provide an educational environment for all students and if one is destroying that - they can't be there.
I've seen the occasional news reports of kindergarteners who are throwing furniture across the room and the school calls the police to subdue and handcuff them.
When a student needs meds or not - the school is only suggesting something the parents might look into and the parents need a serious wake up call so that they do SOMETHING to help their child rather than live in denial and thinking that it's normal and something they will outgrow.
When the child has his behavior under control - whether it's due to meds or psychiatry or therapy or what ever - then the school can work with that child - otherwise they can't.

Well, our news was reporting that schools would get about $400 more per kid in federal funds, if they got them evaluated and declared AD/HD...and more if they get an IEP/504 plan...as then they can hire more teachers for the special needs.

Our school district has not done this, to the best of my knowledge. I volunteer a lot at the schools so I would hope that I would hear something like that.

This is what I found and it states $1K per kid with diagnosis...and added that they must be at least 2 grades behind....
http://www.howtolearn.com/2011/07/adhd-diagnosis-is-worth...

so what sucks, is that the school is passing a child that is at least 2 grades behind...what does that say about the schools??

I do not think what you are saying happens. A school CANNOT force medication. Not legal! Now if a kid is intentionally hurting kids they can be suspended. You may not know all the facts about the kids you are talking about. Actually it is not even a teachers place to recommend medication.

Well what you're describing is totally illegal so no, I don't think it happens.

I can see a poorly trained teacher being undelicate in suggesting that perhaps there is an attention issue that could be helped with medication, but a school has a legal obligation to educate all children, even those with health impairments, which is what ADHD is considered. Even a school psychologist cannot suggest or recommend medication.

A district would only be able to refuse entrance to a child if the child demonstrated behavioral issues that couldn't be handled in a regular classroom setting and engaged in the kinds of behaviors that warrant discipline plans up to and including expulsion, at which point the school district has to provide an alternative setting for the child, often at great expense.

Bottom line? Doesn't happen. If it does happen, it's illegal. A school cannot legally require medical interventions for its students.

I don't think teachers are allowed to broach the subject in my district. My daughter was diagnosed in 1st grade. The subject was discussed in a meeting with the guidance counselor and the school psych. I also think it's bunk that the school was saying they weren't allowed in class if they weren't medicated. That doesn't sound legal!

This is totally my opinion. Teachers spend hours and hours and hours with kids year after year after year after year. They know when something isn't right.

They do NOT have the right to say get your kid on meds or don't bring them back. The principal DOES have the right to say your child is putting others at risk for injury and we've done everything we can. The school psychologist has observed them for hours and hours, the teacher has kept logs to see if there are correlations, and I have actually sat in the classroom with your child trying to help find a way to make this work.

We don't know what else to do so we're asking you to get them evaluated. We are not child psychologists, we are not doctors but we do feel that your child needs medical intervention.

Here is a list of psychologists that do evaluations for mental health and educational disabilities. Please follow through with this. We will give you a week to make a plan. At that time we'll sit down again.

If that plan doesn't follow through with the evaluations then the school has every right to say that child can't come back.

Teachers are ansolutly NOT allowed by law to suggest a medical diagnosis!
And I would question any parent that woul allow that to happen without diagnosis, eval by a qualified health professional!