Taking ADHD Meds at Private School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School sends my kiddo to the nurse's office to get their meds at lunchtime.

Isn't this the way most schools do it? When we were touring private schools, every school gave us this response when we asked.

This. It’s not an iep. It’s a pill you child needs to take every day at the nurse’s office. This would be true of any health issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm purposely putting this in the private school forum because I think it is more of a school issue.

What does your school do to support your ADHD student in remembering to take prescribed medication? What do you as the parent do to help the child remember? In this case, it is an ADHD booster. Kid is in 8th grade. Kid says the booster helps and wants to take it. It is kid's responsibility to remember to go in at the appointed time (after 2 pm per doctor. School stops administering meds at 3:30, but child can take it as late as 4.) She remembers about once a week. I've given her a non-smart watch with a timer that goes off at 3 pm each day. That worked for about two weeks. It is written in her planner (never helped). It is sometimes written on her hand (seldom helps). School will not page the child or go find her. Child does not have her phone until 330 and does not have a computer/device at all during the day. Doc has authorized self carry, but school says absolutely not.

Short of pulling her out of sports to come home and take a booster, what other tricks are there to remind this kid to take her meds?? We don't really want to adjust the morning dose to be shorter acting because the wheels would really come off if she forgets to take a lunchtime dose.

Are you asking what the schools responsibility is or how much you can expect to ask of the school. Wouldn’t you have to request a medical accommodation or have an IEP in place?

No? All the school needs to do is let the kid walk to the nurse, nurse administers, the end.

[Anonymous]

Imagine if this pill were for a different condition, like diabetes or seizure disorders or allergy. They would absolutely make sure that medical need was met, even if the kid forgets. The irony here is that the medical need is literally related to forgetting! Why do people stigmatize this particular brain disorder so much that a school is willing to let a kid suffer when the medication is right there in the office?

[Anonymous]

At my child's old school the nurse would track them down if they forgot their booster. They are at a new high school and they worked with the teachers they have at the time they should take the booster to remind them. My child normally remembers, but it helps to have the teacher back up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this extreme (and extremely unhelpful school instance) I would have her self carry and self administer.

One a day, in a combination lock pill dispenser so another student can't get to it even if they went through her things and found it. I found a pouch on amazon with a three dial code lock you can program, like a luggage lock.

I wouldn't send more than one a day and I wouldn't send in a regular script bottle so if someone were to get ahold of it, they couldn't take it thereby reducing that risk.

She will be expelled from my private if caught doing this.

[Anonymous]

Work with her to brainstorm and hack a solution.

Is there any part of her schedule that stays the same day to day? Like, does she go to her locker after school but before sports? Does she always refill her water bottle at a certain time? Find anything that she does every day, and put a reminder there.

What I'm not fully understanding, though, is why the alarm isn't working. Is it going off right as the bell rings and so she's ignoring it? What if the alarm went off at 3:05 when she's probably in the hall rather than the classroom?

[Anonymous]

You need to try to link it up with taking it during another already established routine. So for instance, maybe you can build it into the schedule when she changes out for sports. Could she drop her change bag at the clinic first thing in am so she is forced to go to the clinic to get it when the day is over (and take her dose before she changes?) maybe the nurse will accommodate this? I’m sure they have a shelf she can put her sports bag on

[Anonymous]

The school is not denying her ability to take and access medicine. She is old enough (10+ years old) to go to the nurse to take the medicine at a set time each day, and it is her responsibility to get there. A simple thing would be setting an alarm. If she can not have a phone or smartwatch, get an analog watch and set that alarm. Figure out the routine. Do you want the nurse to go search the school at 3:05 for dismissal if she does not show up? That is not reasonable and is not the nurse's job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school is not denying her ability to take and access medicine. She is old enough (10+ years old) to go to the nurse to take the medicine at a set time each day, and it is her responsibility to get there. A simple thing would be setting an alarm. If she can not have a phone or smartwatch, get an analog watch and set that alarm. Figure out the routine. Do you want the nurse to go search the school at 3:05 for dismissal if she does not show up? That is not reasonable and is not the nurse's job.

This is what kids with ADHD are actively working on. They may not get it right every time, so yes, it is reasonable for an adult to back them up when they forget. Forgetting IS a symptom of the disorder, especially when the medication has worn off. OP is getting some good tips to boost independence here, but it is silly to suggest that an adult nurse as a back up for a child's medical condition is unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Thanks for confirming for me tha this is just something that kid needs to work on. One day the alarm didn't work because "we got out of class a few minutes early and I was already at my club meeting. I didn't want to leave." Yes, impulse control is an issue. Another day she just "forgot." She says she hears the alarm and knows what it means, but then gets distracted.

Last period teacher changes every day. There are some really helpful teachers who would remind her, but I'd basically have to email them at the start of the day each week to remind her and that strikes me as super annoying of me.

The school will not find the child. They will email me that she hasn't taken the meds in a long time, but they won't actually help. I'm so tired of getting screamed at every night by a fried kid that I may just have to pull her out of sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if this pill were for a different condition, like diabetes or seizure disorders or allergy. They would absolutely make sure that medical need was met, even if the kid forgets. The irony here is that the medical need is literally related to forgetting! Why do people stigmatize this particular brain disorder so much that a school is willing to let a kid suffer when the medication is right there in the office?

OP here. I used this example when they said they wouldn't find a kid or administer any meds after 3:30. They said that kids with these conditions are allowed to self-carry, but it is not legal to self carry ADHD stimulants. (non-stimulants did not work for our child.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if this pill were for a different condition, like diabetes or seizure disorders or allergy. They would absolutely make sure that medical need was met, even if the kid forgets. The irony here is that the medical need is literally related to forgetting! Why do people stigmatize this particular brain disorder so much that a school is willing to let a kid suffer when the medication is right there in the office?

OP here. I used this example when they said they wouldn't find a kid or administer any meds after 3:30. They said that kids with these conditions are allowed to self-carry, but it is not legal to self carry ADHD stimulants. (non-stimulants did not work for our child.)

Then maybe they can give her permission to “self carry” her phone because it is related to her medical condition. And then you could call her.

I’m sorry. They are being super unreasonable. I’d probably show up at school and administer it myself every day if there were no other solution, but you really should not need to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if this pill were for a different condition, like diabetes or seizure disorders or allergy. They would absolutely make sure that medical need was met, even if the kid forgets. The irony here is that the medical need is literally related to forgetting! Why do people stigmatize this particular brain disorder so much that a school is willing to let a kid suffer when the medication is right there in the office?

OP here. I used this example when they said they wouldn't find a kid or administer any meds after 3:30. They said that kids with these conditions are allowed to self-carry, but it is not legal to self carry ADHD stimulants. (non-stimulants did not work for our child.)

Then maybe they can give her permission to “self carry” her phone because it is related to her medical condition. And then you could call her.

I’m sorry. They are being super unreasonable. I’d probably show up at school and administer it myself every day if there were no other solution, but you really should not need to.

This is the angle I would take. Ask that her accommodations allow her to carry her phone and then call her everyday. The school might be more agreeable to this since it involves no effort on their part. The caveat is she’d had to be disciplined enough not to use it during the day.

My Type 1 kid (who also has ADHD) is allowed to carry her phone and it’s written into her accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if this pill were for a different condition, like diabetes or seizure disorders or allergy. They would absolutely make sure that medical need was met, even if the kid forgets. The irony here is that the medical need is literally related to forgetting! Why do people stigmatize this particular brain disorder so much that a school is willing to let a kid suffer when the medication is right there in the office?

Disagree. If a kid had a medical condition they couldn’t remeber to take their meds for that was life threatening a private school would tell this family they can’t support this kid. They wouldn’t want the liability that came with any guarantee they would hunt the kid down and administer meds.

[Anonymous]

Can it be written into the accommodation plan that she be told by staff?
My 7th grader is in privately adhd bit doesn’t take meds at school. They’ve been super helpful with accommodations though and I feel like they would do this.
What happened with the watch alarm at the 2 week mark?