ADHD and when to tell principal

[Anonymous]

5 yo son entering public MoMo K in the fall who was recently diagnosed with ADHD (primarily hyperactive/impulsive) through NIH. We have K orientation next month, and I'm wondering if we should contact the principal before or just after orientation.

[Anonymous]

I'd recommend you do it as soon as possible. Do you need services or accommodations? If so, you should get it on the record that you're requesting an IEP meeting. That starts the clock ticking for them to deliver.

[Anonymous]

I asked myself the same question last year when my DS was entering 1st grade. I really wanted to tell his future teachers right away, DH wanted to wait for the teachers to bring it up as an issue, after the school year started.

So we waited. In retrospect, we should have been upfront with the teacher BEFORE the school year even started as it put him and her at an unfair disadvantage. She was unprepared and didn't see it coming (unfair to her), and because of that she was not ready to adjust her teaching style or behavior (unfair to him).

I would go ahead and have a meeting with the principal now. Also, if you are thinking of the IEP route - this would be a good time to bring that up as well so you can get that ball rolling right away. That process can take a few months. We started our IEP process in December and it was not in place until March.

[Anonymous]

Even if you're not requesting an IEP, he should be entitled to 504 accommodations (preferential seating, breaks, maybe adaptive equipment, etc.). You won't get it if you don't let anyone know.

[Anonymous]

Unfort, in MCPS you are not entitled to anything unless your child has a need. A diagnosis of ADHD does not mean you will get a 504 or IEP. Yes this sucks but it is the truth. You can be forthcoming with everyone and they will monitor him and probably schedulre an emt for the fall but they will want to watch him first. If his ADHD does not impact his academic learning he will NOT get accomodations. Sorry to be a downer been through this with my son. Did the same things and got no where. My son is above grade level in reading and on grade level in math . He is surviving for now. This is how mcps operates

[Anonymous]

I have had a our therapist write a letter each year before school starts indicating factors that would improve my DD academic performance in relation to her ADHD. Basic things like seating away from doors and windows, chunked assignments, frequent communication with parents ect. I think it has helped bring up the conversation with out feeling that I am an overbearing parent.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the responses. There is no question that we will contact the principal before the school year. I was wondering if there is any advantage to talking to her before the orientation in a few weeks or waiting until after we meet her. Regarding an IEP or 504, I have a written report from NIH (which I obviously will share with the school) that recommends some accommodations but does not explicitly mention either IEP or 504. Essentially they suggest that he be put with a teacher experienced with ADHD and flexible teaching style, that he be able to stand at his desk during assignments (although I don't agree with this one), praise him when doing good, use alert cues to gain attention, and anticipate when he needs extra help. Would these things fall under an IEP or 504?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the responses. There is no question that we will contact the principal before the school year. I was wondering if there is any advantage to talking to her before the orientation in a few weeks or waiting until after we meet her. Regarding an IEP or 504, I have a written report from NIH (which I obviously will share with the school) that recommends some accommodations but does not explicitly mention either IEP or 504. Essentially they suggest that he be put with a teacher experienced with ADHD and flexible teaching style, that he be able to stand at his desk during assignments (although I don't agree with this one), praise him when doing good, use alert cues to gain attention, and anticipate when he needs extra help. Would these things fall under an IEP or 504?

They are great, useful suggestions. If you want to make sure that they are employed, you need an IEP. A 504 plan is a handshake. An IEP is a legally binding contract.

If you want an IEP and you want specific services or accommodations, you should hire an advocate. The good ones run around $240 - $250 per hour. They are worth every penny and more. For my family, our advocate is worth her weight in gold and $245 per hour is a steal.

[Anonymous]

I have been in your shoes. I did the advocate thing but unfort as a kinder MCPS typically needs to see the child in action before they will give you anything. Unless the child has been in a mcps preschool or received home school services as a preschooler. They will also accept out of town IEP's. They will happily accept your NIH report but in order for them to offficially read it you need to set up an EMT. You can set up an EMT at any time but there is a timeline that MCPS follows. You also can also talk to the principal some are better at working with parents than others. SOme might have you just talk to the kinder teacher others will be more involved. You could potentially set up an EMT meeting for the summer. Even if NIH recommends something MCPS is not legally required to follow it. This is also true if you had a psych do the testing as well. MCPS likes to do their own testing and come up with their own conclusions. ADHD is tricky. I am happy to talk with you offline. We have been through this with my older son and it's not easy but the nice thing is MCPS does "unofficially" accomodate, what they call best practices and teachers are generally more than willing to make the simple accomodations in the classroom. If there is more to the ADHD generally the teachers will talk to you about options. I think talking the counselor or prinicpal at the kinder orientation about who would be the best match for your child is a great BUT teachers do leave or if the numbers are not there they are transferred to other schools. So, even if they recommended someone at orientation it's not a guranatee. Hope this helps.

BTW I would wait to hire the advocate. I would notrecommend going in as the "parent" day 1. I know you want to help your child but feel the school out. See if you can get accomodations without it. I would also wait and see how he does. He may just do fine in kinder and even first. If you find as he gets older and the work gets harder he needs more help then that's the time for out side testing and advovates.

Like I said I know this is very hard, I've been in your shoes.

[Anonymous]

I would recommend asking for a meeting with the principal separately. At orientations, everyone has a million parents with questions, and if you really want to be heard, separate the two. I think letting the school know well in advance, regardless of whether you get 504 or IEP will help the principal place your child with the best teacher. I am in FCPS, and recently had a special ed eligibility (ds found eligible, developmental delay social/emotional). We have not had an IEP yet, but the psychologist specifically suggested I wait until school was out for the year to talk to the principal, she suggested the summer in particular, when they are planning for the upcoming year. I think most principals will agree to meet with you. At least that has been my experience.

[Anonymous]

My oldest wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until late in the school year when he was in K. My youngest was diagnosed much earlier and went through a FCPS special ed preschool so he came into K with an IEP. I agree with the advice that your DS is best served by letting the school know well in advance of his diagnosis. The recommendations from NIH are great (even standing while doing assignments, you'll probably become a believer in the future) and by letting the school know ahead of time, you give them the opportunity to assign him to the most appropriate teacher. They do need an opportunity to observe him in a structured educational setting and having an experienced teacher will help everyone. She'll be capable of recognizing when his behavior is different than his peers and what techniques help him. She'll be a great resource - if you get the right teacher.

I also second the recommendation for a good consultant/advocate. It's not just to make sure you get great IEPs, but to help you understand the impact of the ADHD on your DS's learning. You need someone to help you set and manage your exepectations. When it comes to schools, my experience is that there is an incredible range of skill, expertise and willingness - even at the very same school. We've used a consultant/advocate for three years now (starting when my oldest was in K) and our IEPs are vastly superior than when we started and our relationship with the school much improved. It's not cheap ($250) but we feel we've gotten excellent value and it's saved us thousands in tutoring and emotional costs.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- my understanding is that the school will not initiate an IEP until it's apparent that the ADHD is affecting my son's academics. Is that correct? His preschool teacher says he will not qualify initially because he is ahead of his peers academically right now. I realize that could change very quickly once K starts, but will the school wait for that point to get things rolling or do you think they will do their own testing prior to the school year starting?

[Anonymous]

7:20 here. Depending on the county I guess, but in our case (FCPS), my ds was average or above average on all cognitive measures that the county used. In our case, there was a definite social/emotional component though. Does your son's ADHD manifest itself in any ways that might indicated social/emotional difficulties? I know our case is different, as Asperger's is suspected, but we do not have a formal diagnosis as such, except from a private LCSW/play therapist. He was found eligible under "developmental delay/social-emotional". I will say that the school observation part was the most telling part of our son's whole county assessment, not sure if you applied through the county now, that would happen before preschools are out for the summer. GL

[Anonymous]

We met the principal at orientation day and asked process for setting up an indiv meeting. Had meeting and gave eval and addtl info. K was very tough for DS regardless. Had an Emt at start of 1st, and...it went nowhere. So, finally resolved to hire an advocate and attny in the late fall. Best $ spent. Finally an iep for 2nd grade. In hindsight, should not have let the full year of K go by without the two professionals we hired. All schools are different; some may be much more willing to work with your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- my understanding is that the school will not initiate an IEP until it's apparent that the ADHD is affecting my son's academics. Is that correct? His preschool teacher says he will not qualify initially because he is ahead of his peers academically right now. I realize that could change very quickly once K starts, but will the school wait for that point to get things rolling or do you think they will do their own testing prior to the school year starting?

The school may, or may not, initiate an IEP at all. It very much depends on the school. In this forum, for every story where the school was proactive, there's another story where they had to have their ass kicked all the way to the IEP meeting. It's all over the board and it doesn't matter what school system your in. Both extremes and everything in the middle happens in all the systems.

It is incorrect to say that a child would not qualify for an IEP because he is performing at grade level. Wrights Law covers this extensively. Many people are told that, in fact, our eligibility committee (in FCPS) initially refused to even evaluate our DS because he was performing at grade level - in spite of the fact we had outside evaluations (including an NIH evaluation) documenting a 2 year expressive/receptive speech delay and other developmental delays (prior to an ADHD diagnosis). The important criteria is if his ability to assess the curricula is impacted. At that point DSwas performing at grade level but his learning was impeded by his disabilities that accomodations could not alleviate. We were already seeing him struggle, his confidence decreasing and knew it was just a matter of time before he started to fall behind. We weren't willing to wait for him to fail before action was taken and we hired an advocate. Things changed drastically after that. We chose to hire an advocate because we felt the learning curve was too steep and time was slipping away from us, that it would be difficult for us to argue succesfully with the school because they are the 'experts' and we're just the 'parents' and that the emotional cost of undertaking the quest would be far more costly and painful than hiring someone to represent us.