Is it required to disclose medication usage to public school?
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Anonymous
| I agree with the posters who believe that it is not necessary for teachers to know if a student is on ADHD medication or not. I wonder if it is even appropriate for a non-medical professional to inquire about a medication. I know that teachers are never supposed to recommend medication or to otherwise comment about it so I am confused why this question was even asked during the IEP meeting. Speaking as a parent of 2 children with ADHD who do not take medication, I would have been hesitant to answer this question also. There is an assumption that all kids with ADHD must be on medication and any parent who does not medicate a child is doing something wrong. |
Anonymous
PP, you say it was vital to let your child's teachers know she was taking medication for anxiety. Since it was vital, what would have happened if you did not tell them she was taking medication, but merely informed them that your child had anxiety and asked them to give you input on her day to day behavior in school? My fear would be that the teachers would subconsciously be influenced by knowledge that you had changed her dose of medication. "Have you noticed any changes in Sarah's anxiety symptoms this week?" is open-ended. "We are going to reduce Sarah's medication by 50% next week. Please let us know if you see her symptoms change" seems like it would prime a teacher to be looking out for an increase in symptoms. |
Anonymous
| FWIW -- schools `can' ask this question, but there's nothing requiring the answer. amd it's actually much better NOT to say this in an IEP meeting, where it becomes part of the student's permanent file, but instead to share this information selectively and unofficially with individual teachers and therapists. |
Anonymous
| It's an innocent question. A lot of parents want the school to know if their child is on medication. A teacher can observe how well a dosing schedule is working for a child and may have suggestions for a different dosing schedule that works better. They also should know about medications in case of a medical emergency. |
Anonymous
A teacher is not qualified to be offering opinions as to dosing schedule of any kind of medicine. Medication is to be prescribed by a doctor and monitored by the doctor or pharmacist. I would be highly annoyed if a teacher had comments as to my child's medication schedule. It is none of her business. Now, if the teacher wants to provide me with objective feedback -- "You child is falling asleep every day just before linch -- thought you should know" that's just fine. Then it is up to me to determine if my child's allergy medicines need to be tweaked, for example. But I would NOT want a teacher suggesting changes to medications. |
Anonymous
I think the issue this poster and OP are having has a lot more to do with the social stigma around an ADHD diagnosis. You are within your right not to tell, but choosing to not give someone who is attempting to partner with your family for the best of your child because of what people will think or how your child will be branded than you have some other issues to deal with. As a teacher, knowing whether or not a child was on medication seems like important information. Meds can change you child's appetite and behavior (I have taken ADHD meds as a child and adult) as a teacher if I hadn't known my student was on ADHD meds and I saw these things I would have reason to be alarmed. It is a hard but important job meet to children and families where they are at, figuring out what accommodations can be made to help your child learn. If you are keeping the teacher from seeing the whole picture of who your child is and what they are dealing with you are doing your child and the educator a disservice by keeping info from them. FYI, your kids behave differently at school than at home and we see them all day. We have an opportunity to help you gauge were your child is academically and socially and when you stop being defensive and work with us things can go a lot smoother for everyone. |
Anonymous
There’s so much more to feedback than just knowing what color the child was on that day. When a teacher knows medication is being used, they know why the information is being requested and why it’s in everyone’s best interest that they provide good observations. Whether a child uses medication or not, you always run the risk of the teacher (and parent) being influenced by that. However, I believe the teachers have just as much interest as the parents do in finding the right medication, the therapeutic dose and when it should be taken. If finding the correct ADHD medication were as easy as most others – where there were standard measures indicating a therapeutic dose – then I would agree that disclosing that information isn’t necessary. But that’s not the case. Finding the right ADHD medication, the right dosage and the right time to take it is a trial and error experience. Even after you get it right, you will still have to tweak it as the child’s metabolism changes. You can try and do this without telling the teacher but you’re going to get better information if they know. And, so what if it’s noted in the IEP that the child is taking medication? It’s not as if your insurance company doesn’t already know it and that’s far more permanent than a school record. With medical records going electronic, soon any medical professional seeing your child will have that information at their fingertips. A lot of people already know your kid is taking medication. I know I’m not going to change anyone’s mind and that’s okay. I’m just glad that our school team perceives me as open and communicative. They really make a difference in my kids’ life and while I often hate the process, the people are amazing and under-recognized. |
Anonymous
In term of dosage for ADHD meds, I will say that I have worked with a family who struggled with the idea of medicating their kindergartner. When they decided to do so the teachers were made aware immediately. Any severe reactions, changes in behavior, eating habits, etc. were reported to the parents so then that family could meet with the DR. to determine more appropriate dose. Most teachers I know would never pretend to be doctors, but they know when you kid is acting like themselves or not. Most parents I know would appreciate information like that and not say "it is none of your business." |
Anonymous
| If you are medicating your child so that he can perform well academically in school, it only makes sense to inform the very people who are teaching him. |
Anonymous
|
Hi OP --
Please see the DOE's website on IDEA -- idea.ed.gov The more specific link is here http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,B,300%252E174, For the Code of Federal Regulation 34 CFR 300.174 Sec. 300.174 Prohibition on mandatory medication. (a) General. The SEA must prohibit State and LEA personnel from requiring parents to obtain a prescription for substances identified under schedules I, II, III, IV, or V in section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) for a child as a condition of attending school, receiving an evaluation under Sec. Sec. 300.300 through 300.311, or receiving services under this part. (b) Rule of construction. Nothing in paragraph (a) of this section shall be construed to create a Federal prohibition against teachers and other school personnel consulting or sharing classroom-based observations with parents or guardians regarding a student's academic and functional performance, or behavior in the classroom or school, or regarding the need for evaluation for special education or related services under Sec. 300.111 (related to child find). (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(25)) Notice that the provision is written so it applies to certain classes of medication -- not diagnoses. It covers all prescription drugs. Your child can't be forced to take a prescription drug as a condition of attendance, evaluation or receiving services. While the provision doesn't technically prohibits a school from asking about medications, it pretty much implies that they shouldn't (because as soon as they start asking, they run the risk of someone saying that felt pressured or required to medicate as a result of the conversation). And it only goes so far as to clarify that the prohibition doesn't prevent teachers from providing information about function and academic behavior, but not so far as to say schools can ask about but not require meds. PPs who say that teachers should be involved in suggesting meds or suggesting alterations to meds are smoking crack. Teachers are not doctors. Besides the fact that it seems to run counter to the intent of the federal provision, it probably also exposes the individual teacher and the school system to some kind of liability if med changes are suggested and something goes wrong. No one can require you to disclose any meds your child is taking for school; it's a matter between you and your doctor and whomever you wish to disclose to. Other PPs have argued that it is wise to do so in case of medical emergency or because the school will be better able to help your child. Those are arguable either way and depend largely on specific facts of any particular situation. Honestly, if it were me, I probably wouldn't disclose because I think that when teachers know about meds they focus too much on it. Plus, I don't think there's any school personnel who is qualified to offer any opinion on meds (even the psychologist is not qualified to offer opinions on meds). They are qualified to note changes in behavior and should be doing so on a regular systematic basis even without knowing about meds. |
Anonymous
| I think you are missing the point, PP. Teachers are the experts in classroom behavior. School is the place where students tend to exhibit the most symptoms related to anxiety disorders. Teacher reports are typically requested by doctors so that know how the student is doing in all arenas. |
Anonymous
Exactly--and so the teachers should provide reports on classroom behavior. That is independent of knowing about medication; a teacher's knowledge or not of medication is irrelevant to behavioral reports. |
Anonymous
X1000 NP here but I've never had an md ask for my child's teacher's impressions of anything. As if. Pp's who talk about the importance of sharing the info with the whole team, and insisting everyone in the initial IEP meeting (and that can be a lot of people) has the students' best interests at heart, please share the name of the school so I can move my dc to that district. |
Anonymous
| +1 to the previous poster. I've read this thread and wondered about all these scenerios where everyone sitting around the table is a team with the child's best interest at heart. For everyone I know who has gone through the IEP process, there is a lot of fighting over whether the child can get sevices. |
Anonymous
| In all of this, OP has yet to reveal -- although one can very much infer from her introductory statements -- that she readily disclosed this information to the private school team. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with OP's quest for a legal opinion about her right to withhold information and is much more about OP's feelings about having to put her son in public school. She assumes she's going to have an adversarial relationship with the big bad public school and she's creating a foregone conclusion. Yep, she's doing everything she can to make her bad dream come true. OP, if you make things work out badly, they certainly will. |