Can School Give Meds When it Wants As Opposed to What Dr Says?

[Anonymous]

DC has noted for a couple weeks that ADHD meds are not being given consistently at the time the psychiatrist says they should be given. Today, DC came home and said the nurse says she is too busy at the given time and therefore now meds must be given an hour earlier. Is that allowed? I understand resources are tight in public schools but this seems a little odd to us.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

The school should not be allowed to do this, on principle, since there is no doctor there to override the prescribing doctor.

However, ask yourself: if meds are given one hour earlier, does it negatively affect your child? Is homework completion at stake, and extra-curricular activities? The schools never pay attention to that, unfortunately. You will have to insist and threaten to sue, basically.

[Anonymous]

They are supposed to give it within an hour of the time the doctor said. Just call the principal and ask what the problem is, and he or she will have the clinic aide give it on time. They don't want to have a hassle. If they don't cooperate, then just make a phone call to the region office. It is best for the kid to get it when it naturally fits the school schedule, like on the way to lunch. If a few minutes either way doesn't matter, then roll with it. But a whole hour can throw everything off for the rest of the day in terms of attention and concentration.

[Anonymous]

Wow, an hour?

For the past couple of weeks our kid has reported 15 minutes early multiple days, 75-min late one day, two skips ("we ran out of time") and now that it would need to be an entire hour early.

We will call the school. Thanks everyone.

[Anonymous]

If it is DCPS, then the answer is YES - their policy clearly states they are allowed to give meds 1 hour before OR after the stated time. I threw a major fit, but they produced a written policy and I had to STFU.

[Anonymous]

Can you point out where it states that. I can't find it. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you point out where it states that. I can't find it. Thanks.

I have learned that a DCPS written policy is not necessarily the same as a public policy. It could be internal to DCPS.

[Anonymous]

1 hour either way is public policy. However, I am sure if it is creating problems that you can explain the problem to the health room and they will work with you to fix it.

[Anonymous]

In FCPS they have to be given within a time frame that is specified by the doctor and FCPS has to make sure they are given within an hour or maybe 1.5 hours.

We have a child that must sleep in quite a bit and that affects what time he continues a bunch of meds. The health aide told us to write a certain time so that it would cover the possible hour difference depending on if he had to sleep in that morning or not. Otherwise she would not be able to give him the meds. He is old enough to go at the proper time depending on when he started his meds that morning.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if schools also do this with insulin and albuterol or if they do this one-hour swing because it's "just ADHD."

[Anonymous]

The question here is, how brittle is your child's condition? Is your child a diabetic, as in, if insulin is not given at the moment the dose expires, is your child physically affected? Does your child have epilepsy that is only controlled via constant medication dosing?

Or is this simply that you want to nitpick? Because frankly, there ARE CHILDREN who need to be served on time with their medication dose. And if you complain, you are asking that your child -- who is not brittle -- take precedence over those medically fragile children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if schools also do this with insulin and albuterol or if they do this one-hour swing because it's "just ADHD."

Any decent nurse, faced with the choice between treating a child with an urgent condition, such as an asthma attack or a broken bone, and providing ADHD meds at the precise time listed, is going to treat the emergency. Anything else is unethical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question here is, how brittle is your child's condition? Is your child a diabetic, as in, if insulin is not given at the moment the dose expires, is your child physically affected? Does your child have epilepsy that is only controlled via constant medication dosing?

Or is this simply that you want to nitpick? Because frankly, there ARE CHILDREN who need to be served on time with their medication dose. And if you complain, you are asking that your child -- who is not brittle -- take precedence over those medically fragile children.

This is what goes on in schools:
1. the brittle conditions get treated on time, thank God.
2. the ADHD meds are mostly not given on time, not because they don't have time after treating 1., but because NOBODY CARES. Everybody and his mother gets face time for stomach aches and "not feeling well", and somehow the nurse can't find time to get ADHD meds on time to kids who need them.

And that's the problem right there.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that's really true. At least in our school, the child comes down to the office at a decided upon time that is a transition in the classroom. The hour swing time is used to find a time that works best for the class and the child.

Again, if this is truly a concern for you and is negatively impacting your child TELL THEM. You can also work WITH the health room to find a time that works for both the school and your child. If this is not actually impacting your child and you are just questioning the policy, they are within the policy to give it within 1 hour of the stated time.