Meeting with school about possible ADHD issues

[Anonymous]

This is in MCPS. Child has had attention and focus issues all year. 3rd grade. Do not have a formal diagnosis from a DR of ADHD...took child to a clinic and they did a screening which came up with a "high probability" of ADHD. Now have an EMT scheduled at the school. What is the best I can hope for? Will they do testing at the school? Child is working above grade level in all subjects, but part of this is due to the informal accomodations her teacher has been giving her all year (preferred seating, reduced distractions, checking on her work). We are scheduled for further testing this summer, but I want to set things into motion before the end of the year. Will they evaluate her at the school do you think? Will they give her a 504?

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can give.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to be a pessimist, but my guess is nothing will happen at this meeting. When you come back with the outside evaluation diagnosing ADHD, they will give you some accommodations. I would think about what accommodations you want written in -- think especially about specials, time outside of the regular classroom, etc. You might be able to get the school to consider this when placing him or her for next year (e.g. which teachers are generally better at helping kids with your profile). I would talk specifically about what concerns you have, rather than just using the ADHD label (which can mean different things for different kids).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry to be a pessimist, but my guess is nothing will happen at this meeting. When you come back with the outside evaluation diagnosing ADHD, they will give you some accommodations. I would think about what accommodations you want written in -- think especially about specials, time outside of the regular classroom, etc. You might be able to get the school to consider this when placing him or her for next year (e.g. which teachers are generally better at helping kids with your profile). I would talk specifically about what concerns you have, rather than just using the ADHD label (which can mean different things for different kids).

It's so expensive to get this ADHD testing done. Won't the school test her at all? We got her screened as a result of the teacher repeatedly reporting her difficulties. I was hoping the school would test her. It is impacting her...the teacher told us if she weren't providing the accomodations she is providing that our child wouldn't be finishing her work at all. So even though she is above grade level she wouldn't be meeting the grade level standards in certain subjects because she wouldn't be completing her work. Even the screening we had done cost several hundred $'s...we don't have 3500 for a private neauropsych right now.

[Anonymous]

If you want the school to evaluate her then you must ask for an IEP, not a 504 from the beginning, in writing.

Then they are required to do an evaluation but it will probably be similar to what you already had done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry to be a pessimist, but my guess is nothing will happen at this meeting. When you come back with the outside evaluation diagnosing ADHD, they will give you some accommodations. I would think about what accommodations you want written in -- think especially about specials, time outside of the regular classroom, etc. You might be able to get the school to consider this when placing him or her for next year (e.g. which teachers are generally better at helping kids with your profile). I would talk specifically about what concerns you have, rather than just using the ADHD label (which can mean different things for different kids).

It's so expensive to get this ADHD testing done. Won't the school test her at all? We got her screened as a result of the teacher repeatedly reporting her difficulties. I was hoping the school would test her. It is impacting her...the teacher told us if she weren't providing the accomodations she is providing that our child wouldn't be finishing her work at all. So even though she is above grade level she wouldn't be meeting the grade level standards in certain subjects because she wouldn't be completing her work. Even the screening we had done cost several hundred $'s...we don't have 3500 for a private neauropsych right now.

Golly, I wish we had your 3rd grade teacher for my now 5th grader. DD just suffered until she got an interim for no grades because she never completed anything and we didn't know she wasn't turning in homework. Same thing the following year. Got into KKI after months of waiting and got diagnosis last August. We tried to hold out on asking for an EMT, but finally did and got one last month. Even with a diagnosis, I got the impression that the school would not have put a 504 in place if we were either earlier in the year or if she wasn't heading to MS. They strongly want to try informal accommodations first.

Your best advocate is the teacher. If the teacher can come into the EMT and verify that she would not be doing this well if it weren't for the informal accommodations she has been offering all year, you might have a shot. You should emphasize that you want the 504 because those accommodations have been helping and you would like them formalized in a 504 as the year ends for the permanent record. Ask for consideration in placement for next year, with or without a 504. Explain that you have the high probability diagnosis (would be great if you have it in writing) and expect the full diagnosis as you continue down the path over the summer.

So much depends on the school, the special educator, the school counselor and the teacher.

[Anonymous]

You don't need to do a $3500 neuropsych to get an ADHD diagnosis. Go to your pediatrician. The doctor will do a screening, probably much like was already done. If it comes up positive, the doctor will give you the diagnosis. If you have good insurance, all you pay is the co-pay.

Yes, before anyone jumps on me, a neuropsych is the gold standard, but not all of us have the money for the gold standard and we have to settle for doing the best we can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to do a $3500 neuropsych to get an ADHD diagnosis. Go to your pediatrician. The doctor will do a screening, probably much like was already done. If it comes up positive, the doctor will give you the diagnosis. If you have good insurance, all you pay is the co-pay.

Yes, before anyone jumps on me, a neuropsych is the gold standard, but not all of us have the money for the gold standard and we have to settle for doing the best we can.

This is not a bad strategy if you primarily want medication. For academic accommodations you may find the neuropsych report is required. This was true in our MCPS school at least.

[Anonymous]

Why did the group that did the screening not diagnose, and instead say high likelihood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to do a $3500 neuropsych to get an ADHD diagnosis. Go to your pediatrician. The doctor will do a screening, probably much like was already done. If it comes up positive, the doctor will give you the diagnosis. If you have good insurance, all you pay is the co-pay.

Yes, before anyone jumps on me, a neuropsych is the gold standard, but not all of us have the money for the gold standard and we have to settle for doing the best we can.

This is not a bad strategy if you primarily want medication. For academic accommodations you may find the neuropsych report is required. This was true in our MCPS school at least.

We're in MCPS and never needed a neuropsych. We needed the diagnosis and we had to identify the ways in which the disability prevented access to the curriculum. Bonus was that we also had a lot of ideas for interventions - which OP can get great ideas for by posting here and reading the archives.

[Anonymous]

For the school to evaluate, you need to state in writing that you suspect a disability that prevents them from accessing the curriculum. Be prepared to prove that he's only getting his high grades because of the accommodations his teacher voluntarily provided this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did the group that did the screening not diagnose, and instead say high likelihood?

Someone said go to the pediatrician...we went to the pedicatrician and he referred us to the group that gave her the screening. The screening was based on Connors questionaires and while it/they did not diagnose her they reported on the the report that it found she had a high liklihood. I giess they don't give a diagnosis based on those screening reports? Or the person who administered it wasn't qualified to do so? I don't know for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to do a $3500 neuropsych to get an ADHD diagnosis. Go to your pediatrician. The doctor will do a screening, probably much like was already done. If it comes up positive, the doctor will give you the diagnosis. If you have good insurance, all you pay is the co-pay.

Yes, before anyone jumps on me, a neuropsych is the gold standard, but not all of us have the money for the gold standard and we have to settle for doing the best we can.

This is not a bad strategy if you primarily want medication. For academic accommodations you may find the neuropsych report is required. This was true in our MCPS school at least.

We're in MCPS and never needed a neuropsych. We needed the diagnosis and we had to identify the ways in which the disability prevented access to the curriculum. Bonus was that we also had a lot of ideas for interventions - which OP can get great ideas for by posting here and reading the archives.

Not OP but how do you get a diagnosis for adhd without a neuropsych evaluation

[Anonymous]

You can get an official diagnosis from a psychiatrist, developmental pediatrician, or a psychologist who administers a neuropsychological evaluation. The first two are qualified to medicate. Check with your health insurance regarding reimbursement for a developmental pediatrician. We got at least half back vs. the neuropsych eval which wasn't reimbursable at all.

Your pediatrician isn't qualified to diagnose or administer meds.

If you want the school to evaluate, you have to ask in writing. Legally, the clock starts ticking when you make the request, but with only a few weeks of school left, GL, if you technically get anything achieved. OP, are you a procrastinator by nature? Sometimes we see patterns in ourselves when we address our kid's issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to do a $3500 neuropsych to get an ADHD diagnosis. Go to your pediatrician. The doctor will do a screening, probably much like was already done. If it comes up positive, the doctor will give you the diagnosis. If you have good insurance, all you pay is the co-pay.

Yes, before anyone jumps on me, a neuropsych is the gold standard, but not all of us have the money for the gold standard and we have to settle for doing the best we can.

PP this is horrible advice. Even with your caveat, this is horrible advice.

Most of us do not have $4K lying around to get the full battery neuro/psycho educational testing, that said I am here to tell you that at 3rd grade is when a lot of these issues are caught...because up to THAT point school's been pretty much a breeze with very little being asked of the children academically speaking. So just because OP's child is working "at grade level" which means nothing and is worth only the paper is written on, OP needs to make sure that there are no other issues going on. A pediatrician cannot do this for you.

If you don't or can't see a psychologist OP, at a minimum let the school test your child. I am not a proponent of letting the county test my kid, but its better than letting the pediatrician "diagnose" your child. For christ's sake! At least with the school, they are the ones that see your child in an academic setting where the problems are occurring.

Okay, off my soap box.

[Anonymous]

OP, being that the teacher already provided the accommodations informally, that they worked, and they don't cost anything, you probably can get a 504 plan that will just tell next year's teacher to do the same things. School may agree even without a formal diagnosis. If you think that is likely to work for you, then go ahead and take it.

At the same time, you can request an evaluation for an IEP, but it probably won't happen until next year. But at least you will have the 504 accommodations in place. You should give the school the report from the clinic, but the school will do it's own testing as well. The advantage of having an IEP is that you can get additional accommodations. But if your child is already above grade level, the school may say the 504 plan is enough.