Reply to IEP/ADHD EVAL

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with private testing is that if you are paying a doctor to find ADHD, they will. You are paying for the service of receiving a diagnosis. If you go with the county you are getting professionals who deal with a lot of kids and are reasonably objective about the outcome of the tests. I'd go through MCPS and put aside the money for your kid's first car. [/quote]

[b]School administrator here, and this is so true. If you pay, you will be given a diagnosis, whether or not it's legit.[/b][/quote]

I'm curious, what school system do you work for and what are your qualifications to determine if a child has a "legit" disability?

Many children with ADHD are discriminated by school administrators due to a lack of understanding and ill formed stereotypes of what ADHD looks like.  This recent Dear Colleague Letter from the US Department of Education highlights many of the ways school systems fail to identify and understand children with ADHD.  The result is that kids with ADHD are often denied a Free Appropriate Public Education. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf

When my child was privately evaluated, I shared with the Ph.D. psychologist that the school's reading specialist thought that she was dyslexic.  The IEP team had found no disability, but the school reading specialist actually urged me to have her privately tested in light of the IEP team's decision.  The private psychologist, after gathering mounds of data and conducting over 8 hours of testing in which she looked at the types of mistakes my child made, not just the quantity, disagreed with the reading specialist.  The data indicated my daughter had ADHD Inattentive Type, something the school IEP team never considered.  My daughter was given an IEP based on the private report and the accommodations with the goals and objectives recommended allowed my daughter to not only achieve on grade level performance, but over time, achieve above grade level performance.

No parent wants their child to be mislabeled and misidentified.  To be improperly identified means their child is not getting the correct type of help and education that they need.  Parents do not choose a doctor or a psychologist because they will agree with them.  To do so would be a waste of money (over $5,000) and time.  Parent's want a thorough evaluation so there's a blueprint of what the issue is and how the child can be helped.  Period.  Our family is not rich by any means and the $5,000 we paid for the private evaluation was after waiting YEARS for the school system to help my child.

School systems are too quick to assume kids do not have a disability because frankly, they are responsible for providing services and accommodations if needed.  No one in the school system beurocracy wants another child on their caseload.[/quote]

Having ADD doesn't obligate schools to provide an IEP. Perhaps a 504 plan service and some students don't need service at all. It is meant to be individualized to each student. No blanket statements apply to any disorder or condition.[/quote]

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