my nephew with adhd....this is how it is supposed to go...

[buddy]

they have a ways to go but get this, (kind of makes you wanna scream for those who dont get this respect)

My nephew J has gone from standard test scores int he 90th %ile down to the 40th-50th. He is not getting work done, not turning work that IS done in, etc...you know the story.

So, I shared with her the standard request for sp. ed assessment and she wrote it word for word. She included the info from my law advocate. within a week they called for an assessment planning meeting. They had that today. The sp ed teacher has been in the math class J is in and she said she has noticed him a lot and he can really seem oppositional because he is so lost.

The psychiatric has a daughter in 10th grade with adhd and they both told her this is the time to catch them and that an IEP is much better than a 504 plan so they will really do a lot of testing to try to qualify him. They told her if he can have a case manager then they can make sure the teachers comply with the accommodations.

My brilliant niece told her mom to have J take his medications at school and sure enough he is already doing better. He was pitching them in the trash. Now he goes to the nurse and she sees him take them and no problems. He doesn't care at all either. (well he complains that people dont think he is as funny on them, sigh) The nurse was in on the meeting and totally agreed he needs help. She said she works at the high school he goes to as well so she will be able to follow him and monitor.

I am so proud of her and this really is the kind of experience I am used to working in. People who want to help. People who really do care. They want him to get help before high school, they dont want that gap to widen too much. Less chance for him to give up (he is at that point now and he fights with my sister all the time, dad is adhd too and they are divorced, he rarely supports homework I am sure you can imagine but he supports anything my sister tries to do for him, medications testing etc.... he goes along with ti and is nice about it, just no clue when it comes to organizing it himself.

I told her she got a warrior mom stripe. Now to hope he qualifies. She said she went in so defensive but wanted everyone to know she is SURE she got such a rapid response because her letter meant business, respectful but obviously she knew what she was talking about.

I'm proud of my little sis.

 

[TeDo]

Keep passing on the knowledge. You have spread the word!! Well done! AND kuddos to niece for the medication suggestion. I know my day with medication refusal is coming but I'm enjoying it while I can.

 

[susiestar]

You have a smart sis, and a smart niece! I am glad she listened, and that the school responded so wonderfully!!! that is awesome!!

TeDo, you might never have medication refusal. we worked with wiz from the beginning on how and why medications were important, to talk to me about problems with them, feeling funny, etc... and we NEVER had medication refusal. i expected it, but he LIKES the way he feels on his medications so he stays on them. He says he can think on them, and he likes that. He has also avoided drugs and alcohol because we talked openly about the problems of medications and drugs mixing and he didn't want to mess himself up. He still thinks that addicts should be kicked out of towns until they are clean, with no support from anyone until they wise up and want to get clean, that they should have to earn rehab beds. He has no firsthand experience with addiction but hates how people act when high - has been around it of course, and thinks they are stupid and nuts.

we have zero clue how we escaped this trap except that we were open with him about this. I also was very careful to be responsive when he said a medication made him feel bad or twitch or feel 'funny'. He has said that it really helped to know that no matter what else was wrong that if he told me his medications were a problem I would call the doctor immediately.

 

[rejectedmom]

Good job all around. Hoping he qualifies for all the modifications he needs! -RM

 

[InsaneCdn]

but he LIKES the way he feels on his medications so he stays on them. He says he can think on them, and he likes that

Susie... This is how medications are SUPPOSED to work. Our difficult child is the same. He can tell us if a medication isn't working as well (lately, that's been due to growth spurt) - or if it IS working. And... HE wants his medications, because they "make him feel normal". Not because he's been on them too long to remember - one of the key ones, he's been on for less than a year.

So yes, TeDo... you may not in fact end up with a medications compliance issue... Here's hoping you get the kind of kid/medication combo that Susie and I have.