help for a friend

Silly question if he has been dx’d as ADD, inattentive requiring meds since 1st grade what has the school done? Is he just now starting to have difficulty in school related to this condition? What type of difficulty is he having? Has he progressed normally through the grades until this point? Don’t mean to ask so many questions but am missing pieces of the puzzle such as what grade, private or public school, what remediation if any has he receieved? But yes you are correct they should do an individual achievement test to see if there is a discrepency between ability and performance. If her son were scoring poorly on the group tests do you think they really would of took that to give him services? My best quess is that they would of wanted to do more tests then. My oldest son failed to meet the standards on the state mandated test (ISAT) for reading and writing. They know want to do individual testing to see what his true abilities are before they change his placement (although they are now offering books and tape). He is 16 and they gave the WISC? I think that is toward the top age range that can be tested. I think 16 year olds are better served by the adult version of the test (but not sure I am not an expert it is just something I have heard) If I were this mom I would request a complete educational evaluation in writing. In the meantime she could talk to individual teachers maybe to get some help with individual classes.

What does she want to achieve? That would have great bearing on what she should do.

What are her goals? Does she seek modifications and accomodations? And what did they tell her at the team meeting?

She has turned all of the corners you mention. He is in a public school and has struggled all the way through. He was showing signs in 1st grade and that’s when the school told her to go get the ADD eval. That’s as far as it went. Case closed problem solved.

He was receiving speech services (she isn’t clear on what aspects of speech/lang. were addressed) in the elementary years. Those services where short lived.

He has struggled with the same issues in writing and math and each time she addressed them with the teachers she got the standard answers. Plus he does very poorly, despite hours of studying, on tests but his homework grades help bring up the poor test grades. Meds are used during school hours, not homework hours. So test scores and school performance should be better.

He is on a 504 and discussed her concerns with the previous sped administrator who said maybe he needs to be tested (classroom exams) differently. New sped administrator told her today that she is not aware of any other way to test a child. Nice, huh?

I think he was tested with the adult version of the WISC, just couldn’t remember the acronym for it by it was different than WISC (WIAS maybe?)

I suggested that she get the achievement scores in his cum folder since she did not keep a file over the years. This way she could see for herself whether he is average or not.

Like I said, she has been concerned about his progress all along, yet the teachers kept saying everything is fine. She knows he is not at grade level and is very concerned about the lack of progress she continues to see.

They are saying its the ADD but he has been under doctors care since it began. Things have escalated since high school though.

This whole can of worms was opened when she went to an information session for college admission for children on 504s and IEPs and was told that in order to get accomodations and such in college, this testing had to be in his records.

She wants him to be able to complete his work independently and be able to go on to college.

Right now, like I said, he is unable to write a complete, logical sentence and no one but her is concerned about that. Math is atrocious and he is unable to express himself effectively both verbally and in written form.

He tests very poorly, but his homework scores help balance out his average.

She does not believe that he processes information correctly especially putting part to whole together as in class lectures.

She was also told that all of this testing needs to be in his records in order for him to get accomodations in college. No testing was ever done by the school in the past.

He would be eligible to take the WAIS, and if the group achievement tests are at grade level or above, I wouldn’t first ask for individual achievement testing…instead, I would start with a RE-EVAL of the ADHD with standardized instruments, from an MD and psych. Perhaps he needs a medication adjustment or change. Often kids with ADHD do well in individual testing because it’s focused and quiet and the pressure is on, and do poorly in the less structured day to day classroom performance. If the ADHD eval. shows he’s appropriately treated, then go to achievement testing. ADHD has a huge effect on school performance, esp. past the closely controlled environment of elementary school.

I think he needs a complete evaluation. This evaluation should include achievement testing, speech/language eval, interview with the student, review of educational record ect. I think it is ridiculous that a student was allowed to progress without being able to write a basic sentence and no one other then the mom raising a red flag. Didn’t another red flag go up when there was a discrepency between homework/classwork and tests? How did the school get away with never doing testing, didnt they at least do a baseline or did they refer her out right away? My oldest son had baseline testing in 1st grade, got retested in 4th, and no testing since, he is in 9th grade now. Do you know if her son had been tested for CAPD? I think this would be worth looking into. Have her put in a written request for evaluation if she has not done so already.

Does he do his homework independently now? If he cannot write a complete logical sentence, it might be that he needs and gets help with homework.

This young man is already 16. His high school is coming to an end and to turn this situation around in a few years is a daunting goal. He can certainly go on to college particularly given that there are colleges which target at students with ADD and/or learning differences. Would such a college be acceptable to your friend? In such a college, there would be no struggle for accomodations and/or modifications. The very mission of the college is to provide such things. Check out the K&W Guide to Colleges which lists these colleges.

Some of his issues sound as if they might be ADD related. Has she discussed her concerns with his prescribing physician? It might be that adjustments could be made in his medication from which he could derive greater clarity and focus.

The pediatrician was the one that suggested the educational eval. because she went to him first. He was taking Ritalin and was switched to Concerta. She thought he was doing worse on Concerta so they decided to go back to Ritalin.

The doc was hoping to get more answers with the school eval.

Have your friend write a letter asking for the specific tests she wants and why they are important is assessing his actual abilities. Have the doctor write a note that should be included. Make sure everything is dated, copyed and hand delivered.

Sometimes it is just a matter of coming across like you know what you are doing. Then all of sudden, magicly, they take you serious.

An ADHD eval is more than a visit to the doctor; there are psych. eval instruments that are used to determine whether the med. is effective. There are also many other reasons teens do poorly in class, despite average IQs and normal achievement testing at school.

I just have to say, he has been medicated for 11 years and he is still struggling? You said he had speech and langauge services, did he ever have any speech and language testing?

It sounds like the school didn’t do anything and used the ADD/Medication way out!

Someone posted that he is almost 16 and that it is going to be a daunting task. I think it is never to late to remediate, at 16 school must be miserable for him and giving him a pill without actually knowing what is wrong sounds ridiculous, my personal opinion!

I think he needs to full evaluation including a new ADD evaluation, naturally his attention is going to be poor if he has never been taught how to read and write properly! What about addressing the real LD issues and doing it without meds and see what happens!

K.

If other medications have been tried, there aren’t going to be any quick fixes to this situation -with more testing or not.

If there are other LDs present, there are never quick fixes to those with or without a doctor’s help. My suggestion would be to consider having him attend a college which specializes in LD kids to give him help for his issues. While other colleges will judge him for his issues, an LD college will work to help him with them. He may learn there the things she wants him to learn - to work independently and to write well.

If she wants more testing from the school now, she will have to fight for that.
Good luck with that and with all of it.

Thanks K,

Thats what I thought. By the way describes the timeline of events, I sounds to me that they stopped at the ADD despite all of the academic struggles he was having along the way.

Like most of us, she took the schools word for everything, that things will eventually come along. Well, he is a junior in high school now and things, of course, are more dramatic than ever.

I really think she needs a full evaluation, but again like everyone else, is getting the run around and they are counting on her not knowing what to ask for with the clock running out.

She is really beating herself up now for not seeing all of this sooner and letting them convince her that ADD was to blame for all of his struggles. We all know though, that ADD almost never stands alone. There is usually something that co-exists with it.

Even if it is “just ADD” she needs to evaluate everything just to be sure something else is not standing in the way of his success.

I know that for a fact that there are no quick fixes to any of these issues. I do not believe that this is what she is looking for.

Basically, she wants to understand where things are breaking down and get him the appropriate help.

Just like all of us who have started out, we know nothing until all of the tests are done. Even then, its all a guessing game.

I may sound way off compare to other suggestions you got, but if I were in your friend skin, I would most likely start with searching for a good tutor for the boy, to help him with whatever is the hardest for him at the moment in school (either math or writing esseys et.c.). It would probably need to be a person that has a lot of exp. with LD children, so she/he can go beyond the “bad attitude” et.c. statement when workign with him. AT this age the kids are usually in quite bad shape when it comes to school work. I think he needs some improvement in at least one area of school work to keep him going adn he needs this badly….

That is so tough when you realize that the system or people you trusted failed you and your child. This is the same situation my family was in with my brother, the only differences was we found out about his “real” disability when he was in seventh grade not eleventh.

I know that my Mom feels very guilty and it is hard to realize that you did what you thought was best! I am such a big pusher of early intervention now becuase of it.

I am hopeful that your son’s friend will finally get the evaluations and services that he needs. I am glad that she has you as a friend, it is comforting to know that she has someone who can help her so that another child isn’t lost!!

K.