Daughter recently went from parochial school to public school. She is having a very difficult time, both academically and socially. She started the new school in early August. I have given it two months and she still hates the school and has yet to make true friends. I withdrew her from the parochial because she struggled so much. She was constantly in tutoring, either at school or privately. She was becoming more and more stressed out. She didn’t want to return to the school at the end of summer. Since I had a child that had never been accepted at the catholic school and was in public school, I decided to switch my daughter. Now…I’m wondering if I did the right thing; and, even if the school would accept her back and I re-enrolled her, how would my other public school child feel about her leaving him? I think he has been happy that he is finally going to school with a sibling. By the way, daughter had attended parochial school with older brother for 4 years before he went on to high school.
She was getting modifications for her work at the catholic school and so far at public school she is without an IEP and is failing in a couple of subject including math (ld diagnosed privately) and very low grades in her other subjects. The public school is re-testing her because our year old private neuro eval had, according to county officials. expired.
Funny how they had my son evaluated in third grade and are still using his eval now; although he supposedly will be re-evaluated this year (6th grade.)
Thanks to all who comment with their thoughts and suggestions.
Did I do the right thing?
Child is 11years old, has adhd, not medicated because unfortunately medicines haven’t worked. While on medicine, there was minimal attention improvement, she did not improve with grades, focusing, attending, etc.; tried 3 different kinds of meds, at different dosages. She also displayed depression while on meds., imagination was nil. Teachers commented on her possibly being over dosed. Incidently, when she was taken off the medicine completely, the teachers’ comments on her behavior, staying on task, imagination for writing. improved immensely.
Doctor took her off medicine and after 1 year off, I consulted with him again. He still didn’t find it advisable. Doctor is not against medicating when it works. He, himself, has a child that benefits from medicine.
From her eval., she was diagnosed with anxiety; another reason for dis- continuation of meds.
I don’t have her eval handy but I remembered that her IQ without math was 110; with math it dropped to 102; I will try to post more later.
don't give up on the meds just yet
They really work when you find the right ones. I have kids who have been on straterra, concerta, adderallXR and dexadrine. the ones that worked the best were concerta and adderall for my kids. But the key is the dosage. Too much can make them lethargic and depressed.
I have ADD and I get the anxiety piece when my ADD is out of control and I find things overhwhelming. Meds have helped me in the past. I don’t take them all the time just when I need to focus more and do my job and not be overwhlemed.
They can’t take her year old neuropsyche evaluation at face value. They have to do their own assessment to qualify her for Special Education. Your son has an IEP and they have annual reviews but it’s only every 3 years that they have a Triennial review where the child with an IEP is “retested” to see if they still qualify for special education. I would think that things would be easier at the public school than the private school for your daughter.
It sounds like she isn’t happy where she is currently placed. Have you ever thought that maybe she is suffering from depression and that is why she has been floundering? When she had her neuropsyche evaluation what was her IQ and processing speed? How old is she?