Help with school (ADHD)

[MumHadEnough]

Hello Ladies,

I have had some wonderful advice here lately and wonder if you could advise some more?

To cut a very long story short;

DS is more than likely adhd, he has been diagnosed at age 4 with ODD and PDD, he will be 7 in July.

We've been waiting almost a year since he has been referred to CAMHS for a proper assessment. Last week, both the school and I received the Connors Scale Questionnaires so I assume an appointment is imminent.

He currently has one to one time on a Tuesday afternoon for an hour with the early intervention team, who work with him on his "stage 3" plan. This involves targets such as learning to take turns and working on his social skills (which are few and far between).

I've been in and out the school over the past two weeks for various problems and tonight was parents night. It was horrendous .

His teacher tells me that he is virtually unteachable in a classroom environment. He CANNOT sit on his bum, he cannot concentrate at all and is very very difficult. I thought he was getting a bit better, but he's not, he's getting worse.

I have a meeting tomorrow night with the early intervention support teacher to discuss his progress with her. From what his class teacher told me tonight his targets with her remain the same as he has not met any of them.

He's extremely clever, so thankfully is meeting his milestones in class, despite never listening, he always knows the answers. (I'm sure many of you adhd mums recognise this).

He is also completely out of control in an unstructured environment, i.e. P.E. She says the PE teacher just cannot cope with him and he basically spends the whole time running up and down the hall, he does not join in any of the activities and none of the tactics they've implemented get him to join in either. For the rest of the day he is a nightmare because he's totally wired.

I don't know what else to do. I feel I need to say to them tomorrow that what they are doing isn't working. The system is failing him completely at the moment. He's beenin the system since he was 3 and we still don't have any proper support or a diagnosis in place.

I believe I am entitled to request that an assessment for a "statement of needs, record of needs or an IEP" is done, is that correct? (We're in Scotland btw). I've mentioned this before to the HT and her answer was basically, no you don't need to do that, we have lots in place for him. I don't think there is.

Teacher tells me on a one to one basis he is wonderful, but I think he needs more support. I think he needs to be worked with in class on a more one to one basis. The answer I think really is that he does need to be medicated to help him stay still and focus.

Can any of you advise me what to do next. What to suggest tomorrow night? I'm not sure what my rights are with regards to him and I don't have time to be able to research properly before tomorrow.

His teacher totally agrees that he can't help himself, its the way he is and that quite a lot of the time he lives in a wee world of his own. I'm so glad that she can see this too.

I suspect that the HT thinks he is "just a pain in the arse" who will grow out of it. But we all know better.

Thank you in advance for all the wonderful advice I know you are about to give me!!! .

In the meantime, I'll way google and see what I can find. There is also some more information in this recent thread here.

Right, I think i've found out what I'm trying to say he may need?

It's a Co-ordinated Support Plan under the Additional Support For Learning Act. Do you think i should be considering requesting an assessment for this?

Does anyone have any experience of requesting one.

Goes away to google again.

I don't live in scotland so can't offer any specific advise. However after reading your post a couple of things struck me. If his class teachers targets a re remaining the same they were either too vague and not specific and/or the wrong target in the first place.

Also the fact that he hasn't made any progress with his targets provides evidence that whatever school has put in place hasn't been meeting his needs.

Although he is obviously taking information in, is he meeting his potential? If there was an identified adult who could provide individual support and structure to particularly difficult times it could make his school experiences a much more positive and happier.

Your CAMHS assessment may really provide key information too. Good luck he sounds like a lovely boy

Thanks Evla. He is far from meeting his potential. His class teacher said tonight that she is so sad as she would love to stretch him, but she can't do that as he's not completing the work she gives him at the moment.

I think the point she was making is that even though he rarely completes an exercise, he knows all the answers. His reading is also wayyy ahead of his years. She said "if I could get him to sit and complete things he'd be a genius".

He is unable to apply himself to complete a piece of paper on his own. With supervision and encouragement continuously he will finish something and it will be 100% correct. Obviously his class teacher can't sit beside him constantly and make him do it though.

I would ring up CAMHS and ask when the appointment is likely to be. When you get it, don't forget to tell the medical professional that he is failing to meet his targets at school. If you lived in England I would definitely say he needs a statement- as it is, he needs whatever the Scottish equivalent is. Something that gives the local authority a legal obligation to provide the level of support he needs. In this case, it sounds like that would be a specially trained assisstant who would be with him in the classroom, get him to work in small chunks and take him out of the group when he can't handle it any longer. Ignore the headteacher- they can be very obstructive. What you need is the piece of paper that tells the HT what he/she needs to do. In England, parents can apply for a statement, don't know how that works in Scotland. Is there a SENCO in the school?

Thanks Cory. I have just did that. They said he has now been appointed a consultant, who is on annual leave next week but when he returns an appointment will be made for him. They have a fortnight, then if I don't hear anything I'll be on the phone.

The statement thing was what I wasn't sure about Cory. I think thats maybe what this CSP thing is in Scotland?

Here are the points I'm going to put forward tonight, what do you think?

? We know C is a major challenge to the school and appreciate the efforts that the school put in to try and support him.
? C currently seems to be un-teachable due to being unable to remain seated, unable to concentrate and unable to take part in activities that are not rigidly structured, i.e. PE.
? We are aware of the various methods put in place to support C, but to us these don?t seem to be working (targets still the same, nothing has changed with regards to his achievements and behaviour). However, we know they aren?t working as there is an underlying medical issue that needs to be dealt with first before these tactics can work.
? Is there anything that school can do to help chase up CAMHS team to get diagnosed.
? Very concerned about C?s self esteem at school, this week he?s been crying he doesn?t want to go to school which is really unusual. It?s very easy to lower his self esteem but very very difficult to raise it again.
? C is majorly underachieving.

Hi
Noticed your thread- I work as an independent consultant for families who have children with Autism/ Aspergers and ADHD- I live in Scotland and am very aware of the CSP system- if you want to contact me you can email me direct on [email protected]
You should have a CSP no question- which authority are you in??

Hi Ruth,

Thank you so much for your post. I will definitely drop you a wee email tomorrow (I'm totally drained tonight!). We're in West Dunbartonshire.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all your support. I really appreciate it.

It actually went really well. As we suspected none of his targets have been met. He is capable of meeting them but he just doesn't. This includes things like listening for one minute without interrupting, not getting out your seat for five minutes, playing a game and taking your turn, looking people in the eye, bla bla bla....

The support teacher was fabulous, she's going to put some suggestions to the head teacher regarding his lack of organisational skills and put some things in place to help him (ie getting his stuff together, like book bag etc).

But the main thing is they totally agree with us that the support in place at the moment isn't working and that is because the underlying medical condition, ie the adhd, isn't being treated. Like any other medical condition, if its ignored it will deteriorate and thats exactly what's happening. The headteacher was involved at this stage of the discussions too and I've actually warmed to her a bit. I told her exactly how I was feeling and she took it all on board and reassured me about a few things which was good.

The ed psych is coming into the school on 10th June to have a discussion with her regarding DS. So hopefully she'll be in a position to push the CAMHS team too and we can all push it on together.

Fingers crossed. I feel a wee bit more positive that we are all working towards the same thing now and I'm not pushing against anyone. They definitely do think he has adhd too which has most definitely NOT been apparent from them in the past.

Hi just found site, you seem to be going through the same thing as me, the IEP targets are weak and too ambigous? or vauge, these do not help the child, how old is he does he have same plan for himself.. ed pshy not always helpful. more plans but how these get put into practice is another thing, what have they identified as _his needs..... what does he need to access the curriculum and maintain concentration, you mentioned 1-1,, how mauch has he been receiving, check out code 7.35 the last bit, may be all he need to get assessment for statement. focus on help from CAHMS ask them what they have to offer they are very weak at the mo.... you need to push them for therapies not the school...I am only just finding this out school can only help with curriculum. check to see if they have counselling service, apparently most should have, but CAHMS best bet for providing info and help to school make sure they are involved in meetings, schools in by book are weak to involve anyone unless you know who to ask for.. are the specialist teaching service invloved yet should be at school action plus, if ed psyc involved. My school are backtracking over the knowledge I give them be clear and find out HIS needs identified and what they are doing to help, make sure they are collecting evidence towards work done on him, without this you can not apply for statement, meanwhile make sure you apply for disability living allowance even if you dont get it , it can be backdated fron time you apply, this may help with other things.... good luck and be assertive, keep strong..