Any way to get help through the BOE with an adhd diagnosis

InnerMe

Tue, Oct 03 2017, 10:30 am

From what I know the BOE does not necessarily grant services based on an ADHD diagnosis. Have your child evaluated, and your child's ADHD behaviors should be reflected in the evals. Then they'll determine which services your child is eligible.
Also a very good idea would be to send in the ADHD evaluation and diagnosis, with the Dr.'s signature together with the evaluations from the DOE, or bring it along to your IEP meeting- and maybe it can help you get services.

ra_mom

Tue, Oct 03 2017, 1:31 pm

amother wrote:

he is already diagnosed with adhd. im looking for services through the boe

You need to show how he is behind in class in any area that he needs therapy in. So if you're requesting OT services you need to show where his OT related deficits are affecting him in the school setting. Same for any other service they offer.
The official adhd diagnosis will help. Google adhd and pick out all areas that affect him in class and with learning. Put together a letter with the information, include the adhd diagnostic report and request an evaluation. Do research on the different therapies offered by the boe, see what he needs, and list more details on those areas of struggle too.
Make sure that all evaluators get the same information with all the details of what he is struggling even if that area of struggle is not what that particular evaluator is testing for.
Good luck!! Advocating for your child is hard work but well worth it.

seeker

Tue, Oct 03 2017, 10:50 pm

You can get services. One thing you need to know is that they require a psychoeducational evaluation. So if your diagnosis is from a doctor or anyone other than an educational psychologist, they will insist on doing their own evaluation. This is not a big deal, you can go ahead with it, but you should just be aware. It's also another reason to move quickly, because it's an additional step in the process.

The other big thing you need to know is that they will only respond to academic concerns. They will not give you therapy if you say his problems are social and behavioral. When you have a 5 year old with ADHD this can be tricky because they could be very bright and not behind academically, while still having a lot of deficits. If that's the case (if they are not academically behind) then you will need to translate all of your concerns into academics - for example, if he has sensory issues that require OT, you don't say "sensory issues." You might find that his lack of sensory regulation prevents him from completing work in class, or that his overcompensation in his pencil grip is causing him to be too fatigued to do written work, or whatever your helpful OT can come up with. If he has social issues, you don't say he needs therapy for "social skills" - that's not academic. You have to figure out where that's going to affect him academically - perhaps his social anxiety prevents him from participating in class... You get the idea? Translate everything to school language. They don't care whether or not your kid makes friends. Once he gets therapy, the therapist can help across all areas (it's pretty easy to make things fit multiple goals.)

amother

Blush

Wed, Oct 04 2017, 8:54 am

seeker wrote:

My six year old receives services under the category of other health impairment because he has a dx of ADHD. His evaluation and diagnosis was by a developmental pediatrician- the DOE accepted it and didn't do their own eval.
(He was previously receiving services throughout preschool under a different category, but he was up for a reevaluation ,and they said if I have this eval, then they don't need to do the eval.)

seeker

Wed, Oct 04 2017, 9:51 am

Well that's good to know. I also had a developmental ped eval and they said very nice but it's not "psychoeducational." It ended up working out in my favor, though, because in preschool you don't need a diagnostic category (not the same type anyway) and we had preschool services. So they put us on pendency which was a good thing, since it was their fault they were missing the psychoeducational eval (because they were supposed to offer it by default when I first requested the services.)

amother

Wine

Wed, Oct 04 2017, 12:18 pm

amother wrote:

Nothing is ever across the board in the DOE. It all depends on which district, and who is the administrator running the case. It is very subjective.

seeker

Sun, Oct 08 2017, 2:08 am

504 plan includes accommodations but not services. IEP or IESP is for actual special education.

An IESP for a child with ADHD may include special ed teacher support services to help the child catch up in academic areas they've fallen behind in and learn skills and strategies to keep up in the future, counseling if they have difficulty regulating their emotions and behavior in school, OT if relevant. If the child has an IESP then it will also list accommodations as needed.

A 504 plan would be for a child who can hold their own without needing a separate professional providing services for them, but needs accommodations in order to manage with their special needs. Typical accommodations are things like:
Extra time for tests (and/or assignments)
Test taking in a quiet/separate space
Having test questions read aloud
Getting notes from a teacher or peer rather than taking notes
Having a copy of a book to write in rather than copying, say, math problems
Enlarged texts
Texts read aloud
Allowed to type instead of hand-write where hand-writing is usually expected
Having a scribe/dictating instead of writing
And so on and so forth.
The 504 is essentially saying "This student is not in special ed but does have a legitimate need for these accommodations." It requires the school to provide the accommodations, and authorizes them in situations such as high-stakes testing where they would otherwise not be allowed.

It's important to be aware of 504 plans. I had at least one or two cases where the kid (young adult, actually) went through very nice frum schools that did a beautiful job accommodating all their needs, so nobody thought of going through any official channels or looking for a DOE diagnosis. Came to college and started crashing. In college they don't give you extra time to finish up your essay tests, or things like that. If the child had had anything from their grade-school years to show, it would have been extremely easy to just follow it through to college. I don't remember all the details of how it all worked out in the end but it was definitely a lot longer and more stressful, whereas in grade school the DOE makes it relatively simple to set these things up - they'll even do the diagnostic process for you for free.

Mothers

Sun, Oct 08 2017, 2:21 am

seeker wrote:

504 plan includes accommodations but not services. IEP or IESP is for actual special education.

It's important to be aware of 504 plans. I had at least one or two cases where the kid (young adult, actually) went through very nice frum schools that did a beautiful job accommodating all their needs, so nobody thought of going through any official channels or looking for a DOE diagnosis. Came to college and started crashing. In college they don't give you extra time to finish up your essay tests, or things like that. If the child had had anything from their grade-school years to show, it would have been extremely easy to just follow it through to college. I don't remember all the details of how it all worked out in the end but it was definitely a lot longer and more stressful, whereas in grade school the DOE makes it relatively simple to set these things up - they'll even do the diagnostic process for you for free.

The College Board requires updated testing to allow testing accommodations for SATs (and the like) - even if they are mandated on an IEP. The DOE will not test for that purpose.

Mothers

Sun, Oct 08 2017, 2:48 am

A 504 plan and an IEP are mutually exclusive. A student has one or the other.

If a student needs special education supports and services, an IEP (or IESP) will be developed, and testing accommodations will be included on the IEP. If a student has a diagnosis, which requires some accommodations, but not IEP services, a 504 plan can be developed, and the accommodations will be provided via the 504 plan.

In any case, the College Board is a private entity, and they will require updated testing before allowing accommodations on the SAT (or similar). They will not grant testing accommodations just because they are mandated on an IEP (or 504).

seeker

Sun, Oct 08 2017, 11:08 am

I was referring to accommodations in school, not SATs, but thank you for the clarification. I do think an update would have been necessary, but basically the college's disability department scoffed them out the door because they assumed it was a load of baloney when someone came in saying they needed accommodations but had zero record of having needed any in all their previous 12 years of schooling. And even when you do need to update, it typically goes more smoothly when you have something to update from.

cbsp

Sun, Oct 08 2017, 7:02 pm

marina wrote:

Only if the child needs specially designed instruction. Otherwise go for a 504 plan.

My child has a 504 plan that is not being honored by the district because he's in a private (religious) school. We would have been better served getting him services initially via an IEP (called an ISP in private schools). This is in Passaic, NJ. He had received OT last year via the 504 plan, nothing this year (nothing changed as far as diagnosis or eligibility).