Anyone know if its legal for sch to insist on adhd medication

Fieldsofgold

Cheapchick wrote: »

The school should be providing the extra support so nobody loses out. Sounds like they'd rather make excuses for him not to go because they cant be bothered, or there is a lack of funding for the extra support her needs. My son has been diagnosed with ASD and has been excluded from school trips a number of times "in case he has a meltdown!". Rather than put things in place to support him he feels worse about himself as he's excluded before it's even happened! As for someone else's child losing out because the OP's son is getting more support - he should be entitled to it!! It's a disability! Just as another pupil in a wheelchair would get more support so should he.

Not disagreeing in general but supposing the child who needed a wheelchair decided that he didn't want to use one, should the teacher/ta carry him round because he was entitled to support?

Fieldsofgold

GracieP wrote: »

Well Jacob Barnett's mother did it, along with pulling him out of school, and she went from having an extremely frustrated and unhappy son who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD to an amazing boy who is now an Orator of Physics at Indiana University, expected to get his PhD later this year, with his peers and superiors stating that his work may change the way we see physics. And he's 15.

While the odds are that the OP's son isn't one of the smartest people to have ever lived (no offence OP) the fact is that so very little is actually known about conditions like Autism and ADHD, that incorrect and damaging diagnosis will happen all the time. (Remember even the doctor who first diagnosed ADHD is extremely critical of how it is being diagnosed and medicated as he says in the vast majority of cases it is diagnosed where no condition exists). People who think in a way that falls outside the norm are often diagnosed with these conditions when in reality they are just different and will respond better to different stimuli. So any half decent parent has a strong duty to question what they are told by doctors and assess for themselves how their child is responding to treatment. The OP is doing exactly as she should and anybody who has the first clue about these conditions would not criticise her for the steps she is taking.

Well, bully for JB and his mother but I wonder how many of his classmates' education and futures were kicked into touch if he regularly had meltdowns and disrupted his classes.

The OP has sought help for her son's medical condition, seen a specialist and been prescribed medication. To think that she knows better than a specialist and take his medical care into her own hands is totally irresponsible, particularly when other people who see a great deal of her son find the treatment to be effective.

Would you suggest she were equally gung ho about treatment if the child were asthmatic or diabetic?

Indie_Kid

Cheapchick wrote: »

The school should be providing the extra support so nobody loses out. Sounds like they'd rather make excuses for him not to go because they cant be bothered, or there is a lack of funding for the extra support her needs. My son has been diagnosed with ASD and has been excluded from school trips a number of times "in case he has a meltdown!". Rather than put things in place to support him he feels worse about himself as he's excluded before it's even happened! As for someone else's child losing out because the OP's son is getting more support - he should be entitled to it!! It's a disability! Just as another pupil in a wheelchair would get more support so should he.

The line has to be drawn somewhere. They can't take support from most children just to give it to one child. If there is a safety concern, they can exclude the child from the trip. This is not discrimination as long as it's justified.

thorsoak

I'd like to put forward another aspect to be considered here.

This lad is 10-11 years of age, and is already anxious not to be thought of as "different" to his peers, although he is prone to outbursts (but has not, as yet, struck anyone). He is rewarded by being allowed to use his i-pod when others are not. This does not bode well for the future.

He is going to have to live in the world AS IT IS - not how we might like it to be - and he is going to need coping mechanisms - which will mean taking medication to enable him to cope with the world.

If he is an intelligent young lad, can this point not be put to him? The world is going to be a hard place in which he has to live, and if you wish to help him to achieve his full potential, then you must take charge.

You cannot expect the world (or the school) to change its step for him. You have to help him live in it alongside the majority of children who are not rewarded with the use of their i-pads when life gets stressful.

It's primarily YOUR responsibility - and you've been advised by the school and psych what they think should happen.

GracieP

Fieldsofgold wrote: »

Would you suggest she were equally gung ho about treatment if the child were asthmatic or diabetic?

Nope, I wouldn't because those are conditions that we know for a fact exist and can diagnose with near complete accuracy. ADHD on the other hand is disputed that it is a real condition at all with a growing number of psychologists and psychiatrists finding that a change in social and/or environmental conditions eliminates the condition entirely in most children. While numerous neurologists who have studied the condition for a huge part of their careers categorically deny it's existence.

There is no compelling biological evidence for it whatsoever despite billions and billions of pounds of research being conducted on it in the last number of decades. None.

If my child was diagnosed with a disease that there is no biological evidence of and a growing dismissal of by the scientific psychiatric community and prescribed dangerous mood altering stimulants with numerous awful side-effects you can bet your !!! I'd be listening to the actual world class experts in the field rather than people who are relying on research from 80 years ago.

Fieldsofgold wrote: »

Well, bully for JB and his mother but I wonder how many of his classmates' education and futures were kicked into touch if he regularly had meltdowns and disrupted his classes.

Dismissive of a point that disproves your standpoint much? You asked what type of mother would take her child off prescribed medication. I gave one example of a mother who did so and as a result may have changed the future of our species for the better but certainly saved her son from an absolute lifetime of misery to one of fulfilment and respect.

Fieldsofgold

GracieP wrote: »

Nope, I wouldn't because those are conditions that we know for a fact exist and can diagnose with near complete accuracy. ADHD on the other hand is disputed that it is a real condition at all with a growing number of psychologists and psychiatrists finding that a change in social and/or environmental conditions eliminates the condition entirely in most children. While numerous neurologists who have studied the condition for a huge part of their careers categorically deny it's existence.

There is no compelling biological evidence for it whatsoever despite billions and billions of pounds of research being conducted on it in the last number of decades. None.

If my child was diagnosed with a disease that there is no biological evidence of and a growing dismissal of by the scientific psychiatric community and prescribed dangerous mood altering stimulants with numerous awful side-effects you can bet your !!! I'd be listening to the actual world class experts in the field rather than people who are relying on research from 80 years ago.



Dismissive of a point that disproves your standpoint much? You asked what type of mother would take her child off prescribed medication. I gave one example of a mother who did so and as a result may have changed the future of our species for the better but certainly saved her son from an absolute lifetime of misery to one of fulfilment and respect.

My point is that the good of the many comes before the good of the one, which you equally dismiss.

I hope that you're consistent in thinking that no parent should receive any disability benefits for a child with this fictional condition and that no child should be offered extra support for it.

You can't have it both ways!

rpc

GracieP wrote: »

Dismissive of a point that disproves your standpoint much? You asked what type of mother would take her child off prescribed medication. I gave one example of a mother who did so and as a result may have changed the future of our species for the better but certainly saved her son from an absolute lifetime of misery to one of fulfilment and respect.

But she also took the child out of school and home educated him for quite a long time.

Was the change because of a personally tailored educational environment, or because of the withdrawal of medication? With only a single data point you can't prove either way so please don't pretend otherwise.

Mojisola

GracieP wrote: »

Well Jacob Barnett's mother did it, along with pulling him out of school, and she went from having an extremely frustrated and unhappy son who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD to an amazing boy who is now an Orator of Physics at Indiana University, expected to get his PhD later this year, with his peers and superiors stating that his work may change the way we see physics. And he's 15.

And so did Ndingeko Kunene's parents and he's dead.

What does one example either way prove?

peachyprice

Cheapchick wrote: »

The school should be providing the extra support so nobody loses out. Sounds like they'd rather make excuses for him not to go because they cant be bothered, or there is a lack of funding for the extra support her needs. My son has been diagnosed with ASD and has been excluded from school trips a number of times "in case he has a meltdown!". Rather than put things in place to support him he feels worse about himself as he's excluded before it's even happened! As for someone else's child losing out because the OP's son is getting more support - he should be entitled to it!! It's a disability! Just as another pupil in a wheelchair would get more support so should he.

I don't think the extra funding the school gets for a statemented ASD child covers the costs of 1-1 care for a residential trip.

A child in a wheelchair would not necessarily need anywhere near the same amount of 1-1 attention an ASD child prone to meltdowns would and is not in the least comparable.

peachyprice

GracieP wrote: »

While the odds are that the OP's son isn't one of the smartest people to have ever lived (no offence OP) the fact is that so very little is actually known about conditions like Autism and ADHD, that incorrect and damaging diagnosis will happen all the time. (Remember even the doctor who first diagnosed ADHD is extremely critical of how it is being diagnosed and medicated as he says in the vast majority of cases it is diagnosed where no condition exists). People who think in a way that falls outside the norm are often diagnosed with these conditions when in reality they are just different and will respond better to different stimuli.

It is often the parents themselves who are pushing for an ASD/ADHD diagnosis. I've lost count how many threads have been started here by a) parents whose children are not within what they consider to be the normal range of development seeeking confirmation that their child has ASD traits so they can whip them off for assessment and b) parents who ask for advice about behavioural problem only to be told by a dozen respondents that the child sounds as it it has ASD, when in reality those children are, 9 times out of 10, just normal children.