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

sooty&sweep

Hi
Has anyone from the school tried talking to your son and explaining to him why they feel this is necessary ? Could they agree a strategy of how he could take his medication without attracting the attention of other pupils ?
My two will often complain if I try to get them to do something but if Mr or Mrs so & so from school (better if its a favourite teacher !) asks them to with a good explanation they are more amenable.
Jen

GobbledyGook

The school cannot enforce the taking of medication, but they can refuse to take him on the trip.

Also if they are noticing huge changes in him then chances are there are big changes. The school would not be saying things were better if they were not.

Please bare in mind that children are often VERY different when they are at school. How many times have we heard parents joking about having the wrong report card because the words seem nothing like the child they know? I had the same thing, my DD's school were shocked when I had a terrible time with her. The quiet, studious little girl they knew was a cheeky madam at home for a while.

Unless you think the psychologist is somehow wrong on increasing the dose (was a low dose not done in the beginning with talks of increasing or tweaking it?), in which case you need a second opinion urgently then why would you object to it.

Your child is different. It's something those of us with children who have difficulties simply have to accept, and teach them to adapt as best as possible. The children in his class will know that he has issues - they've witnessed the meltdowns, they've seen the ipod, so they know. He needs to learn that him taking medication at lunchtime is no different at all to the asthmatic kid taking his inhaler before PE or the diabetic kid taking insulin after lunch.

Egypt191

I agree that a risk assesment should be done in order to assertain whether it is safe for both your child and others if he goes. On a residential trip its more difficult as there are less staff to supervise the children 24/7, especially if for example two m embers of staff have to deal with a meltdown and there are other problems occurring with other children.

However, the world is a very scary place for people with an ASD, and learning to live within it can be a very scary process, especially when there appears to be attitudes of " their just going to have to learn". Yes, they need to learn, but they also need understanding and help with this. It can be ongoing, and each day can bring more challenges.

Communication with the school is paramount, if you know of something that will calm, or prevent a meltdown they should be told. I understand that the iPod is a calming measure, but I'm not sure it's a viable distraction at school, or on a residential trip, this inevitably does single him out and offers him no real distraction or calming measures of his own.

The school only knows as much as they see your child, and what you tell them, if they feel the medication has made a difference, I would imagine it has, I can't imagine a school advocating medication if it wasn't effective.

As far as the discussions on one to one supervision, EVERY child has a right to an education, whether that be with support or not. The benefit for the whole class if one child is calmer/more supported through one to one is beneficial to all. Every school ( regardless of budget), should look after the needs of each pupil, there are many resources out there for teachers to access if they wanted to understand a particular diagnosis.

peachyprice wrote: »

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.

I'm not sure I agree with this. I've got two children with autism, and neither pushed for a diagnosis, or wanted one. I was devastated for them when they were diagnosed, as my dreams of how their lives were going to be lived were shattered ( obviously I'm not bothered for them now, they are growing up to be wonderful young adults and I'm proud of them).
Incidentally, my children are also normal children, they just see the world differently to you or I, and in my opinion that's probably a good thing

pollypenny

Maysie wrote: »

No he didn't have medication while we were away . I had noticed big positive changes since i took aspartame out of his diet in November. Its amazing the foods they hide it in. We avoid anything that says sugar free for a start. I had stopped e numbers last year and noticed he was calmer generally.

My son was very naughty in the junior school. However, we stopped all forms of additives, using an E numbers list to help us and behavior improved enormously.

Our second strategy, of no empty threats, but meaning what we said and withdrew such as a trip and a big family day at the rugby club, reinforced the message.

There is no way we would have rewarded bad behaviour.

By y6 he was known as a delightful boy.

Edit to add: when my two were little ADHD was not invented.

pollypenny

Egypt's point about people with autism seeing the world differently is interesting and I am sure her children are lovely.

However, no one can expect the rest of society to change for them. We all have to rub along as well as we can.

Egypt191

pollypenny wrote: »

Egypt's point about people with autism seeing the world differently is interesting and I am sure her children are lovely.

However, no one can expect the rest of society to change for them. We all have to rub along as well as we can.

I agree that society shouldn't have to change to fit in with any child or adult, regardless of any diagnosis. However, understanding of individuals with different needs is also of importance. Not that long ago a person with a mental illness would have been sent to an institution as the understanding of the illness was next to nothing. Now, our understanding as a society is much greater, we are constantly learning, and adapting, and so we should. Everybody is an individual and deserves as much respect and understanding as the next person.

ADHD was never invented, it just wasn't recognised until relatively recently.

Janepig

pollypenny wrote: »

My son was very naughty in the junior school. However, we stopped all forms of additives, using an E numbers list to help us and behavior improved enormously.

Our second strategy, of no empty threats, but meaning what we said and withdrew such as a trip and a big family day at the rugby club, reinforced the message.

There is no way we would have rewarded bad behaviour.

By y6 he was known as a delightful boy.

Edit to add: when my two were little ADHD was not invented.

This is our main strategy with DS - it's a difficult one because sometimes after you've calmed down you do feel like you're being extra mean, but you've got to stand firm. DS is excellent at making you feel really really sorry for him too, he's a proper diva! Luckily although he's a major pest in school, the "diagnosis" that's followed him since day 1 has been that lovely old fashioned term, "busy" .

In regard to the ipod thing in the OP though, DD is in year 6 and has been on two residentials with the school and is going for a week in June, and the school are resolute that no ipods or mobile phones are taken (they can take cameras though). This does meet with some groaning from kids (and some parents who don't like to not be in contact with their little darlings 24/7) but it's a good thing to be technology free while they're away. I'm sure the teachers would have an easier time of it if all 60-odd kids on the trip were zoned out on their ipods but that's not the point of the trip, and as a parent I wouldn't be too chuffed if one of the class were allowed to use theirs and I'm sure there'd be an outcry amongst the kids. Not to mention who is responsible if it's lost or broken.

I find it strange that the OP's DS doesn't want to take his medication, in private under supervision of a teacher, as he doesn't want to be singled out, but I presume he'd be more than happy to be the only one on the trip using an ipod which is going to cause more questions than taking medication is (which could be antibiotics, vitamins, anything......).

Jx

shegirl

They can,perfectly rightly,refuse to take him if he is not taking his prescribed medication.

I think you need to talk to him,especially over his fear of people finding out and about how the medication helps hi.

laurel7172

There's a huge child protection barrier to be overcome if a child is prone to losing control.

In order to protect other children, said child cannot share a dorm.

In order to protect the child, they can't be isolated in their own room.

And in order to protect everybody, the child absolutely can't share a room with adults.

So they can't go, no matter how much anyone might want to find a solution. At least, it isn't a paradox I've ever seen solved. We don't know what this child's behaviour is usually like; it may not be the wicked school imposing the condition that the child *takes their prescribed medication*, it may be the school can only take them if they do.

springdreams

The school is allowed to refuse to take a child on a school trip.

My DS has the same diagnosis as your son OP. However, he is statemented. You haven't answered the question on whether or not your son is statemented OP. My DS is also on a high dose of Concerta XL, and takes Melatonin too. The side effects of the medication are the same whether the dose is low or high.

Also, you say you are able to cope without medicating your son when you go away with him. I don't medicate my DS over weekends or over school holidays. However, he is an only child, and it is much easier to cope with just one child than it is to cope with a whole classroom of them. Is your DS an only child?

My son's primary school was very much like your DS's - they would make exceptions on things for him, such as giving him golden time if he got through a morning without getting any warnings, letting him read the football section of the newspaper if he completed a piece of work set in class, let him carry the football out to break if he respected the personal space of other children for the morning, etc. My DS's primary school also thought the medication was the best thing since sliced bread. I have to agree though, as he was close to being excluded for unacceptable behaviour, and was given several warnings a day before he was medicated. Since taking the medication he was on the gifted and talented program for maths, science and literacy, and won several sports awards. The change in his behaviour and level of concentration was like night and day.

My DS was also not allowed on any school trips if he was not medicated. As I was keen on him participating in school events, and he too wanted to join his friends on the trips, he took his medication.

However, things changed quite dramatically when my DS started senior school a year and a half ago. The senior school was not willing or able to make the same concessions for my DS that the primary school did, so all the rewards, behaviour management by the school etc. went out of the window. The view of the senior school is that my DS has not learnt how to manage his own behaviour because the primary school had been doing it for him. This was doing him no favours and he would not know how to manage his behaviour later on in life. In addition to the help he gets as part of his statement, my DS now has a LSA mentor to help him learn to manage his own behaviour and to try to teach him the appropriate responses to other people's feelings (as he lacks empathy, which is common I understand for those with ADHD/ASD).

OP you need to get your DS to learn coping strategies that do not include things such as his iPod, because it is very unlikely that a senior school will allow him to have one.

Also, your DS needs to decide what is more important to him. If he strongly objects to taking the medication then he cannot go on the school trip. If he wants to go on the school trip, then he must take the medication.