Telling the school and our friends about DD's ADHD
almostjennifer
member
This is our first school year since the diagnosis and starting Concerta. We decided to not tell the school (or anyone) and I just don't know if this is the right move.
We thought that with the meds, DD could function normally and should have normal expectations. We didn't want the label "ADHD" attached to her and the stigma that comes along with it -- from school staff or friends/peers..
She is doing MUCH better this year than last year. WAY more focus, less distractability, less tantrums, but she is still below average academically and struggles with her anxiety at times (nail picking, bed wetting, crying).
Basically, I wonder if we should tell the school as well as our friends/neighbors about her diagnosis. Would this help her? Or hurt her?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Re: Telling the school and our friends about DD's ADHD
I think the school should know, other people- not necessarily. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think all the symptoms you are spelling out have to do with ADHD. Did you have a complete evaluation done? Who diagnosed?
It can be very helpful for the school know particularly if your DD is still struggling. You can qualify for a 504 plan possibly an IEP. Somethings my DD has for her ADHD in particular are additional one on one instructions after the "class instructions" are given and additional time on assignments as needed. In the past, teachers have helped me figure out when DD's meds are working or not (ADHD meds often need to be changed) and really the teacher should be giving some feedback in way of questionaires to a doctor every so often because they are the ones that actually see how the ADHD is affecting your child in the classroom. We did one about once a year until DD had been on the same med for several years.
I haven't seen one negative side effect to any of DD's teacher's knowing about her AS or ADHD.
Urg. Honestly, as we talked about before, Auntie, I think her psychiatrist might stink.
It was at the doctor's office that we were told that it wasn't necessary to tell the school and the doctor didn't seem interested in her anxiety behaviors. Plus I think it is weird that they did no physical eval on her before prescribing and seem to have no interest in her heigh/weight despite the decrease in appetite I have told the Dr about. There is no 'plan' other than the med, and I feel sort of lost -- shouldn't there be a plan for behavior modification and some kind of therapy beyond just the med? Shouldn't they want input from her teacher? The doctor has never even spoken with my DD, just the therapist who did the intial intake eval.
I think tomorrow I will start calling other doctors in the area. I just feel so out of my element here and I worry constantly that we aren't doing the right things for her.