Eight Year Old Who Is Struggling with Reading

You've gotten a lot of solid advice, I'm just going to point out one other thing. Sounding out words is an impressive skill unto itself. Yes, we want them to be able to recognize the words, especially if they just read it on the very same page, but sounding it out is just as hard. Him not remembering from one page to the next may just be an indication of how little he enjoys reading- at this point, can you blame him? If, when reading a story, he struggles with the same word over and over again, have him write it on a flashcard. He can have his own stack of cards to practice whenever he wants, or just before bed, etc.

In addition to ruling out dyslexia or other causes, there are things you can do to help. The more he reads books that he if fluent at the more his confidence will build. Also, you can read to him. If he is reading at a struggling no wonder he wants reading out of his life. Get him help now or you will be fighting this and he will be struggling throughout his educational career.

I am so sorry that this teacher said this, but it may work for you very well.

The answer is that it could be any one of the things you mentioned, it could be all of them, and it could be none of them. The way to find out quickly is to find a Neuropsycholgist and get your son evaluated as quickly as you can. Because of his age, it is important that you not delay too much here, and move quickly. Call several Neuropsychologists, and take the first avialable appointment for ALL of them, put yourself on the cancelation list, and call and cancel the ones that come after you finally get in to see someone for an evaluation. Find a Board Certified Child Psychiatrist to help with any medical diagnosis that may or may not be needed, but do get the evaluation data to back up the medical diagnosis. A psychiatrists office will be able to give you the names of good Neuropsycholgists when you make an appointment. Do not rely on your pediatrician to make this diagnosis or provide the treament if any medical intervention is needed, the majoirty of them are just not the best resource for ADHD (ADD is really ADHD-I inatentive type.)

You should also call an occupational therapists office and ask for a referal to a Developmental Optomitrist in your area. This is an eye doctor who does regular eye exams too, but they also assess the way your child is using his eye mucles. Difficulty with these skills can cause many of the issues your son is experiencing. It is possible that this condition stands alone, but it is just as likely that it is comorbid with ADHD or dyslexia.

At least 25% of all children with ADHD also have dyslexia, and of those who don't who experience difficulty reading, an Orton Gillingham based alphabet phonics or Dyslexia intervention program will be what they need anyway to learn to read. Every child can learn to read this way. Your teacher made a huge error. Here is what you do!

You teacher just told you that she suspects that your child has a disablity when she said that your son needs medication. When ever a school district representative suspects that a child has a disablity, and has an educational need (he can't read...find out what his grade level is for reading, this would be helpful) the school has an affirmative obligation to evaluate your son and provide services. Oh, but there is more...

When she suggested medication, what she meant was ADHD, so she obligated the school to evaluate him specificially for ADHD too. So call her out on it. Send an email to the district special education director, or the coordinator for special education in your building, copy the teacher, and request that your son have a full evaluation, based on his educational need (note his reading level) and your teachers recognition and suspicion, and suggestion to you that he may have ADHD. Add that you request a full evaluation of all of his academic skills, including a dyslexia evaluation, and evaluation for any and all reading disablities, and any and all learning disablities in written expression. Further, request a speech and lagnague evaluation, and an occupational therapy assessment. You have them by the short and curleys. Still get your private evaluation, and provide the maximum services you can to your son, especially if the school drags their feet or fails to offer services. His reading window will close very soon, you need to get him into an alphebet phonics reading program as soon as you can.

More...IDEA favors something called RTI or Response to Intervention. Your son can recieve this reading program now, without being diagnosed with a reading disablity, if your school district is so inclined. Request that services start now, under and RTI program, so that your son can begin to make progress. It is worth a shot, you may get it sooner than if you have to wait for the evaluation results.

Always write to the school about this, becasue if it did not happen in writing, it never happened, and they can tell you they will do something, then not do it, and nothing will ever happen to them. Don't give them this extra time. Write to them, tell them that you expect for your son's evaluation to be completed within 30 school days of your signature for consent to evaluate, and ask that you be scheduled for a meeting to sign consent for that evaluation within 10 school days of the receipt of this communication. They will know that you mean business.

Get on the phone, and write some emails and set this in motion.

Do not try to accomodate him until you know what is going on based on the data, and get the data as quickly as you can.

For information, go to www.wrightslaw.com and read about advocacy. There is a great article called Understanding tests and Measurments for parents and advocates, read it until you understand it so that you can know what the data means when it starts rolling in. The school cannot BS you if you know what they are talking about and hold your own evaluation too.

Read about ADHD and other issues in a book by Dr. Mel Levine called "All Kinds of Minds" you may see some insights that will help you, and he has terrific strategies and advice.

That is probably enough for now, there are other books and orgnizations that will help you once you know what you are dealing with.

Good luck! let me know if I can help more, I work as an educational advocate for children with disablities, so I may be able to point you in the right direction.

M.

Couple of notes: ADHD requries medication because it is a medical issue, learning disablities do not require medication, but do requre educational intervention. Many children have both. Both ADHD and learning disablities require the children, their parents, teachers, and therapists to work very hard, whether or not medication is appropriate has nothing to do with hard work.

Sugar is not shown to have any impact on how children learn. There is a lot of myth and anecdote, but no link has been identified in any emprical study.

Fluency programs are avaliable for children with processing issues and speech problems, but, for the most part, parents should be careful of these programs. Fluency programs are cheap and require little teacher training nor hands on instruction, and one teacher or aid can run mulitple children through a fluency program on a daily basis without any child in the program learning to decode a single sylable or phoneme. Once children can decode and sound out words and speed is the only issue they have with reading, or congnative ablity is low, then fluency programs are appropriate. These programs do not help students who need to learn to read with anything more than the ablity to recite the same passages quickly from memory and do improve the speed in which most children can read the sight words that they then may become familiar with. This kind of program does not replace, and is not appropriate for children who need to learn to decode and sound out words or whose ablity to do so is so combersome that their reading comprehension suffers as a reslut. First, your son needs an alphabet phonics program to learn to read, and he needs to complete it. If fluency is still an issue, then a reading fluency program is appropriate.

There is a "pre qualifyer" that one poster mentioned about your son needing to show that he has had adequate instruction before the school does any testing. That is two fold, one, the student must have had instruction (I can assume that you can prove that) and the teacher will have to have tried in class accodations before a referal. She blew both steps by suggesting that she thought he had a disablity, so, she accepts that he has both had instruction and that the application of in class options is not needed, becuase she already voiced the suspiscion, which obligates his school to act.

There are many educational theories. Right now, the one that is in the most favor in American Education establishes that chidren who do not read well by the end of third grade are at very high risk of reading failure and every effort should be made to set struggling readers on the right path prior to the end of third grade. RTI was the answer to this established educational tennet, and was designed so that the diagnsois of reading disablities was not necessary prior to the provision of reading intervention programs in the hopes that fewer children would need to be identified as having a learning disablity. Your son may have already aged beyond RTI being of much concequence, as you have no time to give anything a try without knowing for certian what he needs, and how much, based on the data, that you have confirmed by professionals to be sure that the school is not underserving him.

Doesn't your school have a reading program for kids that are struggling?

Do you read aloud to him? I think it gives kids a sense of fluidity, intonation and voice tone and tempo. Is there something he really likes? Like cars, sports, etc? My 2nd grader much prefers adult books on the subjects that really interest him than childish kid books with 20 sentences in them.....maybe try that, too. And read them with him and to him so he can hear phrasing, etc. That certainly couldn't hurt matters.

Maybe he should be evaluated for a learning disability. Talk to your pediatrician to get the ball rolling with a referral for an evaluation. The sooner the better, as you often have to make the appts months out. Good luck.

Could be all of those or none of those. If he's any of those, you need to know now in order for interventions to take place that will keep him from getting more behind. He could be having reading difficulties because he's ADD (or ADHD) and can't focus. Or he could be unfocused because he has a learning disability and is frustrated beyond his ability to cope.

A doctor must diagnose ADD/ADHD, so take your son to a private psychiatrist for testing. He/she should be able to diagnose both ADD and learning disabilities. Chances are, the teacher was suggesting that the RTI process be started on him, and then, possible referral for testing through the school system. If she doesn't suggest it, make the request yourself.

Don't be afraid of medicine. If he really is ADD, denying him appropriate medications is not fair to him and will only get him further and further behind.

Here's a little unofficial test for ADD: give your child some caffeine-laced soda (Mello-Yello's LOADED with it). If he starts bouncing off the walls, he doesn't have ADD. If he suddenly becomes calm and focused, he's got ADD and would benefit from medication.

If he has a learning disability (like dyslexia), there are things that will help him learn to read and ease his frustration. But you need to know exactly how he's LD in order for appropriate interventions to happen. The school system has the ability to test and remediate specific learning disabilities.

He may just be a very active little boy who doesn't happen to like reading. But before you blame his current teacher, it seems to me that he was allowed to get behind by his previous school and this may be the first teacher who had the guts to look into it (although it doesn't sound like she had much tact when discussing it with you).

Go into any meeting at the school with the attitude that everyone there only wants to help your child and that you're all on the same team. The squeaky wheel may get the grease, but it'll lose a lot of good allies along the way.

This may sound simplistic, but since you said he didn't seem to have problems in his previous years at school, do you think he may just be having trouble adjusting? My oldest had trouble adjusting to school last year and we had meetings with teachers about her ability to stay on task and other issues. I knew she was not working at school at the level she was capable of but was honestly even more concerned with the other troubles she was having. This year she is a different child, her teachers are so happy and surprised by how well she is doing this year and the big difference is that she has not had quite such a culture shift as she did entering the school year last year.

I am not saying you shouldn't get your son tested/help if you feel he needs it. But I think sometimes we big people need to remember that when children are struggling that sometimes they are using their brains to work out problems like how to deal with new friends, new teachers, new rules and they may not be as focused on academics for that reason.

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Some suggestion to help make reading more fun. At night, you might read to him and ask him to predict what will happen, relate something in the story to something in your life or his, etc. Try to help him learn how to connect to the story. We do these things when we read, but we aren't really concious of them because it comes naturally. But, if you aren't very good at reading, it is much harder to make those connections and "get into a book." You don't want him to go to bed stressed. He won't sleep as well.

Have him do his reading at another time of day. Maybe before or after dinner. Read to a younger sibling or pet. Read to you while you make dinner. Or better yet, have him help with dinner and read the recipe in order to make dinner. Another way to get him interested, take him to the Lowes or Home Depot workshops. Home Depot holds free workshops the first Saturday of the month and Lowes the second and fourth Saturdays. Here are the links: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Conten...
Lowes: http://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/
If he is to build the wood project, he needs to know what to do next. The instructions are pretty easy. My kids 5 and 3 love these workshops. My 5 yr old knows when to use the long screw or short screw and which piece and orentation to use. There are pictures to help, but you also need to read a bit information, as well. These would be good ways to get some practice in and it doesn't really seem like practice reading when you are make something.

And he really needs the modeling of a parent reading to him and asking questions and making connections to the story or information. Also, go to the library and pick out books in topics he enjoys. If he plays basketball or soccer, find either fictional or non-fiction at his level or slightly below sometimes. Let him feel some success and not have them too hard, but other times he needs to push himself.
Good luck, my nephew is 15 and still hates to read, he can, just doesn't like to.

Get him tested. It could be a number of things but you will not be able to narrow it down until he is tested. Have you ever had his vision tested? Maybe he can't see well. Like I said it could be anything.

Get him some books that are below his level and go over them to give him a stronger foundation. If he had dyslexia, a special education teacher would be able to give him tips, hints and clues into how to read better.

Make certain his diet isn't full of sugar (expecially hidden sugars). Being amped up on sugar makes it difficult for little guys to focus and concentrate. Also know boys are very different than girls and most classes are structured for girls rather than boys.

Ultimately you may need to get him some private tutoring for him whether he has learning deficits or not. Try to make reading exciting for him again. Most of school is all about the reading, even math.

I would have him tested for both ADHD and dyslexia.
The way he his reading could be a result of him not focusing.
There are several types of ADHD.
Hyperactivity does not always show up in ADHD children.
Second grade is the grade where things start getting more difficult so his symptoms might not have started to show up before now because of that.
http://www.myaddchild.com/

1. Classic ADD - Inattentive, distractible, disorganized. Perhaps hyperactive, restless and impulsive.
2. Inattentive ADD - Inattentive, and disorganized.
3. Over-focused ADD - Trouble shifting attention, frequently stuck in loops of negative thoughts, obsessive, excessive worry, inflexible, oppositional and argumentative.
4. Temporal Lobe ADD - Inattentive and irritable, aggressive, dark thoughts, mood instability, very impulsive. May break rules, fight, be defiant, and very disobedient. Poor handwriting and trouble learning are common.
5. Limbic System ADD - Inattentive, chronic low-grade depression, negative, low energy, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.
6. Ring of Fire ADD - Inattentive, extremely distractible, angry, irritable, overly sensitive to the environment, hyperverbal, extremely oppositional, possible cyclic moodiness.

Unfortunately we deal with the 6th type " ring of fire" , at our house

in addition I'd let him read what ever he wants , even if it's a comic book.

I was going to recommend getting his eyes examined, first. Simple to do and simple fix, if that is all it is.
Test for dyslexia. Been there but mine is with numbers more than words.
Then, go for the rest of it. If this teacher had come to me with "needs to medicate" comment, I'd have blown my stack! But, she better be able to back that comment up, too! Since this sounds like the first real interaction she has had with you, she's opened pandora's box.
Once I decided my first response on lines 1-3 I read a few other responses. Martha R hit a bunch of nails on the head! I think she has given you a lot to think about and try. I would, for sure, get this in writing to the school in regards to the teacher and her response to you. GA schools will test children and I've seen them do that quickly and take forever, as well. Be his advocate, stay on top of it, make them do their part.
Still, keep reading with him. Let him pick out some books that interest him and let him start reading them himself. Read with him, too.
My oldest was reading at 4 but his brother didn't really get the bug till 7. We did the same thing with both of them as far as reading with them, etc. Different kids, different ways. Now, we can't keep either of them out of a book!
Good luck, keep us updated!

I was a very poor reader like the way you describe your son. I struggled forever, it seems like. My parents sent me to a speed reading class when I was between the 5th and 6th grade (summer school). I had problems with comprehension, and often had to read the same passage more than once to be able to answer questions about what I had just read. That was in 1962 so I don't remember lots of details.

What I do remember (because I heard my parents tell so many of their friends) is that my reading went from about 40 words per minute (WPM) to between 300 and 350 wpm. My reading comprehension went from 30% to about 80%. I can remember taking several minutes to read a page out of "Swiss Family Robinson" (my favorite book at the time) to being able to read a page a minute and being better able to remember what I read.

I don't remember how long the school was, but I do remember it seemed to take all my summer vacation away. But I was 11 at the time, so my perspective was a lot different then than now.

I see where several people have said it might be dyslexia, or a learning disability of some sort. I may have had those things, but they hadn't been invented yet. I over came all of my "disabilities" with hard work and study. Its just what Americans did back then. A lot of people back then overcame "disabilities" that way, we used "sweat", not drugs, to lubricate the wheels that moved us along our path to success.

Good luck to you and yours.

Our son (8 1/2 now) also was a very reluctant reader, and what you describe sounds like him at the end of second grade last May. We did manage to keep him interested in books by allowing him to take out any book he wanted from the children room in the library; he would only pick books with lots of pictures (cartoons/graphic novels of super-hero stories, for example), however at least they kept him interacting with books and there are words of dialogue. You might see if those are an option for you. The big change happened this summer when I discovered a series of books which hit him right. He devoured them, was reading one or more a day, and now enthusiastically reads lots of different books. So it might be a matter of happening to find something which grabs him. You know what subjects appeal to him; try taking out a book about one of them. I also think it's a really good sign that he WANTS to read the more challenging books; it means he hasn't given up on books/reading yet. He does need to be encouraged by being told he needs to work up to them by reading the others before them, however, not just told he's not ready yet. Keep reading to him, and ask him at least to look at the page with you or take turns reading a sentence or two. That's not to say you shouldn't get him evaluated, as other people said. If his teacher is observing other issues with focus, it would make sense to have him evaluated---and she opened the door for you to request the school help you do it.

Yes I agree that you should talk to his pediatrician and see if there are some screenings you can do, but beyond that I suggest this...

First, cut down on the pracicing at home for a while. He's obviously stressed out and not excited about reading and that is not good. That will absolutely not help him get better at all. Instead of having him read, read to him. Have him pick out books he wants to hear, even if they are way above his reading level. Read to him every night. Also, let him check out books from the library that he wants to read but tell him he can read them to himself and for right now he doesn't have to read them to you or out loud. Even if he picks out a book you know he won't be able to read, let him get it. He can glean information from the pictures and if he thinks he's reading it his confidence will build. I'm sure his teacher probably does Scholastic Book Orders and there are always cheap books in there...maybe you could get him excited about those too and order him one or two each month.

Also, buy or make some flash cards with site word on it. If you go to a teacher store they will have words based by appropriate age and grade level. Start with the easy ones, especially if you think he will know them...build his confidence. You can also make a game of labeling things in your house. Maybe do his room or the kitchen first and label a few things. Because he's 8 you don't want it to be too babyish, but he needs to be seeing words and letters.

Also, I have some stamps (Oriental Trading Co) that are the letters. Maybe you could get some and each week you can have him work somehow with some letter stamps...like stamping out his name or his spelling words on the names of everyone in the family or maybe he can stamp out a menu for what you're making for dinner that night...you'll have to make it kind of fun, but he probably would like stamps at that age still...my 3rd graders loved them!

As others suggested, find out if he qualifies for the reading program at school, I'm sure they have one. But, since he's so down on reading, I think at home you need to focus more on the fun of reading and less on the stress of it right now. Get everyone in teh house reading more too...maybe institute a certain time every night or every week that everyone reads. He needs to see that other people use reading in their daily life.

oh sorry...I know this is really long, but one other thing...you mentioned this is the first year in public school...was it private school or home school before?? If you were home schooling that could absolutely contribute to his lack of focus on listening and tasks...if he is not used to a classroom environment such as this, he needs time to adjust and it is not necessarily a focus issue.

Hi,

Sorry I'm a little late responding. You've gotten tons of great advice, but one more suggestion to add to the comments regarding his eyes. Try finding a pediatric ophthalmologist and ask them to do a convergence test. My nephew has struggled with reading since elementary school (he's 13) and finally told his parents that he is tired of the reading intervention at school because he doesn't feel like it's helping. They took him to a pediatric ophthalmologist and he has convergence issues - meaning that his eyes don't work together when he's looking at a page to read. This is something that was NEVER suggested by the folks at school.

It could absolutely be dyslexia, which is not necessarily seeing backwards, but a whole host of possible issues specific to your child.

#1- Don't worry. With a little help and persistence he will be on reading level.

Consider getting him tested away from school (if you can afford it) with someone private or check local organizations. Once you know what his "issue" is then you can learn tips to help him.

In the meantime very politely get in the teachers face and advocate for your boy. This is the beginning of the year and the LAST thing you want is for her to crush your boys self-esteem. That will be harder to fix than a reading difficulty. If necessary change classes, or even schools.

Sorry I am coming in late....

When you get his eyes checked, ask if they can check if he reads better by looking through colored lenses, or by putting a clear, colored sheet of plastic over the words. I forget what this is called, but a friend told me she knew a couple people who were helped by it. Without the color, the words seemed to "swim" or "waver" on the page.

Maybe he would enjoy books on tape--to read and listen at the same time.

Might he enjoy Scrabble or Boggle games? Hang-man? maybe these won't help him read any better but they will keep him interacting with words. Yopu don't have to keep score when you play, you can just "goof around " with them if you want.

I think it is great that he wants to read more difficult books in school--maybe you can use this as a selling point to get him to keep working at it.

And keep on reading to him. a reading teacher told me that even high school students benefit from hearing a good fluent reader read aloud.

Best of luck!

K. Z.

I think the school counselor or principal might have ideas about special reading programs, so I'd start there. You can also check at the local libraries for children's books in subjects that he likes (superheroes, star wars, animals, trucks, whatever he loves a lot) and stick to those motivators for night time reading. Honestly, he might need a referral for dyslexia or another reading problem that can be worked with, and this kind of evaluation might be available through the school district. Best wishes!

Oh, we've recently been through a similar thing, especially disturbing was the bit about sounding out one word, and then not remembering it, even if it was on the very next line! Ugh!

We had a lot of the "distractability" issues, as well. Because of some other classroom issues (mostly behavior - the principal thought he was emotionally immature), we had him repeat kindergarten. Biggest mistake of our lives! When it became apparent that it wasn't the solution we had hoped for, we got a complete Psych-Ed evaluation on him. Expensive, yes, but we should have done it sooner - it would have saved us one year of misery. One of the things it turned up was some mild dyslexic tendencies, and we couldn't afford a dyslexia tutor, but we talked to one who helped us find some resources so we could work with our kid at home.

The biggest help (BY FAR) for us was really focusing on intensive phonics instruction, not just the simple rules that most pre-school and kindergartens do. Most children gradually and naturally intuit most of the pronunciation rules of the English language, but the dyslexic brain tends to have more difficulties unless the patterns and rules are made explicit. We used the book "The ABC's and all their tricks" and a "Phonics Pathways" workbook. You can also try to find something on Orton-Gillingham or Fountas-Pinellas, although you may not find anything cheap. We made AMAZING progress over the course of just a few weeks by creating our own little lessons based on the 2 books I recommended, though. Even if it isn't dyslexia, knowing more complex phonics rules will no doubt help the situation.

If it does seem related to dyslexia and you can afford it, there are 2 schools around Atlanta that specialize in teaching dyslexic kids - the Schenk School and the Swift academy. (VERY expensive, but the idea is to have the child go there for 1-2 years and then be able to return to their old school and cope with their regular classroom.)

You are wise to be hesitant to medicate - invest in a full psych-ed evaluation (it cost us over $2000, over the course of a few months, but it was MUCH better than medicating our child inappropriately.) We found a psych that specialized in gifted kids, which for us turned out to be the crucial factor, because exceptionally bright kids often have problematic behaviors that are misunderstood by teachers. (Check hoagiesgifted.org to find a local psychologist that works with gifted children if you think that's appropriate. There's only one listed there for Georgia and that's the one we used. She's amazing!)

I am so sorry your son is struggling. I would certainly look into having him tested for dyslexia or other learning disabilities. It can't hurt - either you will find out he's fine and just needs more practice, or you'll find out he does have a problem and you'll get tips and solutions on how to help him past it. Try to do it ASAP because the more he struggles and acts frustrated, the more he's going to pull away from reading completely.

In the meantime, continue reading aloud to him and giving him chances to practice reading out loud to you.

Good luck.

My friend's son ended up at one of those specialtly places in 1st or 2nd grade, like Sylvan learning, and they figured out what his issue was with reading and fixed it. It cost a bit, but now he is a super reader.

First I agree with the screening. He might need glasses, etc.

You don't say what type of books he is attempting. My son had a ton of problems reading, just wasnt interested. There were three series that got him going.
1. Dr. Seuss books (only a few words per page)
2. Arthur Books (PBS cartoon/book series)
2. Captain Underpants. (comic book format)

We also had him read books with multiple lines on a page with a piece of paper so that he could only read one line at a time.

Good luck

you mention that this is his first year in public school... did his prior teachers every mention to you just how far behind he was in reading? maybe there's nothing "wrong" with him, maybe he just wasn't educated to the appropriate level at his prior school - look into getting him a tutor for a few months before you delve into learning disabilities or labels. it really may just be that he is behind and needs to catch up. good luck!

Talk to your school counselor. There could be something like Dyslexia going on or there could be nothing more than he not being physiologically ready for the daunting task of reading.

I was a reading teacher for years and I have worked in many districts in the country (as a travelling reading enrichment teacher) and I've seen the effects of different styles of teaching to read. Phonetic teaching, as opposed to whole language, is more of struggle but without any doubt produces better long term results. It sounds like your child is learning that, so that's good.

I should say that not everyone believes that children should be taught to read so young as we do in public schools. Waldorf education, a brainchild of child development expert Rudolph Steiner, doesn't encourage reading until the third grade, because it is not a developmentally appropriate task for small children. Once they are around 8 years old they tend to pick it up much more quickly and are fluent within a year, instead of being pushed to and struggling to learn to read at the age of 4-5 and taking many years to master it.

My dd had trouble with reading. I was an early reader, as was my husband ad we started pushing her to read WAY to early and we've caused some issues, I'm sad to say. At the age of 7.5 she took off reading (in a second language, simultaneously!) but before that she had a lot of trouble and was behind grade level (in English).

So that might be it, but I'd go ahead and talk to the school counselor, too, to rule out things like dyslexia. The school system will test him. If he goes to a private school, contact your district public school as they are also required to administer these tests to non-enrolled students in district (or it might be the district where the private school is located-- this varies, but either your home or enrollment district will do it.) If there is any issue, they will also provide theraputic help at no cost to you.

PLEASE PLEASE report the teacher, in writing, for reccommending medication (WHO THE HE*$&% IS SHE TO DIAGNOSE AND RECCOMMEND MEDICATION???) Sorry for yelling, but as a teacher who was also asked by parents how/ when they should medicate their kids, I am SO disturbed that any teacher would think herself a doctor. That is foolish, irresponsible, demeaning to the child, unhelpful and potentially harmful. She needs to be called out on it.