Schooling Options for Adhd-not Meeting IEP Goals

Updated on May 17, 2012
M.M. asks from Los Angeles, CA
7 answers

Hi moms/dads.
My son is 4 and this coming school year he will be attending another year of special education preschool. He is ADHD-LD-and somewhere on the autistic spectrum. He is receiving special education services due to a speech delay. He speaks in sentences, and has come a long way however, his speech and articulation is not quite where it should be. He has excellent behavior at school and follows directions. However, I am concerned because he is not quite meeting his IEP goals. And this is not due to the staff’s lack of trying, he is just majorly visually distracted and cannot focus. I should also mention that this child is almost always in motion. He is in a class of about 15, 3 are ‘typical kids’. But this seems to be too much of a distraction for him. He really has his best ‘performance’ when he is one on one with me. He speaks, follows directions, he is still hyper, but he is much better one on one, even sister is a distraction. I think the ideal learning environment for him would be a class of 3, him and two others because he loves being around other kids and it is a somewhat motivating factor for him. Any of you parents out there know of any solutions for my type of kid? I am just thinking in the future for first grade and maybe even kindergarten. Homeschooling is not an option. I have to work full-time and I am not sure if I would be the best teacher for him. Not because of academics, but I think someone trained as a teacher would be better. I know there are private special education schools out there, but how do I get the district to pay for that? I know the school is also getting “frustrated” that he is not meeting his goals quite as much as we had hoped. We recently just qualified for extra services from that state so we will see if they have an insight into this problem. I am hoping we can start ABA therapy soon at home and this will help. They say ABA is excellent for attention spans.

Thanks so much for any insight you can offer.

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So What Happened?

Thanks for the insight. Thanks Jo, for letting me know how the goals work, your children have had an IEP longer than mine and I am somewhat new to the IEP. Also, I am definitely not opposed to meds, I just want to rule out sleep apnea (Ill ask the neuro if he will order one at the next appt, he is a snorer and adenoids are mildly enlarged) and maybe give him another year or two and see how it goes. I know many people who have said the meds worked wonders, just takes some time to get the right med and dosage. thanks Tracy for the detailed explanation about your son, the dev. ped. actually recommended an aide for him. I asked his teacher, who I really like, said that the children sometimes become dependent with an aide, I relayed this to the dev. Ped. who said, she just has not had the right aide, a good aide knows how to prevent this from happening. I think I will revisit the issue maybe early next school year since the year is almost over. Also, he does have one hour a week(not much) at school and they say it is helping. Well, keep the answers coming if you have more…..there is still so much that I do not know.

Thanks for the info Elsa. The special ed class there is only one in our school district, so we have to go with this because its on in our district, unless we pay privately. Yes, I do not want him in a more restrictive environment because he has great behavior. Sounds like having an aide can be a great thing. I dont think anyone has thought of an aide because he is so well adjusted, he just does not do the pre-academic stuff all the time, and he is special ed. preschool because of a speech delay, however, the state saw autistic qualities and will be giving him services based on that diagnosis. I do not want to over-do it with therapy cause he has to be free sometimes too. No grades for this school, just an evaluation on how he met his goals. thanks mom really appreciate. I will see how the next couple of months go as he will be going to ESY.

More Answers

J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

I have two with IEPs one is Autism spectrum. They set the goals high enough that they never reach them. If they didn't the proper support wouldn't be there or you would be called into extra meetings to set new goals. So long as he is progressing don't sweat the goals.

So far as small groups go both of my kids have pull out small group. They are basically in the gen ed setting when they can handle it and pulled out for the classes they can't.

He is still young, remember to let him be a child as well.

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M.J.

answers from Sacramento on

It doesn't sound like he's on medication yet? If so, then I would give that serious consideration. Our son started ADHD medication at four and it completely transformed his world. He was able to focus, pay attention and lost the hyperactivity (although he's still active on medication) ... same child, just with normal behavior. Medication connects the dots in his brain in ways that therapy did not. The AAP recently came out and ok'd ADHD medication in kids as young as four, so this isn't a crazy off-the-wall strategy at this age. It really can make a tremendous difference.

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D..

answers from Charlotte on

He's still really young and you need to give him time to mature. It sounds like he is a kinetic learner as well, and he needs lots of opportunities to move while he learns.

Jo and CAWriter give you good comments. Keep working with him and give him time to grow. If you and the school think he isn't yet ready for kindergarten, consider keeping him in their special preschool.

Good luck!
Dawn

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T.C.

answers from Austin on

My son has ADHD/Aspergers, and is now in 4th grade. He is able to spend most of the day in the regular classroom, but still gets pulled out to work in smaller groups for writing and speech.
He did OK in pre-k, but it really depends on the teachers. Some of the inexperienced teachers didn't know how to deal with him. One teacher gave him more individual attention. She had him sit on her lap for circle time(otherwise he couldn't sit still). They had more sensory experiences available in pre-k, such as a sand table, ball pit, and body sock. They had him hold a sticky ball of tape, a beanbag, or a stretchy necklace he could chew. There wasn't as much emphasis on sitting still all the time. He was pulled out of the classroom for one on one speech therapy to avoid the distractions.

Then the switch to kindergarten, they had to start over and make a new plan. For most of the year, he had an aide with him all the time to keep him on task. Unfortunately, she was not trained well. She forgot that even though my son might be moving around and look distracted, he was still listening. He'd come home and repeat the aide's gossip with the teacher(like details about someone's surgery). His aide in 1st and 2nd grade had the right training. She understood that his behavior was caused by the ADHD(not bad parenting like the first aide seemed to think), consistently followed the strategies laid out in the IEP, and did not take his outbursts personally. She was amazing and went on to become a teacher. She helped him use a picture schedule to stay on task, take breaks when he was getting overwhelmed or out of control, and could pull him out of the classroom to work with him one on one if needed. They found things for him to do to use some of his extra energy such as helping deliver copy paper or moving books in the library. They tried adding a rocking cushion to his chair. He also had a choice of sitting with the other kids, at a desk at the front near the teacher, or at a separate desk at the back of the classroom away from distractions. They tried to reduce unstructured time(sitting with other kids in the loud, crowded lunchroom), and allowed him to listen to books on tape in the library which calmed him down. They used a reward system to motivate him, and tried to find ways to relate to topics he likes because that would increase his attention span. They also used a "first, then" approach. First you do the teacher's worksheet, then you can do a maze.
We finally started him on ADHD meds during the 2nd half of 2nd grade. He was able to catch up to grade level in math and no longer needs an aide. He starts off the day with the speech teacher as his "homeroom" and they go over his schedule one on one before he joins the larger classroom.

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K.M.

answers from Chicago on

Time and no pressure - allow things to happen. Do not sweat it and enjoy the small victories.

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B.B.

answers from New York on

Why doesn't he get ABA therapy in his school? You may have adequate justification to send your son "out of district". There are educational consultants out there that you can hire who will help you through the process. 15 kids is way to big for a special needs preschool. Your son might also need to be on medication while in school.

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E.O.

answers from Los Angeles on

Well, it seems like he is getting a lot of help already, in terms of being seen by a dev. peds as well as a neuro peds, and being in a special ed preschool. By all means talk it over with his peds neuro, both the sleep apnea test (which, however, might be difficult because of his ADHD and at his age they are done overnight at a facility, though you are usually able to stay with him) and about ADHD meds. They can really make a huge difference in some kids, but there are some side effects, like weight loss. As someone mentioned, 15 kids is a pretty big special ed class, did you check what other schools are close by and how big are their special ed classes? He is in a mixed class, since you mentioned there are 3 normal peers. Putting him in a more restrictive type of class would decrease the class size, but he probably wouldn't get the same kind of stimulation since the kids would likely be more severely affected. So probably getting the one on one aide that does ABA at school would probably be the most helpful. My son has a speech delay and goes to a special ed preschool, and we've been lucky becausehis calss is for up to 12 kids, but generally there are 8-10 kids. He has made great improvements over this year and in his IEP they were pretty confident he willl be going to regular classes if he continues showing the same improvement next year. But he has a friend who has high functioning autism and goes to a regular preschool with an aide as part of ABA therapy and she even comes to other activities during the day. The reason I know is she comes to a Spanish class they both attend, and according to his mom, it has made a huge difference this last year, enough that he will be going to a regular private school with an aide. He also gets OT and speech therapy thru his insurance.
I imagine your son will be also be doing ESY (extended school year) since it's important to have continuity. Lastly, I would ask for a new IEP in a few months, after several of the changes have been implemented and see where he is. What DID they say in his IEP and what was the plan for him?? What grades did he get, 1 or 2? They have to provide some kind of structured plan for the next year. Definitely make use of whatever new services the state is offering. Good luck!

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