What to Expect When Parenting Children with ADHD: A 9-step plan to master the struggles and triumphs of parenting a child with ADHD by Williams Penny

Author:Williams, Penny [Williams, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grace-Everett Press
Published: 2015-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

Step 7: Get a Handle on ADHD at School

›››››› › ››

“You can’t eat straight A’s.”

—Maxine Hong Kingston

School. {Argh!} I don’t even want to think about it long enough to write this section, but I will trudge on in the hopes of helping you avoid some of the same devastation we’ve slogged through over the last several years.

Every Individual with ADHD is Just that, an Individual.

No two people are alike. While many disorders and diseases present with the same symptoms or tell-tale signs for everyone, that is not the case for ADHD. It can manifest to varying degrees and through different symptoms and behaviors. What works for Mary’s child may not work for your child. This is an especially important fact to remember when working with your child’s school, in order to ensure they implement appropriate accommodations and services for the individual constellation of your child’s needs, so your child has the opportunity to achieve academic success.

There is no formula to educate a child with ADHD, especially when you layer in other conditions that commonly occur with ADHD. My son has ADHD, but also sensory processing disorder (SPD), anxiety, dysgraphia, written expression disorder, significant executive functioning (EF) delays, and a gifted IQ. That is a very distinctive set of needs, and his education must be tailored accordingly. Your child with ADHD is completely different from mine — your child’s education must also be crafted according to their individual needs. It doesn’t matter what works for my child because his accommodations may not be pertinent to your child’s individual needs. Follow these steps to advocate for your child’s special needs in their educational environment and open the door to potential academic success.

Advocate, Advocate, Advocate!

No one is going to fight for the success and happiness of a child like their parent will. You are your child’s champion and their #1 advocate. When you think they are being treated inappropriately or unfairly, especially considering their ADHD (a disability), you must speak up and fight for them. They have a legal right to the same educational opportunities their neuro-typical peers are offered. That’s correct; your child has the legal right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), which essentially means a legal guarantee of access to an education, whatever that looks like for them .

School is the most problematic part of parenting my child with ADHD, as it is for many families in similar circumstances. Ricochet has learning disabilities in addition to his ADHD, so the school environment is often like a round hole for my square-peg kid. I could tell dozens of harrowing stories about our experiences with school, both public and private, but you can read our tale in detail in my previous book, Boy Without Instructions: Surviving the Learning Curve of Parenting a Child with ADHD.

There are many parents who want to protect their children from the scrutiny of public opinion and decide to guard their child’s ADHD diagnosis as a closely-held, scandalous family secret. Frankly, I don’t understand this. In addition

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.