Hello I was told about this site. My son who is 15 has ADHD and was diagnosed with Dysthmia. He has a 504 and is not being followed. I need help and advice. I would like to find a social worker or advocate that can help him and us through this. He is failing school and failed last year but they pushed him to 8th grade.
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Mom-of-5
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If you really finding no way go to ur school district board of ed or special ed they will help u .
With a student with disabilities ADHD and Dysthmia susespend them and possibly out in an alternative school? We live in GA Savannah
I would want to know just why they suspended him for 10 days? It sounds like he needs an IEP instead of a 504 plan. Is he on meds? If he isn't, he may need them to control his impulsive behavior. Have you spoken with his guidance counselor at the school? Or they may have a social worker...some schools do. Why is he failing? Does he not do homework? An IEP could really help with this. I'm not sure about the alternative schools....you may want to investigate if only because these large public high schools are not known for their compassion towards kids with problems. An alternative school might possibly be better.
He is on meds adderall and Prozac. It’s a he said she said thing. That teacher may have heard him say but asked the kid that hit him with a football on purpose.
Teachers are not following the 504 no help at all and this is why he is failing.
They don’t do homework here in GA. Alternative school is for BAD kids only.
Don’t get me started on this! My son is in 11th grade and is currently in Alternative school til the end of the school year for something sooo stupid. Definitely an impulse control. They were going to put him in Alternative school for a full 180 days. He has a 504, has never been in any trouble or sent to the office. He didn’t hurt anyone. Actually, it was someone took a screenshot of a message and posted it. Anyhow, we got an attorney and tried to get dropped. Instead, got it reduced
In our state, 10 days is in Alternative School which is a joke! Hire an attorney if you can. If there is another kid involved, split the cost of the attorney. If that’s not an option, find a Dr who specializes in ADHD that will help you. Our Dr will go head to head with the School to get exact accommodations. I have always been pro School until this year. Now, I believe that they don’t have the kids best interests at heart They want cookie cutter kids. Those that don’t fit that mold can be thrown to the wayside.
Fight for your kid! I know that I am not answering your exact question Find someone through your De. Get on CHADD.org and look up accommodations that you can ask for specifically. Keep your chin up and you will find your advocate. Maybe revisit having him held back a year. I wish I would have done that in 8th grade. It would have made his academics and sense of worth a lot better
He is staying back in 8th grade. It is against another child that he said my son said something to him...
Bryan county is the worst school system out here in Ellabell. I have doctors notes from all 3 he see’s a psychological evaluation that diagnosed him with Dysthymia disorder, ADHD which he is on meds, and aniexty disorder but we don’t see that. The physiatrist notes . We are so pissed and angry .
How can they have so many infractions but not contact a parent so we can make things change, in its his 504
You can request a hearing regarding the 10 day suspension to get it reduced or taken away. Do you think that his behavior had anything to do with impulse control or anything ADHD related? Bring up the 504 then. The school gets $$$$ for your son’s 504. They need to work with him and you. When is the last time you had a 504 meeting?
We actually have a hearing tomorrow for his suspension at 1 and he is like this because of his 504 n ADHD, they don’t help him and he gets angry and refuses to help him. So after the hearing we are having a hearing for his 504. They haven’t followed all year long.
They didn’t give us enough time to get a lawyer so we have our ducks in a row and we will hit this head on and pray.
I can empathize with you. My son also had a 504 that was never followed, despite multiple requests from us. It is true - most of the large public schools do not want to deal with any kids with problems. True special ed kids may be the exception, but my son did not need special ed; he just has ADHD. I will tell you that the hostile environment in my son's high school impacted him for years. We had many of the same issues: detention for tardies, suspension for tardies, and finally out of school suspension for skipping class. We took him out in the middle of his junior year and sent him to boarding school for the next 18 months. He graduated high school and took a few college courses there. It wasn't what we'd planned, but high school was just a nightmare for us. I think my biggest shock was the same as yours: I was always on the school's side and in the beginning, we punished our son for not turning in his homework, for being tardy, for not paying attention, blah, blah....the list goes on. And I monitored his Ed Line grade daily (which caused me constant anxiety!). We had meetings with his counselor, the assistant principal, teachers, etc. They had absolutely NO sympathy for my son....I am certain they were thrilled when I withdrew him. And he was not a big problem; just a thorn in their side. In the end, I am sorry we punished our son so much and did not take his side. But I should warn you that sometimes these ADHD teen boys are so angry at all the injustices (real or perceived) towards them, that they become very defiant and do other things that aren't great. I wish I had a good solution, but the only thing I can say is to keep on top of this - and it takes a lot of time and energy. If you know of any other parents with these issues, banding together could be a good idea. I wish we had had some sort of local support group for parents with ADHD teens.
You are absolutely right about banding together with other parents is a great idea!! I am still trying to convince the parents I come in contact with the same issues that there are strength in numbers. My 7 year old granddaughter was diagnosed ADHD 1 year ago and has a 504 plan. Do they follow the plan of course not. I try to volunteer at the school as often as possible and to let them know we are not going anywhere until I choose to. Dealing with ADHD in the schools are very stressful and no wants to deal with it. I also find out things from my 7 year granddaughter that the teacher don't inform of. My pray is that all of our children get the help they need and we have to keep fighting and education ourselves.
If I had to go through my son's teen years again, I would definitely work to get a support group together to talk, share ideas and solutions, and maybe lobby the schools for more support and "humane" treatment for kids with ADHD. Social media would be a great place to start - maybe a Facebook page?
Thank you for responding and I was thinking that I am the only parent with a bad child. We feel we need to pull him out this is the worst school we have been in. My son had never had problems til we moved here last year. GA is the worst state when it comes to helping kids with disabilities. Kids pick on him because he is the outsider and it makes him angry, then teachers don’t help him but yell, Serisouly. He told a teacher to leave him the F’ alone this is when he didn’t u derstabd none of his work and she was being mean and rude to him. Now this is the same teacher with his minor infractions he has none in his other classes and it’s been this way since dec. but we never got a call that he was a problem. I have a email from the intervention specialist back in oct saying that we would get a email from each teacher when he refused to do work or any dehavior issues. Of course NO calls
Believe me, you are not the only mom with an ADHD kid who has problems, but I sure felt like I was the only one when my son was in high school! Can you possibly find another school for him? What about a private school? We did send our son to a small Lutheran school for junior high (and we're not even Lutheran!), where the class size was small. Now, it wasn't great and our son felt like a complete outsider, but his grades were okay and the school was really nice about working with him. We'd had a terrible experience with the silly 5-6 grade intermediate school, where they tried to pretend that kids ages 10-12 were like high schoolers, so we did not want to send him to the local junior high. Anyway, I can tell you that high school will probably not be better, although it will be larger and he will blend into the crowd more. I agree with holding him back. Remember that our boys are 2-3 years behind developmentally. My son is 23 now and I can say that I can see some maturity, but he's probably functioning at a 20-21 yr old level. Please feel free to email me back - I think it helps to hear from other parents who understand your frustration!
I dont know what it cost for private schools. We know nothing about the area around savannah ga.
We go to the hearing at 1 to hear the school side and then ours and they will decide to keep him there or send to alternative school. That is a bad school and would not be a benefit for him it will make it worse. When his doctor tested him he was on 6th grade level. And now I understand why his frustrations are like it is, the school don’t care
Get on line now and check out the private schools in your area, just to see the cost. The local school for us was not expensive at all, and my son could walk to school. I know alternative schools are usually terrible and not for our kids. The problem with schools now is that they have "zero tolerance" for any type of issues between kids. And you're right - the schools do not care. I really believe this after our experience.
You tell them you are NOT sending your poor son to any alternative school!! I think maybe they could actually partially home-school him until the end of the year.....like with kids with medical issues. Or, is there another jr high in the area and he could transfer schools?
No we’re in the country part and me and my husband will be talking to them about homeschooling. I had to do that last year with my 12 yr old at the time she tried to well you know. She just now got a 504 after fighting with them the same school. She has anxiety and depression.
I have to say that I was never a big fan of home-schooling until we had all these problems with the schools and now I can say that it certainly has it's place. This may be the best solution since it's already March and school is out in May. Of course, I have no idea what we would have done since my husband and I both work full-time, but let's hope the school can come up with some solution for the rest of the year. The other problem with alternative schools is that many of them are simply rooms for the kids to do their work on-line and my son would never have done that. He is in college now and knows he can't do on-line courses - too much sitting and no stimulation!
That is how it is down here they do it on computer and that’s it. He will not do that! Just suspend him rest of year. He is staying back anyways
Make sure you get something that will allow him to enter school in another district or state - sometimes these schools look at student information and you don't want this as a black mark against him. I am sure this has been so stressful for all of you. Make them at least send some homework so your son could try and keep up, or is there anyone that might agree to tutor him a few hours a week? I actually found someone in our area just by asking around.
Our lease is up In April and we’re getting the hell out of GA this state sucks and don’t care about nobody’s kids.. I wish I would have know this before we moved here.
Stay out of the south, if at all possible - no money for schools. Although I live in IL and we've had a terrible experience. Can you ask CHADD if they have suggestions for the best states for schools?
Update after hearing. School wanted my son to go to alternative one. The hearing officer agreed, but wanted our opinion and we stated alternative is no better for him it’s worse and this school will pick on him so bad that it may happen again. So our option was home school.
After principal left the hearing officer said he is not going there. That we need to make a decision about him staying in school or home schooling.
Then we went on to his 504 manifestation with that being he will not go to alternative school, he will remain at that school and we will have an RTI meeting for putting his behavior in the 504 and come up with strategies to help him cope.
The hearing officer stated she did not like what was being done to my son, but she knows he had held this in since oct and he snapped as he couldn’t handle it anymore. If we want to keep him at that school she stated she will wrap her hands around him and be at that school for him and check on him.
how do u get a advocate
Mom-of-5• in reply to
I don’t have one. I need one as well, where do I find one??
Sounds like a great hearing! The hearing officer gets it! Please keep us posted
Well I’m back to square one again. He was kicked out of school again and now we have to have another hearing Thursday 😡
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How would you respond to this teacher? 
