Where to begin

[starxlover]

My 6 year old's kindergarten teacher spoke to us about him having difficulty focusing at school, getting along with classmates, staying organized, and a few other things. He has always been energetic, wants to share idea, interrupts, and hasn't quite grasped proper socialization to get and keep friends. She said she was submitting an RTI since these things are affecting his performance in the classroom and after they met (we were not involved in the meeting) she said we should contact our pediatrician about concerns with executive functioning and tossed around ADHD. She completed the vanderbilt assessment forms, we completed ours, and I have submitted them to our pediatrician...Along with other emotions I'm just so confused and will obviously talk to his pedi about this - in all my reading I feel like that we can start to address some of his issues with a 504 plan and assumed that is why his teacher told us to contact our pediatrician but am feeling as though I'm missing something to all of this. So my general question is what are the steps to get a 504 in place - does it require a medical diagnoses? Any feedback would be helpful....

[ErinMarionSkystar]

Well, I don't know entirely how much help i can be, but if you have questions about dealing with ADD/ADHD in a 6 year old, my parents could certainly tell you about that. I was diagnosed with ADD at about 5 or 6. I'm really happy that you discovered a 504 plan and are looking into how to implement it. My family didn't know about 504 plans until this year (my senior year of high school) and it has changed my entire school life for much better.

I'm not sure how different it is for someone in elementary school as opposed to someone in high school, but really a 504 plan isn't all that hard to figure out. I believe you usually need some kind of medical diagnosis/analysis to prove that your child needs help. You talk to the school counselor and ask about how to go about implementing a 504 plan for your child. each district does it a bit differently as i understand, but the basics of it is that you let the school know how they can help your child learn more easily. For me, i can have a fidget cube in the classroom so my hands have something to do when i start to get restless. i can sit in the back of the room, since people moving around behind me tend to distract me and i try to turn around to figure out what's going on. what you put in a 504 really depends on what your kid needs.

hope that helps and if you have any more questions about young kids and ADD/ADHD or anything like that, feel free to ask

[ZosMom]

Our stories sound very similar. We started noticing my son’s symptoms in kindergarten. I thought his teacher was overreacting with his complaints until I went and observed my son in class without him seeing me. It was eye opening and terrifying for me. Who was this child?! He was officially diagnosed in second grade. We received lots of complaints from teachers between kindergarten and his diagnosis but they did not push us to medical intervention, we made that decision on our own. My son had an iep for speech therapy and so we were able to weave lots of his adhd needs into it. He’s outgrown his iep now and we’re working on a 504 so he doesn’t lose services. You do need written documentation of the diagnosis from a medical professional to have a 504. You should then be able to work with a team at the school to identify specific accommodations. The school has been incredibly supportive and has been working with me throughout the entire process. I sign off on everything and provide my input. It sounds like you weren’t granted that opportunity which may be a violation of your parental rights - may be something to look into if you feel the school is moving too fast or without your input. Good luck! I’m happy to talk more if you need it.

[Ragdoll12]

I’m in a similar situation. My son (almost 6) just received his diagnosis and his school is in the middle of doing their evaluation. It’s been pretty overwhelming so I just wanted to say “hang in there” and let you know you’re not alone.

[Teresa12626]

I think the teacher is trying to tell you they think son may have adhd with out coming right out and saying it cause some parents would get mad at them for saying it also I do beileve you need to be diagnose to get a 504 plan you could also request a iep if he get diagnosed either one put your request for it in writing there are sample letter you can find online

[Applecrisp]

I know this thread started a bit ago, but just wanted to say we’re working through getting our 8 y.o. a formal assessment and it sounds like your child is lucky to have such a concerned and attentive teacher. Our kid’s teacher last year was a very experienced and nice lady, but very hands off as far as encouraging or helping accommodations for his issues. His problems sound similar to your son’s: organization, disturbing other kids, getting off focus, poor social skills. Partway through the year he started hyper focusing on reading books in class. He also stopped turning in classwork, blank worksheets were coming home by the handful. But in her reports, everything was hunky dory. He was finally quiet and that’s all she cared about. His lack of friends, play dates, invitations to see other kids also didn’t matter to her. So I hope your son is settling in and getting help. We would love to have more help and guidance from our school.