A Parent's Story - Fionna

As a parent of a 15 year old male with ADHD navigating the process was extremely difficult. From the start I noticed that my son’s behaviors were not typical, his hyperactivity, aggression, mood fluctuations, impulsivity, and inability to sit still were not that of a typical 3 year old. My son was having extreme difficulties at school because of his behaviors, I was receiving calls daily from the teachers and/or principal that I needed to pick up my son or that I needed to meet with them to discuss his behaviors. During this time I took my son to a therapist and a pediatrician, both of which dismissed my concerns and pushed me to “better parent” my son and recommended parenting books. I also requested the school do a complete evaluation to start an IEP, the school gave me so much push back and by this time my son was in kindergarten and his teacher was very dismissive about my son having ADHD. I continued to push with his pediatrician and we were finally referred to a psychiatrist and psychologist, where we were finally given the diagnosis of ADHD, ODD, and Sensory Processing Disorder. I went back to the school with this information and they pushed me not seek testing for my son because the results would be skewed since he had these disabilities. Like a fool I believed them, but his symptoms and behaviors continued to increase.

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I made the decision to try neuro feedback but I did not feel that it had any effect on my son’s behaviors. I allowed my son to finish kindergarten and then withdrew him from school and signed him up for online school, eventually the online school was our biggest advocate in getting my son help. They facilitated the entire process and eventually helped me get my son back into a brick and mortar school. My son started at a Non-public school and with the help of great teachers he eventually transitioned into a special education program and then a general education program. He started to do very well in school but by the time he reached 7th grade we started to have many more problems with the school and school district in regard to my son’s behaviors. I had to make the tough decision to withdraw him once again from the school district and enroll him into online school. 

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It is very unfortunate that school districts are unwilling to provide the supports that our children need. If educators and staff were more knowledgeable on ADHD they would understand how important it is to help out our children and in turn it would benefit other children because our ADHD kids would no longer be the “distraction” or “bad kids” in class. Many do not understand that kids with ADHD have a strong desire to fit in and be “normal” but when they are not given the opportunity by school districts they become what teachers like to call a bad kid. 

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Receiving help should not be so difficult, finding resources should not be this difficult, but most of all those working with children should be required to learn about ADHD. A formal training needs to be implemented in order to allow all children to succeed.

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I have found the following websites to be helpful for me:

• nami.org 

• chadd.org