Title: My Child Has a Learning Disability. Now What?
Abstract: I remember receiving my son's diagnosis with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a time of dismay and crisis. It was a crisis because my son had been expelled from day care twice. I hadn't even realized this could be a possibility. It was also a time of dismay as I knew Christopher was experiencing serious difficulties with learning and social interactions. As a single, working parent, it was urgent that I find new childcare arrangements, but more importantly I needed to understand why my son was having trouble learning and getting along with other children. Fortunately, a woman working for the second day care to expel Christopher suggested that I look into whether my son had ADHD. That sounded like alphabet soup to me, but being desperate I took my son to our doctor. We were promptly referred to a psychiatrist. There is something surreal about taking a four-year-old child to a psychiatrist, but that person was able to quickly confirm that my son really had ADHD, meaning Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Parenting my son has taught me many things. The diagnosis answered many questions about my child's behavior, but that knowledge was only a beginning. I needed to learn as much as possible about ADHD, and to keep up with changing treatment options. Learning to alter my parenting behavior was hard, but essential. Becoming my son's advocate with day care and schools officials, and sometimes even relatives was vital for my son's success and happiness. Finally, I have also needed to learn to take better care of myself. What follows is a personal reflection about the adult learning I experienced as a result of my son's diagnosis. Learning About the Disability Developing the ability to make appropriate choices about schooling and treatments required me to separate fact from fiction. I attended many seminars and workshops and read as much as I could in both the scientific and popular literatures. Over time, I became fairly expert about ADHD and treatment options. Recently I was asked to contribute to a class for pharmacy students that focused on medications administered to children with Attention Deficit Disorder. I gave a 10-minute talk about the experience of parenting a child with ADHD. I suggested that the clinical pharmacist leading the class could correct any factual mistakes I made--he had nothing to correct. At the end I found myself responding to the same questions I've answered too many times before: these are not just `bad' kids. No, more physical discipline will not make their behavior better, and no, treating a child who really has ADD or ADHD with stimulant medications does not sedate them or make them high. Unfortunately, ADHD is often over-diagnosed and some children are placed on medications inappropriately. It was also necessary to become much more cognizant of the law. Because Christopher entered school with a diagnosis, I found myself in meetings with a team of teachers to discuss his Individualized Education Plan (IEP). This is a mandated process under Public Law 94-142 that insures that all handicapped children have available to them a free and appropriate education which includes special education and related services to meet their needs. This law includes children with learning disabilities. (The term handicapped was the language of the time period, however inappropriate it seems now). Services can include psychological services, physical or occupational therapy, vocational education, before-and after-school-care and residential services. Public Law 94-142 also provides for federal aid to reimburse public education agencies for a portion of the additional costs of providing special services. For much of his school life, Christopher has been the recipient of additional services ranging from smaller classes to being pulled out of his class for additional instruction. This has been beneficial and allowed him to succeed. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 makes it illegal for a state to deny handicapped individuals access to education, employment or housing. …
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 4
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