Mr. LeBlanc,
I am a single father of three active but loveable boys. Currently my middle child is active enough to warrant the District 18 office to "allow" him to attend school until noon.
Apparently he is not alone. Dan Leonard said there are about 20 kids in the program (which does not have a name).
District 18 intituted this without my input! I have no recourse to appeal
the decision because he was not suspended. He is the only one in his school in this program with no name.
I met with two psychologists, my boy's principal and Dan Leonard and they basically said it was indefinite and there was no time period in which my boy could renter the normal curriculum.
His school has suggested in the past that he be medicated. Something I am opposed to. He just wants dignity and the District isn't giving him that.
The great news, I now have two other boys who believe they can be "hyper" and get out of school for half a day too.
Maybe a Blogger can help steer me in the right direction.
Mark
5 comments:
I think that you might want to look into your son's legal rights into this matter. There is no way a school can dictate that a student HAS to be on medication in order to attend school normally, like all the other children in his class.
Children have no rights. The school of course cannot force him to take medication, but they can put him in a program like this, or they can expel him for his behaviour if its out of line.
My kids are home schooled and I wouldn't wish the public school system on my worst enemy.
I just recently attended a seminar in Windsor, Ontario, chaired by a Dr. B.Duncan McKinlay, Psychologist, who works out of London,Ontario, with children who have a number of symptons relating to various disorders. He heads an organization called 'The CPRI BRAKE SHOP,and the wealth of information he can give you will be enormous.
You can reach him at:
660 Sanatorium Road
London, Ontario N6H 3W7
Tel: (519) 858-2774
Fax: (519) 858-3913
My grandson has just been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome
and understanding what these kids are going thru enables the child, as well as the parents to deal with it in a mature and professional manner. This doctor DOES NOT advocate medication - I highly recommend him as a source of information for you.
Teachers always suggest students to take ritalin but they are not doctors. My son in grade three had a teacher who often di this. I took my son to my doctor and he said he thought a specialist would be better informed foe such a serious decision. My son has an attention issue, hyper some times but the specialist said he did not need to be medicated. I always reinforced what was right and always believed in respect for teachers but to put all kids in one mould was not what I wanted for my child. In reality he needed to learn how to calm himself and if that meant he had to sit in the front seat where less was going on he had no problem with that. He was not a bad kid but a child who was trying his best. Forever thankful we did not put him on medication because I personally believe it brings them done and it usually leads to other drugs later. Only severe cases should be using somekind of medication but only under care of a specialist. Teachers are not qualified to make that judgement and parents need to be better informed to their childs rights too. My son is in his twenties now and graduated and has afull time job that pays over $20 an hour. We had to get tutors along the way because he needed one on one for some things. He learn to read memorizing and not with phonics; the style of learning at that time was sight words and that is no longer the learning style. Also he learned with hands on approach better; meaning you have to bring some reality to the learning not just talking about it.
You have be involved and be sure to meet with the principal and teachers too. Still be aware that not all teachers care and that is with any walk of life. You have to be the advocate for your child. No one else truly cares they are just a number. I always was respectful of the teachers and when they were not fair I made sure I was watching them closely and waited and made sure that things stayed in line. Sorry but each situation will require a different approach but never loose your cool; arm yourself with knowledge and no your rights. Always let the system work for you because you don't want to be labelled or your child labelled.
No medication ever unless you have two opinions never just one because mistakes are made everyday. Before you get to make this decisions it may take months but it will take on a life or change a child if you make the wrong one. These are children not robots which some teachers want so they don't have to deal with any issues.
Do inform yourself now, don't wait, start with your family doctor and if he doesnot listen and won't refer you to a specialist go to a clinic don't rest until you get what is needed for your child. Our school system and government has a disorder too but they are not medicated. Challenge the system.
Legally, no teacher, principal, school or school board may even SUGGEST that a student be on Ritalin or any other drug.
As for this "program" they have developed, if I were you, I would suggest to the principal that it is discriminatory. And, I would contact a lawyer.
They have NO RIGHT to make changes to your son's education unless you are an active partner in the decision and consent ot the change.
I support the person who said to challenge the system. There is no reason why they cannot give him the education he needs in a different way so he will be able to learn better.
Also, you may want second/third/fourth opinions on whether your son, in fact, has ADHD. This disorder is over-diagnosed. After she was diagnosed with ADHD, I brought my daughter to a naturopath (same amount of training as a M.D. but not trained by pharmaceutical companies in which drugs to dispense) who immediately diagnosed her as lactose intolerant. Once she began being treated properly for this, her "ADHD" symptoms disappeared. She has been fine for the past 3 years. I've heard of young boys who were diagnosed as ADHD and were actually in the early stages of schizophrenia. So there are a RANGE of disorders that can mask themselves as ADHD, and a diagnosis of ADHD is the "easy way out" for doctors, who are ill-equipped to treat children in any other way.
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