Supports for students with ADD and anxiety ?

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Hi

What supports (if any) are schools required to provide NT kids with ADD and anxiety ? Especially if it is obvious that the ADD particularly is affecting school / test performance ? Can they deny any support services by claiming that these are medical conditions despite educational performance being clearly impacted as a result ?

Thanks !

No, they cannot deny services by claiming they are medical conditions. Plenty of medical conditions require support services (think CP, etc.).

I am not well versed in this because we are fortunate enough to live in a district where we don't need to fight to get what we need, but I can tell you what our SD has done to help with my son's anxiety. He has ADHD, but no formal diagnosis of anxiety, though he does get anxiety that can be overwhelming at times. His supports are simple things. For example, he is allowed to request to go to the guidance office or nurse's office at any time during the day if he is feeling overwhelmed. He goes to guidance if he feels he needs to talk. If he goes to the nurse's office, he is allowed to take some time to himself and lay down for a few minutes. For my son in particular, just knowing that he can "escape" if he "can't take it anymore" seems to be enough. Before we had "officially" said he was allowed to do these things, he would sometimes just get up and bolt from the class (after he became agitated and disruptive, which then drew tons of negative attention to him and made things worse). He also used to go to the nurse's office and claim to be sick all the time. I burned through all of my PTO picking him up from school when he really wasn't sick. Once we officially gave him permission to "escape," the escaping behaviors rapidly decreased.

One of my employees had severe anxiety in high school (no ADD). I know she was allowed to take her tests in a different room.

Can you give more specific information? I am sure that there are other ways that anxiety can impact school. Maybe if we had more detailed info we could help come up with some other ideas.

My older son has attention and focus issues, when he was evaluated they said it was due to sensory processing but I think he has ADD as well (he was just reevaluated so we will see). He also has Dyslexia, but here are his testing accommodations for the focus: he takes the test (state test) in a separate room without distraction. There is a proctor in the room that gives him focus prompts as needed. He has double time to take the test, and has mini breaks where he jumps up and down, walks around etc. He also has a scribe. The scribe, in his case, is more for the Dyslexia but my friend's kid just has ADHD and he has a scribe as well. I have another friend whose kid just has anxiety, and he has the same testing accommodations as my son but with time and a half instead of double time.

If you don't have an IEP, you need to get a 504 for testing accommodations. Whoever diagnosed your child with ADD and anxiety can fill it out.

ADD is a neurological issue which can certainly impair a child's ability to meet his/ her potential in school. A lot of schools try to discourage parents from seeking accommodations by claiming that it's not their responsibility. My nephew has focus issues and his school told my sister that they couldn't help and he needed medication. Problem is, his focus issues stem from anxiety due to major household changes. She got a free educational advocate and got him accommodations.

You can also put classroom accommodations in the 504. My son has a weighted lap band, a divider he can put around his desk, noise canceling headphones and a big rubber band thing at the bottom of his chair that he can kick.

If your school is giving you a hard time, there are often educational hotlines in areas that you can call and offer free support and legal advice.

Thanks, InThisTogether and Fitzi.

This child has strange phobias. She hates homework as she says that it is difficult for her to concentrate on it, avoids doing it, and then refuses to go to school the next day. Her attendance has really suffered this year. There is also this fear of strangers and substitute teachers -- if / when an announcement is made in advance that a sub will handling class on a particular day, then she absolutely has a major emotional upheaval that morning, and usually either skips school altogether or gets there really late.

She has a very high IQ, but the ADD is a huge factor in her poor academic performance. It takes her over six hours to finish homework every evening and she has to be constantly prompted to stay on task. During tests, she claims that her mind just "wanders away", and turns in incomplete tests leading to poor scores. She also gets overwhelmed by long instructions to questions, ends up not reading the questions at all, and guesses instead what the test requires her to do. This results in incorrect responses and very low scores. There is just such a total mismatch between her IQ and school performance that this is very, very, serous. School, of course, just wants her medicated !

What sort of supports should be available to her (aside from just her getting put on medications -- the districts solution) ?

As far as homework focus, we have that issue, and sorry to say it, we have this issue as well, and frankly I have to stay on top of my son; and generally have to stay in the room and refocus my son for this. He will do a section, say something silly, or do something silly, and then I point to the next section and nudge him onward. This is exhausting on so many levels, but it is what I need to do. He was not so bad with classwork, back in the day when he was not homeschooled, but when he is with Mommy, this is how it is. Maybe it is the same for you?

I am going to put this out there just because: Are you sure this is a phobia about strangers specifically, or do you think it could be an issue with change? Even though my son has some ADD-like tendencies, this to me looks like it could be an aspie-ish thing. (Keep in mind my hammer (aspie) mind might be seeing a nail (AS) where it is not.)

Yep, pretty sure that this is anxiety related to having a new person (stranger) in the classroom, as opposed to an aspie-ish difficulty with change. She is not averse to a new teacher per se, but just needs a lot of reassurance that the teacher is a "safe" person who won't be mean to her. Basically, an extreme case of anxiety related to "stranger danger" -- she does ok if the sub is someone that has worked the classroom before, or is another teacher that she knows already or has worked with before.