Hello there,

My daughter is grown now, but I learned alot through her about ADHD and Learning Disabilities...

Has your daughter been formally evaluated for ADHD by a psychiatrist or PHD-level educational psychologist?

Medication can work wonders but none of it cures everything, and medication by itself does not give your girl everything she needs to succeed in school. And meds work best when the doctor takes time to monitor the effects and adjust the dosage or change the meds as needed.

I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that you can request that the school line up a professional to evaluate your daughter for Learning Disabilities and ADHD- and then put an "IEP" (Individual Educational Plan) in place to accommodate your daughter's unique learning needs. Parents are to be included in the meetings and I think that once the school receives your written request to set up an IEP, they have 30 or 40 days to comply (in the USA). You may want to look into this... It has been awhile since I had to research all of this stuff...

If your state or province has a government website, you can go there and see what the Dept.of Ed. has regarding accommodations. US public schools are often reluctant to in intiate IEPs as the regulations came down from the feds without any funds to pay for them.

Sounds like you and your husband are working hard and could use some support with this. Parents do need to advocate for their children, but there is a lot involved. There may be a non-profit group near you that can guide you and maybe even find an experienced, volunteer advocate for your child. For many parents the IEP meetings end up as an annual battle with the school administrators instead of everyone working together to give your child the good program she deserves -- so a good outside advocate can really help.

I am attaching links to check out. Maybe you can find a local group or agency through one of these web sites that can help with your situation. I hope I hooked them on okay-- I am new at this NeuroTalk site!...

National Center for Learning Disabilities (includes info. on ADHD)
http://www.ncld.org

Bridges 4 Kids "building partnerships between families, schools, communities":
http://www.bridges4kids.org/

ADDitude Magazine - for people Who Have AD / HD:
http://www.additudemag.com

The Special Ed Advocate is a free online newsletter about special education legal and advocacy topics:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/subscribe.htm

Good Luck with everything!
Morag