Is it possible??

[mothercat]

My neice is in high school and has had note takers since like the third grade....not other students..they have to hire someone (or get a volunteer) ..they are not suppose to use other students. A friend of ours with a adhd/aspergers child also has a note taker for her son...

I was not diagnosed adhd but as a normal type person even I was allowed to use a tape recorder in college....

A quick pad is a lap top that the kids can type notes and lessons and it has an infra red light attachment thingy that they point at the teachers computer and it prints out the assignment... Jareds has like 11 sections (to seperate classes) and can store a total of like 145 files. It is a cross between a word processor and lap top in that they cant play games or go "online" but they can do school work. The school has to provide one but we went ahead and bought one for Jared so he could bring it home to do homework. Best 150.00 I ever spent. The good thing is since he has the 504 it will carry over to high school and he will be able to use the quick pad there..(according to the high school). I talked to the spec ed dept there and they are the ones that said that if your child is adhd and cant get the IEP then they really need the 504 before they get as far as high school ..in order for them to keep up in high school.

[MomA]

I can really relate, momto3. My son tests incredibly sometimes, so I know it's possible with ADHD.

Then other days, he just can't keep his mind from wandering. He could have had 100 on every math test in 2nd grade--he understood it all and could find his mistakes immediately after the fact. But he would make silly mistakes, like copying a starting number wrong in a multistep problem, thereby making the whole answer wrong. Thank goodness his end-of-year math test was over two days, because he thought he finished the first day until his teacher discovered he forgot to do a whole page!

And he has the same problem with reading tests as your son. He'll understand something but write down the most vague answers. He has an impressive verbal vocabulary, but loses major points for leaving out details and descriptions when he writes.

Frustrating!

[momto3wolves]

Thanks, Mothercat. I will keep the quickpad in mind, it sounds like the perfect solution. Looks like somewhere in the near future we'll be getting ourselves a 504 plan, huh?

MomA-Yeah, it's a shame that the teachers can't see how really smart he is, until he tests really well on something. Then they think he's just being lazy. I can't wait to get all of this testing done, so we know exactly what's going on. He is such a people pleaser, it cannot possibly be laziness. I swear he gets through the day on positive feedback.

[mothercat]

Wouldn't it be nice to have a perfect system where each child was taught according to what each one really needed and there was no stereotyping of anyone into categories such as lazy or bad or stupid or forgetful...the system just doesn't allow for the fact that teachers are human and can have those old human inborn judgments and pre conceaved ideas of people. At our school the only teacher with ANY special training in ADHD or any related things is the one spec ed teacher. Unless they are around adhd at home alot of them have no clue about what our kids actually feel.

[kstquilter]

it's nice to hear that some of these special services are available for younger kids as well.
when it comes to college, keep in mind that since they are 18, you only become a checkbook! as a whole, i'm not allowed access to anything beyond what she tells me.
she had to take proof of her adhd into the special services office and register as a special needs student. i couldn't do it for her, she had to do it. then they issued the blue card and that is what tells the teacher what they need. then they have to keep track of the card too!
karen