Ask Your School Trustee Candidates To Ask Rob Fleming When Will BC’s ADHD students get IEP’s For ADHD He Promised in 2017? #IEPsForADHD

Tweet by Joshua Berson‏

See also these pages as part of our #IEPsForADHD Campaign:

1.  Find your local BC school board trustee candidates

to ask them if they will ask for #IEPsForADHD

2.  What did your school board trustee say on #IEPsForADHD?

Did they support ADHD Students in BC and promise to ask BCNDP education minister Rob Fleming to follow through on his 10-month-old promise ( December 4th, 2017) to ADHD students to have for #IEPsForADHD in BC schools? Or did they refuse to help them, dodge the question, or refuse to answer? 

Help ADHD Students in BC Get The Help They Need And Deserve, Accommodations For ADHD And Individual Education Plans, IEP’s, Join Our Campaign to get #IEPsForADHD

Currently, ADHD students in BC don’t. If you have an ADHD child in BC’s K-12 public school system unless they have learning disabilities or severe behavioural problems, and most do not, they are not required to get any accommodations and an IEP, or Individual Education Plan.

In BC students with impairments are required to fit into defined categories of exceptionality. ADHD is not included in any existing categories. However, the Ministry of Education has proposed a new set of Special Education Guidelines that include ADHD as a stand-alone category.

BCNDP education minister  Rob Fleming confirmed this would happen on December 4th, 2017. 10 months later it has still not happened. 

Unlike BC, students in Newfoundland and Alberta ARE required to get accommodations and IEPs. See CADDAC’s ADHD School Report Card from 2010.

Research shows children and teens with ADHD have higher rates of:

academic and social skills problems, executive function problems, school expulsions, dropouts, depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, drug addiction, and suicidal thoughts and attempts, teen pregnancies and crime.

ADHD students deserve equitable access to education. Now they get inequitable access and the problems are obvious.

See some of the social and economic costs of ignoring ADHD

ADHD rarely travels alone and often is misdiagnosed as depression or anxiety.

47% of prescription opioid abusers had ADHD 21% of heroin users had ADHD. Yet only 8-10% of teens have ADHD.

How many are dying from Fentanyl poisoning because BC doctors aren’t properly trained in diagnosing ADHD & many teachers are not trained to spot symptoms and suggest possible referrals for a diagnosis from a properly trained medical professional?

From Clinical Characteristics of Treatment-Seeking Prescription Opioid versus Heroin using Adolescents with Opioid Use Disorder 

BCNDP Education Minister Rob Flemings Promise to ADHD Students in BC.

On March 28th, 2017 B.C. Ministry of Education spokesperson, Craig Sorochan said. “If approved, the new guidelines will represent students with ADHD under the new Learning Disabilities category.“

9 months later BCNDP Education Minister Rob Fleming promised CADDAC, Center for ADHD Advocacy December 4th, 2017 this

The guidelines in special education have been delayed due the change in government and a full review going forward in K to 12 funding.  CADDAC was assured many times that changes to the new Special Education Guidelines, incorporating the changes in DSM 5 resulting in the inclusion of ADHD as a standalone category, are not being considered removable.

Another 10 months after that promise by Rob Fleming, there is still no stand-alone category for ADHD in special education.

BCNDP is continuing the BCLiberals neglect of ADHD students in BC. BC keeps giving ADHD students inequitable access to education. We need #IEPsForADHD.

I’ve contacted a variety of people in Rob Fleming’s office and the education ministry asking when he will keep his promise to ADHD students.

When will the promise be fulfilled and create ADHD as a standalone category in special education which allows ADHD students to get an IEP, Individual Education Plan and supports/accommodations for ADHD students? I only got empty promises or no callbacks.

Here’s why an IEP is important for your ADHD child in BC schools. It defines:

It gives your child the right to access special education resources

Your child’s strengths and needs will be defined

Defines what accommodations will be implemented for your child

It allows for the school team and parents to review the progress and outcomes of the plan.

It allows parents to hold the school and board accountable for meeting the needs of their child with a disability 

Ask your school trustee candidate during this BC civic election (voting day October 20th) about #IEPsForADHD.

So we’re doing an #IEPsForADHD campaign for ADHD Awareness Month, in October.

Please Ask BC school board candidates this question on IEP’s For ADHD students and share the answer with me so I can share it with others:

“I have a question on inequitable access to education for ADHD students. When we have ample research data to indicate that students with ADHD are a significant risk of learning difficulties

-on average students with ADHD score 8-10 percent lower in reading and math even when they do not have a coexisting learning disability

-have far greater dropout rates

-lower grades and more grade repetition

Whey is the BC ministry of education not officially recognizing students with ADHD as exceptional learners?

Will you commit to asking BCNDP education minister Rob Fleming when he will honour his promise to add ADHD as a standalone category in special education so we can stop the inequitable access to education for ADHD students?

Please ask for a date on when the new BC Special Education Guidelines that recognize ADHD under its own category will be implemented.”

You can ask BC School Board Trustee candidates this question at: town halls, debates, and coffee meetings they have, on Twitter or Facebook or email or phone them.

Here is a list of School Board Trustees in BC You Can Contact To Ask If They Support #IEPsForADHD

Once You Ask Trustee Candidates, Please let me know:

1. What is the BC school board trustee candidate’s answer? Will they do it or not, or if they avoided answering the question?

2. What the correct spelling of their first and last name is and their party name if they have one? If they answered your question on social media the URL of their tweet or post

3. The name of their city/town and twitter account & website so I can l let others know if the support ADHD students or not or refuse to answer.

4. IF you’re out of the ADHD closet or an ADHD ally, please tweet or Facebook their answer and add the hashtags #IEPsForADHD and #bced to spread the word to other. Nothing encourages good behaviour like praise eh?

You can share what your school trustee candidates said by leaving a comment here or emailing me pete AT addcoach4u.com or tag me on Twitter @bcadhd 

More info on ADHD in education and children and teens with ADHD:

Articles On ADHD In Children & Teenagers

Teaching ADHD students. 

Accommodations for K-12 ADHD Students

Accommodations for College and University ADHD Students

Overviews of ADHD in Education

Educational Guides for Teachers of ADHD Students

Other Articles for Teachers of ADHD Students

Parent Resources For Their ADHD Children in School