Debbie Tablotney Richmond School Board Candidate Supports ADHD Students in BC Schools, Will Ask For #IEPsForADHD

Debbie Tablotney Twitter @DebbieTablotney Richmond school board candidate supports ADHD students in BC schools and will ask BC Education Minister Rob Fleming to follow through on his promise to ADHD students in BC to add ADHD as a stand-alone category in special education so ADHD students can get accommodations and IEP’s (Individual Education Programs.) #IEPsForADHD

Thanks @DebbieTablotney I hope other school board Trustees in Richmond will follow your lead and commit to asking BC Education Minister Rob Fleming when he will fulfil his promise to ADHD students add ADHD as a stand-alone category in special education that he made more than 10 months ago (December 4th, 2017).

And Debbie is the first BC school trustee I’ve seen and have read a lot of their websites:) who actually lists her achievements vs I was on this group and we talked and who knows if there was any action in the end worth talking about that we did:)

“Debbie Tablotney was Founding Member and Director for CHADD Richmond 1990-1995 (6 years) (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder).”

Thanks Debbie. I got diagnosed with ADHD after I saw a CHADD Richmond poster and book display in the Richmond public library listing the symptoms of adult ADHD a long time ago. I may have never gotten diagnosed if it was not for that and this probably wouldn’t have happened.

2014 BC ADHD Awareness Week Activities

Sadly CHADD Richmond is no longer around but CHADD Vancouver still is (I’m on their board). BC is very backwards on ADHD. There are only two ADHD support groups in BC, the other one is my Vancouver Adult ADD Support Group

We have members from Richmond to Whistler to Mission and Victoria attend our meetings.

Another Achievement by @DebbieTablotney.

http://debbietablotney.com/past-service/

“Achievement: Raised the profile of ADHD children in the Richmond school system. Assisted the Richmond school district in becoming a leader in identifying and providing services for ADHD children. Helped parents to find services and medical professionals to assist them with diagnosis and advocacy for their children in the school system.”

I’ve surfed easily 80+ of BC school trustee candidates websites and as far as I can remember only one trustee had ANYTHING on ADHD at all. That was Niovi Patsicakis School Board Candidate For ACT Now in Surrey who also had a policy.

“Lobby the Provincial Government to establish that ADHD, a medical neurological disorder, and thus must be a funded category with EA support.”

In her preamble to that policy Surrey BC school trustee candidate @niovipatsicakis mentions:

“Students with ADHD have never had funding unless they qualified under another category such as LD. Only 40% of students with ADHD may also have a learning disability.

There are students who are average academically and students who are gifted with ADHD and with EA support those students would be able to learn according to the potential. We need EA funding for those students.”

Here are the emails with one of our volunteers.

First Email

From: Debbie Tablotney

Subject: Re: IEP for ADHD students

“Hi:

Just to add that yes, I will talk to the Minister about this when I have the opportunity. If we are all elected then we could possibly write a letter to the Minister, however, the full Board would have to support that. As Ken H has mentioned. Trustees hold no power on their own. Decisions are made by Board motion and voted on.

Take care,

Debbie”

Second Email

From: Debbie Tablotney

Subject: Re: IEP for ADHD students

“Hi:

I have to say, the website (BCADHD.com) is a fantastic resource of information. When my boys were diagnosed back in the early 90’s the internet was almost non-existent and I read everything I could get my hands on.

I am sorry that your son was not diagnosed sooner. It was certainly a struggle for us but we had the right doctor. It became difficult when the became teenagers because she didn’t see them anymore.

I absolutely love what you are doing and I will assist you in any way possible. Please feel free to give me a call at ___ I would love to have a chat with you and share experiences.

Talk soon,

Debbie”

If you see any other political parties or independent school board candidates who have any policies on the biggest number of students with special needs, ADHD in their platform, please thank them and send me that information so I can post it online.

Always important to reward good behaviour on ADHD because it is so rare by politicians.