OT: Blindsided by DD's Teacher-ADD?

eryn and i went to her school (now her former school since she graduated to middle school tuesday night) to pick up her report card and her teacher & i were talking about eryn's daydreaming habit and this woman tells me she thinks eryn needs to be evaluated for ADD!   what kind of teacher waits until the last day of school to drop a bomb like that on a parent?  it's not like she hasn't had the opportunity to give me her opinion-i was co-head room mother and she saw me on a regular basis.  now, even if i agreed with her, i have no teacher to fill out the teacher portion of the evaluation forms until august!  in my DD's defense, she IS disorganized and she IS a daydreamer, but she's a daydreamer *****ads at an 11th grade level (she just graduated 4th grade), tests overall at an 8.7 grade level and made straight A's on her final report card, except for math, which was a 71.  the reason for the 71 was that eryn was supposed to be having me go over her math tests with her when she brought them home, correcting her errors, having me sign the corrected paper then returning it to her teacher, who would've rewarded this effort by adding 10 points to her test grade.  eryn didn't do this, she simply brought the papers home and took any punishment she received for low grades (yep, if you get a D, no cartoons for a week).  what am i supposed to do now?  if my DD needs help, i certainly want her to get it, but with school now being out for the summer, i can't get the required paperwork from the school to complete an evaluation!  i've taken her teacher's other suggestions and gotten eryn a planner to write her assignments in this fall and will be working with her on her math skills so she doesn't forget what she's learned over the summer.  i'm pretty ticked off she tied my hands by waiting until the last day of school-it makes me think she didn't want to be bothered with her part of the paperwork...and she had the nerve to tell me to let her know how it goes-she's interested to know if she was right.  HMMPH!  does anyone have any suggestions where i go from here?  should i contact DD's pediatrician anyway?  should i chalk it up to a teacher who's nearing retirement and overwhelmed by an overcrowded classroom?  i just really don't know where to turn and i'm VERY upset right now, as i guess my rant illustrates, lol, i apologize, i'm just so burned up by this.  if anyone has any experience on either side of the issue (medical professional vs. parent), i'd love to read your opinions, advice, experiences, etc. i feel so lost.

Your kidding me....the last day of school. I wouldn't do a thing. Let her move on into next year, bring this up with her new teachers and let them evaluate her for the first semester.  I have no experience with this personally but it sounds to me like this teacher has dropped the ball. Maybe due to the fact she is nearing retirement. You know your daughter, do your research. There is tons on info out there on ADD.   Best wishes to you.

Hi Donya.  I work in the Special Education Department.  We are a small system but any of our teachers would fill out the scales even with school being out.  My grandson was just put on Concerta at the end of the year.  My son is not going to keep him on the meds during the summer but will start them about 3 weeks before school starts again.  I agree the teacher should not have waited until the end of school to mention this to you.  But on the other hand if you wait until next school year  it will be 6 weeks until the new teacher can complete the scale. (That is the instructions on the scales we use.)  That is just my opinion on the matter....I know you will do the right thing for your little girl.  You are a good mom and Eryn is a smart girl!!!

Debbie, question... at what age do you begin evaluating a child for ADD? 

Gail...I'm not Debbie.  But from a personal standpoint, both my boys were tested in kindergarten. 

There is really no certain age.  My grandson is 7 but I have seen children in kindergarten who needed an evaluation but that was ADHD.  The hyperactive child is much more easy to spot. 

How well do you know this teacher?  Maybe she will meet you for lunch one day so you can get her the questionnaire to complete and mail back into the dr's office? It stinks the way she approached you with it...but at least she did.  She could have let her continue on the way she was and let some other teacher deal with it or let her continue to struggle with it.  I would call her and see if you can get her home phone # to contact her when you do get her evaluated this summer. 

Hi

 

I think your DD is not being chalinged enough and mite be bored. My brother was a strate A student and he would figet and daydream just because it was so easy for him.I would waite and see how she does when she goes back to school.All they want to do is put them on pills.Now they are rethinking ADD and say a lot of the children on meds for it should not be on it.If she is not bothering the class i would not worry about it to much.They put my brother in excelerated reading classes and he did alot better.

Well I know my kids are younger but ADD is not Daydreaming. And if the teacher suppected it she should have a had a conference with you as soon as she knew. How did she make good grades if she wasn't paying attention. Or do her work. ??? Does she talk to much,does she stay in her seat? Next year have her write down her assignments it surely will not hurt. If it will make you feel better talk to her doctor. We test our kids at the first of the school year, Brigance and the OPIE, to see where they are at with Social Emotional,Phy.,levels. Teachers' evaluations, and completeing a task, focus child need help with different things.  I don't know if this helps or not, but we talk to our parents at the first weeks of school after testing. Ellen

thank you all for your replies, you have no idea how much it means.  everything y'all have said has been very helpful, and at least i know how to get started now. Love & Hugs to All, Donya