(10-30-2010, 09:44 PM)Sila Wrote: I know a little boy who is about 10 years old now. His mother doesn't know where to go for help, so I'm going to ask for her.

First, a bit of background information. Low income family. Single mother parent of a 10 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. I've known the family since the boy was not even a year old now. He's already failed first and second grade, he barely scraped by in third grade, and now he's failing fourth. His teachers have noticed the problem, as far as I can see, but they dismiss the problem as just "needing help". He scraped by with a 2 in the math section of the FCAT (florida comprehension assessment test- aka state testing) and a 3 in reading. The "average" is a 4, highest possible is 6.

Now, from what I've noticed. He definitely DEFINITELY shows every sign of having ADHD and Dyslexia. If I sit down with him on my lap, with some music playing lightly in the background and a Popsicle stick with his book, he cannot focus still. The Popsicle stick is used to help him not get distracted by text that is below what he's reading. Instead of reading sentence by sentence, he reads letter by letter or word by word, but won't remember what he read after the sentence is done. He stumbles over simple words such as "the" and "ball", forgetting that he's seen them before and actually knows them.

He's demotivated very easily. He doesn't "get" something right off the bat, so he'll get 'lazy' with it. He'll roll around on the couch and lay down and sloppily write a word, or mumble a word from the book. I try to help him but he gets close to crying because he's so frustrated by it- I can relate, but I can't figure out how to help him permanently because I just fought my way through school with no help. I don't want that to happen- I want him to get help so he can pass.

He can't sit still, even when watching t.v. His feet are always moving, kicking, touching everything. He doesn't even realize he does it. Shopping with him and his sister is a nightmare. He runs up and down the store isles even if he's told to stay by me/his mom/whoever. I've had to make him put his hands behind his back as we walked down the store isle, but even that didn't last long. I can only assume he's a nightmare at home too, but his mom doesn't know what to do. His sister follows in his footsteps, and doesn't see that his behavior is "bad" so she does the same... Combine the two, and it's grounds for major headaches.

The poor kid is about to fail 4th grade, and get held back again. Someone told his mom that the school wouldn't evaluate him anymore because too many parents complained and stuff. I don't know if that's true. Any ideas, links, or things to bring up in school that can help him get the help he needs?

Hi,
Please tell your friend to start keeping all her child's classwork. This will help in the long run. She can use it to give as examples, especially if they are learning disabled.

Look for an Occupational therapist in their area and see if they will take Medicaid. The dr. should be able to help set up a referral to see one. Medicaid also has a provider finder number you can call that is listed on the back of the medicaid form.

Also, try your local 2-1-1 United Way hotline. You can google the one in your city. They have good referrals in the community.

I have medicaid and it was hard to get services at first but I found that writing to this address below helps resolve problems. Also on the back of the medicaid are numbers listed that you can call for help. They will also help you find a Case manager to help get these services going.

I don't know what city you are in but in Texas you can write:

Health Plan Operations-H-320
Health and Human Services Commission
P.O.Box 85200
Austin, TX 78708-5200

Ask your friend if she has tried asking the school for help. You may find a fight here too because I have had a hard time but hopefully the school this child goes to will help. It helped me to keep all the documents on my child. I took her to see her primary dr, then was referred to a Neurologist that did a series of test over the course of a few months. My daughter had an IQ and education evaluation done.

These are good webistes to get you started: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/rules
http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/index.htm
http://talac.tamu.edu/getinvolved.htm

I hope this helps!