Legal Rights for Children with Attention Deficit
Disorders
prepared for Monroe County C.H.A.D.D by Joan Hart
1/1/1999
Our 1998 CHADD survey indicated that parents who know their childrens' legal rights have kids with better educational outcomes. Here is some basic information about the laws regulating the education of children with attention deficit disorders (AD/HD).
Two laws govern the righs of students with AD/HD:
Children with AD/HD became specifically eligible for special education services under IDEA when the U.S. Department of Education wrote a 1991 Memorandum clarifying this issue. School corporations no longer have any basis for denying special education services for children with AD/HD. AD/HD is included at great length in the eligibility criteria for "other health impaired" effective in 1998.
Children with AD/HD will qualify for additional services at their school under either law. Section 504 is more accessible, but there are fewer legal protections for the child and follow-through from year to year is less protected. "Other Health Impaired" requires the parent to provide more information, but it has a greater success rate because the legal protections are more comprehensive, follow-through is guaranteed, the special education staff are knowledgeable about children with disabilities, and the school system receives some money ($2,000) to help the children.
Why request eligibility under either law? Our children with AD/HD often have significant learning problems and we need to ensure that they reach their fullest potential. Children with AD/HD are able to receive special education services in a regular education placement (such as an inculsion or general education classroom), unless their problems are severe. A number of modifications are possible under both laws and can be very beneficial to children with AD/HD, i.e.: