I met up with a friend to talk about IEPs/504 plans when we were about to get a 504 plan for our son. Her daughter is in junior high and there's a special aide in the classroom under her IEP. She also takes a homework session/study hall with resource specialists instead of an elective class. These specialists get all of the homework info. from the teachers and help her daughter during school hours. These accommodations sound like they help a lot for her daughter.

CAWriter: We finally received services for my son and this is something they recently offered him...is the study hall that you mention. My son is in inclusion classes, but remains in regular education. The inclusion class does however give him access to the special ed teacher if he needs additional support. Its helping and our life is starting to become more manageable as a family in the evenings. He is not on medications except for natural "medications": gaba, l-theanine, taurine, 5-htp at professional strength levels. Between the supports at school, the natural "medications" based on his neurotransmitter levels and eliminating his allergen foods, we are seeing progress. I am more hopeful in all his years now that we have him with an IEP plan that does include the study hall as well. My son is also assigned a behavior specialist that is a young man in his early 30s. IEPs can be a great addition and bring more confidence to our kids.

Thank you for the thoughtful suggestions. CA, I like the idea of Study Hall.

Faithfully, would you mind talking a bit more about the natural meds?

Givemewings: my son is 12 years old. After several years on stimulant medications that did give him focus, but did not help with his math struggles or memory retention not to mention the severe side effects he began to have. The stimulants worked well for him at first as far as behavior, but the side effects ultimately outweighed the benefits after a duration. So I began looking for everything I could naturally by researching support boards, the internet etc. I did find some good things that helped calm him and help him get to sleep at night, but I was not able to find something for more focus. I also found what ADHD kids are typically deficient in: magnesium, b6, zinc, C, E and omega 3. So that helped a lot and he still takes those, but again they did not help with focus, but did help with calming. So then I explored natural remedies at the health supplement store. None of them worked for focus. The best for focus were the stimulants and as you know now, they were no longer effective for my son as they are for many others. The next step we took was neurofeedback which did help, but still not enough and the expense took us through 20 sessions and not the 40 sessions to be really effective. We also found out that my son had food allergies and we treated that through a naturopath and eliminated the offending foods. We added enzymes, D3, methyl B12 and probiotics to his regimen as all of those were VERY necessary. This again helped his hyperactivity to calm down and his sillyness, but the natural Bioset Calm & Easy given to him was not enough. That is when I found two things to help me finally understand the bigger picture.

1) ADHD Medication Rules book by Dr. Charles Parker explaining the need to do all of the above, but also to have his neurotransmitters measured.

2) In my internet research, I found Neurogistics.com and the timing was perfect with the book because they measure neurotransmitters.

We had my son's neurotransmitters measured and they were consistent with the anxiety we knew he had from the food allergies and the anxiety numbers with the neurofeedback he received..

Neurogistics.com measures the following: dopamine, serotonin, gaba, norepinephrine, epinephrine and histamines. If these are out of balance, they can and do cause focus issues. My son's were out of balance primarily due to gut issues and lack of absorption. ADHD is either genetic ADHD (those respond well to medications and many times are necessary, but can be supplemented naturally) or diet related ADHD. My son's is diet related. The object is to supplement the above neurotransmitters naturally (depending on which is out of balance) for 6-8 weeks and then retest the levels for phase 2 and adjust accordingly. If you go to the Neurogistics.com website, you can see all the natural professional strength products they have to help with the imbalances, but your son will need to have his neurotransmitters measured first to see what is out of balance and which would be the most appropriate to supplement.

Hope this helps...Let me know if you have any other questions. I don't mind sharing what I've learned or our experiences as its been hell, but I will say life is beginning to become easier, much easier.