Hi,  new here.  A little about my kid who this is concerning.  We recently moved from Oklahoma to Kansas.  In Oklahoma he had a IEP for emotional disturbance.  Diagnosis are PTSD, DMDD, ADHD, and manic depression.  When we relocated states they said that he did not qualify for a iep and gave him a 504 plan.  

 

This year my son had been suspended 3 times.  Totaling over 10 days.  So we had a manifestation hearing.  They agreed that it was definitely related to his DMDD but they do not recognize that because it is a secondary diagnosis.  It needed to be related to the ADHD For them to agree that it was a manifestation of his disability.  

 

Is this true? I marked do not agree when signing things but what do I do from here? 

Ask them to show you where it says this in KS state regs.

ADHD affects academics because it's a disability of the ability to focus.  If you cannot focus, you cannot do school work.  DMDD affects interpersonal relationships which is not primarily what goes on at school but it seems to affect your child's ability to follow school discipline rules which is resulting in the inability to access academics.  Maybe it's now primary because he has gotten suspended 3X.  If the school supports this area, ADHD is likely do go back to being the primary disability.

I was told the school needs to address all areas of disability if they affect school.  When did educational institutions start using diagnoses to pick and choose what areas of disability they can support?  'Sorry, your child is diabetic and has dyslexia.  We can only support their diabetes.  We decided that the dyslexia is secondary (child won't die due to dyslexia) and we can only support one of these issues.'  It sounds like the school is gaslighting you.

Hi.  I do advocacy in Kansas.  I give a free hour consultation if you'd like to call me.  (Too much to get into here, and too many facts unknown.)  But in short, JSD24 is correct.

Carolyn Rowlett (816-547-5467)