Have you had your child tested for special needs programs?

Hi, I am wondering why at 3 years old your pediatrician would recommend being tested for ADHD...I mean at 3 years old they can be pretty wild. My daughter is at times. I don't know... I am guessing from your screen name you are from WV. I wish your pediatrician had mentioned this to you before. Because in WV they have a program called Birth to 3 - which gives children (up to 3 years old)therapy for various problems free of charge (regardless of income)in their home. I am sure that any therapy you might need to get him would be quite expensive. My daughter was born premature so she had these services. She was doing very well at about 1 1/2 yrs old, so I decided to discontinue the services. At that time she was just beginning to talk. I asked the service coordinator if it was possible to sign up again if I felt her speech was not progressing...he said yes. But not to worry that most speech will come by 3 years old. He also told me that a parent should understand almost all of what the child says, and that a person who is not around should be able to understand at least 50% to 75%. I know this isn't an exact answer to your question, but I hope it gives you a little information. Best of luck!

I have a really good story for you! I had a little boy in my advanced Kindergarten class last year. At the beginning of the year, he didn't seem to want to do the activities we were doing. I kept at him, and eventually he started printing his name, participating in whatever we were doing, and finally reading and writing. By the end of the year, when we gave a progress test, he scored 124 out of 126 points, the highest in the entire kindergarten. On the last day of school his mother came in. "I think you're a miracle worker," she said. I asked her why she thought that. She said that he had had two years of preschool where he couldn't even write his name. Prior to starting Kindergarten she had had meetings with the principal and the senior Kindergarten teacher. They had discussed testing him for special needs classes. I was never told any of this. I had a class of 9 children who had been retained. The other children were supposedly the ones who had scored highest on tests given by the other teacher during the summer pre-kindergarten program. I never knew any different. I never treated this boy any differently than I did the other kids. I never even considered lowering my expectations of him, because I never felt he needed it. Sometimes it's best to ignore the tests and the labels and just see what happens, especially when the children are still so young.

YES MY CHILD IS 3 AND WAS TESTED FOR SPECIAL NEEDS AND HE IS IN PRESCHOOL FOR SPEECH AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY,THYE SAID IT WOULD HELP HIM ,SO FAR I CAN SEE A LITTLE CHANGE BUT MY CHILD IS ALSO AUTISTIC AND HAS ALOT OF HEALTH PROBLEMS, HE DOES HAVE ADHD BUT OUR PEDATRCIAN SAYS HE CANT DO NOTHIN TILL HES 4 YRS OF AGE

My 2 year old has a speech therapist. But that is because he wouldn't talk. Now he talks when he wants to but is kinda hard for other people to understand. I understand him most of the time but other people don't. I live in North Carolina and with the No CHild Left Behind children 3 years and over get services like speech through the school system at no cost to the parents. Call your local grammer school and speak to the speech therapist there. It is better to have the child start in speech now then to wait until they start school then their speech will be behind the other children. Hope this info helps you

I wish I could help, really do. I have no knowledge whatsoever. But make sure to get a third parts opinion before you do anything :)

If you think your child needs speech therapy take advantage of it. ADHD can not really be diagnosed until they are about 5 or 6 years. 3 years old can be crazy!!

Hi..I have had my child tested and she is in special education programs. She has Autism, learning disabilities and some develpomental delays. At age 3 under the IDEA the school district is responsible for early interventions, pre-school speech, etc. What ever the child needs to be able to transistion to kindergarten whether in a special education program or mainstream. They will write up what's called an IEP (Individual Education Program) which will outline his goals and services. You are very much a part of making that IEP and your input is important. If you have questions regarding this process you can go to www.wrightslaw.com It's special education website with all the federal laws and helps you navigate the system. The IDEA has been around since the 70's and has nothing to do with the "No Child Left Behind Act". Don't let the two of them confuse you..The NCLBA is new and actually can be anything but beneficial for special needs children. I also wanted to add on a personal note that my child's first dianosis was ADHD at age 4. Autism is much more severe than that..if you feel at all uncomfortable with any diagnosis your child gets..ask for a referral to a developmental pediatrician or a pediatric psychologist or psychiatrist. At that age..it is very hard to diagnos accurately. I learned the hard way to be a pushy parent so that my child got (gets) the education she is entitled to under IDEA. Good Luck!

attention deficit disorder huh? well i may be way off, but i really dont belive in that! i think it may be simply a child that has a hard time paying attention, i would not call it a disorder.. people want to try and make an excuse for everything. my cousin's child is super hyper... but i think its how she is being raised. b/c when shes with me.. i lay down the rules... at first she tests me. but i stay consistant (and let her know, there is no way around the rules) and after a while shes fine.

SOME SCHOOLS ARE QUICK TO JUMP TO SAY ADHD ADD MY CHILD IS 5 AND HAS SPECIAL NEEDS AS SOON AS SHE STARTED SCHOOL THAT WAS THE FIRST THING THEY SAID AND MEDS NOT LOOKING AT THE WHOLE PICTURE SHE HAS BRAIN DAMAGE ..SOMETIMES ITS NOT ADHD IT IS ACTUALLY ANOTHER PROBLEM THE DR SHOULD RUN TEST TO BE SURE ..