Working With Your Child's School Team
The first step in helping your child to succeed in school is to contact the school's principal to learn who will be working with you and your child during the school year. This team may consist of a school psychologist (if there is one), a guidance counselor, the principal, and teachers. Once you have identified your child's team:

• Meet with and get to know the school team
  At the beginning of the year or before school starts, set up a meeting with the team. If your child is seeing a therapist outside of school, you may invite that person as well. A meeting should also be arranged for the team to meet your child.

• Designate a case manager
  One person from the team should be designated as a coordinator to communicate between the team, the student, and the parents. Because keeping the child focused is the key issue of ADHD, it may be helpful to schedule regular check-in times between the child and coordinator to help keep the child organized and on track.

• Develop a plan
  You and the school team will develop your child's IEP together based on your child's strengths and weaknesses. Some questions to consider when designing this plan are:
  • Will tutoring or resource room assistance be available?
  • What other accommodations will be available to my child?
  • Will teachers be available before or after school for extra help?
  • If my child needs medication during the school day, who will be responsible for making sure he or she gets it?
  • What are reasonable goals for my child?
  • Will my child require program adaptations, such as extra time on tests? If so, how will they be implemented? What impact will they have on my child's education?

• Create a Good Communication System
  Set up a daily planner for your child and encourage the teachers to use it to communicate with you every day. Work with the teachers in developing a weekly report to inform you of your child's behavior, work progress, and special assignments. Ask teachers to advise you when a strategy or accommodation is not working so that you can meet and make effective changes to the plan.

• Schedule a Follow-up Meeting
  Plan to meet again in 1 month after the initial meeting to review your child's progress. Include the child in meetings whenever possible. Other meetings should occur as needed.

Finding the Best Teacher
You may not be able to choose your child's teachers, but you can pay close attention to your child's classroom experiences, the strategies the teacher uses to engage him or her, and how much the child benefits from them. As your child's number-one advocate, you are within your rights to regularly assess the teacher's effectiveness and to discuss what you feel is and is not working with the school team. Your child is likely to benefit most from teachers who:

• Are positive and upbeat and who regularly praise and reward the child for all kinds of achievements.

• Provide a structured and predictable classroom with rules, daily assignments, and schedules clearly posted; specific times designated for specific tasks; and regular and frequent breaks scheduled throughout the day.

• Modify lesson plans by combining high- and low-interest activities, simplify lessons and provide visual aids, and teach organization and study skills.