Strike Two for Ontario. Last month, I wrote about how Ontario is the only province in Canada where ADHDers are forced to take the inferior generic form of the stimulant medication, Concerta.

This month, I’m peeved at Ontario yet again.

Turns out inconsistencies in ADHD treatment exist not just in medication coverage and dispensing, but also in provincial education systems. While this is not earth-shattering news to most of you, the magnitude of the differences is pretty shocking.

While I have ADHD myself, I don’t have kids with the condition. I’ve often wondered how a woman with ADHD manages to advocate not only for herself, but for her kids too. I’ve got enough on my plate just trying to deal with me! (I’m still fighting to get a Co-pay Card to have my Concerta covered by benefits; I can’t imagine having to do battle for not just me, but for my school kids, too). So when I saw the June 1, 2010, Toronto Star newspaper article about ADHD mom Michelle Davidson of Petrolia, Ontario, I couldn’t believe the challenge she’s undertaken on behalf of Peter, her son with ADHD.

Michelle and her family moved to Ontario from Alberta about eight years ago. She’s been battling to get special education support for her son Peter ever since. I recently spoke with Michelle by telephone to find out a little more about her story.

Michelle told me that Peter was diagnosed in Alberta at six years old when he was in grade 1, by a pediatrician who specialized in ADHD. Attending grades one and two in Alberta, Michelle says that Peter’s teachers described his strengths as, “friendliness, good group leader, eagerness to learn, artistic, athletic,” all comments in his report cards and individual education programs (IEP’s).

Although Peter was struggling with reading and writing, Michelle says he was well-adjusted emotionally, had lots of friends and was very active.

But once the family moved to Ontario, the situation deteriorated rapidly, to the point where Michelle is now embroiled in a battle with the Ministry of Education, and in November 2005, she filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the Lambton Kent District School Board.

Michelle says the differences between her son’s experience at schools in Alberta and Ontario are dramatic. She says they’ve gone from an environment where Peter’s ADHD was accommodated, to little, if any, help for Peter being available at his Ontario school. In fact, says Michelle, Peter was isolated in the classroom and made to sit at the front of the class alone, day after day.

As a result of their move to Ontario, says Michelle, Peter (who should be functioning at a grade10 level) is academically functioning at a grade 3 level in reading, writing and math.

“He’s lost the ability to progress, to move forward, to function with his peers, transition into the playground, the social skills aspect of it all,” says Michelle.

In Alberta, she says, supports including extensive up-to-date information on what ADHD is and isn’t, was available both in the schools and through a provincial website. There were lots of community organizations, and at school, Peter could leave the class and work on his skills with a special ed instructor at a ratio of two or three kids to one teacher. She also says the school had guidance counselors in elementary grades, who would work on behavior management, social skills and role playing. She felt the teachers had a very good understanding of ADHD, and there were provincial government resources about how to teach ADHD children in the classroom.

“What teachers would practice with your child in a classroom or in special ed,” says Michelle, “they would keep you up-to-date with, so that you can practice the same thing in the house, you’re always on the same page. That connection really helped the child progress, to understand and learn consistently. You could see significant changes.”

As a result of a lack of special education resource supports available in Peter’s Ontario school and Peter ultimately ending up having to sit facing the blackboard, in front of all the other students and a teacher, Michelle changed schools. What she’s learned is that in Ontario, the Ministry of Education doesn’t view ADHD as an “exceptionality” which would afford the legal right to special ed services to kids with the diagnosis.

Today, Michelle works one-on-one with Peter to try to remediate the education he gets at school. “He was three weeks behind his classmates in science this year,” says Michelle. “Then he stayed home for science, and I started helping him by chunking, highlighting, and so on.” Then, she says, he got an 80% on his quizzes. “He went back to loving science.”

While Michelle’s case drags on, and she continues to fight for appropriate support for Peter, she says, “I take it a day at a time. I’m not sure what the next step is. But I’d like to see Peter reach his potential.”

Other Ontario parents facing similar situations can contact Michelle at adhdontario@hotmail.com  For more information about advocacy in Canada, contact Heidi Bernhardt, national director of the Centre for ADD/ADHD Advocacy Canada (www.caddac.ca)

So how, as an ADHD parent, have you coped with your own diagnosis in addition to your child’s? Do you have to advocate for both of you? Please share your story!

Comments

This post currently has 10 comments/trackbacks.
You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts.

Trackbacks

No trackbacks yet to this post.

    Last reviewed: 20 Aug 2010