65 - Education Attorney Adam Wasserman talks ADHD medication and schools
Adam Wasserman is an attorney and managing partner of Education Justice Law Group who specializes in helping children with special needs and parents of those children receive the extra attention in school that they are legally entitled to.
On the episode, we talk about ADD and ADHD in young people, and schools suggesting to parents to medicate their children – which he says should never happen.
“If schools are recommending that your child needs medication, what that really means is the child’s not getting the services they’re supposed to be getting at the school,” he said.
Wasserman says he also took this kind of medication growing up and credits a lot of his success in life to it.
He points out, however, that parents should never go to a meeting at a school and have the school talk about medication.
“The choice to take medicine is a very private choice. It’s a family choice, and it should be done after careful consultation with people trained in the field to do that," Wasserman said. "Here’s the thing, schools are not allowed to diagnose children with anything. That’s the wrong word. School’s talk in terms of eligibility, meaning, ‘This child reads too slow. He’s eligible to get reading help.’ Not, ‘This child reads too slow. There’s a problem with his brain.’”
Wasserman’s Education Justice Law Group covers all of California and represents children and young adults from age 3 through high school who are eligible for special education.
In the episode, we also discuss the difference between IEPs (Individualized Education Plan) and 504 Plans.
He says he founded the law group when he realized many students were not accessing their educational rights they have under state and federal law.
Share this story: https://bit.ly/2Smek59
Thank you to Adam Wasserman!
Subscribe to Olympic & Bundy on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and Stitcher.
Connect on social: