If the child truly, truly needs medical intervention, she does have the right to have you investigated for medical neglect. However, she does not have any right to choose a treatment... ADD can be dealt with medication-free. That decision is one for you to make with his doctor, and her personal opinions are irrelevent.

A school principal is not qualified to diagnose or recommend medication for a student. If you have some proof of this, the principal can be fired. I think it would be in the best interest of the child if you find an alternate school to put him in. In our school district, the parents can choose the school the child goes to. I homeschooled mine, using the public school outreach program. They went to school for an hour twice a week to get their assignments and take their tests, and did all the rest of the work at home.

This sounds like an outrageous claim to make for a principal to make, I would be furious and call the school board and wage a complaint.

First question, what has been your childs conduct in school? Second, this is a harsh statement for a school principle to make. what has led up to this statement? Is there more than you have told us?

Has your son been officially diagnoised with ADHD? And, have you informed the school of your son's learning disability? Yes, it is officially a learning disability and your son could be eligible for special acommodations through an IEP or 504 plan. Either way, a school district CAN NOT force you to medicate your child!!! If you are giving your child medication, you DO NOT have to inform the school district of your choices. In the long run, it would be better for you to be able to work with the school administration and teachers so that your son can be provided with a positive learning environment. From your comment, it might be best to try and start some place new where all children are welcome--no matter how they might learn. There is no one correct way to teach children--each is an individual and should be honored and respected.

It had better not be. I'd probably transfer the son to another school. Also, find a doctor to give you a second opinion.

I hope the answer is NO. Your childs teachers are in a position to suspect ADD in your child, but they are not trained in these matters and are NOT able to prescribe medicine. They may demand you get your child tested for ADD but I see no way they could ever force you to put your child on medication.

Yes it is legal. In fact, the principal has a duty to inform Child Protective Services if he believes your child is being neglected. Thus, it would be illegal for him not to inform CPP. Of course, you do have the right to not medicate your child when it is not medically essential. I am not a doctor, but I cannot imagine ADD or ADHD medication ever being medically essential. We obviously do not know the context of the statement, but if a principle fears that your child is in danger if he does no become medicated, you should look into it. The school is with your child all day in a diverse environment. Perhaps your child is out of control, and therefore a danger, if not medicated. Ultimately, CPP will not take action against your for not medicating your child. However, if the principal fears your child is a danger if not medicated, your child could be expelled from the school. The principals job is to look out for the best interest of many kids.

No. ***Federal laws now protect parents from being required to drug their children as a condition of attending school http://www.fightforkids.org/facts.html By law, forced medication requires a court order. There are many political groups out there that defend against parents that don't want their child to be medicated to "solve a problem." Legally, you don't have to submit to any questioning like this. Also, you can come in with another professional opinion to counter any opinion they are trying to form. http://www.cchr.org/ This is a very good site to start to learn about this. In many cases, it has been found that some school districts are getting commissions from drug companies to put children on behavioral medication.

I would let the local newspapers know about this principal too. Bring on the heat.

When my son was in Kindergarden, he went to a semi-private school in a rather 'privledged' neighboorhood. All the children there were perfect little angels. Apparently, my son was a typical 6 year old who wiggled in his chair when he finsihed his work before everyone else. The teacher and principal called my husband and I to the office to suggest we put him on medicine. We, of course, declined, but aggreed to watch his behavior and continue to communicate with the teacher. They again brought it up and requested we have him tested. At our behest, we took him to our pediatrican. She checked him out (even though she didn't really need to) and said he was fine. We followed up with a behavioral specialist in her office who put our son through some very mild testing. She was very offended that our teacher and principal would suggest such a thing, that our son was FINE, and extremely bright at that. She suggested we ask the teacher to offer him extra tasks to keep him occupied since he seems to finish his work before everyone else. If nothing else, suggest the teacher learn how to teach! (ooh!) With our two doctor's reports in hand, we returned to the school. The principal and teacher were both shocked at the doctors' reports. They went on to say that all of their children were successfully medicated, and that if OUR doctor wouldn't prescribe it, THEIR doctor would. THE NERVE!! Then they gave us the name of their doctor, which happened to be the specialist that we took our son to that did the testing. We promptly removed our son from that school and filed a formal complaint with the school district. We did not want to keep our son in that school and he be black-labled for being normal! Our son is flourishing at his new school, is on the honor roll, and is top of his class! (He's in the 3rd grade now.) If he needs medication, then a doctor should be able to tell. If not, get down to the bottom of your child's behavior and do whatever is necessary.

First stop I'd be making is the paediatrician. If your child really DOES have ADD/ADHD, before you start down the medication road, try altering diet first. Being an ADD sufferer myself, I went "additive free" and it was the best thing I ever did. Suddenly I needed only half the medication I had previously been on, and found that a number of "side effects" disappeared altogether. Only after investigating the diet side of things did I discover two very alarming things: 1. Most of my "side effects" weren't from the medication, they were from food additives. 2. A huge number of people are on medication (not just for ADD/ADHD, but depression, anxiety, sleep problems, etc) for conditions they DON'T have. They're being medicated for side effects of the food they're eating. www.fedupwithfoodadditives.org.au

I would make the following three phone calls... 1) a lawyer (your are looking at at least a 5 digit settlement here) 2) the school superintendent (this person will not be a principal much longer) 3) the media (this will insure positive outcomes for 1 and 2). Enjoy your settlement money!

Hell no it's not up to the school to dictate to you about your childs health care. Be very careful about this ADD bullshit, it has become a catch all for kids that don't use up their engery running and playing and become rambunctious.

I would offer to let her use my phone. It just boggles my mind the way some people think pouring medicines down a child's throat, without trying every other alternative, is THE answer. I once knew a mom who allowed her 8 year old to be given Prozac because she had an eye twitch. My youngest daughter was diagnosed with AD/HD when she was 7 and her pediatrician "suggested" trying Adderall (which is pretty addictive)...lowest dosage. I hated the way it changed her so I started looking into alternatives....which included Taekwondo. It's not as brutal as Karate or some of the other styles are and is geared more towards gradual discipline of the body and mind. It may not work for everyone, but it worked for her. It took time but she was able to exercise more and more control over her body and mind. She wasn't always running off in ten different directions all the time. Most important...NO DRUGS. If anyone demanded that I put my child on drugs before exhausting every other option, I would fight it tooth and nail. I would also bring the attitude of that principle to everyone I could. My daughter tested and achieved her 4th degree black belt last year (recieved special permission to test because of her age), has taken some Krav Maga, Kung Fu, Hapkido and is now ranking up in Brazillian Jui Jitsu. She is a certified instructor and will soon open her own school. She's 18. Okay that was a shameless brag...but it goes to show drugs are not always the answer to everything.

Tell your school principal you want every comment from him or her in writing so you can supply your attorney precisely what's been said concerning your child!

No it is not,under no circumstances put the child on ritalyn it is a lazy teachers tool. They are too quick to label children the don't progress as quick as others. Einstein was thought to be retarded, can you believe that? http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/manidote/11265-adhd-ritalin-new-age-drug-pushing.html

Let's change the focus here for just a second. I know you are getting a lot of advice on how to sue the principal. I've been a teacher, and what I saw in the schools shocked me. I expected to find schools like I left them when I graduated from the public system. What I found was school in chaos and on the point of collapse. Some parents have made the job of principal so difficult that schools are starting to have trouble finding and keeping principals. That means we are no longer getting top flight people to be principals because top flight people would rather go elsewhere to earn their money. The last principal I worked under only lasted two years (and she was a good principal) and the vice principal only lasted one before they both found jobs elsewhere. Lets look at the real problem here. Clearly, your son is being a disruption in the school, or the principal wouldn't have made such a demand. She might have worded it badly, but I'd say that comes from deep frustration. Instead of looking at the adversarialy, which is not in your son's best interest, lets try to disect the problem. If your son is being a disruption, he is not getting the education he is going to need to be successful as an adult. He is also keeping other kids from getting the education they need. Why is your son being such a disruption? If it is a discipline problem, you can support them from home. We've taken a lot of the discipline tools out of the hands of schools, so if we want our kids to behave, we are going to have to provide the tools. I'd highly recommend a book called Boundaries with Kids. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-2169925-0363051?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=boundaries+with+kids&x=10&y=10 Before you assume it is a discipline problem, stand in his bedroom doorway and listen to him sleeping several nights. Try to ascertain whether he is snoring or gasping as he sleeps. A lot of research right now is establishing a link between lack of sleep or disrupted sleep and ADD/ADHD. The kids is so tired that he becomes a perpetual motion machine just trying to stay awake. Some of these cases are caused by parents who don't establish and enforce bedtime. Others are caused by enlarged tonsils, asthma or other issues that cause the kid to stop breathing cyclicly through the night. You want to catch this problem early, not only because of the ADD, but also because of the memory problems and heart disease that it causes down the line. The third thing to investigate is allergies. As someone else mentioned, there is beginning to be a body of data linking ADD/ADHD to food allergies and additive allergies. Some parents find that by eliminating preservative, artificial coloring and flavorings from food, their child's ADD disappears. Others may find that it is an allergy to wheat or soybeans or other foods that causes the ADD. So a trip to an allergist might be in order. If you eliminate all these possibilities and your son is still having problems, then you might have to consider medication. Meantime, if you let the principal know that you are working on the problem, it may lower her frustration level enough that she won't make any more outrageous statements.