School required her son to go for a ADHD evaluation; therapy series w/ Dr. Dubovick - Status Island

Welcome back, Professor Dubovick. You're in a Yeshiva everybody was waiting till we could do the next questions and answers. So, a viewer sent in a question that she wrote like this, "The cheder that my son is learning in um the they called me up and they said that if your son wants if you want to send your son back next year he must be evaluated for ADHD before he could come back." >> All right. So, unfortunately, this is a common question I I have been getting over the years. Um and it's something very important. And first things first is that I would tell the parents that you should call up the cheder and speak with the cheder. What is the reason exactly that they want your child evaluated? Um is it something that they see? Is it an educational based? Is it a behavioral based uh issue that they're seeing? Um something to also keep in mind was your child ever evaluated by the board of ed? You know, now baruch Hashem there's a lot of evaluations going on with children in an early age um that there might be something that you know, that is available that you haven't taken advantage of. >> Oh, you're saying basically because the board of education does evaluations for free. >> Right. And at a young age. So, for certain things. So, maybe the child needs OTPT and that could be causing some issues in school itself. >> Right. Or P3 or or speech therapy. >> Exactly. Exactly. You know, children will act out in different ways when they're feeling, you know, they have low self-esteem, something's going on. Um and that could be a reason. It might not be anything that's mental health-wise. That your child just needs some ancillary support um that is readily available. So, that's something to keep in mind. Now, after speaking with them and all with the the the rebbeim, the principal, so what's going on here? And they say, "Okay, your child has symptoms of ADHD. He's acting out in class. He doesn't He's not able to pay attention. He's causing a lot of problems." Um ask the menahel and the principal and the rebbe for exact examples. >> Oh, not Not that they should just say, "Oh, he's acting up." >> Right. Ask What are some real examples of what's going on in class? Um maybe your child is bored. It's very simple as that. Um you could have >> understimulated >> Understimulated, exactly. You know, some children they pick up very quickly um what they're learning and then they're just sitting there and they're frustrated because they're at the top of their class. Meanwhile, the rebbe's teaching to the rest of the class and this boy is sitting there, you know, he know he knows the whole perek of mishnayos already. >> Wow, so you're saying sometimes it's because he's a top kid that he's acting up. >> Not because of the problem. It could be a reason, yes. Children are very smart. In all my years, I have yet to find a stupid child. Baruch Hashem. >> They're each smart in their own way. >> Exactly. They all have their own koachus. Now, another thing to keep in mind is what type of evaluation does the cheder want? Do they want a psych- psychiatric evaluation, meaning for medication? Do they want a psychological done by a psychologist? Um do they Are they doing it because they feel that the child really would benefit from therapy? Um do they or for medication? Or do they want it on record for some reason? If you know, you know. I'll leave it at that. Um so understanding what the cheder wants and why they want it will help you go in the direction that you need to for the benefit of your child because at the end of the day, that's what we're looking for. >> Right. >> Um a lot of chadorim, a lot of menahelim are have an understanding of mental health issues and obviously the same way that they want all their children to do well academically, they would like all the children, I hope, uh, to do well, uh, behaviorally and mental health-wise. Um, so once understanding that, realize that there's a lot of costs to evaluations. So, if there was an evaluation done by the Board of Ed when the child was little, so then you have a ground to go on uh, to maybe be able to do some other further evaluations or to get services or to inquire about services that your child might be eligible for. >> What's a first step where somebody could check if they're eligible, like a clinic? >> Yes, a clinic is very good, but a parent should know if they ever had their child evaluated to begin with. So, um, I don't know the exact details, but there's a lot of amazing agencies out there in Heimish community that work with the Board of Ed. Um, the cheder might be able to, uh, reach it, you know, reach out to a agency to assist you with this, um, or give suggestions for any agencies. Um, and >> So, basically you're saying not always does it mean that someone has to go to a expensive psychiatrist and pay a few thousand dollars for evaluation? There are other ways how to go about >> Correct. Correct. And I'm not saying that it's a waste of money, chas v'shalom, but you know, people are aware of their finances and what they can afford and what they can't afford. Um, it's hard enough some for many families just to pay >> Right. >> all these other expenses is also another, it can be very challenging. Um, so if it's something that we can have done through the Board of Ed or something that's covered by insurance, for example, uh, as far as to my knowledge, most uh, evaluations done by psychologists are not covered or not mostly covered by health insurances. While if you bring your child to someone like me who's an LCSW, we are allowed by the state of New York and other states to give a diagnosis of ADHD. >> knew a social worker could give certain diagnosis. >> Yes, we're allowed to give diagnosis. >> Interesting. >> And we can even give letters stating that. >> Wow. >> Once the evaluation is done by a therapist or psychologist, then the parents have to see a psychiatrist, which is also quite a bit of money. One way to avoid all these expenses is contacting one of the amazing clinics that we have in our high mission community where the list is too long because I know I'll end up missing somebody where they will have a therapist, a licensed clinical therapist, social worker, or mental health counselor on staff to see and evaluate the child as well as a psychiatrist to evaluate the child if medication is needed. And they'll be able to prescribe. And it's all covered by insurance. >> Let's just summarize the answer. The first step is the parent should speak with the school, the menahel, the principal, the rav to see what exactly is going on. And then instead of jumping right away to to complicated solutions, they could start by a clinic and a social worker to see if they can get it solved >> Correct. Correct. >> simply. >> Correct. Sometimes a child does not need need any medications whatsoever. Um and a lot of times, you know, we have to understand what is the issue, what's going on. You know, we uh in the mental health field have a unwritten rule, I guess is one way for diagnosing uh children with behavioral disorders is out of three places, where is the misbehavior going on? So, if they give you specific instances of what's going on in school, but the child is not acting like this at home. He's not acting like this when he's not in school with friends. He's not acting like this in shul. So, what is going on in school that's triggering him? >> Or then it might be something that's just a technical issue in school. >> It might It might be something It might be something that's specifically going on in school. He could be being bullied. Um or it could be that he just doesn't get along with his rebbe. We've all had teachers that we just didn't get along with. >> Right. Oh, interesting. So, if it's happening in a few places, then it might be issue with the child. >> Then it's a concern. Correct. >> If it's only in one place, it might be issue with that place. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you so much. And until next time, shkoyach Professor Dubovick. I'll have to look that up. >> Amen.