Education Attorney Adam Wasserman talks ADHD medication and schools

Heard on Olympic & Bundy - 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 Olympic & Bundy podcast, 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.'"

In the episode, we also discuss the difference between IEPs (Individualized Education Plan) and 504 Plans.

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.

He says he founded the group when he realized many students were not accessing their educational rights they have under state and federal law.

Listen to the full episode with Adam Wasserman on Feb. 24.

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