ADHD Assessment (continued)

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Once a child is identified as having ADHD, the school's multidisciplinary team goes into high gear to develop the student's IEP and determine what accommodations and services are required. A broad array of professionals from a wide variety of disciplines, including a school nurse and a physician, should work with that student's parents throughout the IEP development and implementation process (Austin, 2003). Each professional uses a variety of assessment tools and techniques to monitor the student's academic and behavioral progress. For those students who are receiving medication, it is important that teachers work closely with the family and health professionals to monitor the effectiveness of the medications and ensure that the student doesn't experience negative side effects (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2005; OSEP, 2003).

Evaluation: Testing Accommodations

Just as for students with other disabilities, many types of accommodations are available to students with ADHD; however, one accommodation seems to be the most commonly offered. Whether the students' special needs are addressed through IDEA '04 or through Section 504, the most common accommodation to testing situations for students with ADHD is extended time (Elliott & Marquart, 2004). When offered this accommodation, students with disabilities typically take only 8 or 12 minutes longer to answer test items. But does having longer to complete a test make a difference in results? Surprisingly, whether for students with disabilities or without disabilities, extended time does not significantly improve students' scores. What . interesting, however, is that students who are offered extended time feel better about the testing situation, claim they were more motivated to complete the [est, felt less frustrated, and thought they performed better. Outcome measures—measures of how well the students actually did on the test—did not support students' feelings about their performance (Elliott & Marquart, 2004).