‘It’s his future’: Mum frets for son
A Taranaki mother fears her 7-year-old son is seriously falling behind in his education after being denied a district health board assessment that could have paved the way for in-school support.
Justine Jordan has known there was something ‘‘different’’ about Ethan since he was about four.
He has always been more active than most, struggled to concentrate, and walks on his tip toes – a common sign of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Jordan said if they were able to get Ethan diagnosed, he might be eligible for a teacher aide in the classroom, who could help him stay on track, absorb information, and not get into trouble.
Their family GP sent a referral to the Taranaki District Health Board, along with a letter of support from Ethan’s school, but they were told their clinical need was not considered severe enough to meet the criteria for an assessment.
The letter Jordan received from the Taranaki DHB in November 2021 stated public hospitals had a set amount of funding and were obliged to assess and treat people with the greatest need first.
The letter also said referrals were considered against ‘‘an agreed access criteria’’ and the DHB would be pleased to reconsider the situation should it change. If it did, Jordan should contact her GP for reassessment and re-referral, the letter said.
However, Jordan is baffled as to how the DHB could know Ethan did not meet the criteria without meeting him.
‘‘I was upset. I knew it might be a bit of a wait, but to be completely rejected, I feel like they don’t care about his education.’’
DHB acting chief operating officer Katy Sheffield said it did not discuss individual patients but two ‘‘prioritisation teams’’ met weekly to review and prioritise all new referrals.
‘‘If a child does not meet the criteria to be seen, we will redirect the referral to an appropriate service and/or advise the referrer of our recommendations for initial management, with the expectation that if that does not work then the young person would be referred back.
‘‘We encourage families who do not believe that their needs have been met to talk directly to the service or advise us through our complaints process, so we can address their concerns.’’
It is estimated that one in 20 New Zealanders has ADHD, and data from the Ministry of Health suggests 2.4 per cent of those 18 years and younger have been diagnosed.
Government support is available to families managing ADHD, such as Work and Income payments, carer support, and help at school including extra assistance, adapted programmes or learning environments, and/or specialised equipment or materials.
Jordan said she had been trying to get Ethan diagnosed for years, but was constantly told to wait until he was 7 as he might mature out of it.
So when he reached 7 and was still as active as ever, she got the ball rolling.
‘‘The teacher was pulling me into the classroom nearly every week saying he wasn’t finishing his work and keeping him in at lunchtime.’’
Jordan said the help of a teacher aide would benefit his learning.
‘‘An extra set of hands in the classroom to watch him and keep him focused would help him so much.’’
Jordan said Ethan gets upset at school because he cannot sit still, and he is constantly getting in trouble, which knocks his confidence.
They were going to continue trying to get him assessed, with a learning behaviour teacher set to watch him and build a case to be sent with the referral.
If all else failed, Jordan said they would have to go private, but that was expensive.
Getting tools to help Ethan is ideally what Jordan wants, but she said there were so many hoops to jump through.
‘‘It’s his future, it’s important. If he gets behind now, he’s never going to catch up.’’