OK, My son officially got the label of being ADHD by the school last month. The school ( I am not sure who drives that bus but would have to be maybe the councilor and spec. ed. person in charge) My son has made so many big improvements this year. He made all As and Bs on his report card and has not gotten in trouble for anything other than talking when he isn’t supposed to. I feel he is doing remarkably well and the improvements keep happening. However, once this label, I guess I can call it a label since there is no one at the school that has medical training to diagnose, his teachers have changed his entire daily structure to suit his ADHD needs. For no apparent reason, his teacher stated that because he moves a lot in his seat, she has moved his desk to the center of the room. What I found out from my son is that not only did she move him but she placed stars ( stickers) on the floor where he has to keep the legs of his desk and chair in a imaginary box on the floor and she has also put stars where he is allowed to have his feet. He also says she has instructed him that when all the other kids are turning in their homework and graded papers daily, he is to raise his hand and ask for permission to leave his seat to turn his in. Is this not discrimination? If she does not require the rest of the class to perform so precisely, then how can he be expected to? Is this just another method directed by the ADHD gurus at the school to give him more opportunity to get into trouble? She states in the note ” He does seem to pay attention and answers questions correctly but because of his movement and the possibility of disturbing others, I have moved him to the middle of the classroom.” I had specifically ask that they not isolate him like some kind of freak. I know by past experience that if he is isolated, he will develop his own strategies to be involved with others by leaving his desk. He has worked fine in a group of 8 kids together for the entire 1/2 of the school year. Why change now? I will have to meet with this teacher to discuss my concerns for the move soon. My other question to teachers is ” Is there people ( councilors ) that are driving the teachers to make decisions like this? His teacher said she did not have any training in ADHD and felt she could not give her oppinion to it. I highly respected her answer. But since the checklist was passed around, I have found that “OFF TASK” seems to be the word of the month. Nothing has changed at home. We are doing nothing differently here so how could his situation be worse. What would happen if I just decided not to attend the SST meetings? They are going to do what they want any way right?
Re: Questions for teachers!!
My understanding is that ADHD is a MEDICAL diagnosis, and therefore should be made by a physician, not a school! (The school, of course, can help in the diagnosis by filling out behavioral surveys and testing for LDs which often accompany ADHD. This information can then be passed on to the doctor to help with a diagnosis.)
My favorite book (besides Hallowell’s wonderful “Driven to Distraction” ) is “The ADD/ADHD Checklist” by Sandra F. Rief . It offers lots of wonderful, practical advice for teachers and parents. I bought a copy for myself and gave one to my son’s elementary school teacher.
Re: Questions for teachers!!
Another excellent resource is anything by Dr. Russel Barkley. Some very good stuff is out there from Robert Brooks, too, but that is geared to LD as well as ADHD. I agree, you need a medical diagnosis.
Update
Thanks, I will check out the resources. I didn’t have a chance to talk to the teacher about the new special seating arrangements. My son went back to school today to find that the entire class had been rearranged and he is now paired up with a little girl in the class. All the kids are in pairs now. Quite a change from a few days ago. I guess someone realized that may not be such a good idea. I really suspect that teachers get a lot of thier guidance on how to deal with kids that are ADHD from the school councilors. Is this true? I usually have good realtionships with the teachers but it seems that some advice given down by the councilors are directed at making every movement a key element in one kind of disorder or another. Their solutions are always the opposite from what the books say on how to teach ADHD kids. Is this for job security? There are just about more pshycologists at school than teachers now a days. Sorry, I really admire teachers for what they do but I say we leave the mental and medical treatments up to the parents. Thanks for your replies!
Re: Update
i am an occupational therapist. my point of view is when your child has been diagnoss as ADHD/ ADD by peadiatrician or child psychiatrict, certainly they will refer your child to a psychologist or an occupational therapist for further therapy. i think they are the most suitable person to deal with this kind of children.as what i know ADHD needs a special guide which can be taught by them and not the ordinary teacher.Dealing with ADHD children is not an easy task. furthermore it is a long term therapy.
Re: Update
You should request to be working WITH the regular ed classroom teacher to help design appropriate interventions for your child’s learning. As a parent you have valuable insights, but your child is in a totally different setting in school than at home. Go with an open mind and a determined heart.
Re: Questions for teachers!!
My questions is, if he wasn’t having any problems in school, why did you have him labeled? There are many students that have problems in school that don’t have labels. Why? What accommodations did you want, that you felt the need for the label?
If you want a diagnosis, you should take your child to a neurologist (my personal preference) or a psychiatrist or both who specialize in ADHD. He should also be given an educational evaluation by trained personnel, a school psychologist to determine exactly what if any deficits your child has. he school should pick up the tab if they have classified your child or if he has a 504. I don’t know the laws in GA, but you had better find out to what you are entitled and what the school is required to offer to help your son. Whatever you do, make sure you go to every meeting and bring an advocate (these are volunteer and/or professional people who know LD and the law in your state to advise you). You can’t help your child if you don’t know what is going on.
You do not say how old your child is, how much he moves about, or how much he calls out in class. If it is so severe that he is stopping the other kids from learning, something needs to be done. In all fairness, sometimes the parents’ impression of what is going on isn’t accurate, because it is based on the child’s interpretation. I’m a parent as well as a special ed teacher, and my kid has told me horror stories. I went in armed and ready for battle and found to my chagrin that it was my child who was at fault.
Nevertheless, it is against the law to discriminate against a person with a disability. The teacher cannot hold him to a higher standard of sitting still and should not embarrass him with the stars thing. In reality, the best place for your child to sit is in the front where the teacher can stand near his desk to help keep him focused. A peer tutor-mentor can also help him remain on-task and quieter. The teacher needs to determine how long your child can sit on average and how long he can remain quiet without calling out by observing for a week and writing the results down. The teacher can then set a goal of extending those times a minute or two longer than that and tape a chart to his desk with the 2 goals written on it: sitting and quiet and spaces for each X minutes of class. For each time interval that your child is seated he gets a sticker or a check in the appropriate space. For each time interval that he raises his hand to speak without calling out, he gets another sticker. If he has 60% (for example) of the stickers, he gets a prize at the end of the day. After a week of consistent behavior, up the percentage. Keep the prizes varied for interest. That way he is being rewarded for appropriate behavior, the focus is on what he should do, not on what he shouldn’t do, and the behaviors you are rewarding are incompatible with the undesirable behaviors. He can’t do both! The teacher can even do it for the whole class, setting up teams, so the kids can monitor themselves and each other. Record keeping is easier, and then the whole class or team gets a reward if they improve. She can make a math lesson out of this by having the kids keep records of weekly progress (adding points) and developing a school store where they can spend points (subtracting). There are lots of possibilities.
Last but not least, if your doctor suggests medication, check it out thoroughly and get a second or third opinion, but if they agree, do it. It can make all the difference.
Good luck.
Fern Goldstein