Question... | ADHD Information

I have a question about the teachers...

I went to college and graduated a few hours shy of my teaching degree and instead received my child development degree.

Here's what I don't understand, What are teachers taught about ADHD? I mean, they learn so much about Autism and Downs Syndrome and other disorders but what do they know about ADHD? How can they teach our children when they don't even understand the issue at hand? I don't know, I've been doing a lot of thinking. This year has been, pardon the language, hard as hell on us all. I've cursed and screamed and lost my cool and cried and cried and cried some more, we've had family arguements-oh, why am I explaining this? The year I've had-you all understand.  Right? So it is my New Year's Resolution to grab this bull by the horns and get it right. I know we will still have our moments of trial and tribulation but I want to be prepared as possible. This includes at school with the teachers. We are fortunate to have a very warm and cooperative school to work with and ds' teachers have been mostly helpful.  But I think it may be time that someone steps up to start advocating that these ADHD children be better understood...I'm thinking out loud...

What are your thoughts?

Each teacher that has my son now receives the printout about teaching children with adhd that I found online, along with guidelines on sensory integration.  Not sure how much this issue is addressed but I am on the defensive and make sure that his teachers have information on the best way to teach him. 

My advice for parents is to take proactive steps to ensure your child has the best homeroom teacher (no more fresh out of college teachers for my son) and to keep the lines of communication open.  And if you ever find an educator who states that 'adhd is not a real dx" , well you can guess the rest of this post...

They really should teach teachers more about ADHD. You'd think they
could just take a little time to read a book or research it online
themselves. If I was a teacher with a student that had any learning
problem that i didn't know much about i would inform myself on it as
soon as possible. I am a freshman special education major. I haven't
started taking any classes for my major yet, but i am curious to see if they
teach us about ADHD. You also have to keep in mind that ADHD is fairly
new and some older teachers may not have been taught about it for that
reason. Still, it isn't any excuse for them to not research it themselves. I
mean it's estimated that there is usually at least one ADHD kid in every
classroom. Sadly there are a lot of people who do not believe in ADHD so
some of these teachers may not and for that reason, if you educate them
on it, they still may not believe it and hold a grudge. I agree with you teachers need to be more informed about ADHD. Our teacher has not even read the 504 and continues to go against it because"she knows he can do it" Yes he is capable of doing the work just not so much. she is pulling credits for late work when we have 2 extra days on the 504. she does nothing. I will be writing in for a new 504 meeting when school starts back up. We also have been fortunate to have had 2 great teachers who worked with my son unmedicated and he got good grades, but now he is sllipping due to the teacher this year.SADI completed my teacher training about 15 years ago. I then taught part-time for about 7 years at an alternative high school where there were no special ed services even though a very large percentage of the student population probably could have used them.
I don't remember learning much of anything about ADHD or any learning disabilities or special needs. I didn't even know what a 504 was until I called a friend in complete desperation two years ago.
Scary, huh?
Teachers have a tough job. They are expected to be experts in the subjects that they teach, experts in methods of education, and to have knowledge of numerous different disabilities/special needs, etc., even if they are regular classroom teachers, not special ed teachers. They are not well paid and are constantly subject to the changing rules, laws, standards, and tests that our state governments enact, as well as many parents and communities that undermine them and do nothing to support education.
I really take my hat off to the many excellent teachers out there. My children have had a number of excellent teachers who are worth their weight in gold.
AND I also completely understand and sympathize with your feelings. I think the bottom line is that teachers in this country should receive a great deal more training and support and be paid accordingly.

Inspiredbymusic, I agree with you on EVERY level. I'm not demeaning the teachers I'm just wondering ... I just don't understand it. I know they can't know everything about every disorder but shouldn't they have a basic understanding of what ADHD is? I don't think a lot of teachers understand that ADHD is a BRAIN thing and not a lack of discipline or ruly child disorder.  I don't know what to do about it either.  It's just a frustration. I do know that their hands are so full already...and have much empathy for our ds' teachers, which is why I think we DO get along so well. 

Happy New Year everyone!  I went for a master's in teaching which I did not finish. My BS was in developmental psychology. As part of the curriculum in teaching, we had the choice of various classroom observations. I chose a special ed class that had asberger's, adhd and other special needs children. It was an eye opener. So students can choose to observe these classes in many curriculums. But most want the average students they will encounter. That is why we, as parents, need to educate ourselves as much as possible.

One of the best things to do is to volunteer in your child's classroom a few times a month. Or just sit in the classroom. Then you can see the interaction between teacher and student, student to student and also get an idea about the teacher's methods of instruction, homework, etc.

Yes, it is unbelievable hard for us. But I think it is harder on our children. It is hard to be a square peg in a round hole. Hang in there ilovemyboys.

I'm a teacher educator--I teach 3 introductory courses in teaching (sophomore level). We do a large unit on special education (including ADHD, of course)--but I tell students they should expect to a) take at least 1 other course in special ed and 2) read read read everything they can--because they are going to have classrooms with students of all sorts of individual needs/exceptionality. They do 60 hours of observation in my class, and about 800 more hours (with increasing responsibilities) before getting their bachelor's degree.

Still--it's hardly the tip of the iceburg. There is no way 2 courses and even lots of classroom observations are going to get them completely ready for every exceptionality out there. Here in GA, we use the inclusion model, but there are simply not enough SPED teachers to put one in every classroom, which is the goal. So, imho, full inclusion doesn't work the way it's supposed to work-- because the "regular" teachers have neither the in-depth training nor the help they need. It's a rough situation. Sigh.

dee
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Randy, you're so right.  I know it's harder on him and I feel so burnt out!! I know he's frustrated, too. God love him.  That's why I want to go into this next year with my head straight and chin up and ready to go! I want to help him have a smoother road. Or at least, less gravel on the road. :0)  I want to help him know that life is good and that his uniqueness should be embraced...especially by me and his dad.  We haven't done so well with that...

 

Dee, you are also very right. It was nice to read from your point of view. you're IN there...it seems so hopeless... but I know there's a light somewhere...

Here in Los Angeles class size is 35 and they are talking of upping that. Kindergarten is 22.Unfortunately, this is how it is in most public schools.  The teachers are just not educated enough about the issues the students may face.  I am a special education teacher.  I work in a school for students with emotional/behavioral disorders.  Luckily, because of the highly specialized nature of our school, the entire staff, including support staff, undergoes extensive training, not only on the behavior model we use to manage behaviors, but on the various psychiatric issues we will encounter.  We have a clinical psychologist on staff, as well as two psychiatrists and numerous therapists.  Many of the students in my classroom have a diagnosis of ADHD, so it is my job to make sure that I am educating them in a way that will enable them to be successful.
I've often thought it would be very helpful to have someone like myself in a public school to work alongside the regular education teachers.  The teachers would definitely benefit from increased education on ADHD and other disorders they might encounter, and also on effective behavior modification techniques for the classroom.  In this day and age, all schools should have behavior specialists, in my opinion!
Anyway, I understand your frustration.  There's no excuse for teachers not to be educated.  It's their job!
this is definitely a topic that needs to be addressed on a national level.  when i was in college, we had a whole course on Special Needs. My professor for that course was instrumental in bringing special needs to light in this country.  He was a VIP in getting laws passed, etc.  In addition to that, during my methods classes (on-site, on-hand training), I was assigned to a special needs classroom of 8 children in middle school.  I also spent many hours as a substitute teacher in special ed classrooms. 

I agree that so much more needs to be done.  There is such a wide variety of special needs out there.  One teacher can't possibly be expected to know about them all.  But one teacher can be sensitive to them all.  Unfortunately, the special education programs in this country are bogged down with paperwork and legalities that the teachers don't get enough time to do what is really important - spending time with their students.

I am not a teacher now - one reason is because of these issues.  There are many teachers out there who don't deserve to be teachers and many more who quit before they give themselves a chance.  Teaching is the toughest profession out there (next to parenthood) and they get little recognition.  Another part of the problem is that there are no national standards for children (special needs or mainstream).  Each state sets its own standards.  Sure there is the national law but states are the ones who say who has to learn what and in what time frame.  Standardized tests??  In Indiana, where I got my degree, ALL students must pass the state standardized test in order to graduate from high school - even special needs students.  It is not a fair evaluation - very flawed.  I'm sure that Indiana is not the only state that is screwed up on this one.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem is money.  States don't  have enough of it to fund special needs classes and even though national laws dictate that they have to do more, someone suffers.  Each state has different laws about the training of teachers - I think there should be a national standard for what teachers need to learn.  I think we need better teachers - need better pay - need more resources.  There are many problems with education.  Addressing the issues/problems of students with special needs is just one of them.

I still feel very strongly about education and teaching even though I am not a teacher now.  Yes, teachers need to be more educated about students with special needs (and not just ADD/ADHD).  Parents can also do their part by educating schools as well.  I believe it can be a community effort.
Yes, this is the situation in GA, too, largely because of NCLB (Not exclusively). All students who want to graduate--all of them--must take a graduation test, regardless of ability/disability/language barriers. It is one size fits all--which doesn't work.

We've tried and tried and tried to recruit special ed teachers--mostly through a grant funded program that gives them wonderful benefits and perqs if they will agree to work for three years in special ed. The need is very high. Few ultimately go through the program to completion. It is a lot of stuff to learn, much less the internship portion of the program.

I agree with others here--if you do not feel like your child's teacher "knows" or "understands" ADHD, educating him/her. Take in a packet of info. Describe routines and practices that help your child. Challenge the "ADHD is just an excuse for misbehaving kids" nonsense with data and information from reliable sources. Enlist the aid of an asst. principal and/or the special ed teacher(s). If your child's teacher persists on refusing to accept the diagnosis, ask for a change of teacher.

Many teachers are doing the best they can...but a teacher who has 20 kids, 5 of whom has special needs, and perhaps 1-2 children with severe exceptionalities (I'm speaking of a real life class here) to the extent they stand on their desks screaming non-stop each day, and the 1 special ed teacher for that grade is trying to visit 6 classes where this happens...well, it's a bad situation.

Dee
make that 30 kids. :) Absolutely. :)

Right now here in GA, the limits on K-2 are 22, by law, but it does go higher as kids get older.
ah, i think in IN, the limits are a bit higher but maybe not 30.  I know for high school it's 30 because when I was student teaching, I had three classes of 30 students each.  It was quite a load.  Most teachers at that school had 5 classes of 30 kids each.  150 students is a lot.  And they want teachers to be more attentive to special needs???  I don't know what the limits were for special ed classes but legalities don't make it easy for anyone.  Too much red tape.