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Teachers are not qualified to diagnose children with ADD, ADHD, or any other disorder/disability. Having said that, the teacher role is limited to sharing their observations about the students with parents, licensed psychologist, or any professional who is licensed to make a diagnosis. After the diagnosis is confirmed, teachers can be part of the team that is responsible to develop an educational plan for that student.
OP- I'm confused. Were you misdiagnosed or mismedicated (I don't think that's a word, but I'm using it anyway!)?
And in either case, don't you feel that your own parents and the physician they chose were/are equally, if not more so, at fault for that than the one teacher who likely was your teacher for less than one year? What symptoms were you exhibiting in the classroom that wold have lead your teacher to think that you may have ADD or ADHD? Were you disruptive to your own learning or the learning of others around you? Do you feel that your teacher, if noticing that your were struggling, should have said nothing to your parents and just allow you to struggle, and (perhaps) make it difficult for the teacher to teach you and your peers as well? What, if anything, should a teacher do in that situation if not make the parents aware of the child's struggles? Would it be different if we were talking about suspected dyslexia, hearing or vision problems?
Most of those questions I will not answer to protect my privacy.
But I will share my thoughts on teachers who pressure parents.
Teachers and schools hold a special kind of power over children. They can hold a child back, make them sit often at detention, give them bad grades, or in my case, pay so close attention that every single thing I did that they could twist into a symptom of ADD they would report and use as a reason to call my parents in and scare them into doing what they ask with visions of me becoming a criminal thug. It ended up with PT meetings being held in the fifth grade with tape recorders on the table.
People should really read profiles before putting their feet in their mouths.
I am from America. Read my profile.
The topic is not literal, but to say a teacher diagnoses a kid is as good as any other way of putting it. My point was, the influence a teacher has may be over reaching and the professionals who are qualified too accepting of what a teacher says. The only safeguards against this are the parents, but parents are also becoming accepting of what teachers, other professionals and day time TV talk show hosts like Oprah say.
I don't know that anyone is more qualified to notice signs of ADHD or other behavioral problems in young kids. A teacher has spent 6-7 hours/day 5 days/week, 9 months/year with kids the same grade level and age as "your" child. Who better to notice when one kid stands out as having issues? Even the parent can sometimes be blind to their own child's problems, especially if they (the parent) don't interact with other kids regularly. Teachers SHOULD take notice when a child has trouble paying attention, and SHOULD bring it to the parent's attention. I can only imagine the number of kids who slip through the cracks because the teachers and/or the parents choose to ignore the problem.
Most of those questions I will not answer to protect my privacy.
But I will share my thoughts on teachers who pressure parents.
Teachers and schools hold a special kind of power over children. They can hold a child back, make them sit often at detention, give them bad grades, or in my case, pay so close attention that every single thing I did that they could twist into a symptom of ADD they would report and use as a reason to call my parents in and scare them into doing what they ask with visions of me becoming a criminal thug. It ended up with PT meetings being held in the fifth grade with tape recorders on the table.
Okay- I respect your privacy in respect to the questions that were specific to you, but what about the other non-specific questions? What should a teacher do if a child is struggling and their struggle is also impacting the other children that the teacher is trying to teach?
Most of those questions I will not answer to protect my privacy.
But I will share my thoughts on teachers who pressure parents.
Teachers and schools hold a special kind of power over children. They can hold a child back, make them sit often at detention, give them bad grades, or in my case, pay so close attention that every single thing I did that they could twist into a symptom of ADD they would report and use as a reason to call my parents in and scare them into doing what they ask with visions of me becoming a criminal thug. It ended up with PT meetings being held in the fifth grade with tape recorders on the table.
This is EXACTLY how it is done. The school places parents in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If the parent takes the child to a physician, at the URGENT request of the school, receives a diagnosis and is medicated, the school absolves themselves of the situation by stating they only informed the parent of the behaviors they are seeing. What the parent and/or doctor does with that information has nothing to do with them.
If the parent DOESN'T seek an outside physician, then the parent is neglecting their responsibilities in getting help for their child, and they begin to push harder and harder until they back the parent into a corner.
The "diagnosing" of children by the schools is still alive and well! I put diagnosing in quotes because legally, the school can not give an actual diagnosis, yet they CLEARLY articulate exactly what diagnosis they feel a child should be branded with.
Just YESTERDAY, mind you, I attended a meeting with my child's teacher and school psychologist. The teacher is the one who got the ball rolling. By the end of the meeting my child was unofficially diagnosed with no less than SIX disorders! Let me list them:
The teacher had very little input. The psychologist did all the talking. Apparently, the school psychologist CAN suggest possible disorders.
List of behaviors which were all apparently displayed during 3 15 to 20 minute observations:
EXTREMELY hyperactive (Seriously, my child is UNDER active!)
EXTREMELY impulsive (No evidence of this at home whatsoever!)
CONSTANT fidgeting (Yes, I agree when he is bored, he fidgets. He must be very bored at school)
CONSTANTLY wringing his hands (NEVER observed this behavior)
Plays with his hair, fiddles with his necklace (Yes, I have observed this. Get out the drugs!!)
Not attending to the teacher (I believe that, but honestly, how uncommon is that? Considering he is a STRAIGHT A student, he is obviously attending to something!!)
Rocking back and forth in his chair (I think I would have noticed this! NEVER, EVER, have I seen my son sit around and rock in his chair!)
SPINNING on the playground. OMG! A 10 year old SPINNING! Red flag for sure!)
And my favorite!!! He farts out loud in class in front of the girls and says It's no big deal!!! And now some of the girls in the class don't want to be near him! WOW! Who ever heard of a 10 year old boy grossing out the girls in his class! Mortifying! The psychologist actually told the teacher she needs to put a stop to this immediately! We can't have him farting out loud! Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!
Is my son an angel? NOPE! In fact, he has been copping an attitude of late at home and apparently with his teacher. (Would have been nice if she had informed me of this, but didn't until yesterday).
So, when I ask what strategies she has been putting in place to address this issue (since she hadn't informed me of the issue), I get a blank stare! When I start suggesting ways to address this issue in class I am told they CAN NOT address these issues until he sees a physician that will tell them what is wrong with him!
And my all time favorite: "What can we do? There is nothing we can do on our end. We have no consequences we can implement." Shrug of the shoulders, hands in the air, palms up, as if to say we can't do anything. You need to get a diagnosis!
MIND YOU, unless the teacher actually CONTACTS me within a REASONABLE amount of time to let me know what is going on, I CAN NOT ADDRESS IT EITHER!
OH YES, the diagnosing of our children by school personnel is alive and well!
And let me just add that somehow, despite the fact that my child has all these 'disorders', he has somehow managed to make it to the 4th grade without all these issues coming up prior to March of this year!! If he really has all these disorders, it's a wonder that he can function AT ALL!
wsop- the teacher and school psych. wouldn't take up their own time calling a meeting with you if they didn't feel that there was an issue. Burying your head in the sand will not make it go away. Do your child a favor and get him evaluated. It could make the rest of his life a lot easier.
wsop- the teacher and school psych. wouldn't take up their own time calling a meeting with you if they didn't feel that there was an issue. Burying your head in the sand will not make it go away. Do your child a favor and get him evaluated. It could make the rest of his life a lot easier.
And you can make this determination because you know my child so well? Or is it because the "experts" know a child better than the parent? I have been a parent for 25 years. It was suggested at one time my oldest was ADD. As a parent, knew that wasn't true and went on my merry way. My oldest went on and successfully completed his education graduating summa *** laude and is now a self sufficient and so far successful adult. Thank goodness I didn't run out and have him dx'd and medicated.
Middle child same thing. Suggested my dd was ADD and would NEVER be able to function academically in the following grades. Again, knew this wasn't true. My dd has been on honor roll every marking period since, is very social, participates in sports, great personality and has no behavior problems whatsoever. She is in middle school now. Thank goodness I didn't run out and have her dx'd and medicated.
Now same thing with my youngest, though I have to say they certainly have learned how to become creative!! Talk about embellishment. Do you really believe that a child with so many serious disorders could actually make it to 4th grade without these issues being noticed prior to one month ago? Come on! Did you not read some of the ridiculous assertions that were made? Talk about far reaching! Had they focused exclusively on some of the REAL issues, and there were some (taking too long to complete his morning routine, not always following directions) AND had suggestions on how to address these issues rather than saying there is noting they can do, then we would be in business. Considering the SERIOUSNESS they have placed on the farting out loud issue, I'm having a hard time lending credibility to anything they have said.
Also, I have been in the classroom on several occasions and have been on several field trips. The teacher has absolutely NO CONTROL over her entire class. I can not tell you how many times I have been tempted to step in and take over. I have witnessed her making sarcastic remarks to students that were totally inappropriate coming from an adult speaking to a 9 year old child. At one point she was making the kids give her a snack or drink from their lunch box if they were being inattentive to her while she was teaching. Her definition of inattentive was if she asked a question about the lesson and the child didn't know the answer, they were required to go their lunch box and get out their snack and give it to her. The snacks were not returned!
And yes, for the first time in 25 years, I went over a teacher's head and complained to the principal. And now, 2 months later, my son is an obvious basket case. Seriously, I'll say it again. With the inordinate amount of disorders my child suffers from, it's nothing short of amazing that he can even get out of bed and get to school at all! <Insert sarcasm>
And you can make this determination because you know my child so well? Or is it because the "experts" know a child better than the parent? I have been a parent for 25 years. It was suggested at one time my oldest was ADD. As a parent, knew that wasn't true and went on my merry way. My oldest went on and successfully completed his education graduating summa *** laude and is now a self sufficient and so far successful adult. Thank goodness I didn't run out and have him dx'd and medicated.
Middle child same thing. Suggested my dd was ADD and would NEVER be able to function academically in the following grades. Again, knew this wasn't true. My dd has been on honor roll every marking period since, is very social, participates in sports, great personality and has no behavior problems whatsoever. She is in middle school now. Thank goodness I didn't run out and have her dx'd and medicated.
Now same thing with my youngest, though I have to say they certainly have learned how to become creative!! Talk about embellishment. Do you really believe that a child with so many serious disorders could actually make it to 4th grade without these issues being noticed prior to one month ago? Come on! Did you not read some of the ridiculous assertions that were made? Talk about far reaching! Had they focused exclusively on some of the REAL issues, and there were some (taking too long to complete his morning routine, not always following directions) AND had suggestions on how to address these issues rather than saying there is noting they can do, then we would be in business. Considering the SERIOUSNESS they have placed on the farting out loud issue, I'm having a hard time lending credibility to anything they have said.
Also, I have been in the classroom on several occasions and have been on several field trips. The teacher has absolutely NO CONTROL over her entire class. I can not tell you how many times I have been tempted to step in and take over. I have witnessed her making sarcastic remarks to students that were totally inappropriate coming from an adult speaking to a 9 year old child. At one point she was making the kids give her a snack or drink from their lunch box if they were being inattentive to her while she was teaching. Her definition of inattentive was if she asked a question about the lesson and the child didn't know the answer, they were required to go their lunch box and get out their snack and give it to her. The snacks were not returned!
And yes, for the first time in 25 years, I went over a teacher's head and complained to the principal. And now, 2 months later, my son is an obvious basket case. Seriously, I'll say it again. With the inordinate amount of disorders my child suffers from, it's nothing short of amazing that he can even get out of bed and get to school at all! <Insert sarcasm>
No, not because I know him so well, because the teacher does! The teacher who spends all day every day with him. A lot of people with a lot of different disorders get out of bed every day and put one foot in front of the other. That doesn't mean it's not difficult for some people. I have a relative that was just diagnosed with asperger's in Jr High! He's managed to make it through 8 years of school, but it hasn't been easy.
Are you the poster who started the thread about the teacher taking snacks from the kids? I remember that. That is bizarre, and I don't blame you for having reservations. But that's not the case with all teachers and all students. In general, I think parents should pay more attention to what teachers are trying to tell them.
No, not because I know him so well, because the teacher does! The teacher who spends all day every day with him.
Not really. School is only 6 hours a day, then you factor in lunch, recess and specials and the time spent with the kids reduces to at most 5 hours, or 300 minutes a day. Now, divide that time by the 25 kids in the classroom and it works out to less than 10 minutes per kid, per day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rkb0305
A lot of people with a lot of different disorders get out of bed every day and put one foot in front of the other.
I agree with you here, but a single diagnosis was not suggested. They didn't suggest that maybe it's Sensory Processing Disorder, or maybe he has ODD. No, what was suggested to me was that he had ALL SIX disorders! The psych listed her reasons for each, except for SPD. She just said that right off the bat he has SPD. ODD because he was supposedly mad the teacher told him to work on his Math. OCD because he was constantly playing with his necklace and hair,ADD because he wasn't attending to the teacher, ADHD because he couldn't sit still for one single minute, and ASD because she observed him spinning on the playground and rocking in his chair.
I SWEAR to you, other than playing with his necklace and hair, he doesn't do any of these behaviors. Well, sometimes he may spin to make himself dizzy but so does every other kid I know. Does this make them all autistic?
And really think about this logically. While an individual may conceivably have ONE disorder that goes unnoticed or more likely ignored, do you really think that an individual could have SIX serious disorders and no one has noticed this up until a month ago? Or these disorders somehow developed within the past month? Do you really think that a child with SIX serious disorders could manage to get STRAIGHT A's every marking period, every year without a single academic struggle? Do you think a child with all these disorders would be able to develop long lasting relationships with friends?
That is why I can not give any credibility to either his teacher or the psychologist. And what adult actually believes that a 10 year old boy farting and grossing out the girls is abnormal??? And the psych was SERIOUSLY SHOCKED that I didn't find this absolutely appalling. I am telling you, I have never experienced anything like this in my life. And strangely, they kept using the word fart! I kid you not! You think they would have used the term passed gas.
Some other things she found SHOCKING! He HOPPED to his seat. HOPPED! Inappropriate, yes? but shocking? She was actually wearing an expression of incredulity that a child would even consider hopping!
Now, does that mean my son has no issues? I don't think so. In fact I think most kids have some sort of issue at one time or another. Lately, my son has definitely had an attitude at home and thinks he can get away with anything. These behaviors have spilled over into the classroom and absolutely should be addressed.
But to try and suggest he has SIX serious disorders is ridiculous. Some of his behaviors (many, actually) have been either misinterpreted, grossly exaggerated and/or completely fabricated.
As a parent, I am honestly, sincerely concerned that my child is in the hands of these people!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rkb0305
Are you the poster who started the thread about the teacher taking snacks from the kids? I remember that. That is bizarre, and I don't blame you for having reservations. But that's not the case with all teachers and all students. In general, I think parents should pay more attention to what teachers are trying to tell them.
Yes. I seriously believe this teacher is not playing with a full deck. I know it's hard to believe that anyone who has made children their career could behave in such a negligent fashion (because I truly believe misdiagnosing kids without all the facts is negligent), but I swear to you that is what is happening here. My head is not in the sand. I went into this meeting fully prepared to work with his teacher and the psych on whatever was going on.
Not in a million years did I suspect they would try to dx him with one disorder, never mind six! And considering my track record with my other kids, you would think I would know better!
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