The Role of the Teacher in Diagnosis Process

Dear J! She keeps providing me fodder for my blog topics. She stopped by last night to bring some cream for my husband, who tried to slice his finger off with a utility knife the other day. JT, her son, is her suspected 2nd ADHD child. Actually, I believe she has one ADD and one ADHD. Like mine, her son appears to be the poster child for ADHD! Anyway, I use the term ADHD, but you fill in ADD if it fits your situation, unless of course we are talking about the hyperactivity part, and then you can just skip over that.

A teacher is not permitted to diagnose ADHD. Of course not. They didn't go to medical school or get licensed as an LPC or psychologist. But, the teacher is on the front lines in the war zone at school with your child. They are in a position to notice behavioural or learning signs that indicate a disability. They are obligated to point out to you that your child is having issues in the classroom.

Let me digress here for a moment. In 2nd grade, my son was having some problems getting all his work done in school. His teacher was a girlie teacher, meaning, she favored the girls and loathed the boys. All the boys would get critical notes home all the time about their boyish activity or grades. The girls would get notes in their folders, but they were full of praise. Be aware, teachers, parents do talk. We figured this out pretty quick.

I noticed at home that my son was practically sitting on top of the television. A new development. This suggested to me that he needed his eyes examined. I took him to the eye doctor, and sure enough, my son needed glasses. Bingo, problem solved in class about getting his work done. In my opinion, I feel the teacher should have noticed he couldn't see the BOARD! However, she was too busy with her anti-boy feelings to have gone beyond and seen the obvious.

And let me say in support of this girlie teacher theory, she said to me one day, "I don't know how you handle having a boy. I could never do it." Mother of two girls.

Let me also say that I have several educators in my family. I consider all of them exemplary individuals. My dear cousin was teacher of the year at the school where she taught. She noticed things. She brought things up to parents. Yes, she was busy with all the paperwork the government has thrown on her on top of everything else, but she cared for the children. She loved her job.

Back to JT. List of 44 words to know for test. Knew 4. Busy boy in school. Active. At home, mother sees major signs of ADHD. She knows because of older ADD child, S. Teacher says that JT is fine. Mother knows the truth. PAPERWORK. MORE WORK. Child put through with no issues to next year. Mother discussing with current teacher who says they cannot diagnose problems. Of course, they can't diagnose. But their expert opinion as teachers can refer you to have your child tested for learning disabilities. If you choose not to do it, it's your own fault. It's free with the school district as I have mentioned before.

What I'm trying to say without bashing teachers because I love teachers is that some do not want to be involved. Some do not believe in ADHD. Some just don't want to deal with it. Some are just plain ignorant about it because it is NOT covered in their degree curriculum.

This amazes me. Statistically speaking, one child in every classroom has ADHD. One in every classroom. That means to me that on a daily basis, every teacher will be dealing with ADHD. If they teach multiple students such as in junior high or high school, then one student in every class they have will have ADHD. This to me says very loudly that it should be covered at the very least in a continuing education class. It should be covered with in-service training at the school. And for heaven's sake, it needs to be covered as part of the degree curriculum!

And so again, it comes down to you as the parent to be the advocate for your child. You must be involved with your child's education.

That means having the facts and being prepared. My personal favorite note on Matt's report cards is "needs to pay more attention in class." Hello. Did they not read his IEP (more on that another time). He has ADHD. Attention Defecit. He has problems paying attention in class. That one always chaps my hide!

You need to be supportive of the teacher(s) that your child has. I always tell them that I am more than willing to do my part at home in assisting them. They encounter so much apathy today. Teachers are thrilled to have an involved parent. If you do your part, then 9 times out of 10, the teacher will do theirs.

Yes, I have encountered the occasional teacher who doesn't want to do anything. One year, Matt had a teacher who refused to follow his IEP, a legally binding document. She felt it was giving him special advantage over the other children in the class. I did spend a few minutes pondering how having a learning disability gives you an advantage over other students in the class if you make accomodations to "normalize" their learning environment. I met with this teacher, and even offered to share my favorite book Teaching Teens with ADHD, check out my book recommendations. I gave her facts. I gave her support. Finally, I gave up and gave her head to the principal who almost had a stroke over what she had said in her e-mails. Why? Because of her refusal to acknowledge his IEP, she could have lost her teaching license. I was threatening to go to the district office and file a formal complaint with the state.

I'm not a bitch. I have my facts and the federal law behind me. Do your job, and I will do mine. If you don't do your job, then I will do what it takes to protect my child. If that means reporting you for refusing to follow his IEP, then so be it.

Sadly for her, she had to meet with the principal every day for the rest of the year and be counseled on special needs students and the requirements of the law. She was also harrassing my son outside the classroom in school, and she had to be chatted with about that.

Let me not leave a sour taste in your mouth about educators. She was the exception. The majority I have found, have been great! The 5th grade teacher he had, Mrs. S, was a dream come true. She became a teacher later in life and had an ADHD child herself. She followed his IEP to the letter and went above and beyond. I loved her.

His 6th grade main teacher was hand-picked (yes, you can do that regardless of what they tell you). She was gifted with the ADHD population. He had two other teachers that year. One had to be brought along, but she responded and turned out fine. The other had a problem acknowledging ADHD and kept complaining to me about ADHD attributes...doesn't pay attention, easily distracted, can't sit still, doodles...every time I talked with her, it was like talking to a wall. She just stared at me as if I was from Mars. Young girl. Saw Matt in church fidgeting. Told him that's what she expected from him. Really? You mean the hyperactivity and inattentiveness can come in to play in church? Oh my...lucky for me you can outlive the unresponsive ones. Remember, your child will pass and leave them behind for someone else to deal with. You only hope you planted the seed.

To summarize my ramblings: the teacher is your ally in the war in the classroom on ADHD. If you suspect something at home then, she must be an active participant, and you need to do your part to show her you are supportive. Praise her. Kill her with kindness. Be genuine. She will respond. (Yes, he may respond, too! I know there are male teachers. But I'm talking about my experiences, and they have all been shes.) Get the facts. Know the facts. Use the facts. Keep emotions out and present data. People can fight emotions. They can't fight data. Use the resources available to you at the school. Get your child tested. It has to be documented in order for you child to use those resources and move ahead.

The number one reason why do all this? For your child to be successful. I just told Matt the other day, that my whole goal was to get him through school with out failing a single grade, which is atypical of the ADHD kid. That would make him proud and give him something to stand out above the crowd. At least in my mind. He smiled at that. It made him happy.

The Right Counselor

Part of dealing with ADHD is getting the right people lined up to help you along your journey to success. Finding the right counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist to assist with poor organizational skills, time management problems, forgettfulness, anger management, friends and self-esteem issues, to name a few of the known factors that afflict ADHD kids. Adults often have the same problems, but along the way, many have learned to compensate themselves for these. And I'm not writing about adults. I'm writing about my son!

There is an equilateral triangle that needs to be kept in balance in the treatment of ADHD. The doctor, the family, and the school/work are each of the sides. All of these need to work together as a team. If one part does not cooperate, the balance is shifted and an adjustment or change needs to be made. This is a team effort, people!

Back to the counselor. As luck would have it, I was talking to a friend of mine last night who happens to have a diagnosed child with ADHD and a suspected child. The suspected ADHD kid is getting to the age where he is really showing signs. She knows what to look for because she already has a daughter at home with it.

My friend, J, was telling me that she had taken the plunge to get her daughter, S, a counselor to assist in getting her daughter successful outcomes at school, home, and socially. I really could go on about each of these particular areas, but for right now, I'm going to focus on the counselor. All the rest will be covered in due time.

For the past several years, J and I have been talking about our issues with our ADHD kids. She's learned alot from me because I've had more experience. My son is older than her daughter so I've walked this walk a little longer! This is one reason she decided to find a counselor.

On their first visit, J asked about the "rebound affect". The psychologist she chose had no idea what she was talking about. She'd never heard of the fact that kids who come off their meds like Concerta and Ritalin, have about an hour where it's best not to take them to Walmart, go out to dinner, or start homework.

If your child suffers from ADHD, you know what I'm talking about. I really don't know about other medications because I've not had experience with them. So I'm going to discuss what I know. But if you feel this applies to your med situation, now you know exactly what it is.

It sounds worse than it is if youare not familiar with ADHD. I'm sure the anti-med community would jump all over this. I'm not discussing the benefits of medications today, however. I plan to chat about that another time.

During the rebound effect, if you are at Walmart, for example, you may experience a melt-down in the aisle. This situation is one you want to avoid, of course. The same would be true about starting homework or trying to keep them seated and behaved in a controlled environment like a restaurant.

Your whole goal is to help boost their self-esteem and lower your family stress level by doing what will give all of you a successful outcome. This by no means infers pandering to your child's every whim. It means not going to Walmart when their meds are wearing off.

They are taking their medication in order to calm their brain and rid it of all the noise that goes on. If the meds are wearing off, their attention ability is diminished and their agitation level is higher. All of us with ADHD kids know they can be easily excited. So here you are at Walmart with a cart full of groceries and your kid wants something in the frozen food aisle. You don't want to get it on this shopping trip, and so you say, "No."

If your child is medicated, he may buck you a bit as any normal child would do. You do have to remember to separate normal child/teen behaviour from ADHD behavior. But if your child is in the throws of "rebound", he will buck you by making a scene that involves argueing. As you know, the kid will escalate themselves. All you have to do is stand there and their temper takes off (hence, the need for anger management).

Now you have an aisle full of people looking at you and judging you as a bad parent because they have no idea your kid has ADHD. And even if they did, some folks just believe that is due to bad parenting anyway. You now have to call upon all that delicious counseling advice to de-escalate your child and exit the store before someone with free advice decides to intervene taking the situation to a whole other level.

I know you have this experience. It might not have been in Walmart. It occurred somewhere, and you know exactly what I am talking about. So my sincere advice is to learn to manage this time of day so that everyone is happy. It's great family management. It's great for the positive home life, and it helps with your child's self esteem.

Now you see why it is so important for J's phsychologist to know what the "rebound affect" is. How can she help with it, if hse hasn't heard of it, and what else hasn't she heard of?

The minute she said this to me, I said to her, "You need to see someone else."

J agreed. She's smart!

Keep looking for counselors, psychologists or psychiatrists until you find one that really knows what they are talking about and meshes well with your child. If you don't, what is the point?

Thanks J for chatting with me last night and giving me the subject of my blog today! An important topic and the added benefit of talking about the "rebound affect".

The Diagnosis- ADHD

My son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 10 years old. He was in the 4th grade. I suspected that something was wrong in 3rd grade, but he was still able to compensate for his learning disability. He also had an extraordinary teacher who was getting her masters in Special Education. She treated each child as an individual, and therefor, lead her class to a successful school year.

The proverbial you-know-what hit the fan in 4th grade. I believe it was divine intervention. The principal had mentioned to me at the end of 3rd grade that she thought my son might have ADHD. She suggested I get him tested. I knew nothing about this ADHD thing so I know nothing about what was tipping her off. He didn't appear to have any problems in school. His grades were fine. He was a normal boy.

4th grade was a disaster. His teacher was not there at the start of the year due to the death of her son. Obviously, this was an extreme situation, and I don't fault her for not being there! The substitute was a nice enough lady who did her job and things moved along until they decided to split the days/weeks. One thing an ADHD kid needs is continuity. Two teachers with two different styles and expectations was a recipe for disaster.

Not only was the teacher situation bad. The classrooms were open, meaning that there were no walls- only barriers. This meant that all the noise from the first grade rooms through the sixth grade rooms could be heard. ADHD kids don't need any distractions, and all that noise made it more difficult to focus.

The teacher situation, the open classrooms, and last but not least, private school. Private school does not believe that a round peg can go in a square hole. They want all their children to be within certain standards. Those standards include high test scores so they look good when they advertise for new students. They do not include anyone with any disability. Frankly, they don't have the resources to handle it anyway.

Matt began to forget his assignments, homework, parts of his uniform. These were all little things that earned him demerits and upset the teacher who was grieving for her dead son. Soon, the class realized the teacher was frustrated and if they blamed things on Matt, whether he did it or not, she would immediatly blame Matt.

I started talking with a friend of mine whose son was nearing graduation. He had ADHD. She had been through the ringer with him as far as meds, schools, teachers, friends...you name it. She had dealt with it all, and in the process became, as many parents do whose children suffer from various things, an expert out of necessity.

I became increasingly suspicious that my son had ADHD. I talked with another friend who worked for the local health department as a psychologist. She asked me a few questions and then gave me a copy of a questionairre they use in diagnosing ADHD. It was a quick and dirty one that would either lead to more testing or lead in another direction.

After we gave it back to her, it screamed that Matt had ADHD. Meanwhile I'm still fighting with the school, who is giving me nothing but grief, and definitely no help. It was a Christian school, which surprised and disturbed me. Where was the understanding for the child that might be different?

I took the diagnosis to the principal of the private school and she assured me, "that in all her years of teaching, she knew kids who had ADHD, and my son certainly did not." She gave me the run around.

Meanwhile, I was investigating getting Matt tested through the public school, which is done by school psychologist. It is a battery of tests that if done through a counselor or private practice office can often cost upwards of $900! These tests again screamed that my son had ADHD. They involve some surveys of teachers and testing on Matt of various kinds.

To make a long story short, I yanked my son out of private school mid-year because the principal and his teacher were being such jerks about everything. I enrolled him in public school who immediately began working with him in resource.

He had a lovely teacher named, Ms. Staley, who had a nice, calm manner, but was firm with her students. What amazed me was after paying for a supposed superior education, the private school curriculum was behind in math and grammar. Matt had some catching up to do there.

We started seeing a counselor as well regarding the ADHD. ADHD affects the entire family, and we needed to learn to manage it as a whole.

More about that later.

The important thing is: if you suspect your child has ADHD, have the school test him/her. It is free. You will either find out yes or no and can move from there. The worst thing is to suspect something isn't right and do nothing. There is so much that can be done to overcome so many things. I have friends whose children have had speech therapy as young as 3 through the public schools. There are occupational therapists to work with motor skill problems. Many school districts have amazing programs for children with autism. I know because I have seen what taking advantage of all that has done for my cousin's autistic son.

Finally, if you are dead set against educating your child in the public school system, they still have to provide the services to your child. It is up to you to get them to the services at their convenience, but they are still available and can be a lifesaver!