Teachers apparent lack of interest.

When I first learned about ADD I was surprised that I never heard of it before. Nobody talked about it, and yet I was impressed by the numbers of people currently diagnosed at the time and wondered, "Why doesn't everybody know about this?" 

After a couple of years I saw many prime candidates for ADHD come running out of the classrooms, and I visited my son's class to discover he was not the only one, and all the students in the class were disrupted by their behavior. I later learned that because of their behavior, they didn't have many friends either. I went to a few CHADD meetings in a town close by and noticed that only parents attended them. This gave me a great idea: let's bring these meetings to the school and get the teachers involved. 

I soon began a parents help group at my son's elementary school in an effort to get everyone educated about ADD so we could all work together on creating strategies to help the kids learn to deal with ADD, and to lessen their effects on the other students in the class. Parents and Teachers spend the most time with the Alpha Delta Delta, and if they talk together using the same language and with a joint understanding of the problem, I thought that everyone would benefit from these one hour meetings. Having it at the school should have given the teachers little excuse not to make it. 

I invited all the teachers to come and I brought a huge box of articles and materials that both parents and teachers could use inside and outside the classroom. Nobody came. I tried for months. I stuffed the teachers in boxes with brightly colored invitations.  I promoted free snacks and beverages, thinking that after school they may be hungry. I thought for sure I could help these hard working people gain a little more control of the classroom and they would all be so grateful. Instead of thanks, all I saw were apologies from an already tired and disillusioned staff. They needed the information I could have given them to make their jobs and their lives easier, but they were too tired and discouraged to try.

They were already coming to a once a quarter IEP for my son to discuss progress and make any suggestions for future strategies. They were already dealing with ADHD every day as well as extra sessions for IEP's, so why did they not come to get some help from people who had the resources they needed?

I think it was because I was not a doctor, and I think the fact they weren't mandated to come probably helped too. They already have to go to outside classes and attend special Teacher meetings once a month where kids get out of school early so they can participate in training. That's it. If even the schools know that a teachers life is hectic, then why shouldn't I follow their lead?

The group disbanded after about six months of having very  lonely meetings, although we did help each other quite a bit. So what did I do about this lack of interest or support from the teachers? I used their time too. Whenever we had a scheduled Parent-Teacher conference, or IEP, or whatever reason we had a meeting about my son, I brought along some support materials surrounding some of the issues they had mentioned the meeting before. They were going to take this stuff home if it killed them. Maybe they might even read it. Slowly but surely something was going to change and the word is going to get out. ADHD is real, the Kids are not bad, and there is something they can do about it.

Hopefully ADHD has been brought to the public eye enough that there is some education going on in the school system. Teachers have a very difficult and time-consuming job, and they get little credit for all the work they  do. If your Alpha Delta Delta is still in school, tell their teacher how much you appreciate all their extra effort and support. One thing I ALWAYS did after the IEP's and any other meeting was to thank each and every participant from the bottom of my heart and let them know that I really appreciated all the extra effort they were putting into helping my son, and I thanked them for being on OUR team. I am sure that these final two minutes of the meeting were probably some of the most productive.

So much for my Parent/Teacher support group, but that didn't mean they don't work. Parent Support groups are incredibly helpful. Next week I'll talk more about support groups, how they work, and where to find them.