The ADHD Toxic Classroom
I recall once when I was visiting a local school to provide some support to a colleague in helping a child that had been diagnosed with ADHD. The teacher was at her wit’s end with the child. She told me that she could not get the child to sit still or stay on task. She said he refuses to maintain eye contact. Her solution was to suggest to the parent that the child’s medication needed to be increased. I almost fell out of my seat when she made this recommendation. She turned to me during this meeting to support her position. Ethically, I could not support her recommendation. Let me elaborate on why I felt so strongly that she should not have made the recommendation.
First, I feel that while there are many well meaning professionals in our education systems (myself included) I strongly feel that only a physician or psychologist should be making a recommendation to adjust prescription medications. These sorts of recommendations made by anyone who is not legally qualified to prescribe are nothing more than fodder for litigation. Granted her intention was altruistic in nature but an eager attorney could make short work this sort of practice. I would caution any school administrator to inform their staff of the seriousness of this type of dialogue with a parent.
My second concern was the teacher´s expectations of the child. She was a first year teacher with little experience with children who have the diagnosis of ADHD. She felt that if the child´s medication was dosed properly the child would be able to stay in his desk fully attentive for the entire hour. Few elementary school age children have the ability to remain still and focused four an entire hour of instruction; much less a child who struggles with ADHD. I know adults who can´t sit still for an hour, and struggle to remain attentive during a thirty minute meeting.
My final concern was the classroom itself. The teacher had obviously spent considerable time and effort in creating an environment that any child would love to spend a day in. The classroom was designed like a jungle with vines and artificial trees, posters of jungle animals with name tags and information about the animal. The room was a work of art! The issue with this type of room is that it is toxic to the learning process of an ADHD student.
To understand why I make this assertion one must have some understanding of the ADHD experience. So I will attempt to describe how this setting would feel to an ADHD child. Picture yourself in a large home electronics store where there is a room with thirty or forty of the latest and greatest television sets on display. Place yourself in this room. Now tune one set to your favorite educational show. Then tune each remaining set to a different channel so that every set is broadcasting something different. Now, turn the volume up on all of the sets so that there is a cacophony of noise. At this point you may be able to glean bits and pieces from the educational show that you are to be focused on. However, it would be difficult. Granted this is a bit of an exaggeration but it illustrates the point of how a room full of beautiful distractions like this teacher put together could destroy the learning process for a child with ADHD.
For more information on ADHD and similar topics please review some of our archived articles and visit the following websites:
www.add.org
www.americanreporter.net
Source: American Chronicle, CA
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/71767
