Working With Teachers

First of all, readers must understand that my solution to dealing with teachers long term was to homeschool my children. We found that the teachers here wanted the problem to go away. They did not feel they had the time or ability to provide a more personalized solution. So please take what I say with a grain of salt - I really lack the experience to give you more than a little information, and would really welcome additional input by parents who are more experienced with coping with schools and teachers.

I think it is important to state one thing that gets lost in boardrooms and teacher's lounges sometimes:

The family does not exist to support the school - Rather, the school exists to support the family.

I do have respect for the many good teachers who go out of their way to touch children's lives every day. I know also though, that many who desire to be more personal in their working with children, feel they cannot do so in a classroom setting.

Due to the structure of a classroom setting, it may be very difficult to insist that tactics like eliminating distractions be effectively carried out. It is probable that any parent wishing to do so would have to not only insist, but closely monitor to insure that it was actually happening.

In some classrooms it would be possible to use modified isolation during bookwork times - such as facing the chair toward a non-distracting background (where they can still be observed by the teacher), and placing sound protection on the child's ears. There are children to whom this would feel like social ostracism, so care must be taken about what is proposed, and how the teacher views it. Any teacher who treats such measures like a punishment would be incapable of implementing any effective classroom strategic adaptation methods, because they would communicate a negative attitude to the child.

Consider carefully whether an environmental or structural change is practical in the classroom. Some are, some are not. If it is practical, and won't interfere with the teacher's care of the other children, then plow ahead and insist. If it would inconvenience other children or the teacher, then realize that you are in for a completely different kind of battle, because if you want services, you must have a diagnosis. If you have a diagnosis, you are going to be pressured to use medications to control the symptoms.