Do you remember a teacher in school that regularly upset you? Has your child with ADHD had a teacher that just didn’t understand him/her, and it took an emotional toll on your child? Adam couldn’t control his impulsivity in first grade. During storytime, he regularly spoke out without raising his hand and laid (correct grammar?) down on his mat instead of sitting up straight like the other kids. Not knowing what to do, the teacher directed Adam to the principal’s office for a lesson with the principal. When boys with whom he really wanted to make friends taunted him, he reacted by hitting the boys. Instead of talking to Adam and investigating what happened, Adam’s teacher managed him by once again delivering him to the principal’s office.
What message did Adam get? He is a bad boy. Our kids with ADHD are complex. Teachers have on average at least 2 children with ADHD in every general education classroom with 30 students. Yet, very few general education teachers have received instruction on how to teach children with ADHD. Teachers need intensive training to understand children with ADHD and learn strategies to effectively teach our kids. CHADD’s Teacher to Teacher program meets this need.
In CHADD’s membership survey, 78.9% of parents believed that CHADD is most helpful to the ADHD community by giving training to educators about managing ADHD in the classroom. We need your help to make it happen.
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