Friday, March 7, 2008

What part of DISORDER do you not understand?

Isn't it just lovely when you are having a conversation with someone and they don't seem to listen to anything you say. This is how I've felt all year every time I talk to my daughter's teacher. She seems to live on her own little planet. It's not the same one where I reside.

Today I had my parent teacher conference with my daughter's teacher. She said that my daughter was doing well, progressing well, etc. When my daughter mentioned that she was excited to finally be getting her 504 plan written up, her teacher got this horrified, deer in the headlights look, and proceeded to tell me that she didn't think my daughter needed one. She then said that my daughter could do everything required in class if she would just focus. FOCUS? Is that not another word for Attention? Is Attention not the thing that my daughter has a clearly diagnosed DISORDER with?

I'm so sick and tired of everyone thinking that my daughter should just try harder, I could scream. She tries hard. She tries very hard. I wish people could see that. It's so frustrating to her when people treat her like she is lazy or not trying. I'm happy that next week is spring break and I get to spend some time with my kids away from school. They deserve it.

1 comments:

Angel The Alien said...

As an adult with ADHD, I totally know what you're saying! I didn't even get diagnosed until I was already out of high school, so I went through my whole life hearing, "If only you would try harder, you're just lazy, you just need to be punished," etc. There will always be people in your daughter's life who will REFUSE to understand. They don't mean any harm... Many people actually think they are COMPLIMENTING you when they say, "I don't think you have ADHD, you seem fine to me, you just need to do this and this." I guess you just have to put up with people like that and think of firm answers to give them.