2020 Forecast Podcast. Listen to it here.

Movie Script

Attention deficit disorder, or AD/HD, is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder of childhood. It affects about 3 - 5% of school-aged children. If one person in a family is diagnosed with AD/HD, there is a 25% probability that any other family member also has AD/HD. Students who have AD/HD may fidget and squirm in their seats, have trouble sitting still, have difficulty maintaining focus on one task, forget things, and may be impulsive. They can also be very bright, imaginative, creative, and see the world in a unique way.

Hello. My name is Ebey and I am an educator. Throughout my experience student teaching and developing professionally at the EDS teacher preparation program, I have found many problems with the way in which we educate students with AD/HD. My younger brother and father both have ADD and I saw first hand the struggles they went through. My father was diagnosed as an adult and it shed a lot of light into his education and the reasons why he felt so misunderstood by his teachers and classmates.

When I entered into the teacher preparation program at UCSD, I didn’t have a lot of experience working with students with disabilities. That quickly changed. During my first teaching placement in a second/third grade combination class, I had the opportunity to work with four students with disabilities. Two students had AD/HD, one had a cognitive impairment, and another had AD/DH, anxiety, a speech impediment, and was on anti-psychotics.  I felt so unprepared. This experience woke me up to the fact that I needed to earn how to work with students with a range or disabilities so that my students can have the best opportunity to succeed in my classroom.

During my spring quarter placement in a fifth grade classroom I had an incredibly challenging student who had AD/HD. He tested as “genius” on the IQ test, but when I got there his teacher said she couldn’t get him to do any type of productive work in class! He moved around constantly, had an incredibly messy desk, and was socially isolated. I had no idea how to educate this bright yet challenging student! Thankfully, that quarter we took a class titled “Inclusive Educational Practices”, a How-to class about working with students who have disabilities. I learned so much about how to work with students like him and was able to apply what I was learning to help him learn.

I learned that since individuals with AD/HD do not look, talk, or necessarily act too differently than their peers, often times people will assume that they can be expected to perform the daily, necessary tasks that everyone else does.  Sometimes certain tasks can be debilitating, overwhelming, and often impossible without support and structure. I wondered: what things can I change so that my student can complete the tasks that might be hard for him? I also learned that individuals with AD/HD often experience a great amount of social and relational tension that is related to how their limitations affect their family and friends. My student’s impulsiveness affected how he treated his friends. How could I help support his friendships?

In this class I learned about different ways to motivate students who have AD/HD. I was so excited when this student and I created a positive behavior plan, something that rewards students after they complete a designated portion of work. It really worked! He was finally motivated and engaged in learning! I also provided a structured time for this student to mend a friendship that was really important to him. It felt really good to have that type of success as a teacher.

I believe that society needs to start treating individuals with AD/HD differently. When I teach and interact with students who are diagnosed (or might have) AD/HD, I will build them up by pulling out their strengths, and focusing on the positive aspects of their abilities. I also have learned and noticed how challenging organization and deadlines can be for individuals with AD/HD. When I teach I plan to help my students with AD/HD in the organizational areas they struggle with the most by giving them extra support and understanding. I seek to understand the individual limitations with which a person who has any type of disability struggles so that I can better assist, equip, and empower that individual to realize his or her potential for positive integration into the world. 

Read-Time: 4 minutes 34 seconds 

Blog Post #1

Prompt: Tell us about a classroom event this year that had an impact on your professional growth and/or vision this year.