![]() It is incredibly hard, but possible, for a school to contain and eventually nurture a student who has been rejected by a few schools already. The combination of all these challenges creates the negative spiral which leads to students getting passed around from school to school in “managed moves”, each another nail in the coffin of their motivation, or even out of the education system to NEET. They come to feel that there is no point bothering because they can’t succeed. ![]() It is hardly surprising, then, that ADHD can evolve into other mental health problems such as depression.Īnother obstacle for many ADHD students is poor motivation for school work. ADHD students are just as hurt by being told off, and by the dislike of peers and adults, as anyone else. The sometimes cocky “I don’t care” attitude that an ADHD student might present is often a defence mechanism against this. This time, the student knows that they are at the end of their Pastoral Support Plan and could be permanently excluded, or worse: sent to another school in a managed move to fail again.Īnyone who has sat on tribunal appeal panels for exclusion will have seen numerous iterations of this story.Ĭommon to many ADHD students, too, is a low sense of self-worth resulting from negative responses from peers and adults. The accretion of these experiences leads the student to hatred of school and a disregard for rules which don’t seem to apply to them.Ĭut to their secondary school geography teacher who is known for being strict: the student is told to sit still at the threat of being excluded yet again. They will sit countless times in an exclusion of some sort thinking about how bad they are and how they aren’t like the other kids in their class. With age, some of the symptoms improve, but the condition can be painful for the young person, who is probably just as frustrated by it as their teachers are.Ī student with typical ADHD will frequently experience being told off, being told to do better and be better. We can quickly jump the chasm from all-inclusive, haloed armchair pedagogue to exasperated teacher who deals harshly with or excludes the vulnerable, needy child who is making the lesson unbearable for everyone involved.īut the desire to blame ADHD students, to kick them out of the lesson to get rid of the problem, comes from seeing only the tip of the iceberg – the behaviours associated with ADHD – and not the mass under the water: the individual struggling with the impact of their difficulties.ĪDHD is a condition, not an illness it is a neurobiological disorder that the person will have to manage for the rest of their lives. I can empathise, as I’m sure anyone who has taught a variety of students can. I hear teachers describe students who experience hyperactivity as “infuriating” and other words to that effect, in a tone which conveys all the frustration they feel. While I talk about ADHD students throughout, it is important to bear in mind that, because the degrees of hyperactivity or disruptive behaviour are not easily apparent, many young people are undiagnosed.ĭifferentiating for the range of needs in a typical classroom is difficult enough as it is, and a student who can’t sit still and distracts others from the get-go is a huge additional challenge. We have also included a number of tips on best practice in the classroom. We felt it would be useful for teachers and teaching assistants to learn more about the impact that the condition can have on a child. I discussed the issue of staff attitudes towards ADHD with Ann Freeman, author of Help Me Understand ADHD, in a series of conversations which led to this article. In addition to that, headteachers with whom I work often describe the struggle to “change hearts and minds” when it comes to including students with behaviours that can be so frustrating in the classroom. ADHD is not high enough on the CPD agenda and so staff simply lack the skills to manage these behaviours. ![]() There is much to say about the pitfalls in the resources and training currently available for teachers and teaching assistants. Perhaps this explains the number of excluded students who are diagnosed or present with ADHD behaviours. Sometimes known labels are a shortcut to appropriate differentiation, but in the case of ADHD, a child’s difficulties can simply look like bad behaviour. It is all too easy to react to the behaviour of students at face value, or to make assumptions attached to specific diagnoses or labels. Daniel Sobel discusses how teachers and teaching assistants can best support these pupilsīest practice in inclusion involves identifying the exact nature of difficulties experienced by pupils. Children who suffer with ADHD face daily challenges during their school life. ![]()
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