The Elisabeth d'Ornano Association for ADHD

Teachers

• What is ADHD?
• Recommendations
• Brief guide
• Others

Editorials

Child education-Pre-school

From when they are little, children are busybodies, and that is when teachers hope for them to be able to sit down to perform a task that requires little concentration. They do not do it. At first you only see that they are very energetic; that they do not seem to tire; they can be agile but it is common for them to have little accidents continuously due to their recklessness; their inability to calculate risk and their recklessness. In the outside play area, they prove to be the most active of the group. If you look carefully you will see that the work they do is pretty messy. Not only are children active and fast, which they are, but the difference of these children is that they do not finish anything they start. First they get onto a swing; they jump down from anywhere; they start to play with a ball and then switch to pushing a truck. They do not focus on any one group or any toy for a period of time. When recess time ends, it is harder for them to calm down than it is for others, as if they cannot seem to slow the motor that is permanently going. They come into the class and instead of sitting down they start going from one side to the other, or if they do sit, they interrupt right away by not paying attention to the work they are supposed to be doing. This is difficult to tolerate for teachers who are constantly getting their attention, that feel that they are not listening to them and are frustrated by the disruptions that occur in the classroom. All children in the class start to pay attention to this child and at home they say that there is a child in class that is disobedient, or bad, and soon the child is sadly popular. When ADHD is severe or is accompanied by an oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, then the complaints are more important, because the child can stand out for their aggressive nature, for pushing others, they bite, they do not control their strength, and sometimes inadvertently hurt other children. It can reach a point where the parents of other children complain and ask the school to take action. Not infrequently, from a small age, other parents may ask for the removal of the child from school.

At this stage, the thought that crosses teachers’ minds is that the child is spoiled, that he/she must not have boundaries, and in their heads they start to blame the parents for the "Bad Education" of the child. This is not the time to draw hasty conclusions. Coordinate with the family and join efforts to identify what is really happening (using specialists as necessary) and find a solution, coordinated between the school and family.