Teacher suggests I get my son on meds!

[Anonymous]

Totally didn’t happen. Teacher’s don’t suggest medication. They might gently suggest evaluations and discussions with your pediatrician. But certainly not on the first day of school.

[Anonymous]

I'm the above poster. I also wanted to add that there are a number of reasons a child could be distracting other children that aren't ADHD. Immaturity is one reason, for example. Children who are young for their grade typically get in more trouble for these things than others. Some kids are just prone to these things and need stricter boundaries and help learning them. Other kids may have a social-emotional need that needs short-term support through therapy. There could be a non-ADHD learning disability that a child is covering for by being social because it's a more preferred activity than doing work. Being distracting to other children could also be as innocent as first-day jitters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the above poster. I also wanted to add that there are a number of reasons a child could be distracting other children that aren't ADHD. Immaturity is one reason, for example. Children who are young for their grade typically get in more trouble for these things than others. Some kids are just prone to these things and need stricter boundaries and help learning them. Other kids may have a social-emotional need that needs short-term support through therapy. There could be a non-ADHD learning disability that a child is covering for by being social because it's a more preferred activity than doing work. Being distracting to other children could also be as innocent as first-day jitters.

Fourth Grade is getting to the point that maturity should be less of an issue. The kid should be able to settle down when the teacher tells him to settle down.

I don't buy the OP's telling. IF the Teacher called home on the first day it is because the child has already been diagnosed with ADHD, it is in his record, and the child was out of control. OR the Teacher called home because there are past notes, either written or verbal, from past teachers saying that testing for ADHD has been recommended and the parents are not taking that advice. But there is no way the Teacher was as blunt as the poster reported.

My money is still on a troll.

[Anonymous]

Teacher 35+ years public and private.

This would never, I mean never, happen. I'm calling OP out- this is not real. Even if someone thought that ( erroneously) they would not be allowed to say it, and certainly would not be inclined to do so after 6 hours. How stupid do you think respondents are here?

Try again and ask what you really want to know.

[Anonymous]

Does your son have ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was so excited to start 4th grade today. At the end of the day his teacher called to say he was distracting other kids in class and she asked that I contact his pediatrician to get him on meds for ADHD?.
I was disturbed by this because this is just day one!
Am I overreacting?
Please advise

Well, did you call the pediatrician to get him a refill on his meds?

[Anonymous]

never happened

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is a real post, the teacher's behavior is completely inappropriate. For the sake of your child, and the sake of children with real special needs, please copy and paste your post and send it to your principal (with your name and your child's name). This shouldn't be happening at your school.

+1 Teachers know they are not medical professionals. The fact that the OP is suggesting that the teacher said this without doing the normal procedure of a school professional conducted diagnostic/504 plan etc. seems trollish to me too.

Teachers are not allowed to make this diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

BTDT. I would request an immediate change of classrooms. Even if your son has ADHD, and even if medication is warranted, her approach is completely off and wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems completely trollish. I can’t think of even a terrible teacher suggesting this on day one. There are things like resource room, para pros, IEPs and a multitude of other steps a teacher would suggest first. I call troll.

Otherwise, complain to the principal.

I never would have believed this kind of thing happens, but it does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this happened, and if these were the teacher's words:
1) Teachers are not qualified to diagnose any medical issue (or even a learning disability). They can only observe when things seem out of the ordinary and communicate that to families who can then choose (or choose not to) get a medical diagnosis.

2) Even if a child did have a diagnosis of a medical issue, it is certainly not ethical for a teacher to suggest a treatment.

3) Many experienced teachers and well-trained newbies try to have a positive interaction with a parent within the first few days of school before calling home with what is difficult news.

4) Many experienced teachers indicate an intervention they tried and whether or not it was successful when they call a parent to say there is a problem.

As a former teacher, usually I recommend working things out with the teacher before going over his or her head to an administrator. This may be a case where it's appropriate to ask for a meeting where an administrator is also present. If your child is behaving really differently at school than at home, then you will want to know. However, whatever behavioral interventions you use at home and whatever medical interventions you choose to use or not, the school is also going to need a sound, firm, and kind behavioral plan and a teacher who can implement it. I'd be concerned about a teacher who felt so out of control that she needed to call you on day one.

Oh wow, thank you for this. This insight really resolves lingering questions I had about a teacher who behaved really strangely wrt our DS several years ago. She wasn't wrong, per se, in that our child did need interventions and was showing concerning behaviors, but her approach was just so counterproductive. Understanding it as an expression of her feeling of lack of control really really explains a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher 35+ years public and private.

This would never, I mean never, happen. I'm calling OP out- this is not real. Even if someone thought that ( erroneously) they would not be allowed to say it, and certainly would not be inclined to do so after 6 hours. How stupid do you think respondents are here?

Try again and ask what you really want to know.

That's nice, but basically the exact thing happened to us as well. You may have a very limited frame of reference based on your own practices, but parents see a broader sample of teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either a Troll or a parent who has had a number of teachers suggest evaluations far more gently and the OP has ignored those suggestions.

DS teacher suggested a speech evaluation when he was in K. She was very gentle and kind but it only took a week or so for her to notice that something was off.

If this is a real post, and I don't think that it is, the OP should contact the school and ask for a meeting with the Teacher and the Principal. The Teachers actions was not appropriate. I would also suspect that the Teacher phrased things differently but the message was that the child was out of control, distracting other kids, and not listening to the Teacher who was telling him to stop. The OP is phrasing things in a manner that makes it sound as if the Teacher was 100% blunt and rude.

If it is real, I wonder how many other Teachers and Coaches and Adults have commented on the boys behavior and the OP has brushed it off.

But this feels really, really off.

+1 that or the kid was medicated last year, but went off his meds for the summer. It was probably in the file. Parent was hoping she wouldn’t have to start the meds so soon, and the teacher caller her out on the first day of school to report he needs to go back on meds. The kid has been medicated before, no doubt. No teacher would suggest meds to a kid who hadn’t already been on them.

+1,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either a Troll or a parent who has had a number of teachers suggest evaluations far more gently and the OP has ignored those suggestions.

DS teacher suggested a speech evaluation when he was in K. She was very gentle and kind but it only took a week or so for her to notice that something was off.

If this is a real post, and I don't think that it is, the OP should contact the school and ask for a meeting with the Teacher and the Principal. The Teachers actions was not appropriate. I would also suspect that the Teacher phrased things differently but the message was that the child was out of control, distracting other kids, and not listening to the Teacher who was telling him to stop. The OP is phrasing things in a manner that makes it sound as if the Teacher was 100% blunt and rude.

If it is real, I wonder how many other Teachers and Coaches and Adults have commented on the boys behavior and the OP has brushed it off.

But this feels really, really off.

+1 that or the kid was medicated last year, but went off his meds for the summer. It was probably in the file. Parent was hoping she wouldn’t have to start the meds so soon, and the teacher caller her out on the first day of school to report he needs to go back on meds. The kid has been medicated before, no doubt. No teacher would suggest meds to a kid who hadn’t already been on them.

+1,000

Doesn't matter. It's WAY out of bounds for a teacher (or anyone other than a medical professional) to pressure parents to medicate their children. Even if your make-believe story is true, there could be many personal reasons why they took the child off of meds (slowed growth, anxiety, insomnia, aggression) that they don't need to defend to the school.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely didn't happen. Even the support staff at my school know that you just cannot do that, meaning EVER suggest to a parent that they medicate their kid. If it's not actually illegal it is at the very least against state policy.

I guess it's slightly possible that some teacher at Podunk Elementary or WTF Private Academy might have missed the memo somehow, but even that thought just boggles my mind.