Reply to Teacher suggests I get my son on meds!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [b]I'd be concerned about a teacher who felt so out of control that she needed to call you on day one[/b]. [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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