As a former Special Education teacher, I’m well aware of the difficulties involved with being an educator. It can be even more difficult when you work with Special Needs Children. I come from a position of empathy with all teachers.
With the above being said, I’ve dealt with a few extremely difficult and unprofessional teachers and administrators. While it doesn’t take away from great educators, it certainly can make my job of working with individuals with ADD/ADHD and
challenges difficult.
Difficult teachers are one’s that make his or her work about themselves and blame others for the failures of his or her students. But you will also see this individual at the forefront of taking credit for the success of students. Difficult administrators are always finding reasons not to support staff and becoming “buddies” with preferred staff members.
The key in working with these individuals is not to engage him or her in topics that have nothing to do with your child. They have spent time to Learn more about online courses for teachers. They have trained up to that role. Talking about other issues may feel like a way to warm up to the subject, but it is best avoided. As a parent, I’d go through the roof if I felt someone was intentionally or unintentionally not meeting the needs of my child. But I’d take a moment to pause before reacting. As an individual with ADHD, this ain’t easy. But I realize that personal battles injure the process.
As I coach parents before these types of meetings, you need to keep this about the process. Nothing more or less. With parents that I know will get emotional or off-topic, I will sit next to him or her and tap on his or her’s foot to stop talking or engaging the other side. Difficult teachers and administrators enjoy engaging in off topic battles because it takes away from discussing the education of the main topic of an IEP Meeting…the child!
Ironically enough, this is the same thing I tell the parents of my clients. ADD/ADHD and Executive Functioning individuals love making the argument more about how he or she has been wronged than the matter at hand. Or the famous…you got me in trouble.
I’d like to say that trying to be the bigger person always works…but it doesn’t unfortunately. We can only take so much as parents or concerned parties, but trust me, it’s not worth the fight. No one wins and your child will not get proper services he or she deserves. I will keep repeating myself, BUT THE MEETING IS ABOUT YOUR CHILD. Don’t lose site of this…
For more information on my ADD, ADHD and Executive Functioning coaching, please visit www.adhdefcoach.com. In addition to working with clients in-person, I also work with clients all over the United States and World online, please visit www.onlineadhdcoach.com for more information. To learn more about my other services, please visit www.carrolleducationalgroup.com & www.iepexperts.com. I can be found on Twitter at ADHDGuru. You can also find me on Facebook, Google Plus and Tumblr. Feel free to email me at [email protected] or call 877.398.ADHD (2343) with any additional questions.