ADHD and a Student

It has been a hard road. One of my students who I will name Shamus Potter, has really tested me to the brink of quitting.

First off, he has been diagnosed with ADHD which is attention deficit disorder. His behavior shows some of the hallmark symptoms. He is a virtual human ball bouncing off the classroom walls.

Secondly, his behavior has gone way beyond his diagnosis of ADHD. He is disrespectful and a bully. He is aware of what he is doing.

Before anyone goes rattling off any negativity, read the following first:

First, I am not being highly specific due to confidentiality. Someone may be reading this and may recognize the specific child. I have to watch my words a bit.  The descriptions are accurate and did happen.

Second, I have limited experience working with special needs children. I have a lot of frustration due to my inexperience.

As I was saying . . . .

This child refuses to listen. He will not walk in line with his classmates. He runs up and down the hall as we leave from and come to our class room. 9 out of 10 he will NOT sit in circle time. He will find something else to do just to aggravate his classmates and his teachers.

My classroom is the 4^th one he has been in since he started preschool. His behavior is THAT bad. It has gone from being an issue to a severe problem. All children have some type of issue(s) which is correctable. Problems surface when there is NO consistency, parenting, or otherwise correctable action taking place.

He has threatened to shoot his classmates and the police. He has threatened to stab a teacher in the stomach. He will hit, kick, and punch his classmates if he does not get his way. He has hit me on several occasions, pulled on my clothes, and bit me on one occasion.

He has ran outside to the playground on several occasions. We and others have had to go get him. The other students suffer when we have to get him inside.

He is smart. He tends to ramble from one thought to another, patterns are always different. He will talk about doing harm to his mom, one of us, or one of the students.

This is just a small part in what has happened in the four months I have worked in this classroom. I am very concerned about him going to Kindergarten. Will he hurt someone? How long will he stay before he gets kicked out of school?

The biggest kicker is his mom. Shamus Potter’s pediatrician diagnosed him and prescribed medication for him. His mom gave us (the school) his medication. He only got it when he was at school (Monday – Friday). Holidays and weekends he never got his medication. His mother needs to get her head out of the sand to the critical situation.

Now, I do have a few pieces of advice. First is consistency in his schedules, routines, and discipline. Second is disciplining him to the fullest and consistently never surrendering control. Third is to make sure he takes his medication. The pediatrician prescribed the medication for this child to help him, not to label. Lastly, his mother needs to stop worrying so much about “labeling’ and be proactive. His mother needs to schedule a meeting with the principle, guidance counselor, teachers, and the special needs coordinator at her child’s new school to discuss her child’s behavior. This is an act of being proactive. The school can assist her and her child to be successful in school. Without this, the school is gonna get bombed with this hellion child.

 

After all the crazy negative, I still care about Shamus Potter!

Taxes and other sorts

I filed my taxes. Woop!

I had bought a van. It needed major brake work. $500. Shit.

This is April and very slow!

Head Start has half of its classes as extended and the other half as standard. My classroom is extended. The standard gets out May 2nd. We get out June 3rd.

Word on the street is that we are moving to a new building next school year. Awesome. We have to pack our classroom up for the move before our school year ends.

Great, extra work.

Rainbow Bridge . . . . A Sadness

One of our cats, Buster, passed away.

Mom and I never announced it on Facebook.

We had to call the vet's after hours number. Our vet answered! It was his turn. We took Buster to see him. Mom and I knew it was the end of his life, he was seizing and meowing. We waited till late to take him to our vet. We worried he was in pain.

Our vet put  him to sleep allowing him to cross over that rainbow bridge.  

We haven't done anything with his remains yet. We are looking around for a cheap cremation for him. We have our Tiger and our Bandit with us on the mantle.

A new teacher's notes

I became a bus monitor for a few days on someone's bus. It was a new experience. Most drivers have a roster of who rides their bus. The monitor will write down when they get on the bus and when they exit. Pretty cool.

I was a substitute for another teacher's class until one of  the teachers came in. Each class has 2 teachers.

Our out-of-control child is getting the best of us. I'm sure the worst is yet to come. There are certain "symptoms" or "behaviors" that is consistent with ADHD; these same things manifest uniquely to the individual child. He has the disorder with other behavioral problems. He is beyond of "having issues", he is full throttle "having problems". 

Everything seems to go as planned. I have become an official assistant teacher with health benefits. I sign up in May!

February isn't for lovers

Last month, I did not mention I had a wreck. I was on my way to work when some chick in a Nissan pulled out in front of me to turn. I had  the right-of-way. The insurance company did total-loss on the car. I'm in a rental, a KIA.

One of our water pipes burst under the house. I had to fix it and wrap it because of freezing. It burst because it froze. I hate fixing shit. Just not, well . . . whatever! So damn tired of this house falling apart and staying here.

My job is still in tact. We had a Valentine's party for the children. It was fun. I have a child with ADHD who is out of control. We had a field trip to the library and it was fun. I'm so proud of my kids for showing their positive behavior! It was great and I let them know!

Mom had a sinus infection and stayed home a day. Ms Moore was out due to a stomach bug. I have not been out other than the day I had the wreck.

We had a teacher work day which was cancelled. A parent - teacher conference went well. Yay!

January UPdate

The job I had in December did not pan out. I am back in the education/Child Care field once again. This time it is at one of the local Head Start centers in South Carolina.

I have been at this job a week. I am nervous and out of touch with teaching. Students have had several teachers since August 2015. Ms Moore seems to be a great teacher. We have a good ways to go to mesh our teaching styles.

I hope I will have this job for a while. I am a substitute right now. I have to get my CDL for buses. It seems that the assistant teachers are either monitors or bus drivers. It's something new. If this job does not work out, I can still get my CDL and drive for the school system or some other child care center.

19 children. The maximum is 20. Ages are from 3 to 5 years old. All preschool age. This is a program that helps children be ready for Kindergarten and public school.

I am going to be different. I have tattoos. I can wear comfortable clothes. My hair is red.  Well, at least the longer part of my hair. It has grown out some.

New Ally

Last week I realize that I have a new ally in the fight with depression and anxiety. It is an unexpected friend that I thought would never understand my plight. Out of respect for this person, I will not reveal who they are.  I will say welcome and thank you for sharing your personal thoughts with me.

I will never gossip about anything. The only thing I will do is get you or someone help if they need it. Only if you are homicidal or suicidal or even have intent.

There is a stigma that will always follow us no matter what we do or where we go. We just don’t tell parts of ourselves. It is something we carry around privately from fear. It is the darkness in light.

 It is in fear of what people may think. People may think we are violent. Not true for the majority of us. There is only a small handful of people that are violent who have mental illness. People often do not know what to say. We are discriminated against. The media has polluted people’s thoughts about mental illness. That is the source of the violence, not the mentally ill.

Know this: we are not below any normally healthy person. We are not violent. We eat, breathe, and bleed like everyone else.

If we can’t put down our fears and lose the misperceptions of mental illness, we will never be able to overcome it. Never. It is in the same pot as racism and prejudice.

We can’t “get over it” nor should we hear it. Try telling a cancer patient or other physically ill to “get over it” and see what happens! You get over your misconceptions about mental illness.

That is all.