Planning for the new school year is critical, especially for parents of children struggling with attention deficit disorder (ADD ADHD). Don’t wait for the parent-teacher conference. Your child needs her teacher’s support from the beginning. To ensure a committed ally in the classroom, be in touch early and often — and follow these tips.
Review your child’s IEP/Section 504 Plan.
Before your teacher conference, refresh your memory about the content of your child’s IEP or 504 Plan. If your child doesn’t have an IEP, be prepared to discuss his strengths and challenges, and the strategies that have worked in previous years.
You may want to write a brief letter to the teacher, several weeks before the school year starts, to introduce your child to her (see “Letter of Introduction,” left).
Write down talking points for the conference.
Help the teacher get to know your child on a personal level, by describing his strengths and academic challenges. Let her know that he has an IEP or 504 Plan, and mention two or three accommodations he currently receives. (Some teachers don’t have time to review IEPs or 504 Plans until a few weeks into the school year.) Tell her that you look forward to working with her, and that she should contact you about concerns.
Develop strategies for meeting with middle-school and high-school teachers.
At these grade levels, teachers expect students to do their work independently, with little involvement from parents. Yet children with ADHD are less mature and require more teacher and parent support and supervision. Because students at this age find it embarrassing if parents get too involved, you should find subtle ways of monitoring your child’s progress and intervening, as needed.
One strategy: Use PTA meetings to provide key information about your child to teachers and to request that you be notified if he has any problems.
During the open house, meet with all your child’s teachers, especially those in the classes that are always challenging. Briefly describe your child’s strengths and weaknesses, accommodations he is receiving, and his IEP or 504 Plan, just as you might in a letter. Ask for teachers’ e-mail addresses, and say that you’ll be checking with them in a couple of weeks for an update on your son’s progress. Follow up the meeting with an e-mail that summarizes your discussion.
Give and take.
Be receptive to the teacher’s suggestions, and keep the discussion constructive. Placing blame, raising your voice, or interrogating teachers will put them on the defensive. These shift the focus onto you and off of your child.
Assess the teacher’s knowledge about ADHD. As you discuss your child with the teacher, try to gauge how much he knows about ADD. Clarifying your son’s ADHD type — is he the high-energy talker or the daydreamer? — will give the teacher a better understanding of your son’s personality.
If you sense that the teacher needs more information about ADD, offer to e-mail or mail a one-page summary of key ADD facts (help4ADHD.org) or an article about the impact of ADD and executive function deficits on learning and behavior (chrisdendy.com). Remember that teachers have little time to read a bundle of articles.
Keep in touch.
Establish a routine for communicating with the teacher during the school year — daily e-mails, weekly phone calls, or informal chats. E-mail is often easiest, because of teachers’ busy schedules. Offer to e-mail the teacher to ask for an update or other information, so she doesn’t have to remember to contact you, along with 25 other parents.
Stay positive and show your appreciation.
When discussing problems with the teacher, focus on solutions. You want her on your team.
Volunteer at school.
Parents can establish a more positive relationship with teachers and administrators when they volunteer at school. If your child ever faces academic trouble or disciplinary action, the school will be more likely to work with you in handling the situation.
Plan ahead in the spring.
If your child has problems in school as the year continues, teacher selection becomes critical for next year. A child’s school performance varies greatly from year to year, and, typically, is better with teachers who understand ADD. A child usually excels in the classroom if she knows that the teacher likes her and makes a habit of being patient with her.
If you didn’t talk with the counselor last year about class placement, post a reminder to yourself to contact her early this spring. Ask her to place your son with a teacher like “Mrs. Abney, who understands ADHD and who worked well with him in the third grade.” Counselors are more receptive to such a request than to asking for a specific teacher: “I want my son to be in Mrs. Liddle’s class next year.”
When students are placed with supportive teachers, less parental involvement will be required. When students become consistently successful at school, class placement will no longer be critical.
This article comes from the Fall 2008 issue of ADDitude.
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