I dunno, maybe that “being a stubborn brat” is now considered a clinical diagnosis? Just strikes me as a bit silly.
Oh, how I wish it were only “being a stubborn brat.” I’m quite certain I (and his teachers) could have dealt with that. Did you miss my description of some of his behavior? *That *was only the tip of the iceberg, as it were.
I can assure you nobody was laughing.
Incidentally, the diagnosis was some fifteen years ago, so it’s been a thing for at awhile now.
Do all clinical diagnoses of disorders that could also be described in a dismissive and condescending phrase strike you as silly, or is this one special? Personally I’m glad that I was able to get serious professional help for my “feeling sorry for myself” (postpartum depression), and my son was able to get help for his “being a troublemaker” (Asperger’s). I wish my husband had been able to get similar help for his problems with “being lazy in school” (dyslexia).
ODD is so far off being a “stubborn brat” I don’t even know where to begin.
My teacher friends and I have another term: Your Kid is a Dickhead.
Some kids may have something like ODD, but 9/10ths of the time (in my experience) the kid is a controlling asshole.
You sound like a pretty swell teacher. Thanks for sharing that with us.
No problem. Come and substitute teach for me sometime.
Yeah, I’m sure my kid’s kindergarten teacher thinks that he’s in the 9/10 of kids that don’t have anything diagnosable and was just being a troublemaking asshole causing problems for her the entire year. Then in first grade he got a teacher that actually gave a shit about her students and asked us if we’d ever considered having him evaluated for some stuff. His behavior turned significantly less dickheadish after we actually got him some help for what’s going on in his head. Not that I’m sure that stops his K teacher from feeling very smug about how she handled that dickhead asshole kid the whole year.
Hey!
No, seriously, I don’t see how anyone could call you a snowflake next to me. (And for that matter, I can’t see how anyone can call me a snowflake next to my parents, but that’s another issue entirely.)
Keep in mind that I work with older kids. 80 per cent of parents will say, “There’s nothing I can do about it” and make sure it stays our problem, 15 per cent will say, “It’s your fault”, and the other five per cent are sympathetic.
If a kid has “ODD” on his file, the district has a very hard time figuring out how to deal with the child if the child does not improve and becomes more disruptive with age.
If the child does something that warrants an expulsion, it is very hard for the district do to this because of NCLB and IEPs and parents rights and such. If it goes through, the kid comes to an alternative program like ours, where we have to put up with whatever he/she does – with little/no consequences. Short of drugs in the bldg or violence, we can’t remove him from the program.
Fuck yeah I call them dickheads. Teachers are allowed a little comedic relief in the breakroom. But your kid is very very young and my son’s friend has the same issue. His first grade teachers were so happy when he moved on to second. The other parents would say, “I hope my son isn’t in ____'s class!” He’s a dickhead, sure, but he’s a baby yet.
I believe in positive role models and proper reinforcement of good behavior. But as a junior teacher, I’ve already been called every name in the book, broken up three fights and had my nose fractured.
So, yeah. Some kids are dicks. I’m currently dealing with a student who has ODD, ADHD and a mood disorder. He can be very sweet but he’s a pain in the ass and interrupts the education of others every single day [that he bothers to show up]. Another has ODD and we simply cannot deal with him. The IEP staff will not let the director remove him from the school. It is horrible.
Last year, a kid had ODD and the IEP staff prevented our director from placing him on a homebound program, saying it was too restrictive, even though this kid was a time bomb.
He murdered a kid off campus, so now he’s in jail.
Will this be your kid? Uh, probably not! But as a teacher who deals with expelled students (13 year old meth dealers, gang bangers, a kid who set fire to a trash can, etc), I can most assuredly tell you that my co-workers and I (who are paid less than public school teachers, just in case you were wondering) are doing this because we care about the kids, not because we hate them and like to feel smug.
I have expelled, dropout recover, and direct placement students. Some of them really are disruptive, violent, and unable to handle the school environment. They diminish a potential quality education for the rest. I’m not saying this will be your child -heavens, no- but, yes, some of the “ODD” kids I deal with are dicks.
Your explanation of your particular situation has de-rageified me. Appreciated.
I am 99.9999999 per cent positive you are nothing like the families we deal with! 
My son was a terror in Kindergarten. Most of his problems really started when his teacher left to have a baby (the NERVE!) and another teacher was brought in. I’d get the call several times a week: come pick up your kid.
I took him to our family doctor who immediately referred us to a child psychiatrist, after I told her that ADD runs in my husband’s side of the family. I’ve SEEN how destructive ADD has been to other family members, so I WANTED the help.
The kid was straight out of a textbook. The doctor prescribed Dexedrine, which worked an absolute miracle.
The kindergarten teacher, who had been ready to give him his report card and just kick him out completely, thought I had OVER-reacted by taking him to a psychiatrist and putting him on drugs.
Yeah, I know. :smack:
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
The problems we ran into later consisted of the Dexedrine becoming ineffective after six months or so, and he’d have to take a break. Unfortunately, whatever he was given during the time off Dexedrine simply wasn’t effective. It was a hair-raising experience during the four to six weeks until he could go back onto the Dexedrine and peace would once again descend upon our house.
After the problems he had in second grade (see earlier posting about Sister Mary-Jerk and her “handling” with an ADD student), we put the kids in regular school. BEFORE he started the new school year, I made a trip to the office and TRIED to have him identified as a potential problem. EVEN THOUGH he had a psychiatrist and a prescription for Dexedrine, nobody seemed to care. As long as he didn’t need medication during the school day, they didn’t want to hear what I had to say. According to them, they would have to experience the problem themselves.
Yeah, okay.
Well, during one of his “time off” periods of not taking Dexedrine, he was prescribed Ritalin, and that stuff didn’t work very well for him. He attacked another child on the playground, and was suspended.
The doctor had him hospitalized.
The school called and wanted to know when he’d be back to school.
:smack:
I reminded them, “YOU guys kicked him out. We’re trying to get him the help he needs.”
When he came back to school, there was a conference with us, the principal, the vice principal, the school psychologist, and I don’t know who else.
My husband and I felt like we were up against the wall with a firing squad in front of us. We explained what had happened, and what we had done, and that his new course of medication seemed to be working for him, and we all needed to work together.
The psychologist said, “Well, what do you expect from US?”
I said, “Uh, help?” :smack:
It was a fist fight every single stinkin’ year through grade school. Not my son, ME and the administration. Because we were in a “poor” school district (a bedroom community that had no industry to pay whopping property taxes), all I got was bitching and moaning that they didn’t have the resources. They had bilingual aides in every classroom, though. I told them, “I don’t want to hear your problems, I want you to take care of my son.”
Thank God, my son is a survivor. He graduated high school, he’s got a good job, and he’s engaged to marry a girl we’re all crazy about. At times, he was even working TWO jobs to support his first love, a truck he bought.
This place literally saved my sanity: Featured Products for Helping with ADHD
There, I ordered two books about the law and disabilities, and I was all set to go, guns a-blazin’, when they finally started talking about IEPs and 502 plans. I ended up loaning the books to another parent with a child who was being stonewalled by her teacher, and she used the info to confront the school board.
YOU are the best advocate for your child. The school is NOT. The school looks to only play CYA to the school board and to the budget. You’ll get excuses and stonewalling, but it is only when you take charge that you’ll see results. It’s exhausting, and frustrating, and sometimes it seems quite hopeless.
But I look at my son today, and I’m so grateful.
~VOW
Well, that just makes me sad. I hope you never have to go through it with anyone you love.
I wonder why this bitch’s class was the only one with an opening?
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