Education Department must keep ADHD guide.
The U.S. Department of Education is looking to recall its “Dear Colleague Letter and Resource Guide on ADHD.” This document instructs educators on how to work with students who have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder through direction and facts.
The comment period recently closed, but I have a story for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Imagine completing your master’s degree and obtaining your dream job. Imagine starting that job with all the passion and love you had to give. Then, think what it would be like, as you are trying to serve students. You receive 20 different lists (school counselors will know what I am talking about) and are unable to prioritize and finish any single task.
Imagine the embarrassment of walking across the hall and forgetting the student’s name you intended to ask about. Picture staying in your office until 7 p.m. and missing dinner with your family, because it is quiet then and you can finish tasks without interruption.
Think of what it would be like to have a small number of colleagues give you the cold shoulder because of your eccentricities.
Finally, imagine going home in tears, telling your husband that you think you have ADHD.
His response? “I’ve been telling you that for years.”
At 37 years of age, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I left my job, because of the overwhelming pain from learning everything I thought about myself was due to a disability. The distress of believing that I was lazy and stupid, and the choices I made due to those thoughts, were jolting.
There was anger, and there was grief. There was also peace in knowing I finally had the answer to why I walked past the same mess 50 times without cleaning it.
Many people do not understand ADHD. They think it is fake or an excuse for not turning in work. If the Department of Education removes this recommendation, I fear many children will be subjected to the cruelty I was. Teachers need to know that ADHD is not laziness, it is not being defiant, and it isn’t fixed by yelling at us to focus.
Why would the DOE take away a recommendation that educates people about a silent disability? Would it take away a recommendation for working with children in wheelchairs? Students who have ADHD are at a higher risk for suicide, drug use and alcohol abuse. Do we want to create an environment that increases the stress for these students?
As educators, we need to have a safe and loving environment for all students. The DOE must keep the “Dear Colleague Letter and Resource Guide on ADHD.”
I fear many children will be subjected to the cruelty I was.