His name was Victor and to locate the place of the story we must start in 1991 the student was 7 years old, all the teachers said that this boy had ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
The student was in his fourth course of primary education an his attitude was very bad according with some reports of the counselor: he couldn't stop in the chair, while his partner were doing the homework he was drawing squares and strange figures with embossed.
The teacher was always calling to the mother of the student to tell her that this attitude must change or the student would be punished with extrawork or not allowed to go to the trip at the end of the term. It doesn't matter that the parents of the student quarrel Victor every day waiting for a change but all the fridays the teacher had to call again.
One day the psychologist of the school decide to interview the student. During an hour they were talking about what was the problem of the poor marks. At the end of the interview the psychologist said the student Victor wait here just a minute because I'm going to talk with your mother about you.
The psychologist closed the door and told the mother: your children doesn't have any attention deficit, the problem is that he is probably more clever than the average of the class for that reason he is boring at class.
The psychologist could continue with the idea of attention deficit and he could prescribe some medicines for be relax at class. However he advice the parent to change the school and the parents change Victor of school and he arrive to a school in which the average of the students was higher.
He started to study like a normal boy obtaining at the end of his studies a excellence award. Nowadays two years ago he ended telecommunications engineering with very good marks.
The conclusión is that we (as a teachers) can change the life of the students just with a simple decision without thinking that we can exploit all the potential of the student. I now understand very well the decision, because the student was my old brother and he is one of the most clever persons that I know, despite of be the worst student.
I find a video of SIR Ken Robinson in which something similar happens to a important dancer in which the teacher could break her creativity with a simple medicine to be relax in class.
I think an excellent and interesting post!! Through your own experience, in this case from your brother, you've summed up perfectly what can happen nowadays in million of schools worldwide. Many times the teachers do not know very well or do not know how to act in a case similar to your brother, because they simply do not have the knowledge or do not pay attention and interest about the attitude and behavior of students.
ResponderEliminarIn this case, the teacher observed the behavior of your brother and chose easier diagnosis that it is attributed an attitude disorder, but he did not investigate more about what really could be developing your brother.
However, the teacher acted correctly because in these cases, it is best to inform the family and transmit what is happening so that the necessary measures are taken as soon as possible.
The psychologist is essential in these cases, because they have more knowledge about these situations and those who have responsibility for deciding if a student is working properly or not. I think, in the case of your brother, the performance of a psychologist was decisivebecause otherwise the situation could have been completely different than it is now.
I remember in my first year at school of practice, I experienced a similar situation to yours with a student who was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. This student had a very bad behavior in class and his marks were very poor, so it was decided that someone would involved. However, all of this concluded that the student was attracting attention only because he was bored in class as his IQ was higher than their classmates.