“Aright, so… I’m Jeff. I have ADHD.” Talking to Teachers

“Aright so, I’m Jeff. I have ADHD. I can be really silly.”

Those are usually the first words I say when I’m with a new teacher or coach or whatever kind of adult I’m going to be working with.

It’s one of the advocacy strategies that’s working for me. I let these guys know what to expect right up front. They might ask a question, usually they just tell me “hi, I’m so-and-so, I’m the teacher.” Less stress, introduction made, now we can get on to what I need from them to get through a class successfully.

Hopefully, the teacher’s going to want me to be successful in class, and if they know about my ADHD, they’ll stop & think before getting mad.

Just because we do things differently does not mean we can’t be successful. Like I mentioned in my blog on Agendas, not every system that the teacher uses will work for us — but we can put other strategies in place that do.

Don’t assume that just because some teachers don’t “get it,” that no one will. I find it’s better to let them know I have ADHD. It’s not guaranteed to make every teacher easier to work with, but I definitely get more people on my side that know what’s going on.