Categories: Teachers

You can’t punish the ADHD out of us

Grade 8 girl can't come to grad.

Recently I got a post from a mom who’s daughter was banned by her teacher from her Grade 8 graduation because her ADHD was always getting her in trouble.

This doesn’t have to happen.

You can’t punish the ADHD out of us

I hate to keep bringing this up but it’s really the reason why I started this blog in the first place. Adults tend to punish kids with ADHD trying to “fix” us. They think that if they get mad enough, or take away enough of our stuff then all of a sudden we’ll settle down and stop derping.

This girl has been looking forward to this for a long time, it’s a milestone and she deserves like everyone else to be recognized for it. In fact, with ADHD I can guarantee she tried harder than anyone else just to pass.

There are better ways to deal with inattention and bad behavior from kids at school with ADHD.

If a kid is being bad then change something , don’t get mad. Maybe she couldn’t sit in the class without going out of her mind and she would have been better helping in the office or doing something positive. Every time a teacher gets mad the kid looks bad to their friends and it get worse and worse for everyone.

Please adults, don’t take away things that we can never get back like a once in a lifetime graduation ceremony… come on!

~ Jeff

You can’t punish the #ADHD out of us!

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Jeff Rasmussen

[content-block title="Meet Jeff Rasmussen" color="orange"] Age: 18 City: Langley, BC Diagnosed with ADHD in Grade 7 Biggest Dream: I want to change the world for younger kids like me who are punished daily for having ADHD. Fave Class: Mechanics "I've got the plans in my head for a motorized scooter with a gas-powered engine that I'm actually capable of building." ADHD Superpower: "If I'm determined to do something, literally nothing can stop me. Nothing. Not bribes, not bullets... nothing." Fave Food: Hashbrowns (the kind you buy frozen, in a bag) Career Goals: Telecommunications Guru Life-Changing Event: Winning the WDS Scholarship for Real Life School Achievement: Completing Math & Socials 10 in just 8 weeks this summer. "School's like 99% fluff. Summer school is that, minus the fluff." Biggest Struggle: Even though I take medication I still have trouble staying on task, doing boring homework, remembering not to swear when I am angry or staying still through assemblies. (That's where some of my strategies come in.) [/content-block] [content-block title="An Average Kid with ADHD" color="purple"] My ADHD has been really bad and given me every bad experience you can imagine for a kid. Before medication teachers took away my recess, my gym classes, they put me in the hall, I have been suspended from school, and I never did my work because even though my tests say I’m “gifted” I couldn’t do it. When I first learned I had ADHD I was so happy that I wasn’t bad or broken, it had a name and an explanation for what was going on. [/content-block]