OT ExpertDec 2, 2022

Message to all educators....

If there's a student (child or adult) who is often late attending their classes, or getting to school...

Please don't tell them off and punish or ridicule them as a knee-jerk reaction.

Dig deeper

The fact that they've turned up at all will usually be a strong indication that they've tried very hard to get there.

They could have difficulties with:

- Some of their executive functions (organising, planning, time management, prioritisating, working memory)
- Anxiety about certain aspects of attending school/college/uni (bullying, social interaction with students/teachers who don't understand their communication differences, differences in learning styles)
- Difficulties at home
- Poor sleep
- Difficulties with home environment
- Poverty

Please be curious, gentle and explore their reasons why they're late and work with them.

We often don't see the immense effort the person, and their families go through, just to get them there 5 or 10 minutes late.

To sum up....

Be kind, aporoachable and non-judgemental....both to the student and their caregivers.

To paraphrase Dr Ross Greene,

A person does well if they can.
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#OccupationalTherapy
#Teachers
#SEND
#Education
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#Autistic
#ADHD
#Dyspraxia
#Dyslexia
#Neurodivergent
#Poverty
#HumanRights
#ReasonableAdjustments
#Disability
#DisabilityRights

Show threadAphrodite (recharging)Dec 2, 2022

@OT_Expert

One of my HS teachers damn near failed me because I was late every morning.

I had no idea at the time I had ADHD and autism and trauma disorders and deprexity though I did deal with bullying that was incessant for the first 10+ years of school.

It feels to this day he had specific antipathy for me.

I need to pass that class, and I had a damned teacher bullying powerless me that was invisibly struggling.

Ironically, at university, half of my degree was in his subject, history.

Show threadslothsauce
@Aphrodite @OT_Expert god, this hit me in the unexpected feels. Teachers could really make me feel like less than a person. Especially as a *child* who couldn’t control any of those circumstances.
Dec 2, 2022 at 1:50pmWeb
Show threadAphrodite (recharging)Dec 2, 2022

@slothsauce @OT_Expert

At the same time there are teachers that radically improved my life.

A 6th grade teacher that talked about intersexuality in bio class lead me to logically deduce what my identity issue was even if it took a long time to resolve it.

A psych teacher that talked about his technique for quitting cigarette smoking allowed me to feel comfortable about simulating that process since without the cig you’re just doing deep breathing exercises.

Show threadslothsauceDec 2, 2022
@Aphrodite @OT_Expert Oh, for sure. That tended to happen much more for me in college, but every semester or year, there are at least 2 people really lifting me and others up. I never forget them.
Show threadOT ExpertDec 3, 2022
@Aphrodite @slothsauce I'm pleased you had some positive experiences of teachers too. There are definitely some amazing educators out there
Show threadOT ExpertDec 3, 2022
@slothsauce @Aphrodite ❤️ Teachers are in such a powerful and privileged position, and those who abuse that position should not be allowed to continue in that role