Anonymous

Question: 1st grade behavior

My 1st grader seems to be getting into trouble for talking and being silly a lot at school. His teacher wrote me an eamail about it and hinted at ADHD. He had no troubles in Kindergarten so how do i know if it's the teacher or my kid? He is an active boy but we don't see signs of adhd at home.

Answers:

Advice from Schoolfamily

cmccarthy writes:
Is this a recent change in his behavior? If so, does he have allergies and are you giving him allergy medication? In my first grade I've often encountered behavior changes at this time of year and very often it is related to allergies and their treatments.

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Community Advice

scohen writes:
My son is the same way in school - and always has been - but I have been lucky enough to be able to talk with his teachers and care givers and explain that he is a very smart, imaginative, high energy kid. He has no trouble focusing on specific tasks, or learning - which are more indicative of ADHD than "behavior". And it is no coincidence that my son gets in trouble more often when there is a substitute teacher. By working with his teachers, we have always been able to implement (at school and at home) some basic discipline techniques such as tracking good and bad behavior with stickers and appropriate rewards and addition or loss of priviledges. I have found that some teachers are ill-equipped and/or unable to adapt to the reality that kids today have very little "free play" time because of both parents work hours, overscheduled activities, and overstimulation from media. And without clear evidence of poor learning skills along with consistent behavior problems, it is both inappropriate and a cop-out for a teacher to label a kid with ADHD.

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Community Advice

dmunesinghe@hotmail.com writes:
Thanks for all the advices I have read above. My son will be entering school next week as we are new in to the United States and one of the problems I have always had is that he is so energetic. As he is also the only child, he tends to get so excited around kids and that makes people think he has ADHD. However, he is quite intelligent and speaks well but am worried that I would have the same problem when the teachers deal with him.