My youngest son was diagnosed at around the age of eight with Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and we struggled for several years to get him some help. He was always a loving and smart kid but had a hard time focusing on anything very long especially in school. I remember the grade 1 teacher hauling my husband and I into the classroom for a meeting and she described him as this awful kid that only poked holes in his papers and books. My husband and I were of course really worried so I began the long journey of trying to figure out what was going on. I was able to get him into a pediatrician in Kamloops and she immediately dismissed anything to do with autism. She did however, diagnose him with ADHD. “Great!” I thought to myself not realizing that this would not make a bit of difference for him in school. As time went on, I knew there was something else going on. Even after the heartbreak of having to put our son onto medication so that he could concentrate and function in school (after all, it was his future), I fought for several years to finally get him onto the list to see the psychologist. By now, he was in grade 4. We finally had a breakthrough once he was tested for a learning disability and we could finally get an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for him. I write about this not only because it’s important for teachers to understand that children often have underlying factors with their behaviour. They are not just “bad kids” for no reason. With all the support and love that my son had at home, he still suffered at school because he was so lost and confused about what was going on.
This video was one of the proudest moments I have ever had with my youngest son. Both of my boys had competitively swam since they were four years old. Liam, of course, struggled with attention and the coaches worked with him tirelessly. I cannot thank Coaches Raina, Jack, Nolan, Elyssia, Andreas, and Diya for what they did to support him through the years. In this video, we were at the swim meet in Golden and he performed the best Individual Medley (IM) that I had ever seen him do. I can’t state how proud I was of him for this. He swam like the champion that I knew he always was. In this video, he is the one closest to the wall in the teal blue swim cap with KAM written on it.
As a teacher, I promise to be a supportive, safe, and caring person that students can feel free to be themselves around. I promise to provide the best education foundations that I can without throwing labels and dislike towards certain students because they are simply not “normal”. I will work with families to the best of my ability and strive to not give up on those hard cases that I encounter much like those teachers and coaches that supported my son.