OK, this is complicated by this being the 70s and 80s, but the more I think back to my childhood, and the more I remember about how my teachers treated me, and how I always seemed to end up receiving pastoral "care" from someone who happened to be the most senior teacher in 3 different schools where other "gifted" kids didn't, and the way they were ... slightly off, with me ...
They knew I have ADHD. They totally sodding knew. Or ADD, as they called it back then. Whatever. They knew, and it was very clear I was being "managed".
I wasn't being managed very well, but I doubt that's changed. Neurotypical people do NOT understand what is going on in our heads, even those who claim to be experts in the condition. That much is very clear.
But I was being managed.
What I am curious about is what my parents knew.
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RichRARobi
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •I think mostly the schools didn’t approve of parents knowing anything and certainly didn’t like it if you went into the school to “discuss” their child’s welfare. I guess not all schools were the same.
Our kids inherited a double wammy of weirdness, and the grandkids probably got a four way concoction.
I do silly things like lining up food on the plate….I only managed to keep going to work because the other half got me up in the morning with a cup of tea…
Heather 👻
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Katy Swain
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •I have an old school report from 1987 that reads like "Tell me I have ADHD without telling me."
katyswain.me/about/journal/202…
While technically ADD was a thing back then, I don't think anybody teaching in a school like mine knew or cared. It was still very behaviourist.
I never did an appreciable amount of work in high school. I'd checked out. Yet I remained in the top class.
There were no signs… | Katy Swain
katyswain.meKaty Swain
in reply to Katy Swain • • •Except once, for one term, in chemistry, I was dropped down to the second class. The teacher, who knew me, walked in the room on day one, saw me and said "What are you doing here? You don't belong here."
Next term I was back in the top class for chemistry. No reason for it that I could see. I think my presence just offended his sense that what his profession was doing was right, so if the results don't fit your intuition of what the results ought to be, you just alter them.
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Sarah Brown
in reply to Katy Swain • •