5 year old child being caused distress in school

[concernedmommy]

I have a situation where my daughter who is in kindergarten (5 years old) is having an issue with her teacher. The teacher feels that my child should be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, although my pediatrician as well as a child psychologist disagrees. The teacher has been treating her differently and according to my child... she makes her feel "sad." This teacher has crumbeled up my daughters workbook pages and threw it on the floor in front of the class, which makes my daughter feel "sad and stupid." My daughter is afraid to ask this teacher questions because the answer she hears is "you should have listened the first time and followed directions - shape up!"
There is so much more to this story, but It has come to the point where my daughter doesn't like going to school and now she is getting up each morning crying and saying that her belly hurts and she can't go to school.
I feel that the system has failed my daughter. I have an appointment to see the school psychologist this week, but I'd love to throw into the conversation that if my child continues to be treated this way I'm consulting an attorney. My question to you is ...is this out of line? Do I have any grounds to make a threat like this? My poor little girls is only 5 years old, the youngest child in her class and already she is hating school, crying, sick, feeling belittled and afraid of her teacher. What can I do? Can I do anything legally? Please advise.

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: I have an appointment to see the school psychologist this week, but I'd love to throw into the conversation that if my child continues to be treated this way I'm consulting an attorney. My question to you is ...is this out of line?

A: No.

 

[concernedmommy]

really? Great! I will say that.. now my next question... can I follow through and act on it and actually consult an attorney? I just spoke to the child psychologist that I've been working with on this regarding my daughter being sick each morning and not wanting to to to school and she feels that this is somatic symptions which are emotional issues that are manifesting themselves as physical symptoms.
This teacher is really messing her up - and it's KINDERGARTEN!

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: now my next question... can I follow through and act on it and actually consult an attorney?

A: Yes.


Unfortunately, there are idiot teachers in every school.

 

[PILawGirl]

It's so sad how teachers these days are so quick to single out children who are more outgoing as having ADD/ADHD. There are so many children on medication now for something they don't even have! ADD/ADHD drugs can seriously affect the mental state of a person who doesn't need them, especially a child! Apparently, the teachers this day in age cannot deal with kids being kids and want them medicated to make their jobs easier. I have a 4-year old son and if a teacher treated him that way I would be EXTREMELY upset. I was actually diagnosed with ADD when I was 16 years old, I still take medication for it (probably wouldn't have gotten through school or half of my days at work without it...ha ha). My boyfriend has an 8-year old. His teacher tried to do the same thing. I finally had to put my foot down and have a talk with the administrators at school, I brought medical documentation to back me up as well as my own personal experience with ADD. They finally stopped trying to encourage his parents to put him on meds. A year later he is doing AWESOME in school, he was just going through the "wild" phase that most 7-year old boys go through and the teacher couldn't handle it.

Because of the fact that I DO have ADD and have had extensive testing to back up the diagnosis I tend to get a little defensive when teachers try to get Doctors to prescribe this medication to children who don't need it. The medication I take is considered addictive, when I had to switch Doctors because of a relocation they were very skeptical to give it to me until they saw my past medical records and realized I had never tried to fill it early, if anything an average 30-day supply would last 35-40 days for me. I've started working on a campaign in California for law makers to wake up and realize that these teachers that are trying to diagnose children with a psychological problem are becoming more and more of an issue which ultimately affects the mental well being of our children. I hope everything works out for you and your daughter.