American mother Tera Cooper is furious after her 13-year-old son, Derek, who has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), was reduced to tears by his teacher, when he was given a ‘most likely to be distracted’ award in front of his entire class, NBC Connecticut has reported.
The certificate read, “#ADDaward…Most likely to be distracted by… Look something shiny!”, and included a picture of a zombie being lifted up by a balloon.
Tera has said she will take legal action against her son’s school, Plainfield Central School in Connecticut, for their discrimination.
The mother has spoken about the moment her son told her of the award.
"He had tears in his eyes. He's embarrassed because he had to accept it in front of his entire class," she said.
Derek also received an award for being the most improved at social studies, and another titled "#BermudaTriangle" which said he was most likely to borrow something and never give it back.
Tera explained that the school has full knowledge of Derek's condition as he is on a personalised learning program.
"I don't know if she thought it was funny but it's not funny. She's the teacher. It's supposed to be a safe space."
Tera also reported that Cooper told her that other students had received "ADD awards", too.
The school's principal, Scott Gagnon, explained he notified parents that he would address the issue immediately.
"Parents were assured that, along with our central office administration, this matter would be handled promptly as we are acting on good faith in the interest of the student and his family."
Top Comments
In America, we have a problem with being outraged/offended about anything and everything. Also with being lawsuit happy. *sigh*
Looking at this situation objectively (since it has nothing to do with me), the kid has ADHD. So the "most likely to be distracted"...is probably true. When a child hears a true statement about themselves (a statement that is not actually even all that offensive, to be honest), and gets horribly upset by it, that tends to show that they haven't fully accepted that fact about themselves. Keep in mind, having ADHD isn't a "bad" thing. It's just a different way of perceiving and interacting with the world. Many great and creative minds are "ADHD".
Imagine how the situation would have changed if he addressed it with a little bit of humor. "Most likely to be distracted? Well, if I was distracted, it's only because you weren't that interesting." Say that with a smile, all the other students would laugh and this wouldn't be the terrible traumatizing event that we're making it out to be. And, let's be honest, something shiny is probably far more interesting than a teacher's boring lecture. Amiright?
Unfortunately, he's still trying to pretend that he's neurotypical like everyone else (spoiler alert: neurotypical is boring) and is hoping that nobody notices his differences. So he is crushed when other people point out that his differences are actually rather obvious.
I don't think the mother is doing her kid any favors with how she is reacting to this event. I get that mothers can be protective when they feel their children are being attacked, but it would be far more beneficial for this child to learn to accept himself for who he is and to be able to respond to these situations with a bit of humor. Humor is a great way of deflecting things, especially in embarrassing situations.
I think this is horrible!