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So does anyone els think that esspecially elementry classrooms are tooo "busy". I know that when we first started the process with adhd i noticed that his classromm looked like someone took everything that they could find and put it on the walls, it hurt my eyes can you imagin what an adhd child is thinking? The two years that my sone struggled the most the class rooms were just horrible. There was no rhyme or reason to the stuff just posters and brightly colered collages on EVERY wall. This last year there were things on the wall BUT the focal wall...the wall that the teacher used to teach, had nothing on it but a blank space to use the elmo ( i dont know exactally whats its called its a REALLY fancy projector LOL they called it elmo) Everything else was behind and to the side of the children. There compleated projects and reminder stuff.. how to form cursive letters that kind of stuff, but there was still an orginization to it. And guess what we went from bairly passing to all as and bs and one c ( in reading thats his issue subject). Am i on to something that need to be addressed in the classrooms with our kids? Have you ever been in the special needs department of your school? There are usually practically NOTHING on the walls......its too much info for adhd childrens brains.Oh and that brought up something else... i was talking to another parent thats daughter is newly dx and she is not allowed to go and be in her elementry childs classroom..... none of the parents are allowed to. WTF im allowed to walk in at any time and go be with my son. Is that normal where you are? And what are the reasons....i dont know about you but i dont care who has my kid if im not allowed to drop in then that sends a warrnign flag up that they are hiding something. Any thoughts?
Posted on 07/02/09, 09:07 am |
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I agree that classrommscan be overly done. my daughter has to have a cetien seating arrangment and tha thelps, she was in 7th this year so the walls are not as packed, they also say that their bedrooms should be doen in a way that is not busy. calm and relaxing. i would not have my kid in a school were you could not go to the class and see what they are doing. we live in rural america and everyone knows everyone, all we do is step into the office and say hello and off to the class we go, wha tkind of school has that policy of no parents in the class? 
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In my son's school, if I enter the office, the teacher's room is paged and then my child would be sent down to me from his home room -- I can't go into his class and get him, and I can't just show up without a meeting.. We are not supposed to enter the classroom without pre-arranging this with the teacher, because it disrupts the class.
However, if I show up at any time, and need my son, they will get him. And I have always felt like I could get a conference with any teacher or make arrangements to visit at any time. I have never felt like I was not welcome at the school.
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My sons classrooms have some things on the walls but they try to keep it to a minimum (the alphabet, colors and shapes)
As far as visiting, there is a keypad to get into the building and if you don't know the code they have a doorbell. He is in a private school, so everyone knows each other. They welcome parents at any time and have video monitoring as well.
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I agree to all of you, I for one do not understand what's with some of the teachers, that they put too much on the classroom walls?
The first time I took my son in his school to introduce him to his new teacher, my eyes are so overwhelmed, I was thinking " What is this place?" hahaha. Anyways, In our country, there are so limited things on the wall ( Learning materials that is ). The classrooms are stuffed with 35 to 50 kids in 1st grade. The one thing is, the teachers recognized each childs differences. An average of 30 kids in a Special Education class is a lot but the teachers in our country manage to teach them. Anyways, I asked the principal of my sons' school if there is a chance that school classroom should have limited learning things on the wall! and he said that it all depends upon the teacher. I just think that even if a child doesnt have ADHD ( though my son has a severe ADHD ) a classroom wall full of learning materials is okay, but it shouldnt be too much that a child's eyes will feast. Like my sons' classroom, one wall has ABC's, then another wall has ABC's too. The colored pens are in each side of the classroom. Spelling words are everywhere on the wall and etc. Organized but just too much. I just hope that the school administration will take a part on what a teacher can put in their classroom that is not excessive. The one thing though is the school my son is in is friendly. From time to time I get to sit with my son in the classroom. I just dont like the attitude of the teacher. She knows how to degrade a kid in a way that if you're not listening enough, you wouldnt even notice. Anyways, We all have the same thoughts, we just have to be strong for our children. God bless us all!!! Lynn
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Wow, it seems no matter where we live, we all have the same thoughts and opinions on this one! I totally agree... in every classroom my son has ever been in, it's been so ridiculously busy that even the most focused child in the world would have trouble! To make matters worse for us, when my son was in Grade 3, he was in an open classroom, which basically meant that his class, along with 7 others, occupied the top floor of the school, and there were no walls - just partitions separating the classes! So not only did you have the busy colorful walls, but you also had the noise and chatter from seven other classrooms to filter out. Impossible, again, for ANY child, let alone one with ADHD. It was a disaster.
One thing I put into my son's IEP was use of a "focus folder", which helps him physically take out those visual distractions. It's just a big piece of bristol board or cardboard folded three ways so that it blocks out what you can see in front of you and to the sides (like blinders..lol) - it isn't practical to use all the time, obviously, but it does help a little bit when the kids are at their desks, expected to focus on doing their work in front of them. And more helpful of course is the Spec. Ed room, which is WAY less cluttered than the typical classroom. In my son's school, we have to schedule a meeting with the teacher if there is something we need to discuss. But I often go over when school lets out to touch base. I would hope that every parent is allowed to do that... that would definitely not make me happy if you weren't allowed to show up and discuss something about your child with their teacher.
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It seems that the school feel that a child must be stimulated at every second. Visually, emotionally and physically. This comes through in the big push for after school sports, weekend band, summer school, summer sports, etc, etc, etc. What ever happened to just having freedom to be a kid and have some imagination amd toys that develop that imagination. There seems to be a recent push in some circles back to this. I am in agreement that there needs to be some sort of balance between stimulation, quiet and imagination.
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As the parent of 3, oldest with ADHD, I agree that classrooms are very often way too busy for my eldest (He'll be in 4th at a private school) but our chosen school does use projection systems and such, and the front wall is kept free of everything except the daily agenda, whiteboard for instruction, and projection screen. We have been fortunate that our school has been willing to do a lot to accomodate our son's quirks.
As a teacher in the public school, I have discovered that I really don't have a lot to say about what must go on my wall. The environment in the education community dictates that we put all sorts of crap on the walls because it "stimulates" different children's learning styles. (One of the many reasons I choose to send the kids to private school is the utter ridiculousness I find in the public school community.) Set up a time to talk to your child's teacher before the new school year, if possible, and ask him/her to allow your child to sit in an area where there is a limited amount of stuff on the wall. I, and most of the teachers I work with, are more than willing to accomodate such requests. (Personally, I relish the excuse to tone down the stuff I am expected to display on my walls!!!) If your child's teacher has problems with this, ask the principal to move your child to a different teacher's class. (You might also consider having a 504 plan for your child- federal rules require that teachers follow the accomodations agreed upon in a 504 plan. Different states, jurisdictions, school districts interpret the criteria to qualify for a 504 plan differently, so you might also need to work with some sort of legal presence.) As a parent and a teacher, I wish you the best as you help your child find success and happiness!
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