Called dumb, humiliated, dragged from the classroom: How our education system is failing ADHD and autism kids

New research has highlighted the shocking disparity between the good and “truly dreadful” ways in which neurodivergent children are being treated and taught in the Australian education system.

Have you ever had a teacher who changed your trajectory – a teacher who took you aside and made you see something in a different light? A teacher whose own journey resonated with you and gifted you a real sense of optimism? A teacher whose care started with the curriculum but ended with capturing your heart and soul?

While the curriculum is what a teacher must deliver, care is what they can deliver. All teachers have the power to capture the mind of each student in front of them and deliver a gift that can last a lifetime.

There is no difference between neurotypical (NT) and neurodivergent (ND) children; every child will respond to a teacher who makes time to understand them.

But for ND children, this might be harder for a number of reasons – they might be masking during school hours or not be able to communicate in the way other students do. They might act out their fears and appear naughty or disengaged. They might be chaotic, with their belongings a mess. Some might be incredibly studious and quiet. Some might want to answer every question while others might answer none. They might have an all-consuming interest in one subject, and no interest in others.

The author’s research found some ‘truly dreadful’ examples of how neurodivergent students were taught within the school system, and some stunning positive examples.

TEACHING WITH HEART

Our research – which included 1200 Australian families with a ND child, 600 teachers and dozens of global experts – threw up some truly dreadful examples of how ND students were taught within the school system, and this was across all sectors – public and private – with examples in both city and regional areas.

We also heard some stunning examples of teachers who successfully engaged with a child who was struggling.

In one case, for example, a teacher bought a fishing tackle box with her own money and took it into school as a gift for a student. She understood her student loved fishing and used his interest and passion as a way of teaching him to organise his belongings. It worked a treat.

Co-author of Out of the Box, Madonna King.

The examples of clever and novel ideas run to pages, but here are a few we’ve chosen in a bid to show how some teachers are successfully engaging some of their ND students.

• “The science teacher at high school this year was aware of his difficulties in taking notes, writing in general, and keeping up in class. So, they printed off a booklet of the lesson slides but omitted key points that he then had to fill in as the lesson proceeded in an attempt to engage him throughout the lesson, rather than having him become discouraged with his inability to keep up.”

• “A beautiful inclusion support team organised a visit to the local creek once a week during their lunch hour. It gave the kids a space where they felt seen, heard, responsible and relaxed. They even ended up participating in a puddle jumping competition one year!”

• “Classroom teacher has provided a comfort entry to class. My daughter becomes overwhelmed starting the day; the teacher allows her to spend 10 or 15 minutes in classroom before bell to adjust to the environment.”

• “This year, his teacher has given him and a few others in the class Recharge Cards. They can hand them in at any time of day and get 10 minutes to recharge. This can be 10 minutes on the iPad, playing with Lego, doing physical exercise. This has been a game-changer, as he is in charge.”

• “A beautiful English teacher recognised that he couldn’t bring himself to speak up in class to ask for help, so developed a plan that he was to email her in class and send his work via OneNote for feedback.”

Some teachers are successfully finding ways to engage neurodivergent students.

• “Teacher emailed me today to let me know there is a fire drill scheduled for Monday after recess, so I can spend the weekend prepping her.”

• “One teacher told the kids he couldn’t spell and probably had dyslexia right from the start. He got the kids that could spell to correct his; he included everyone and he made learning (especially maths) super fun and active (including ball throwing while learning).”

• “The teacher started a communication book just between my son and her. She writes questions or thoughts in there and leaves it on his desk. When he feels like it, he responds and often asks something back. He felt genuinely connected but with zero demand.”

• “My son was part of a musical theatre group as a kid and the teacher who ran it just saw a spark in him and gave him a lead role in Year 2. This was such a game-changing experience for him and gave him such a sense of self-worth and confidence. He’s been singing and acting ever since.”

One teacher we spoke to brought caterpillars into her class from her own garden. Another allowed a student to perform his poetry slam at whatever point in the day he wanted.

In another case, the teacher bribed a student to get their work done with trips to the school cafe, which the student loved. And in another, the teacher got to know the student, before telling his parents that he had a real talent for computer programming.

“This made me cry because up until that point all feedback about his learning had been negative,” his mother says. “I felt like none of his teachers could look past his learning difficulties and see the intelligent kid I knew him to be.”

A music teacher told us about a student who was obsessed with Marvel and Star Wars. “They’ve started composing film scores and are now applying to study composition at tertiary level. They’ve come a long way from being very anxious about everything. They recently said music has changed their life forever.”

Rebecca Sparrow, co-author of Out of the Box.

PUNISHMENT VS REWARDS

It would be remiss to skip over the bad examples of how some ND kids are being treated in schools. We need to see these and call them out, in a bid to stamp them out.

It is clear that a lot of teachers have not received any recent training or professional development and lack an awareness about neurodivergence.

As a consequence, some teachers don’t have the skills to educate a ND child.

Reward charts were possibly the worst example, as one parent described: “In this class a teacher would give points if students did jobs or completed lessons. The points could be used to go to the bathroom, have an early mark or get prizes. This day the teacher set an activity for the student to do. My son didn’t understand what to do. He couldn’t ask his friend because they would both get in trouble. He tried asking the teacher but he was told to do it himself. He tried but was getting nowhere, so stopped. As he was sitting there, he started to feel that he needed to go to the toilet, a feeling he gets when he is nervous. The teacher said no points, no toilet. So, he ended up soiling himself in class.”

Other parents reported similar issues with reward systems: “In Year 1 they would have a shared reward chart, so the class would all get a prize if they did things on time as a collective. One time they had to pack up their activity and put the equipment in their school bag and then get back to the mat. My son didn’t make it within the time and all the other kids were already on the mat. The whole group was penalised and missed out on the reward. He said all the kids were screaming at him and called him dumb. He said it was awful and cried about it at night for over a week.”

Some teachers don’t have the skills to educate a neurodivergent child.

These weren’t the only examples of reward charts being used; a disciplinary tactic that angered, frustrated and saddened experts who work with ND children. “It gives me the shivers,” says Dr Michelle Garnett, a clinical psychologist with 30 years’ experience specialising in autism.

Garnett – who is autistic and has ADHD – knows a teacher might have good intentions, but this “stick and carrot, dog-training misbehaviour modification” has no role in the classroom.

“It might work for dogs, but we are not dealing with dogs. You can get a dog to do anything for food. That’s not the case for an autistic person, because we’re more complex than that,” she says.

In another case, an education assistant says she worked in a classroom with a six-year-old autistic child who also had ADHD.

“I have seen a teacher stand in front of [him] to stop him from leaving a classroom when he was dysregulated. She stood in front of him growling for him to go and sit down. He ended up pushing past her and getting suspended again for assaulting a teacher. Our educators are underpaid, unsupported, (and) under-educated about teaching students with disabilities.”

In other examples told to us by parents:

• “Principal pulled up some photos of meth addicts on his computer. Showed them to my son and said: ‘If you make bad choices, you end up like these people … so that’s why we need to make good choices.’ He was only in Year 5 at the time!”

• “My daughter’s special interest is reading. She snuck in the back door of the school library (her safe place) then was forcefully dragged out by two staff members as she went through the wrong door. My daughter’s education assistant quit because being a receptionist pays more …”

• “My son calls out answers as he’s super excited to know them. He is constantly being moved due to yelling out. The teacher recently dropped him from extension for yelling out an answer and standing up out of excitement.”

• “When I told my seven-year-old’s Prep teacher two years ago that we were going down the route of an ADHD diagnosis, she laughed in my face and said, ‘She doesn’t have a behavioural issue, she has a working memory issue.’”

• “My daughter has permission to have fidgets with her, but one teacher threatens to throw them in the bin if my daughter plays with them.”

Parents shared examples of children being belittled or humiliated.

• “My son said the class was tasked to be creative and draw a spider. He drew all the legs on one side. In front of the whole class the teacher said, ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, what are you in Year 3 or something?’ He was in Year 5, and that being said in front of the whole class destroyed him.”

• “He was called ‘dysfunctional’ by one teacher, a ‘coward’, a ‘disappointment’ and a ‘disgusting little boy’ by another, and then the last one we complained about referred to him as ‘a waste of space’ and hit him over the head with some paperwork he had in his hand.”

• “Kids stuck a Sticky Note on his back; (when) he asked around everyone said no. He then went up to the teacher and she even said there was no Sticky Note on his back!”

forget the apple, teachers need support

While none of the examples are excusable, it’s important to put this in context. The reality is that many teachers are overworked, under-resourced and undervalued.

“All families have good and bad classroom stories – that’s life,” one parent said. “Schools are doing their best. Some do better if they have more support and access to specialists and extra teacher aides.”

Teachers need more help in the classroom to help kids.

Another said: “I find the teachers are generally excellent, however they are overstretched and unsupported, they need more hands-on help in the classroom.”

While many parents had a better experience at public schools, others said staff resourcing was a higher priority at private schools. Class sizes also vary widely across the education sector, as does the experience and knowledge of teachers. Sue Larkey, a highly-qualified educator and author who runs workshops for teachers, doesn’t mince words.

“We have a big problem in Australia,” she says. On average, a teacher stays in the job for five years and often their decision to leave is prompted by student behaviour. Many universities do not value educating teachers about neurodiversity or provide strategies that might help them engage all learners.

This is an edited extract from Out of the Box: A one-stop guide to navigating neurodivergence by Madonna King and Rebecca Sparrow, out on October 29, UQP, $35.

Originally published as Called dumb, humiliated, dragged from the classroom: How our education system is failing ADHD and autism kids