The Forums › Forums › Tools, Techniques & Treatments › Playing to Your Strengths › What do you all think about Mark Patey? › Reply To: What do you all think about Mark Patey?
It’s possible that teachers who knew a kid had ADHD could project negative attitudes on a kid and negative expectations that the kid would pick up on. But it’s also true that a teacher could not know at all, and completely misinterpret a child’s struggles in school, attributing it to “disrespectful” behavior or low motivation.
Which is my long-winded way of saying I agree with you. There are so many factors that go into school success. What is motivating for one kid could be totally demoralizing or frustrating for another.
I also agree with the idea that communicating that someone is “broken” is not a healthy message, but so often in school, anyone non-conforming is going to be labelled broken no matter what. Whether there’s a diagnosis or not. I was always considered weird and a druggie, despite the fact that I was never on drugs in high school. I’ve been considered a freak all my life, right? And that’s without anyone knowing why they should think that.
Often “experts” seem to have the attitude that what works for them should work for everyone. I seriously doubt that to be the case. Everyone is different. We can’t make generalizations that easily. There may be similarities or parallels to how we function, but each of us is unique and may have very different needs.
The best coaches recognize we need to customize a system that works for us.
I am still stuck on being mad at the people who say if you can’t afford coaching, you’re just not trying hard enough to make money materialize in your bank account that just isn’t there. That’s crazy talk. It’s one thing to not work with someone who can’t afford it – that’s totally fine. It is not okay to dump on someone who can’t afford it or question their sincerity. No excuse for that.
Kind of pathetic that even if I could afford more extensive support, I still wouldn’t be able to get it because the people out there providing these services are bad at their jobs. There should be some sort of code of ethics for these people.
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