25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

146 Personality and Professionalism
discovered as being ADD. It really frustrates me still today that my disability was not
discovered until two years ago! However, I am dealing with it and, for the first time in
college, I made an A on a test with the help of Ritalin, and last semester I got a 2.0—
the closest I have ever gotten to a 3.0.
Another experience was my junior year in high school and I was in Advanced
Geometry, the first advanced class I ever attempted and I was studying with my mom
and my boyfriend, C. After turning the homework in, C. and I both missed the same
problems and he was a straight-A, advanced student and I was a B, C, regular student,
and she called me a cheater!
In third grade I visited the orthodontist over Christmas vacation and was fitted for a
retainer. Anyone who has experienced this knows it can be humiliating, especially in the
speech department. It takes some getting used to. When school resumed I was still
having some difficulty. My teacher, obviously hoping to be awarded “teacher of the
year” for noticing this defect, placed me with a speech pathologist.
Trying to determine if a student
has a learning disability
or a physical disability is a difficult,
sensitive process. Teachers should
tread lightly in these areas, being
careful not to misdiagnose, but tread
they must, lest they miss a diagnosis
or condition. Scenario 17.7 is a misdiagnosis.
The teacher jumped to the
erroneous conclusion that the student
had speech difficulties and remanded
the student to a speech pathologist
without further investigation. If she
had treaded lightly and talked to the
student first or obtained further evidence
of a problem, she could have
avoided misdiagnosing the student.
The teacher does deserve credit for
trying to act on the student’s behalf.
Scenario 17.6 is a case of missed
diagnosis. For about twenty years,
no one suspected the student had
attention deficit disorder. This disorder
is making its way to the forefront
of research on exceptional learners,
as increased knowledge of the disorder
becomes available.
Diagnosing attention deficit disorder
(ADD) may be difficult because
it mimics attention problems in other
disorders (Slavin, 1994) and in some
cases, children may have difficulty
paying attention and not have ADD
or any other disorder.
To avoid missing a diagnosis of a
disorder or misdiagnosing a disorder,
effective teachers will proactively
arm themselves with knowledge.
They learn how to identify learning
disabilities according to their school
district’s rules, regulations, and
re quire ments. They learn characteristics
of students with learning disabilities
or physical challenges. They
become knowledgeable of the legal
ramifications of serving exceptional
learners. Effective teachers tread
lightly in recommending students for
special education to avoid contributing
to the disproportionate number
of males and African Americans that
are overrepresented in special education
(U.S. Depart ment of Education,
1991).