Class today was pretty normal up until the end of the second hour. One of my students who has trouble focusing was flat-out refusing to do his assignment for a myriad of reasons, and I wasn't sure if any of them were true. He claimed to be afraid to write down his thoughts for fear of judgement (something I have seen before in other students). He claimed that he did better with typing than with writing, but I told him that I had taken away the laptop because it had been distracting him. He then claimed that I never gave him a chance to open a word document (a flat-out lie) and I told him that while he had had the laptop out I never said that he couldn't type out his responses.
Still, the student became more and more frustrated. Since he was still refusing to do his work, I reluctantly wrote a referral and poked my head out of the door to get the attention of the hall monitor. At this point, the student warned me that he had thrown desks at people before and that he was getting very angry and often became violent while angry. I took a deep breath and just let him continue talking until the assistant principal arrived.
I know that this particular student has a lot of problems with focus and dealing with emotions. But there is a point in which one has to say, "your problems do not excuse this behavior." However, perhaps planning a lesson that helps the student feel a bit more comfortable doing his work and that he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, stupid (as he has referred to himself before), I can prevent future situations from coming to a head like they did today. People get extremely defensive and may attack when they feel anxious and threatened by the surrounding situation.
I found an interesting class activity to help others understand what it's like to have ADHD, as well as the fact that they need to make sure that they are not doing anything which could add to the overload of sensory input that the student is experiencing.
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