My Abnormal Grand Daughter
They have been imploring my daughter to get her 'seen by a neurological pediatrician'.
Nearly all of my friends are teachers so I have discussed their concerns with them.
None of them have so far considered my little grand daughter to be abnormal; none of them have noticed anything amiss over the years they have encountered her.
My grand daughter attends a Montessori Center. My daughter herself had a Montessori education. Montessori educators are encouraged to foster self paced learning and development.
My daughter ate no sugar or chemical food additives until she was a teenager; except for the occasional and accidental ingestion and these invariably made her ill.
Now my daughter has been careful to not feed her own daughter food with chemical food additives of any kind such as preservatives, artificial flavorings and colors. My grand daughter also has a dairy, yeast and gluten allergy so these foods have also been avoided.
Over the years her reactions to these foods has lessened and she can now eat certain breads and some cheeses, though in the main such foods are either avoided or minimized.
Are you wondering what behaviors exhibited by my grand daughter have raised concern?
Her teachers are concerned that;
Her concentration is too intense,
She can spend a long time on one task, and often will repeat it a few times,
She will 'stand around' at times as if in deep thought, and
She is not as active as most of the other children.
Of course my daughter has been concerned and recently asked her GP for a referral to the pediatrician. Her GP expressed the opinion that she didn't believe my grand daughter had autism, Aspergers Syndrome or any other neurological disturbance.
My daughter (who is not as assertive as I am) said that she will await her moment to say to the teachers that she will one day soon bring her daughter to school after she has eaten a sugary meal loaded with various food additives to see if they then consider her demeanor and behavior more 'normal'.
On the occasional times that my grand daughter does eat such foods her behavior is very different.
Under the influence of such foods she loses all the behaviors that so worry her teachers. She 'pings' off the walls, can't keep still, keep interrupting, gets impatiently garrulous, doesn't concentrate for very long and is not interested enough in any task to be inclined to repeat it.
Is this troublesome and 'abnormal' behavior what modern teachers have come to accept as normal?
Keep posted.
Published by Jaahda Jinnah
Jaahda Jinnah is a wise old crone who knows much about all sorts of things. Try me ! View profile
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5 Comments
Post a Commentand yes, we are taking the troublesome behavior as normal, just because it's the norm in almost every students I meet. But you're right, we must do something about it - and the "no-to-bad-sugar" seems to be a good way.
as a teacher myself, I just cannot understand the teachers concerns about your grand daughter. My concerns are about students that can't keep still - and parents with the same problem. Some behaviours look almost endemic in the area I teach. And sometimes I think: well, must be the food they eat or the water they drink. There's no other explanation. You're so right! Keep doing the way. Cheers.
IN THE making of a Genuis i say ....!!!!!
Jaahda...I would have little to do with public institutions were I raising a child. Looking back at my public education, I am astonished at the level of incompetence and apathy prevalent in these so called academies of learning.
My goodness! Deep thought??? The kid must be a terrorist or something! Thanks for reporting this with your distinctive point of view.