TALES FROM A MISDIAGNOSED RITALIN KID: DANGERS OF EARLY ASSUMPTIONS

“We noticed you’re having trouble focusing in class, you must have a learning disability!” Although some people think that using initial observations of student behavior and performance is important to treating learning disabilities, I think it is dangerous because it can lead to misdiagnosis, problems in self-confidence, and an altered perception of that student’s intelligence from other students. In her TED talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, “[…] stories make me who I am. But to insist on only these negative stories is to flatten my experience, and to overlook the many other stories that formed me” (12:45). Although Adiche’s speech is about race, her points can also be applied to students who have difficulty in school. To focus on the trouble a student has first, rather than their strengths is dangerous because it flattens who they are, and overlooks how much they’re learning and achieving.

A single story, in the context of Adichie's speech, is a singular view of a situation, culture, or person, often cultivated by misconceptions that were told to the individual who has developed that particular single story. The speech tells several stories that Adichie experienced throughout her entire life that led to misconception on her part, or on the part of others in her life. Organized into several distinct, self-contained stories, the speech shows how each that started out as a single story, then developed into something more as the person with the single story discovered more context. A good example is when Adichie’s college roommate thought that all Africans listened to "tribal music" and didn't know how to use a stove. Through meeting Adichie and living with her, that roommate gained context that she didn't have before, and realized that her perspective on Adichie's culture and what life is like in Nigeria was skewed and a single story without direct perspective. Adichie also does an excellent job of showing how the person with the single story perspective may feel once they realize their viewpoint is skewed and may not be as accurate as they were led to believe when they were told those stories.

I agree with Adichie's assessment that the single story is dangerous, as it robs others of their chance at a true first impression. As an example, Adichie tells us of her surprise when a single story induced first impression, about her house boy Fide's family, fooled her, "It had not even occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. All I had heard about them is how poor they were" (3:31). Adichie's story effectively shows how problematic basing your first impression on a single story someone tells you can be when you finally meet them. The story about Fide's family, told by her mother, was unexpectedly damaging, as it overshadowed any possibility that there was anything more to Fide's family than poverty. This, like many single stories, was just an incomplete tale about people that are constantly marginalized by one-sided tales such as this all the time.

Indeed, Adichie doesn’t state the single stories are necessarily wrong, just that they stereotype people neatly into one box or another. Adichie recalls, “Every time I am home I am confronted with the usual sources of irritation for most Nigerians: our failed infrastructure, our failed government. But also by the incredible resilience of people who thrive despite the government, rather than because of it” (16:35). Adichie acknowledges in this statement that while there may be some truth to some of the negative single stories, there are other stories to tell, some that are positive. The person experiencing the stories first hand can embrace both the good and bad single stories into the tapestry that is their existence, throwing out the portions that aren’t correct. For an outsider, however, the single story is dangerous because that one viewpoint is all they’ve learned. Recounting her journey to Mexico, Adichie laments the single story she gave into about life in Mexico, “[...] I remember first feeling slight surprise. And then, I was overwhelmed with shame. I realized that I had been so immersed in the media coverage of Mexicans that they had become one thing in my mind, the abject immigrant. I had bought into the single story of Mexicans and I could not have been more ashamed of myself” (8:42). No matter how worldly someone may consider themselves, they can’t truly get a good picture of life for a specific person or people without knowing all stories about them. Even the most well-intentioned single stories still don’t tell the whole story and can be dangerous. Adichie’s message of single stories and their danger applies to student performance as much as it does about her original topic of race.

As an example of a single story of student performance, one can look to my own tale of being marginalized to a single story. When I was in the third grade, I had moved from Southern California to the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado, starting at a brand new school. I had always had trouble focusing, but it was mainly that I was excited about everything around me and let that get the better of me. My handwriting was horrible, and this only led to further trouble. Rather than try to further understand me and see what might be causing my problems, my teacher immediately called a conference with my parents and insisted I see a specific doctor. This doctor was her own son’s pediatrician, and had diagnosed her son with a learning disability. Regrettably, she used the single story of her own son’s disability to put me neatly in a box, simply because my lack of focus matched the symptoms her son initially had. This led to test after test, being put on Ritalin, and having to go to the nurse’s office every day. After all of this, I began to believe the single story myself. “I must have something wrong with me,” I thought, “why else would they give me this medicine and make me work with an aide more often?” My peers noticed all the extra attention, as well. The already small group of friends I had grew smaller. People in my class knew something was different, and since they didn’t understand what, avoided me whenever possible. The adults treated me differently, so there must be something that made me different, maybe I was stupid, or maybe I had something else wrong. Whatever the reason, they felt they could treat me differently, since the adults treated me differently.

After that first year, my parents moved us into a more permanent home in a different school’s area. My final two years of elementary school were spent here. My next teacher received my records from the teacher who assumed I had a problem. After having me in her class for several months this teacher told my mother, “when Andy first came to my class, I read this teachers comments about how much trouble he has, and I haven’t seen this even once!” It became clear at that point that my third grade teacher didn’t look at everything, and that the doctor was eager to use the latest “wonder drug” to try and fix me. When I changed sc of muscle coordination, not because of a learning disability. My affinity for music was born that year, which has since become the core of my being. Eventually my parents stopped making me take Ritalin, and my performance continued to grow over the years. I still struggled throughout my school career with being on task, but I’ve since learned to manage this with greater finesse. My handwriting is still atrocious, but as technology has advanced, I haven’t needed to improve it as much.

The single stories that Adichie experienced and the single story that I experienced all have one thing in common; the subject of the single story is almost always hurt by the lack of understanding, and can lead to serious repercussions throughout their lives. As a future teacher, I will strive to learn from the mistakes from my teachers, and not rely solely on my first impression, itself a single story, to figure out what a child needs.