03/20/2022
I recently taught a class and a student asked the following question: how do you handle when others bash your skills or practice publicly. I responded by telling the story about way back when my partnership began. My partner Suzanne & I did work for J&J corporate ( i am public because the director was public about the issue). The then director hired us to do among many jobs, an assessment of a soon to be 5 year old who had all classic features of ADHD. We evaluated & gave recommendations for home and classroom teaching staff. A month or so later my partner was contacted by the AD requesting us to write recommendations for this child to be dismissed from program and to give a diagnosis of ADHD. We explained 1. we are not physicians so cannot diagnose, 2. We have not seen any changes happen in classroom to positively mediate behavior 3. A child that young should not be given a hard diagnosis until all environmental issues have been addressed and full battery of assessments by a doctorcate conducted 3. Not our job to accept or remove children from their program. If as they profess are truly a developmentally appropriate program then they should use a toolbox of skills to mediate behavior and work with family. Because we refused to comply the director made it her mission (as per her own words) to ensure no other programs would work with us. We knew she bashed us but we stood by our ethics and held our ground. We viewed it from point that if a program didn't use us based on hearsay and not by looking at our record of success then those are programs we don't want to or need to work with. We held true to the tenets of child development & were up front with every program we engaged with that yhe childs best interest is our main goal along with the family. If truly a developmental program they will have no worries or gray areas in supporting optimal child growth. The director took all opportunities to bash us yhrough the years b ut in no way hurt our program. Other directors actually told us what she was doing and used us quietly anyway. You see, she felt she helped us get our practice off the ground so we owed her (as per her own words). After about 20 years she calls me on phone, told me how she bashed us for years then asked me if I would do a free training for her to mend ways. Stunned I politely said no, hung up. Later I heard she lost her position. If you have clear convictions, hold to ethics, and love what you do, you will be fine. For me I only had 2 programs that expressed being dissatisfied with my work and SUPRISE- they are the same parent company. Always remember there are 2 sides to stories, always seek both sides of info and hold true to your beliefs and be ethical. You never go wrong!
