An Educators Stance on ADHD or Sensory Issues?

I used to teach preschool which is not the same. But here are some thoughts for you.
I would imagine ( and yes this is a generalization) that most teachers like kids and love to see their faces light up when they learn to read or figure out a tough math problem, I doubt they care what fix you choose meds or natural AS LONG AS it works, and you communicate with them and view them as team members.
When you "forget" to give them their pill that day and they are climbing the walls, or if you try to eliminate red dye but only when it's convenient for you, and they are still hitting other kids, trying to wander down to other classroom, making farting noises with their armpits when other classmates are in the middle of show and tell and generally making it hard for others to learn, That's what teachers don't like.
If you meet with them, and have a plan and consequences, and show that you want the best for your child AND are willing to realize your child isn't the only one in the classroom, AND you meet your obligations for dealing with it at home, Then I would assume most teachers will be more than willing to give their all to those special needs kids, n o matter what treatment you chose. Just keep them updated with as much info as they need for time when you adjust the dosage or eliminate a third food group.
again, not a currently practicing professional but HTH

My daughter's IEP for ADHD allows her to work with an occupational therapist, child psychologist and a speech therapist (which she doesn't need) right in her class. They work as a team with the teacher. Some people say "Beware of the ADHD label" (I hate it when they say that because without it, she would not have access to the specialists!). Also, her teacher immediately asked me if she was on meds. When I responded "No" she said "Good!" right away. (We may take that route when she is older if we feel we need to). I think anyone who says that all teachers prefer kids to be medicated is making an incorrect generalization that would probably insult a lot of teachers. There are a lot teachers out there who actually want children to do well, however they can, and they are happy to support the children's parents in their decision to medicate or not medicate ADD/ADHD. As long as the ADHD is being acknowledged, addressed and properly treated so that the child can learn and not be a constant disruption to others, I bet the teachers don't care how you get there. If a parent is refusing to try medication based on principle, not based on the child's needs, and the child is not doing well on natural remedies, I would imagine that would be frustrating for the teachers, yes. I plan on working as a team and having a constant dialogue with my daughter's teachers so that we can help each other find out what works best for her. They see her at school, I don't. I see her at home, they don't. It needs to be a joint effort.

In my school (I work in a well to do area) kids with ADHD get NO special help, no aides are assigned. I love the idea of having well trained teacher aides! Teachers can choose behavior modification, behavior charts etc. We teachers are sad when we see a bright kid who cannot learn because of ADD. Those who take medication do well, which is what makes many educators pro medicine.
I personally haven't heard of parents trying natural treatments, do you mean supplements and herbs? or do you mean behavior mod and aides in the classrooms? Sadly, many parents just deny there is a problem and let the students struggle. The kids get worse if they see other students learning faster and begin to goof off on purpose to prove they aren't trying and failing despite putting in the effort. If it were MY child I would absolutely try natural treatments first, and keep trying different methods, I would try to work with the teacher, let her know i see the problem and am taking steps to make things better and be grateful if the teacher puts in extra effort to try to help my child. It really helps when teacher and parent are on the same team.
You got some great answers here! I wanted to add If it were my child I might consider Homeschooling him/her if at all possible because schools are not usually set up for ADHD kids and homeschool could be.

So do these kids, have "Aides" with them in class?
In my daughter's school, they do have Aides.... who KNOW how to work with these kids... in class.

Your answers are really going to vary by each teacher, and by what their training is (traditional, montessori, special ed, gifted, etc.).

I chose to homeschool my son for "academic reasons" ;), which translates to "because he's adhd and our schools suck". I'm very lucky to have worked with several teachers in my life, and I can tell you EACH of them have a different spin on ADHD... as do the conversations that happen in the teacher's lounge when the subject comes up. The gifted school I was a part of the teachers LOVED the adhd kids, because their "lack of social skills" in a regular school were exactly what a lot of the introverted non-adhd gifted kids needed in order to start breaking out of their shells and feeling accepted/ exuberant in a social setting. Other adhd "quirks" weren't super noticeable in this kind of gifted school, either, because the crippling perfectionism, wild leaps of thought/tangents, inability to sit through anything boring, needing individualized attention, are strong traits in gifted kids as well. In the Montessori school, adhd was all but invisible, because giving students the control to work on what they wished to in a prepared environment, and to move from subj, to subj as needed/desired (as long as x amount is accomplished), and to be able to move freely, and be in multiage classrooms... is also a prime adhd learning and behavior zone.

In standard k-12, however, there were as many "stances" on adhd with the teachers as there are parenting stances with parents. Even when a school is super-accomidating, the teacher's opinions and education or lack there of can "break" it, and vice versa... in a school that's totally unaccommodating... a teacher who "gets" adhd can "make" it.

I have a son that was misdiagnosed as having ADHD when he was 3 and again at age 5. What he really had was a vision problem. It takes 17 different eye teaming skills to read and do school type work and only one of them is reading the board or an eye chart 20 feet away. My son was unable to focus on print close up. He had what is called Convergence Insufficiency. We went through a vision therapy program with a behavioral optometrist and he was cured. He was way behind at the beginning of Kindergarten and by the end he was at the top of his class both academically and behaviorally. Do not accept a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD without ruling out a vision problem first. I did not medicate and thank goodness because the problem was that at close range the words on the page moved and he had double vision. At 20 feet away he had perfect vision. You can find a behavioral optometrist near you at www.covd.org or www.oepf.org. I highly recommend you looking into this! My son was on an IEP and the staff cannot believe how much progress he made in such a short period of time. I ask you, How long would you look at something when the words are moving? The answer is not very long before you get up and start to run around or avoid close work all together. If you have any questions, send me a private note. Best of luck!

S.

I have been teaching fourth grade for seven years. I see varying degrees of ADD/ADHD. I feel that not every child needs medication. Some students can be very successful with little accommodations put in place, like organizational system or walking breaks. I do like to see when a parent is trying some time of therapy (pharmaceutical or not) instead of ignoring the issue at hand, but medication is not right for all students.

However, when the child's ADHD/ADD is clearly impacting the child's ability to learn (as in a learning disability has developed and the student needs special education services as a result), I wish the parents would seek advice from a doctor or psychologist on what to do. These are the students that I've worked with that are severely behind grade level and have major social deficits. Medication may be right for this child.

But, overall, as long as the parent is willing to try something, I feel I can be more successful as an educator.