K-12 Education Essentials
Guides for Students Who Have Idiopathic Hypersomnia, Their Supporters, and K-12 Educators
The Education Essentials Guides are available to view and download below. To learn more about the neurologic disorder idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), go to www.hypersomniafoundation.org/hypersomnia/ih.
K-12 Education Guides
- Considerations When Requesting K-12 Accommodations
- Assistive Technology in K-12: A Walk on the Tech Side
- K-12 Student Success: Physicians Can Make an Important Difference
- Guide to Requesting Accommodations for K-12 Students With IH
- K-12 Academic Resources Guide
- Tips for Parents of K-12 Students With Idiopathic Hypersomnia
- Teens Talk
- Resources for Families of K-12 Students With Idiopathic Hypersomnia
- Advice to K-12 Educators of Students Who Have Idiopathic Hypersomnia
A Student’s Experience in High School
I was a straight-A model student throughout school. Then I started falling asleep uncontrollably my junior year of high school. I had never missed homework in my life, but now I couldn’t stay awake long enough to read my assigned readings. I started failing quizzes and tests. Teachers began calling me out for falling asleep in class. It was humiliating, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. “Maybe you shouldn’t have stayed out so late last night,” one teacher snapped at me in front of the entire class. I wanted to explain that I didn’t even have the energy to hang out with my friends, much less go out partying. I didn’t know what to do. None of them asked what was wrong, and I didn’t know what was wrong anyway. I felt hopeless.
– K-12 Teacher Diagnosed With Idiopathic Hypersomnia
Advice to K-12 Educators of Students Who Have Idiopathic Hypersomnia
Idiopathic Hypersomnia (IH) is a rare neurological disorder, so rare that most educators will never have worked with a student with IH. Here is advice from your colleagues who have idiopathic hypersomnia and understand what these students are going through. For the full Guide, see “Advice to K-12 Educators From Colleagues Who Have Idiopathic Hypersomnia”.
People with IH cannot control their sleepiness—it’s not a choice and they are not lazy.
Their lives are severely limited because they are trapped by sleep.
– High School English and Dance Teacher Who Has IH
Understand the Neurological Disorder and Its Symptoms
Symptoms can include:
- Falling asleep in class
- Putting head down on desk
- Slow response time
- Slurring words
- Memory and concentration issues
- Heightened emotions
- Tardiness
IH causes unrelenting fatigue that does not improve with extra sleep, an earlier bedtime, etc.
NOTE: These are symptoms of a medical condition, not just behavioral issues or lack of motivation.
To better understand the child, think of their energy reserves like a cell phone with a battery not able to fully charge no matter how long it is plugged in.
– K-5 Music Teacher Who Has IH
Have Empathy
- The symptoms are out of the student’s control. They are frustrated as well.
- Never call out, shame, or punish a student for their symptoms.
- Remember that this is a medical condition. Remain discreet when discussing IH,
and maintain proper confidentiality.
Be patient. Be kind. You can still hold them to a standard while being compassionate.
– High School Teacher Who Has IH
Strategize in the Classroom
- Communicate with students and families to identify strategies to help students stay awake and succeed in class.
- Strategies, which may fall under 504 Plans or IEPs, may include:
- Specific seating (e.g. near a window, near the door, near the teacher, standing desk)
Allowing students to stand up and/or walk around during class - Presenting information in a simple, easy-to-follow format
- Flexible deadlines
- Handwriting notes/assignments may be best for some students; using a computer
may be best for others
NOTE: What works for one student with IH may not work for another. Include the student and family in this discussion.
Please talk with your student to find the best way to help [them]… stay alert during class. Allow the student and parents to discuss possible strategies.
– K-8 Teacher Who Has IH