Labelling Children

It is good that specific problems are being recognised now.

And I think an added problem is that some children simply do not respond well to a school environment - and why should they? It is essentially a contrived environment with people of the same age herded together - and the children are increasingly expected to toe the line with homework in primary schools (inappropriate), tests and an increasingly narrow curriculum. Teachers have to have a lot of imagination to be able to provide a genuine education within the constraints placed upon them.

I also think that our education suits girls better than boys - a sweeping statement I know, but many boys find it very hard to be chained to a desk as they move up the school - they need to run about and be active. For children with diagnosed conditions, these restraints are an impossibility.

Greenfinch I could have added GS is hard-working, intelligent, succeeding academically but I chose 'delightful' deliberately.

This teacher, by her positive attitude and real teaching skills has contributed greatly to his confidence in his own ability and his successes in Y5 & Y6. She has imparted a 'can do' attitude to him so much so that he is exceeding all academic expectations.

I'm doubting the OP inspires such success.

I come at this from 2 angles, as a teacher and a parent of a child diagnosed with dyslexia. Yes there are more children being diagnosed and most teachers would say "Thank goodness" , because although you adapt to children with problems (and if Lisalou doesn't she either teaches in a very sheltered environment or she's a lousy teacher) a proper diagnosis gives you a proper framework to build a system of education which will work for that child, and enable that child to cope with the problems. It's why special needs children have Individual Education Plans and why that document is updated, and targets and goals set for each half term. So there isn't any getting away with things or just being lazy.
I fought for my son to be diagnosed as dyslexic and because he and everyone else knows about his difficulties he has been successful. Unfortunately even with his diagnosis there were some teachers who persisted in thinking he was 'lazy'. And dyslexia does not stop you achieving your goals. It sometimes takes longer. As for creativity, this is often a characteristic of a dyslexic and my son now writes and directs films. So being an author doesn't mean you are not dyslexic.
I retired 11 years ago, I think Lisalou is maybe ready to go.

My husband is undiagnosed but recognises these features I would say would say his behaviour closely fits 75% of them. He has had a lot of trouble keeping jobs because he ?does not like being asked to do something.

This list has been done by Roger Meyer who has Aspergers.

www.aspires-relationships.com/articles_as_characteristics.htm

I can't get the link to work but if you copy and paste into into a search engine it will come up.

You sound very disenchanted with current teaching methods for less able children who have been medically assessed etc. Perhaps time for a change of profession.

Lisalou absolutely agree with you. I worked in schools for many years. Yes children with dyslexia and other undiagnosed conditions were treated appalling and labelled as stupid or aggressive etc in the past. Thankfully we are a lot more enlightened now. However I agree that now many people excuse bad behaviour etc by say "it's not the child's fault they have ADHD etc." Easier to label the child, and absolve the child of any responsibility for their actions, than to accept the fact that the behaviour may be down such things as lack of boundaries etc etc.

There are different types of dyslexia, depending on the individual sensory input/output affected. eg language, vision, hearing etc
Husband is dyslexic, he struggled at school but left early and started training to be an electronics engineer. Where he excels. He gets mixed up verbally and visually. Then he married me, to be his secretary?
A.A. Gill was dyslexic - he dictated his articles to an amanuensis. His word skills were brilliant.

Lisalou - you should NOT be doing the job you are in. I work in a similar arena and I have never EVER come across a child with a diagnosis of Autism or Aspergers that I have not believed has actually got that condition.

My feeling is that it's all about balance. In my view, it is good that attention is being paid to specific difficulties that a child may have and in trying to address those difficulties through identifying different learning styles, etc. That does not mean that boundaries should not be set as to what is acceptable behaviour - provided these boundaries are applied fairly to all children - but I'm sure it's much easier to speak of such things when one is not a teacher trying to deal with a myriad issues.

It does concern me that so many children seem to be diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed medication to deal with it. I think medication should only be used in the most extreme circumstances.

Surely if, as Lisalou says, a child has been properly diagnosed with "late development of the left brain" it is inappropriate and actually not very nice to describe him as lazy and cocky? I can understand teachers coming to a point where it all gets too much but, as others have said, perhaps this indicates a need to change jobs?

my daughters dyslexia was largely ignored despite us insisting that was what her problem was,it took us until high school to get her extra help and then she did exceptionally well.It hasn't been an issue for her as she is a very intelligent young woman ,runs her own business and has been head hunted by other companies several times before branching out on her own .Its surely a good thing that childrens problems are recognised and dealt with early ,must save a lot of heartache for the families .

Where are all these children with ADHD/ Aspergers etc coming from?

It is an epidemic and very worrying.

I worked for many years alongside a neuropsychologist and I know that the diagnosis of "late development of the left brain" will have been reached after a battery of subtle psychological tests to isolate where the problem lies - the psychologist should also be able to recommend learning styles and strategies that would help.

It must be a huge challenge for teachers having several children with these sort of problems in the class - but that is no excuse for treating them as lazy.

I too agree with Lizalou and some others.
Now we have the added nightmare of "transgender" children to contemplate!
I can't even bear to talk about it.

Sorry this is a late post and I've skipped the middle two pages but I'm absolutely horrified at the replies you've received. It's blindingly obviously to anyone of any intelligence that this labelling has lost a whole generation which in the past would just have been called learners and helped or punished for laziness as appropriate. It's the poor parenting seen so often today - otherwise known as the me me me generation. Well done for bringing it up - have courage to tell the truth.

I see where the OP is coming from, yet welcome the recognition of conditions such as Aspergers, ASD and Dislexia. The education system seems hugely more complex nowadays, than when our GSs were at school in the 1970s and 80s.

Both DiLs are teachers/education development specialists and we have benefitted from their expertise in this area. They have identified that DH is dyslexic, as is DS2 whilst DS1 is apparently on the Aspergers spectrum.... Even so and despite this late diagnosis, both DSs are good husbands and fathers and hold down well paid, responsible jobs.

I'm wondering whether, left in the hands of experts, we might all be on some spectrum or other....unbeknownst.

Btw, has anyone come across the wonderful book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime' by Mark Haddon? It's told from the perspective of and autistic teenager who sets out to track down a murderer. The stage production is also quite remarkable, if ever it comes your way. Both gave me an insight into autism which I found very valuable and very moving.

sorry...'an autistic teensager'

Lots of conflicting views. I have had a child with Tourette's before it became well known and it was a long hard journey to get an official diagnosis even tho my dr brother in Canada, where it was well known, said she had classic symptoms . This was forty years ago, I eventually had to get a private consult for diagnosis. It helped me enormously to have her condition recognised as she was being treated badly by others. I worked for a great many years with children with special needs, and with children and adults with autism and Asperger. It helped parents get a diagnosis as they could push for the right "treatment/placement". But I am still unsure that there may be some parents pushing for an official diagnosis where symptoms are not extreme, in order to get funding. I've seen both sides and there is no clear answer, it's a minefield.

teenager. Gah!

I think Lisalou might be my GS's head teacher. He is waiting for an assessment - there is a very long waiting list - and meanwhile his education is suffering. He is one of 3 children and the others do not behave like him so very unlikely it could be poor parenting as suggested earlier. He gets no support from the school, just continued punishment from the head teacher, yet when he had his initial meeting with CAMHS it was immediately noticed that he was displaying symptoms of ASD/ADHD just by his general behaviour (not bad, just different). Life can be very difficult and to find out the reason for his behaviour would be a great relief.

Those who label these children as 'lazy' or blame poor parenting are just showing how totally ignorant they are. Normally I'd welcome different points of view, but there are times when, if you don't have a clue what you're talking about then 'it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt' in the words of Abraham Lincoln.

We are all struggling to do our best for our children and grandchildren and do not need to be told it is naughtiness when it clearly is not.Lets hope this thread helps to educate those who have no real experience of these conditions.

Some of the views here just make me
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and I'm not going to waste time trying to change opinions.

Having worked as a teaching assistant for 30 years I have to agree that we have an awful lot more children with educational problems then ever before. I am now retired but what makes me cross is that we were expected to work with the children all the time and that a lot of younger teachers didn't want to know. The interesting thing was that when offsted or visitors came to the school they would then work with them. When I was a TA you needed no qualifications,now you do but it's still the teachers job to work with the children as much as they can.

I'm with you on this, Lisalou, but not surprised by the attitudes and some of the negative comments on here towards your post. I'm retired now from teaching but still help out at a local nursery having spend most of my career working with children who had special needs of one kind or another, including difficult behaviour and learning difficulties. Since it has became the norm to find a label to give to people it seems to me this has coincided with people not needing or wanting to take responsibility for themselves. I was in a meeting once and the head teacher said a particular child had Defiant Disorder. Yes, being naughty (sorry, showing unacceptable behaviour) is now a disorder. I actually laughed out loud and everyone glared at me in a very disapproving manner!! In this world, there are naughty children, there are children who are not very bright academically and there are parents who have little idea how to bring up their children to be good citizens. While there are, of course, genuine children who have severe disabilities, in my opinion, the majority of problems do not need labels. I am fed up with most of the resources and welfare benefits of this country being more heavily weighted in that area instead of rewarding those who choose to do right in society or are gifted in any particular area, not necessarily academic....and, quite frankly, I don't care a toss about any negative comments which may be directed towards me for saying this. I know I have bought up a great family myself and been praised by parents for my 'tough love ' approach to child rearing and education and the results I have achieved. Only recently an ex parent of the nursery came back to tell me that his daughter had been offered a place on a gifted maths program at secondary school and that I had spotted her potential when she was 3 years old and thanked me for the good early start I had given her.