Labelling Children

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.

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.

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

It is an epidemic and very worrying.

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 .

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?

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It's important that we say our piece on this matter, and those of us either professionally or personally involved ( sometimes both together) are in a better position to 'say it like it is' than those just giving their own often ill formed opinions.

Good post Anya.Delightful counts for a lot.

I'm glad to hear it Anya. You'll have noticed my blood boiling at some of the posts!

OK here's a post from a experienced and 'outstanding' teacher and one who's also 'Nana' to a grandson with ASD.

I really hope the OPer never has the pleasure of teaching my grandson.

I couldn't believe I was reading that OP. Even when I started teaching (and I've been retired 10 years now) we were aware that some children had specific learning difficulties. There were several in each class (of 40+) who struggled to read, or comprehend or mix, and so on. Delightful individuals who usually gave of their best but their efforts, superb though they were, were met with very little success.

Over the years, educationalist have come to indentify the various issues which lead to these children struggling, either with reading, concentration, friendships, etc. Sometimes I'm sad to say with resistance from some who ought to know better. I once worked with a teacher who couldn't understand dyslexia and refused to accept that these children were anything but 'stupid and lazy'.

But that was in the 1980s.

I remembering asking an Ed. Pysch 'are there different types of autism' and he said not The child I was asking about was diagnosed with Aspergers years later.

So yes, I've come across this attitude before in some dinasaurs teachers but not recently, thank goodness. My GS's teacher is exceptionally understanding and skilled and she describes him as 'delightful', which he is.

Its interesting that there has been a proliferation of highly specialized schools. In the past children who were different were separated out from other children so mainstream teachers didn't see them. That didn't mean they weren't around.
These new special schools often run by charities do a brilliant job. Actually the old special schools that I used to see were very good too. The politically correct push to 'normalisation' has a lot to answer for.

If four or five children in each class need help and have a diagnosis, that will attract a bit of funding. Some children need a TA with them most of the time, others need help with specific issues. As Jane10 said, these children were around since time began, but teachers weren't as well informed, well society wasn't as well informed. I agree with the poster earlier, who commented that labels like lazy, naughty, thick were damaging.

Jalima yes it is very helpful when a child who needs help is given extra help and it is right that that should happen but what on earth do you do when 4 or 5 children in each class need that same help ?

roses and dj it's worth saying that its likely most people with autism do find jobs its just that most are not diagnosed. Our adult service is very busy and among my group members are civil servants, secretaries, accountants, IT specialists galore, nurses, vet and many more. The NAS figure is based on a tiny study of people with ASD whose parents completed the survey which indicates that possibly their youngster has additional LD. The NAS is a commercial organisation.
Our lot include people who are married or in long term relationships and have children of their own. Every single one of them wishes their ASD was identified in childhood. If only they had been 'labelled'!!
The reason more are being identified these days is that diagnostic guidelines simply weren't around much before the 1990s and professionals were not trained to even look for ASD thus it was not picked up.

nina sorry to hear that.Most autistic people do not have a job/ cannot cope with a job.
A job comes with....baffling instructions, other people to socially talk to/ understand and is a minefield generally.
I find the ignorant comments on here about autism are sadly the probable views of an lot of people.High time they did a bit of reading up on the subject.

durhamjen your so right my son was releived to be told he has ASD it helped him to realizse his problems weren't of his own making.
At 25 he has never worked apart from a couple of unpaid placements. He just dosen't "fit in"

GS1 spent a hideous year at school before they realised that he had a problem. He was taught by a very nice young man who admitted he had never met a child like him and insisted on treating him like a "normal" naughty boy. I used to dread picking him up from school because we always had to have a post mortem about what he'd done. His diagnosis of ASD has been such a relief. He has a lovely teacher who gives him space and quiet. His father now realises that he can't just be "fixed" we know he will have help when he starts secondary school which he could never cope with alone. Best of all he realises that he is different and that it's not necessarily a bad thing and he's realised that the two boys he gets on best with are also on the spectrum so he doesn't feel so isolated. It took over two years to get him "labelled" but was so worth it!

nina1959 reading through these posts I was very glad we weren't sitting around a table facing each other - I'm sure I would have shouted at some by now for talking absolute poppycock