Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Diagnosing and medicating children

Dear Roger Schank,

I have long been an advocate of your concerns regarding the American education system; “Coloring Outside of the Lines” is a favorite book of mine on the subject.

I am writing to you regarding our 7 (soon to be 8) year old son who is in second grade. I should explain that my husband is a long-time foreign diplomat who currently (and has for the past 4 years) commutes back and forth from around the globe to our home in the area of Boulder, Colorado. I have lived on three continents (my husband, five continents) and, having three children (the other two in high school and college), we have experienced the British/New Zealand, French and American school systems. They all have one common theme: they each feel that they have the best school system.

My son started school here in the Boulder area. He is a very creative, outside-of-the-box thinker who does not like to sit in his seat, and he finds assignments, like writing a diary about the Oregon Trail, excruciatingly boring. As his parents, we have no doubt about his intelligence and creativity, and that he will mature and be a productive member of society.

My husband and I just had a lengthy meeting with his elementary school (a charter school). Despite being a charter school, they do not have a flexible curriculum matched to a student’s interests. The school feels that in some respects my son is gifted (in regards to his vocabulary and interests), but in other respects, specifically his writing, he is below level.

I am American and my husband is French and we have 2 languages in the house, but the school does not think this is an issue with his delayed reading and writing. Although I gave the school an in-depth study (from the ECFASA conferences, Brussels) on the challenges of being a family in the Foreign Service and being in a bi-national family situation, the school did not address or comment on this issue, as they have their system and that’s that.

The school has drummed on that my son must be diagnosed with “something”- ADHD or autism - in order to receive special education. There is the fact that my son will be subjected to the state testing next year, which I think adds to the school’s position. From the pressure of the school, I have seen pediatric specialists that have only recommended medication for my son, something that he cannot physically tolerate. We are now being very pressured to have our son evaluated by their system and people to get a diagnosis. I have such a terrible feeling about this situation – and I know in my heart my son is not autistic, and he has not been diagnosed as such by the specialists we have seen.

I have seen my son go from a creative happy child to an anxiety-stricken child in this system. When I inquired about the other public schools in the area, I was told by the other principals that all children are treated the same whether they are kinesthetic learners or not. A pediatric specialist that we consulted recommended the Waldorf School system (over $13,000 a year), but we cannot afford it. I am feeling rather trapped.

Is it possible to do your ALP being in second grade or third grade? Our financial resources are limited due to a government salary. We must make a decision by August about what to do, so the pressure is on. Our home is based in Colorado for now, so other destinations are not an option.

Sometimes I really wonder what we are doing to our children in this system in the States. If you cannot sit and parrot back the designated curriculum, God help you. You have good reason to be frightened about your grandson starting first grade.

I know that you are very busy with your professional engagements, but I would so appreciate a response from you as I highly regard your opinion.

First let me say how incredibly sad your letter makes me feel. What you are describing happens all the time. In fact, one of the key employees of Socratic Arts is having issues just like you describe with her own first grader. They took him to a shrink who prescribed drugs. I went ballistic when I heard this. Why drugging children into submission seems a viable option to schools is beyond me. And you are right. The tests are what they care about and if someone is going to screw up their average test scores they would like to get him out of the system. What a mess we have created.

While testing drives schooling here we have not yet infected the rest of the world with this nonsense although I am sure we soon will. My own children went to school in Paris for a year and I did not find that system to be any better, just different.

Money is not the issue in the ALP insofar as much as the issue of when it will be ready. We are hard pressed to find the funds to build it. I am using volunteers at the moment. And, yes of course, it would be just as appropriate for someone your child’s age. You could run one in Boulder and charge whatever you want to cover your expenses. I hope to have it built by 2011, but that still leaves you with a problem right now. My advice: get him out of school. Do not drug him under any circumstances. He may be different in some way from the other kids, but that is not, in principle, a bad thing. I am sure I would have been diagnosed with ADHD if they had had that idea in the 1950’s. The kids who succeed in our schools are those who have submitted themselves to the idea that they must do what they are told – hardly a path to creativity.

I might add that many of those so-called successes were in my classes at Yale and Northwestern and simply could not think for themselves. But they were very good at asking if what you just said would be on the test and then ramming that into their heads for a short time.

Roger