| I'm easily shocked at times. I open the newspaper, I | | | | given him the attention that he needed. Unfortunately, |
| read articles about child abuse, the mentally ill, the | | | | the disorders would still be there, but if they weren't |
| shortcomings in our education system, and I feel things | | | | exacerbated by all the neglect, it is likely that he |
| along the lines of torment and anguish. But it doesn't | | | | would've been able to function at a higher capacity. |
| stop there. It actually goes on, manifesting itself in a | | | | There are a handful of things that can be done so that |
| dozen minor ways. Maybe in a dozen major ways, if | | | | children and their parents (and don't forget their |
| you're one who believes in the magnitude of | | | | grandparents) don't have to live with this gnawing |
| advocacy, of standing up to make sure that your | | | | frustration. The most obvious one is to create special |
| voice can be heard over all the loud chatter and | | | | classes for students with learning disabilities. These |
| backtalk. | | | | classes would be run by specially-trained teachers |
| For years, I've been investigating the atrocities that are | | | | who would give them all the care and guidance that |
| taking place in our schools each and every day. I've | | | | they need. Also, the classes would be smaller. The |
| been sending letters to our Presidents, our Senators, | | | | pace would be slower. The punishments would be a |
| and our Congressman, pleading for them to be the | | | | thing of the past. Children would actually have an |
| change they so vehemently declare they are. But | | | | opportunity to learn, and finally feel a sense of |
| words are useless. We need Action. For what can | | | | self-worth, a sense that somebody was giving them |
| mere words really do, when so many | | | | the time that they so desperately need. |
| mentally-challenged students are struggling to keep up | | | | To be sure, a huge budget is required to implement a |
| in an education system that is unapologetically | | | | plan of this nature. It's no small task. So let's talk |
| incongruent to their ways of thinking and learning? | | | | baby-steps. Let's make sure that teachers don't |
| For the past 50 years, ADHD (Attention Deficit | | | | receive their credentials unless they're armed with |
| Hyperactivity Disorder) has been increasing among our | | | | training that prepares them to teach learning-disabled |
| schoolchildren. In fact, 12 percent of today's | | | | children. Every time a student with A.D.H.D. comes into |
| school-aged children are affected by it, which is up | | | | a classroom, let's see to it that the teachers are |
| from 3-5 percent in 1998. That can only mean that we | | | | alerted to the special situation at hand. Maybe that |
| are lacking in solutions to this problem. Or perhaps it | | | | way, kids like my grandson, who had a mental |
| means that we are not taking the time to implement | | | | breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, |
| these solutions. | | | | won't feel ashamed and angry at themselves for not |
| When a child with ADHD is confined to a regular | | | | being able to learn in school. |
| classroom, with no special guidance or attention, it's | | | | Patience and understanding are important factors on |
| unbelievably troubling. Not only is it difficult for them to | | | | the road to making these children feel centered. |
| keep up, but the amount of mental frustration they | | | | Teachers, principals, school boards - they all need to |
| experience is immeasurable. So many teachers are | | | | put one foot forward and make the choice to care |
| not equipped to handle these children. They don't | | | | and look out for each and every student that we |
| understand the disorder, nor do they have the desire | | | | entrust them with. And this does not simply apply to |
| to. With this lack of empathy, they cause even more | | | | children with learning disabilities. |
| destruction in the children's lives, punishing them for | | | | I remember reading a news article a while ago about a |
| falling asleep or not paying attention, when the children | | | | 13-year-old student, in Southern California, who ended |
| have no control over these things whatsoever. | | | | up collapsing and dying on campus one day. |
| To be punished as the result of a painful handicap is | | | | Somebody called 911, and within five minutes, the |
| blatantly unfair to and disconcerting for the child. So | | | | paramedics were on the scene. Disturbingly enough, |
| many of us wonder why the drop-out rate is so high. | | | | when they got there, they noticed dozens of students |
| We wonder why our kids are turning to drugs. Stealing. | | | | and school officials, standing around, not doing a single |
| Killing. We think, in many cases, "kids will be kids," then | | | | thing to help the girl. In fact, she was still facedown on |
| we turn our backs and look the other way. We yell at | | | | the ground when they found her. Nobody made an |
| them to do better, to make us proud one of these | | | | effort to turn her over and revive her. Upon assessing |
| days, to stop playing so many video games. As if | | | | the student, the two paramedics found that she had |
| tossing out the old X-Box will focus their attention on | | | | no pulse and was not breathing. |
| the classroom. | | | | Now, I would like to believe that the entire student |
| In some cases, there are children who do lean too | | | | body's lack of participation in this unfortunate |
| heavily on television and video games, pushing aside | | | | circumstance had to do with the fact that they were |
| their homework with a shrug of their shoulders. This is | | | | not acquainted with any life-saving techniques, which |
| something that parents have the ability to keep an eye | | | | left them feeling unequipped to help her. Even if this is |
| on and control. However, students spend the majority | | | | true, though, it alarms me that not one person stepped |
| of their time at school, and the classroom not only has | | | | in to try and revive this girl, even without the proper |
| a huge impact on their day-to-day lives, but also on the | | | | knowledge. Sometimes care, concern, and fortitude |
| ways in which they will eventually function as adults in | | | | can take the place of technique. Something as simple |
| the so-called "real world." And if education cannot | | | | as human compassion can often yield major results. |
| equip each and every one of them with something as | | | | I recall reading about another tragedy. This one |
| basic as functionality, what is school really doing for our | | | | happened back in 1999. After overexerting herself |
| children? | | | | during a high school physical education class, a |
| You may wonder why this hits such a personal nerve | | | | 14-year-old girl died from an asthma attack. The |
| with me. This is why: I have been blessed with eleven | | | | substitute teacher in charge denied her request for |
| beautiful grandchildren. Two of them have been | | | | permission to stop running, even after her breathing |
| diagnosed with ADHD, two others with panic disorder | | | | became labored. The girl's friends noticed that her lips |
| and agoraphobia. The battle that they have to endure | | | | were turning purple. But the student did as she was |
| during each day of class breaks my heart. When they | | | | told, and kept on running. A little while later, during her |
| return from school, I see the relief on their faces, the | | | | next class, she became so ill that she passed out, only |
| gratitude of finally coming home and ducking away | | | | to die after 20 minutes. |
| from the judgments of their teachers, and in some | | | | Apparently, the girl's family had provided the school |
| cases, even their fellow students. I also see the | | | | with all the pertinent medical forms, which fully |
| depression in their eyes. I ask them how their day was, | | | | explained her breathing problems. They did everything |
| and they reply that it was "okay," but I know that the | | | | right, yet still, their daughter was forced to run much |
| matter goes much deeper - painfully deeper - than | | | | longer than her lungs could possibly endure. |
| that. | | | | Her normal physical education teacher was aware of |
| Back in 2001, one of my grandsons suffered a mental | | | | her problem and gave her the special attention that |
| breakdown in his middle school classroom. I took him to | | | | she needed, excusing her from class whenever she |
| see a psychiatrist at the Child Guidance Center. We | | | | had any difficulty breathing. So why did the school not |
| discovered that he was suffering from severe | | | | make the substitute aware of her condition? |
| Depression and Phobic Anxiety. He was very unhappy | | | | On top of all this, even after the girl passed out, |
| in his new Mainstream Literature class and couldn't | | | | nobody in the classroom tried any CPR or life-saving |
| face the ongoing judgments and name-calling that his | | | | techniques while awaiting the paramedics. CPR is a |
| classmates were dishing out. He would come home | | | | basic skill that our school officials should really |
| from school despondent, refusing to eat. He would just | | | | emphasize. Shouldn't we feel confident and secure |
| crawl into bed and sleep until the next day. He started | | | | when we send our children off to school? Shouldn't |
| to wear a blanket over his head, refusing to take it off, | | | | we be allowed to go about our days, comforted by |
| fearful that he was ugly to everybody. (All the | | | | the fact that they are in good hands? |
| name-calling in school had lead him to this conclusion.) | | | | I also have three daughters with learning disabilities. |
| He even started having nightmares about being at | | | | Neglected in the classroom, they developed severe |
| school. And then there were the voices in his head; | | | | panic disorder. One was even diagnosed with |
| voices that spoke in loud, sharp tones, criticizing him | | | | agoraphobia. As a result of this, two of them were left |
| and debilitating his sense of self. It was eating away at | | | | unable to work or drive. |
| him. And me, as well. | | | | It's hard to put your child onto that bus every morning |
| I was determined to get him the help that he needed. I | | | | and have to worry about the potential negative |
| pleaded with the Individualized Education Program | | | | encounters they will have to deal with throughout the |
| (I.E.P.) at school, telling them that the Mainstream | | | | day. In the beginning, when I didn't understand their |
| Literature class was ruining my grandson's life. They | | | | disorders as much, I practiced politeness and passivity. I |
| heeded my words and removed him right away. This | | | | gently asked questions, trying to encourage the |
| actually relieved a lot of his torment, but then all the | | | | teachers and my children to meet each other halfway, |
| Phobic Anxiety and Depression seeped right back into | | | | not wanting to upset anybody in the process. |
| his life again, as forcefully as it had before. | | | | As I got more involved and came to learn more about |
| Trips to the Psychiatrist became frequent. | | | | their learning disabilities, I hit the ground running and |
| Resperial and Paxil were prescribed to bring some | | | | never looked back. I attended all the school meetings |
| sense of balance into my grandson's life. He ultimately | | | | and made certain that my voice was heard, loud and |
| had to be pulled out of school. I promised him that he | | | | clear. I sent out letters every week, passionate letters, |
| would be home-schooled until he was successfully | | | | written to inspire immediacy and resourcefulness. I |
| treated, which I assured him would be soon. | | | | made time for my children and my grandchildren, |
| The most disheartening thing about this situation, aside | | | | always giving them the attention that they needed, |
| from my grandson's mental condition, was the obvious | | | | knowing how important it was for them to feel wanted |
| lack of attention shown by the teachers and I.E.P. | | | | and safe. If they weren't feeling those things at school, |
| Team. When he transferred back to high school in | | | | I would see to it that they felt them at home. My late |
| California, the school was given all the proper materials | | | | husband and I always made sure that they had |
| to fully prepare themselves for my grandson's | | | | everything they needed, and that they could express |
| condition. I made sure to give them access to all his | | | | what was inside them and not have to worry about |
| medical reports, which clearly noted his learning | | | | judgment. |
| disabilities. I even made sure to enclose a letter from | | | | Needless to say, I do these things because there's |
| his previous teacher, who wrote of his difficulty in | | | | nothing more important in this world than family. But |
| regular classes and his need for special attention. All of | | | | there are other reasons as well... |
| this obviously went "in one ear and out the other." | | | | These reasons are blazingly clear to me when, from |
| Perhaps they didn't even bother to look at a single | | | | time to time, I come across other children who are |
| piece of documentation? | | | | struggling with difficulties at school. When I see the |
| I wonder, of course, whether my grandson's condition | | | | vulnerability, the fear, and the distrust behind their |
| wouldn't have worsened so rapidly if the teachers had | | | | gazes, my push toward change continues to intensify. |