I agree that the mathematics disorder thing is kind of a crock, but if you want to create the semantic framework where everything is a "disorder," then I suppose a lack of mathematics skills would fit. The thing I find REALLY scary about this is that all of these things now have a designer drug that is supposed to "fix" it. If they were suggesting parenting strategies and teaching methods to help these kids it would be one thing, but this seems like a giant excuse to market more drugs to young kids.
And maybe saying that poverty and messed up homelife "causes" oppositional defiant disorder is a little strong, but I do think it increases the risk factor significantly. I've just seen too many kids in a wide variety of age groups and schools that can't deal with school because they can't deal with home and don't have the basics. One of the big problems I perceive is that a lot of teachers seem to make things worse by get authoritarian on these kids and inconsistent in their enforcement and consequences. There is way too little positive reinforcement in most of the classes I've seen.
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Date: 2006-07-20 10:55 pm (UTC)And maybe saying that poverty and messed up homelife "causes" oppositional defiant disorder is a little strong, but I do think it increases the risk factor significantly. I've just seen too many kids in a wide variety of age groups and schools that can't deal with school because they can't deal with home and don't have the basics. One of the big problems I perceive is that a lot of teachers seem to make things worse by get authoritarian on these kids and inconsistent in their enforcement and consequences. There is way too little positive reinforcement in most of the classes I've seen.