Academic scores are plummeting, while expectations are
rising. Learning is becoming a greater challenge for children, while teaching
practices are becoming directed by government officials and others who are not
currently working in a classroom. Children are exhibiting delayed behaviors in
multiple cognitive functions including impulse control, inhibitory control,
attention control, and emotional control. Theory of mind as well as speech and
language competence are also significantly delayed in many children observed in
today’s classrooms.
The medical challenges today’s children are facing are the
leading cause and reason for academic failure. Unfortunately, ignorance is born
of many who continue to support falsified evidence, which argues teaching
practices or lack of behavior management practices are causes for failures in
student achievement. Thus, the reason continued implementation of academic
interventions developed by outsiders remain unquestionable failures.
We cannot teach children opposing behaviors and expect their
behavior to change. Nor can we place them with peers and expect them to
simulate the behavior of other children. The reason: the behaviors are products
of ADD, ADHD, and autism—conditions which cannot be cured through academic
intervention, behavior management, or psychotherapy. (The only time behavior
management strategies are successful is when the behavior is a product of a
child in need of social/emotional support.)
Interestingly, individuals who make decisions for managing
the behavior of children with these conditions continuously compel the idea of
behavior management strategies and techniques, when in fact they do not
understand the conditions from which these children are suffering. Ask medical
personnel who work with children suffering from such conditions, and many have
explained the complexity and need for medical attention, not psychological or
behavioral. If psychological and behavioral support were truly successful with
children suffering from ADD and autism, we would see a significant change in
behavior, not a continuous replay of the same characteristics and problems.
Continuing the same attempt to solve a problem, while continuously receiving
the same outcome and expecting a different result, is pure ignorance.
This ignorance or insanity is no different than attempting
to manage someone’s behavior with different strategies and techniques when he
or she is intoxicated. Everyone knows it is practically impossible to control
someone who is severely intoxicated and cannot function properly. If this was not
the case, law enforcement would not be called to place such individuals in
custody.
So, we now turn to a question recently given to me: How much
control does a child have over his or her behavior when suffering from ADD,
ADHD, or autism? The answer: it depends on the condition, the sub-case of the
condition from which the individual is suffering, and the severity of the
condition.
In most cases, children are only in control of their
behavior to a certain extent, and this of course depends on the sub-case of the
condition. For example, ADD and ADHD vary in sub-cases far more than many
realize, which is the reason many mistakenly assume one child will have the
same abilities or disabilities as another who has been labeled, identified, or
diagnosed the same.
For the most part, children are not in control of their
behavior, and this is the reason for the continuous, repetitive display of the
same behavior, even when attempts are made with behavior support strategies. The
behaviors I am describing are exhibited by individuals who display limited to
no impulse control, emotional control, inhibitory control, self-controlled
attention, speech, language, and theory of mind.
The behaviors also involve significant developmental delays,
which are easily recognizable and observable. Basically, a child who is ten
years of age will function at the level of a four or five year old (sometimes younger),
and it is quite obvious when understanding what you are observing. Hence, the
reason limitations do not rest solely in the academic world; one’s overall
development and maturity is significantly lower than other children. (Of course
this is only recognizable if and when there are other children displaying
opposing behavioral characteristics in a shared environment. Otherwise, a valid
comparison cannot be made.) The large number of challenges and delays are the
reason ADD and ADHD alone are very complex conditions—conditions involving much
more challenging delays or impairments than solely the inability to focus or
pay attention.
Unfortunately, with the complex conditions children are now
facing, educational evaluators are mistaken when observing children in
classrooms, especially when they are only viewing the activity of the children.
This is a serious problem when not understanding the circumstances of the
children in today’s classrooms. The behaviors of children in relation to ADD,
ADHD, and autism have flooded better than fifty percent of the classroom
populations, and when such behaviors are observed by those who are unaware,
they place blame and assumptions in areas of which they have very little to no
understanding. This is evident by reports, statements, and blames placed on
educators.
Those who have not worked in classrooms for the last five to
eight years have no clue about the conditions children are undergoing because
the number of such conditions has changed the dynamics of a classroom
population entirely. Basically, it is now impossible for an outsider to
recognize an observable difference in behavior of the children because a
majority of the class population is exhibiting the same behavior. Namely, no
marked difference in behavior is identifiable because there is no contrast in
behavioral characteristics.
It is imperative to fight for the children and those who truly
care for them. When officials and others—who neither understand the conditions
of today’s children nor work with them—place blames on those who do, we must
enlighten their minds with reality. That reality involves a simple fact: A
classroom today is a completely different world than that of twenty—even
ten—years ago. For those with an open eye, it is an unforeseen epidemic!
Jason M. Hufft
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