| The HomeSchooler Published with and by The Biblical Examiner |
The Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published January 18, 2004
The Bush administration has begun issuing grants to help spread
a United Nations-sponsored school program that aims to become
a "universal curriculum" for teaching global citizenship,
peace studies and equality of world cultures.
The goal is to devise a curriculum to teach "a set of culturally
neutral universal values to which all people aspire," based
on human rights, equality of the sexes and "open-mindedness
to change and obligation to environmental protection and sustainable
development."
The U.S. Education Department has issued its first $1.2 million
grant to implement the European-based International Baccalaureate
(IB) program in middle schools that are to become "feeder
schools" for the IB's high school diploma program in low-income
school districts. ...
The IB curriculum has been adopted by about 1,450 schools in 115
countries, including 502 schools in the United States. The program
is in 55 primary, middle and secondary schools in the District,
Maryland and Virginia. ...
The major additional costs are teacher development and online
courses, which the federal grant supports; IB fees; and expenses
to send U.S. student tests and papers for scoring and evaluation
by IB officials in Europe.
An IB regulation accepted by participating American schools requires
that all tests and written papers of American students sent to
Europe for grading or evaluation "become the absolute property"
of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in Geneva.
...
[I]n 1996, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization formed a partnership with the IBO and International
Schools Association, both based in Geneva, to create the universal
"curriculum framework for peace education."
Cultural neutrality
...
The Bush administration's $1.2 million grant from the Education
Department's Advanced Placement Incentives Program (APIP) is to
train teachers and set up six middle- and high-school "partnerships"
to implement the IB curriculum for minority students.
Syl McNinch Jr., a retired budget officer for the National Science
Foundation, said many federal education peer-reviewers of grant
applications "are hard left-leaners."
"Unlike science and engineering, the realm of education often
has to do with values and teaching the kids what to think on major
issues," Mr. McNinch said.
(I tried to cash a $50 bill at a local grocery store, and the
girl at the cash register said she could not do it because she
was no good at math. She could, however, give change according
to what the register said. The IBO education is not interested
in math and science, but on instilling the left's values and what
to think about issues into the upcoming voting population. Hence,
the thought police in state run education. Home school by Christian
parents is the best answer to these wild utopian dreams of the
Bush team. Ed.)
"That's why you have to be very careful in granting federal
money for these purposes, because it carries with it the power
to implement those programs in schools across the nation, whether
the taxpayers like it or not," he said.
Think globally, not locally
...
In a statement called "The Road to Peace," UNESCO said:
"Let it be a school of values, of attitudes, above all of
practical action so that we learn to obtain justice through nonviolence
and ensure that all human rights become a living reality for every
person. ...
"One major premise underlying the project is that peace education
is not to be seen as a separate discipline within the curriculum."
The IB curriculum, UNESCO said, would promote human rights and
social justice; the need for "sustainable development";
and address population, health, environmental and immigration
concerns.
"Changing patterns of national and international migration
and political and social transformation have given cultural diversity
a new importance," the statement said. ...
"IB's association with UNESCO should not signal anything
sinister or anti-American," Mr. Richardson said. ...
George Walker, IB's director-general in Geneva, said in June that
the program remains committed to changing children's values so
they think globally, rather than in parochial national terms from
their own country's viewpoint.
"International education offers people a state of mind; international-mindedness,"
Mr. Walker said in a recent IBO background paper titled "Education
weaves together the threads of peace."
"We need an education that recognizes the realities of the
21st century. We're living on a planet that is becoming exhausted.
People everywhere aspire to the standards of living that people
in the West take for granted, and at the same time, they want
to maintain cultural differences that they feel make life worth
living," he said.
The IBO background paper said the curriculum is a multicultural
approach that differs from traditional direct instruction of facts
and historically learned knowledge.
"Most national education systems at the moment encourage
students to seek the truth, memorize it, and reproduce it accurately.
The real world is not this simple. International education has
to reconcile this diversity with the unity of the human condition,'
" the paper said.
Pushing 'one-worldism'
Chester E. Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
and former assistant secretary of education in the Reagan administration,
said he was "a wee bit put off" by IB's "one-worldism
and fashionable leftism of their social studies courses, but they
weren't worse than what regular American curricula were peddling
and the academic expectations were far more rigorous."
Mr. Finn said the program is "inherently internationalist,
so it's not going to have any signs of patriotic Americanism --
nor, let us hope, Francophilia or Sinophilia or any other such
[patriotic expression]."
"The IBO programs promote a constructivist approach to learning,"
the 1999 UNESCO document stated. "Teachers recognize that
students bring prior knowledge to any learning situation and will
come into contact with the curriculum through activities designed
by the teacher. The students [not the teacher, ed.] make sense
of their experiences to construct meaning."
As an example, fourth-grade teachers at Christ Church Episcopal
School in Greenville, S.C., said they "set about fomenting
an uprising in our classrooms" in order to allow their 9-
and 10-year-old students to understand the dynamics of the American
Revolution leading to independence in 1776. ...
Constructivism gone awry
Diane Ravitch, education-research professor at New York University
and an adviser to the Bush administration, says the constructivist
approach is an educator fad that has gone awry. ...
"This meant that teachers must never lecture or 'tell,' that
any memorization was intolerable, that instruction was a discredited
form of behaviorism, and that up-to-date teachers viewed themselves
as 'facilitators' of learning," Mrs. Ravitch said. ...
"Students will develop values, attitudes and respect for
behavior and points of view different from their own without necessarily
being in agreement," he said.
Mr. Richardson said teachers are free to bring in literature outside
the program's prescribed list. He said teachers also can engage
students in study and discussion of many contentious world issues.
"Those schools that wish to give an emphasis to environmental
studies, to land-mine programs, or other world issues can do so,
but within a program that is intellectually challenging for everyone,"
he said.
When asked about the IB's promotion of issues dealing with global
peace and economic justice, Mr. Richardson denied that the program's
courses have a political or social-activist agenda.
"While the course requires that these 'politically correct'
questions be engaged, it in no way (nor does the assessment) requires
any particular response to the questions. A 'conservative' answer
well done will always score higher than a 'liberal' answer poorly
done."
The article is posted at <http://www.washtimes.com/specialreport/20040117-112841-6750r.htm>.
If it is no longer there, I have the complete article on my HD.
And we wonder why the high tech jobs are being shipped overseas
to China, India and many other nations. American kids are being
dumbed down at an alarming rate by the Government School system,
and Christians continue to support and those who are financing
the process.
[The following is lengthy and technical, but Dr. Cates asked us to reproduce it for homeschoolers.]
Karen R. Effrem, M.D., chairperson and lead author
Doretta Hegg, M.A.
Grace Jackson, M.D.
Bob Jacobs, Psy.D.
SUMMARY: Although well intentioned, the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act has resulted in perverse financial and policy incentives
for too many children to be labeled with mental and emotional
disorders and learning disabilities whose criteria are extremely
vague, controversial, and too easily misinterpreted. Besides burdening
a child with a label that will stay for the rest of one's academic
and employment career, far too many children are placed on powerful
medications. These drugs have dangerous side effects with no long-term
research to expose potential harm from chronic/acute use when
there are many other reasons for that child's difficulties in
school. These other causes include illiteracy, nutritional deficiencies,
other medical problems, and social issues. Instead of reducing
the number of children placed in special education, more and earlier
behavioral screening will only result in more children being labeled
and drugged, because the criteria are vague and the process is
inaccurate. Before full funding is attained, IDEA needs massive
reform that will change these perverse incentives. The needed
reforms must prevent a disability or disorder label by prioritizing
other interventions. First, literacy of children must be targeted
using intensive systematic phonics. Second, parents must not be
coerced into placing their children onto medications whose efficacy
and safety remain questionable. Third, appropriate attention must
be paid in identifying and ameliorating the medical, psychological,
and social causes of a child's behavioral and emotional symptoms.
Finally, medications must be seen as one of many possible interventions,
and their use must be accompanied by fully informed consent. Families
must be adequately warned about all of the potential serious side
effects of these medications; ultimately, the prescription of
these drugs must be chosen by families, and not coerced by school
systems.
BACKGROUND: This "special education" legislation was
passed in 1975 to allow all children with disabilities access
to public education. All children with disabilities are to receive
a "free appropriate public education" in the "least
restrictive environment." Congress promised to pay forty
percent of the expenses to allow that access, but has never paid
more than about seventeen percent. This has resulted in a huge
un-funded mandate for the states.
IDEA started with payments to schools for children with physical
disabilities, such as blindness, cerebral palsy, and orthopedic
problems. In 1991, the criteria were changed to include children
with mental and emotional disorders. The definition of a child
with a disability in the law, particularly regarding mental and
emotional problems is terribly vague: "a child with mental
retardation… serious emotional disturbance …autism,
traumatic brain injury, other health impairments or specific learning
disabilities…"[1]
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity "Disorder," the most
common mental or behavioral label given to children, is in the
"other health impairment" category.
The criteria for emotional disturbance, while trying to maintain
the aura of clinical credibility, are appallingly vague. These
criteria are completely in the eye of the beholder, and with the
states and schools having incentives to identify children; it
is rather like a fox guarding the henhouse. These criteria also
leave open the possibility that a child could be labeled for political
reasons. For example, what standards are to be applied, and who
is authorized to determine whether or not a child displays "inappropriate
types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances,"
a "pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression," or
an "inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal
relationships with peers and teachers"?? [2]
PROBLEMS WITH IDEA:
1. Skyrocketing diagnosis of children since 1991 - These mental
and emotional "disorders" can be "treated"
by the schools at very low cost to them. The parents have to purchase
the medication while the schools receive the funding and expend
few or no other funds to help the child in any other way. Here
are some examples of this alarming trend from various reports:
* According to a 2002 report by President Bush's Commission on
Special Education entitled A NEW ERA: Revitalizing Special Education
for Children and their Families, 90% of students served under
IDEA have "high incidence" disabilities such as mental,
emotional, specific learning disabilities or "other health
impairments." [3]
* The "other health impairment" category has "increased
319% in the last ten years" (since mental and emotional disorders
were added to IDEA in 1991). "Some of the growth in the OHI
category is the result of the growth in children identified as
having ADHD, where a physician's signature is generally sufficient
to trigger the eligibility process." [4]
* Using just the state of Minnesota as an example, the rate of
designation for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children
has increased 36% and OHI, which includes ADHD, has gone up 930%
since 1991. [5]
2. Skyrocketing use of psychotropic drugs in children - Here are
several disturbing reports:
* Prescription of psychotropic drugs, particularly Ritalin, for
2 to 4 year old children, increased 300% between 1991 and 1995.
[6] Ritalin (methylphenidate), along with amphetamine and methamphetamine
are in the stimulant class of psychiatric medications. Ritalin
is the drug most commonly used on children labeled ADHD.
* Data on "'drug mentions' that occur during a hospital or
office visit when a doctor provides or prescribes a medication,
or orders it refilled" was analyzed by the National Center
for Health Statistics for a Sacramento Bee story. According to
that data, stimulants such as Ritalin were mentioned 5.3 million
times in the year 2000, which was nearly twice as often as they
were mentioned in 1995-1996. [7]
3. No concrete tests or reproducible criteria for diagnosis -
As ICSPP IDEA task force member, Bob Jacobs, Psy.D., has stated
in his Australia-based report on ADHD for the Queensland Youth
Affairs Network entitled Queensland's Children at Risk, "The
undisputed clinical reality in July of 2002 is this: Physicians
are identifying a "disease" based SOLELY on reports
and observations of behavior. The only "tests" are questionnaires
about the child's behavior, usually completed by the parents or
teachers whose frustration with the child prompted the doctor
visit in the first place. There is no confirmatory physical examination,
EEG, CT-scan, X-ray, PET scan or any other diagnostic instrument
because there is nothing to look for. By all standards of medicine
these are healthy children whom we are arbitrarily declaring "sick"
because people are not happy with their behavior." Here are
several other reports and statements from around the world to
confirm that clinical reality:
* The New Era report says that children with these "high
incidence" 'disorders' "cannot be identified on the
basis of acuity, physical or neurological findings." [8]
* The 2001 World Health Report by the World Health Organization
states, "Childhood and adolescence being developmental phases,
it is difficult to draw clear boundaries between phenomena that
are part of normal development and others that are abnormal."
* The 1999 Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health says, "The
diagnosis of mental disorders is often believed to be more difficult
than diagnosis of somatic or general medical disorders since there
is no definitive lesion, laboratory test or abnormality in brain
tissue that can identify the illness"
* "Finally, why must the APA (American Psychiatric Association)
pretend to know more than it does? DSM IV (the fourth edition
of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is the fabrication upon
which psychiatry seeks acceptance by medicine in general. Insiders
know it is more of a political than scientific document."
[9]
4. Harmful side effects of psychotropic drugs used in children
without long term safety studies - The stimulant class of medication,
which includes Ritalin, can cause a whole host of extremely serious
side effects.
* According to research highlighted by psychiatrist, Dr. Peter
Breggin in his book Talking Back to Ritalin, [10] these medications
actually cause the same symptoms they are supposed to treat -
hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention, which can lead to
a vicious cycle of incorrect and dangerous dosage increases.
* These drugs work by altering brain function, causing a short-term
change in behavior that may actually interfere with learning.
They produce rote compliance in structured environments at the
cost of spontaneity, creativity and social interaction. The stimulant
drugs also impair flexible problem-solving and divergent thinking.
James Swanson, a researcher for the U.S. Department of Education
and leading Ritalin advocate, stated in a 1992 review of the medical
literature that this type of "cognitive toxicity may occur
at commonly prescribed clinical doses of stimulants," and
in up to 40% of patients. [11]
* There has never been a single long-term study showing academic
or social benefit of the stimulant medications. The 1999 Surgeon
General's report said, "However, psychostimulants do not
appear to achieve long-term changes in outcomes such as peer relationships,
social or academic skills, or school achievement," and that
is just one of many similar quotes. Obviously Ritalin and other
members of its class are making learning more difficult, which
is not what is wanted for special needs children served under
IDEA.
* Other very worrisome side effects include sleeplessness, weight
loss, growth retardation including decreased brain growth, heart
damage including cardiac arrest, atrophy (shrinkage) of the brain,
psychosis, and violence. [12] Particularly concerning is a 1986
study that showed cortical atrophy in 50% of a group of 24 young
adults who had been on Ritalin for several years in their childhood.
[13] Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the pharmaceutical
manufacturers have ever followed up this study. Dr. Breggin reiterates
this concern by saying, "Brain structural abnormalities found
in children diagnosed with ADHD and treated with stimulants -
to the extent that they are valid findings - are almost certainly
due to the stimulants and other psychiatric medication to which
they have been exposed. These studies add to the accumulating
evidence that psychostimulants cause irreversible brain damage."
[14]
* Psychosis is one manifestation of the kind of brain damage that
can occur from use of the stimulants. The risk of psychosis is
listed in the package insert, but receives little attention from
physicians and is rarely discussed with parents. Psychosis may
happen as a toxic reaction to the stimulant medications or as
they are withdrawn after long-term use. Previously thought to
occur in 1% of patients on the stimulants, a 1999 study from the
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry showed that the incidence of drug-induced
psychosis is closer to 9% and that is probably an underestimate.
[15] A 1993 study by Koek and Colpaert states that Ritalin "induces
a psychopathology that seems to mimic schizophrenic psychosis
more closely than amphetamines and cocaine." [16] These schizophrenic-like
and manic-like reactions to stimulants are thought to lead to
violence as well as depression and suicide. [17] All four of the
perpetrators of the major school shootings were taking psychiatric
drugs, some including Ritalin, at the time of their crimes. [18]
* The package insert for Ritalin confirms that there are no long-term
studies on the effects of these medications on young children's
growing brains. It says in the "WARNING" section, "Sufficient
data on safety and efficacy of long-term use of Ritalin in children
are not yet available," and Ritalin should not be used in
children under six years, since safety and efficacy for this age
group have not been established." Yet, both of these warnings
are routinely ignored as described by the Zito study in Problem
2 above.
5. Invalid screening process for behavioral and emotional disorders
with resulting labels having profound, long-lasting negative effects
on a child - Early intervention programs within the field of mental
health engender serious dilemmas. The contemporary example of
pre-psychotic treatment programs was analyzed by ICSPP IDEA Task
Force member Grace Jackson, M.D. and may be used to illustrate
a variety of methodological flaws associated with premature screening
and preventive pharmacology for attention deficit disorder, which
in some studies has been used as a marker for schizophrenic psychosis:
[19]
* Specificity: Problems with specificity arise from the use of
screening instruments that incorrectly identify healthy individuals
as abnormal. In many investigations, the use of ambiguous features
to identify patients (or pre-patients) has led to inappropriate
labeling and treatment.
* Validity: Due to the complex or vague nature of symptoms used
to define categories of mental disease, it is frequently impossible
for health professionals to agree upon the presence of pathology,
the onset or resolution of illness, or the advisability or effectiveness
of particular interventions, such as treatment with psychostimulant
medication.
* Amplification: The emerging and expanding use of "subthreshold"
or "pre-syndromal" symptoms to identify individuals
at risk for specific disorders appears to amplify the prognostic
implications of irrelevant or even normal mental states, by identifying
them as precursors of severe disease.
* Kindling: By suggesting that unmedicated symptoms inevitably
progress to serious and specific disease, researchers ignore the
fact that many individuals fail to develop the conditions that
the kindling model predicts. Furthermore, there is little evidence
to substantiate the claim that the best method of disease prevention
lies in the early administration of treatments that would otherwise
be reserved for the true disease. [The fallacious reasoning here
would recommend that bone fractures be prevented by early casting;
breast cancer, by preventive mastectomy; and diabetes, by preventive
use of insulin.]
* Results of Labeling: Regardless of the benevolent intentions
that inspire them, all interventions with diagnostic labels give
rise to potentially adverse consequences:
o Self-fulfilling prophecy (the Pygmalion effect) - suggests that
individuals fulfill others' conscious and unconscious expectations,
be they positive or negative.
o Special attention (the Hawthorne effect) - suggests that individuals
are strongly influenced by the mere process of being observed.
It reminds us that the true potential of an individual might have
far less to do with innate capacities than with the social forces
and relationships to which he or she is exposed.
o Stigma - When it is associated with the pronouncement of a specific
disorder, stigma can be devastating, due to ensuing restrictions
in education and employment opportunities; disruption in critical
relationships; the ability to obtain and afford medical insurance
and most importantly, destruction of self-confidence and self-esteem.
To do this to a young child at the beginning of the academic career
would be especially damaging. Additionally, because federal education
mandates are causing academic achievement to be closely linked
to psychological parameters such as attitudes, values, and beliefs,
screening will allow political issues to factor into the realm
of already less than valid psychiatric diagnosis and coercive
treatment.
6. Coercion of parents to drug their children - ICSPP IDEA task
force member, Doretta Hegg, M.A., founder of C.H.I.L.D., sees
repetitive intimidation and suggestive coercion employed by schools
that panic parents into putting their child on a psychotropic
medication. Here are a few examples from around the country:
* In New York, Patricia Weathers [20] and the Carroll [21] families
were threatened or charged with child abuse for wanting to take
their sons off of stimulant medications following adverse reactions.
The Carroll family was ordered by a judge to continue the medication
despite the drug's severe adverse effects on Kyle's sleep and
appetite. According to New York Post reporter Douglas Montero,
"Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, the Brooklyn Democrat trying to
create a law banning educators from verbally prescribing Ritalin,
said that since last week, his office has received 63 phone complaints
from parents." [22]
* Neil Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, stated that
he endured pressure from a private school in Houston to medicate
his son Pierce with Ritalin for ADHD incorrectly diagnosed by
the school. "There is a systemic problem in this country,
where schools are often forcing parents to turn to Ritalin,"
said Bush, 47, who spent years researching the issue. "It's
obvious to me that we have a crisis in this country." Neil
Bush also said, "The problem is, it isn't the kids that are
broken. It's the system that is failing to engage children in
the classroom," and "My heart goes out to any parents
who are being led to believe their kids have a disorder or are
disabled." [23]
* Paul Johnston of West Virginia began kindergarten as an exuberant
and very normal five year old until the teacher began pressuring
his parents to have him evaluated for ADHD. The parents were coerced
into starting him on Ritalin, and he was eventually "treated"
with a total of sixteen different psychotropic medications and
experienced seven hellish years of drug-induced psychosis. He
was finally released from an institution after a court battle
and was carefully withdrawn from the medication by Dr. Breggin.
[24]
7. Ignorance or neglect of the numerous other reasons children
might have behavior or emotional problems before medications are
recommended - Here are some examples in the main categories:
* Medical
o Other undiagnosed illnesses [25]
o Reactions to medications for almost any illness [26]
o Nutritional/Metabolic [27]
+ Artificial colors in food
+ Hypoglycemia
+ Food allergies and intolerances
+ Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
+ Hormonal imbalances - esp. thyroid
+Amino acid imbalances
+ Essential fatty acid deficiencies
+ Inherited metabolic disorders
o Environmental allergies and toxicity [28]
+ Pesticides and chemicals used in homes and schools
+ Pollution
+ Radon
+ Hormones and antibiotics in meat
o Heavy metal toxicity
+ Lead
+ Mercury - from vaccines and dental fillings [29]
+ Cadmium
o Vaccine Reactions [30]
o Overuse of antibiotics / yeast [31]
* Educational
o ILLITERACY - "up to 90 percent of children identified as
SLD have reading as their primary area of difficulty [32]
o Increase in per pupil funding for schools (IDEA and Elementary
and Secondary Education Act) - Schools may exempt IDEA children
from the federally mandated assessments that determine the majority
of federal funding states and school districts receive based on
"adequate yearly progress" under the ESEA [33]. This
is done frequently for minority students, which is one reason
so many minority students are labeled as emotionally disturbed
or mentally retarded. [34] The per pupil funding in IDEA was changed
in the 1997 reauthorization to prevent over-labeling, but that
did not go into effect until 2000, so it is unclear that it has
helped.
o Outcome based education via federal mandates (Goals 2000, School
to Work, and ESEA) - These mandates the teaching of a psychosocially
based curriculum [35] that creates cognitive dissonance in children
when taught by the schools to believe things other than those
on which they have been raised. [36] This curriculum also deprives
poor children of the academic basics that they desperately need
to obtain a better life. The boredom and frustration can lead
to behavior problems and even violence. [37]
o Attempt to gain correct though and action based on federal curriculum
- Much personal and psychological data is collected on students
via surveys and assessments. [38] One example from the Cornell
Review and Fox News, which documented in January, 2002 is a stunning
example of grading based on attitudes, which could easily lead
to labeling for special education: "School officials in Ithaca,
N.Y., are requiring that first- and second-graders there be graded
on their tolerance, reports the Cornell Review. The kids will
get grades based on how well they 'respect others of varying cultures,
genders, experiences, and abilities.' The grade will appear on
report cards under the heading 'Lifelong Learning Skills.' It
appears well before social studies, science, reading, or writing."
Lifelong Learning is part of the School to Work program, which
also passed in 1994. STW tracks children into jobs chosen by big
business and the government. Success in this system depends not
on what one knows, but rather what one thinks and believes. [39]
o Effort to gain academic advantage (e.g. untimed tests)
o Boring, ineffective, and unsafe classrooms
* Societal
o Behavior control tool for parents and teachers
o Societal changes and pressures
+ Divorce
+ Daycare
+ Teen parenthood
+ "Hurried" child
o Temptation for people to want to receive Social Security disability
income
o Feminism - The War Against Boys [40]
o Drug company profits
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Change the financial and policy incentives for schools to label
children with mental and emotional disorders or learning disabilities
that have vague criteria - Data need to be collected and evaluated
to make sure that the 1997 changes to IDEA are working to prevent
schools labeling children to receive more funding. Amendments
to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) are needed
that will prevent a special education label just so schools can
exclude special education children in assessment scores to increase
federal funding. Both of these will help IDEA funds to go to the
children who truly need them, those with more verifiable, less
controversial disorders.
2. Limit acceptable emotional disorders under IDEA to those with
demonstrable organic etiology - To prevent the harm of an emotional,
behavioral, or psychiatric label and the potential for treatment
with powerful, dangerous psychiatric drugs, the disorder must
be verifiable.
3. Investigate dangers of psychiatric medications, such as cortical
atrophy, psychosis, violence, suicide, and cardiac arrest - Congress
needs to exercise its legitimate oversight authority of the Food
and Drug Administration and call for thorough investigations into
the role of these drugs in the problems listed.
4. Prohibit and penalize coercion of parents to drug their children
- Withholding federal IDEA funds or making schools financially
responsible for the costs of withdrawing children from psychotropic
medication and any adverse effects of those drugs are penalties
that are being discussed. Although some physicians are too eager
to prescribe these medications, at least the decision should be
removed from unqualified school personnel to parents and their
family physician without threat of child abuse charges or losing
their children for the parents or removal from the home, expulsion,
or inappropriate educational placement for the child.
5. Safeguard the rights of parents and children, by emphasizing
the need for fully informed consent and by demanding that prescribers
disclose the risks and potential adverse effects associated with
the use of psychoactive medications - No parent should have to
find out about the potential for cardiac arrest, growth retardation,
cortical atrophy, psychosis, violence, or suicide because it happens
to their child.
6. Ensure that other reasons for behavior or academic problems
are discussed before psychotropic drugs are suggested - The list
above, though incomplete, is quite long. No child has emotional
or behavioral problems due to a low blood level of any psychotropic
drug. Making sure that other causes are ruled out will allow scarce
funds to go to children who truly need them.
7. Focus on academic issues instead of expanded behavioral screening
- According to special education teacher, Mary Sue Laing, "EARLY
[ACADEMIC SCREENING and] INTERVENTION is of the utmost importance
in assisting students, especially young students. A month is a
long time in the life of a little child. Intervention should consist
of using highly structured methods that teach the student how
to read, write, and do math correctly from the beginning. In reading,
only methods that teach the sound-symbol relationship should be
used. Visual guessing in reading, invented spelling, and free
play with math manipulatives are inadequate methods for students
who experience learning difficulties." It is these activities
upon which schools must concentrate. Given the inaccuracy of the
process and the invalidity of the diagnoses, especially ADHD,
expanded behavioral screening will result in more children receiving
labels with the harm described above and treated with psychotropic
drugs with all of the dangerous side effects also described above.
8. Strictly enforce the 2001 Protection of Pupil Rights Amendments
in the ESEA that that require notice and right of parental inspection
of curriculum and physical or psychological evaluations, including
surveys, of students in school , as well as opting their children
out of these procedures and related curriculum. [41]
9. Strictly enforce the 2001 amendments to the ESEA that prohibit
assessments based on attitudes, values, and beliefs of students
and their families. [42]
ENDNOTES:
1 Public Law 105-17, Section 602(3)(A)(i)
2 IDEA regulations as quoted in Hannah, Pediatric Annals, vol.31,
no. 8, 8/02, p. 508
3 Presidential Commission Report - A NEW ERA: Revitalizing Special
Education for Children and their Families7/02, p. 21 at http://www.ed.gov/inits/commissionsboards/whspecialeducation/reports/pcesefinalreport.pdf
4 Ibid., p.23
5 MN Dept of Children Families and Learning data from annual reports
on students receiving IDEA funds
6 Zito, JAMA, Vol. 283, No, 8, 2/23/00
7 See Pills or Patience? Sacramento Bee, 6/23/02 at http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/3313233p-4344565c.html
8 A NEW ERA, p.21
9 Mosher, Loren, M.D., Psychiatrist, former Chief of the National
Institute of Mental Health's Center for the Study of Schizophrenia,
quoted in Death from Ritalin: The Truth Behind ADHD, available
at http://www.ritalindeath.com/Page/Contro4.html last visited
08/20/02
10 Breggin, P. (2001). Talking Back to Ritalin, revised edition.
Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, p. 32
11 Ibid., pp. 49-50
12 Ibid., p. 32
13 Nasrallah, H., et.al., Psychiatry Research 17:241-246, 1986
as quoted in ibid., p.67
14 Ibid., p. 69
15 Cherland and Fitzpatrick, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, October,
1998, as quoted in ibid., p. 45
16 Koek, W., and Colpaert, F.C., Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental
Therapeutics, Vol. 267, p. 181-191, 1993 as quoted in ibid, p.
46
17 Ibid., p. 47
18 See Farber, B., The Link Between Anti-depressants and Mayhem,
Newsmax.com, July 2, 2001 at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/7/2/181622.shtml
19 NIMH document PKT 00-0016, October 1995, "Multimodal Treatment
Study of Children with ADHD," entitled "Cooperative
Agreement for Multi-Site Multimodal Treatment Study of Children
With ADHD (MTA): Investigator William E. Pelhan, Ph.D., Western
Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, University of Pittsburgh.
Grant Title: Pharmacologic and Psychosocial Treatment for ADHD
(Uo1MH50467-01) as quoted from Eakman, B., (1998) Cloning of the
American Mind - Eradicating Morality Through Education, Lafayette,
LA, Huntington House, p. 103 and discussed on pp. 98-100 and 173-175
20 Montero, D., I was forced to dope my kid, New York Post, 8/7/02
at http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/54243.htm
21 Karlin, R., Court orders couple to give son drug (Ritalin)
after school turns parents in, Albany Times Union, 7/19/00
22 Montero, D., Bush's Bro: My Son was a Victim of School Rx,
New York Post, 8/14/02 at http://www.nypost.com/seven/08142002/commentary/54735.htm
23 Ibid.
24 A Parent's Nightmare: Losing a Child to Drug-Induced Psychosis,
Education Reporter, June, 2002 at http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2002/june02/drug-induced.shtml
25 See any pediatric or internal medicine text book
26 See any edition of the Physician's Desk Reference or pharmacology
textbook
27 See, for example, Murray, M. and Pizzorno, J., (1998) Encyclopedia
of Natural Medicine, Revised 2nd Edition, Rocklin, CA, Prima Publishing
pp. 273-281
28 See, for example, Rapp, D., (1996) Is This Your Child's World?
- How You Can Fix the Schools and Homes That Are Making Your Children
Sick, New York, Bantam
29 Cave, S., (2001) What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Children's
Vaccinations, New York, Warner Books, p. 39-56
30 Ibid., pp. 57-78
31 Crook, W., (1991) Help for the Hyperactive Child, Jackson,
TN, Professional Books
32 A New Era, p. 22
33 See The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Section 1111, (b)(2)(C)
34 See (2002) Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education,
Washington D.C., National Academy Press, http://books.nap.edu/books/0309074398/html/index.html,
especially Chapter 2
35 See the Goals 2000 chapter of Quist, A. The Seamless Web, 1999Mankato,
MN Maple River Education Coalition at http://mredcopac.org/Seamless%20Web/chap_01.pdf
36 Eakman, B., Bushwacking Johnny, Chronicles Magazine, September
2002, pp. 41-43
37 Brunner, M., (1993) Retarding America, Imprisoning Potential,
Halcyon House as quoted in Eakman p. 385
38 See Effrem, K. Data Privacy Chapter of Quist, A., (1999) The
Seamless Web, Mankato, MN Maple River Education Coalition at http://www.edwatch.org/seamless_web.htm
39 See Chapman, M., and Bachmann, M., US Policy embraces State-Planned
economy, Maple River Education Coalition at http://mredcopac.org/upda0219.htm
40 See Sommers, C. (2001) The War Against Boys: How Misguided
Feminism is Harming Our Young Men, Touchstone
41 See The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Section 1061
42 Ibid., Sections 1111(b)(3)(C)(xiv) and 411(b)(5)(A), which
say, "…objectively measure academic achievement, knowledge,
and skills, and be tests that do not evaluate or assess personal
or family beliefs and attitudes, or publicly disclose personally
identifiable information