Recently, 46 parents of a first-grade class of a primary school in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, jointly expressed to the school that they hoped that a new student, Xiao Ming (pseudonym), would transfer to another school as soon as possible.
According to a report by Red Star News, Xiao Ming is suspected of suffering from "ADHD", and has physically hitted, abused, and intimidated his classmates for a period of time.
On April 12, the relevant person in charge of the school told the media that the parents of the two sides had reached a settlement on April 1, and the student had been taken home by the parents on the same day for temporary online classes, and the head teacher would pay attention to his learning situation every day, and he would return to school after the May Day holiday.
Subsequently, the topic of whether children with "ADHD" can receive the same education as ordinary children sparked a discussion.
Does Xiao Ming really suffer from "ADHD"?
After the incident fermented, China News Weekly interviewed some experts and scholars in the field of special education and child psychology. Relevant experts believe that although the authenticity of the news event has been corroborated by a number of media, the root cause is still unclear, especially Xiao Ming's "ADHD" was only orally disclosed by his family, without a clear diagnosis and evidence, and the logic of the cause is unknown, so it cannot be easily "concluded".
On April 11, the Red Star News report clearly wrote: Xiao Ming's mother, Ms. Wang, had taken him to the hospital for a check-up, showing ADHD, but did not prescribe a diagnosis certificate or medication.
In this regard, Xu Jiacheng, former dean of the School of Special Education of Beijing Union University, told China News Weekly, "Professionals cannot judge through indirect information, but they can suggest that Xiao Ming receive relevant diagnosis in a qualified medical institution or psychological counseling institution in Wuhan, so as to accurately judge the child's real situation." ”
In Xu Jiacheng's view, before there are sufficient reasons such as a diagnosis certificate, it is impossible to attribute all of Xiao Ming's behaviors to "ADHD".
Xu Jiacheng introduced that the professional name of "ADHD" is "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder". If a child has ADHD, he or she may have poor learning status, lack of concentration, lack of attention to details, careless mistakes, etc., and the common situation is that he cannot complete some things that should be done and is easily disturbed by the outside world.
Medical books on pediatric ADHD Photo/China News Service Photo by Liu Junfeng
"But numerous case studies have shown that 'ADHD' doesn't have to be off-the-beaten-path. "There may be other reasons for the aggressive behavior, such as emotional and behavioral disorders or other triggers. Specifically, in this case, if the child's parents lack relevant channels and resources to seek professional advice, the school or the education department of the area where the school is located should intervene in a timely manner, and work with the corresponding and qualified medical institutions and psychological counseling institutions to trace the root cause of the child's related behavior, conduct a prudent analysis and assessment of the causes, and then combine the assessment results to carry out the next step of disposal and promotion, so as to determine whether the child needs to receive psychological counseling in the future, and even whether special education should be involved. ”
At the same time, some of the experts and scholars interviewed expressed their confusion. According to the information disclosed so far, the children are only brought home by their parents, and the school conducts online classes for teaching tracking, although it can "cool" the incident to a certain extent, but the root cause of the problem is excavated and the follow-up effective disposal and solution still need relevant departments to provide relevant resources and continue to pay attention to it.
In addition, the experts interviewed all agreed that it is absolutely necessary for classmates who have been physically assaulted, verbally abused, or intimidated to have a relevant examination to assess whether there is substantial physical or mental harm, which is equally important for the protection of other children.
Medication is required after diagnosis
Although there has been no diagnosis of ADHD in previous reports, the impact of ADHD in primary and secondary schools has still sparked extensive discussions.
Zhang Xin (pseudonym), director of the children's health department at a provincial children's hospital in central China, told China News Weekly that ADHD and autism are both neurodevelopmental disorders that are common in pediatric and neurology outpatient clinics. Over the years, there has been a lot of publicity about autism in all aspects of society, and it is precisely because the public knows more that people with autism are generally relatively tolerant, but children with ADHD are mainly manifested in disrupting the normal classroom and teaching order, and may be aggressive.
Some of the pediatric academic data provided by Zhang Xin show that compared with the typical symptoms of autistic children, parents are easy to detect at an early stage, and the symptoms of ADHD are likely to be hidden due to parents' cognitive biases if they are not intervened by professional forces in the early stage.
"Children with ADHD generally do not have obvious problems with IQ performance, but after entering primary school with learning tasks, related 'symptoms' become obvious when they appear to be unable to sit still, disrupt classroom discipline, affect their own and others' learning, and even aggressive behavior. However, there are also a considerable number of parents who only understand it as a manifestation of 'naughty' for the sake of 'face' and other factors, and do not accept it, or refuse to think that it is a disease, so that it has not been effectively treated, and the child's related problems continue to appear in the class, resulting in conflicts. ”
A children's hospital in Henan Province conducts attention training for children with ADHD Photo/China News Service Photo by China News Service
In terms of diagnosis and treatment, Zhang Xin said, "For children with mild ADHD and children who have not reached the age of 6 years old, doctors generally recommend studying with the class, and parents and teachers will conduct attention training and behavior management for the child to observe the effect, and it is not recommended to use medication immediately." However, for some children with ADHD who have reached primary school age and have moderate to severe ADHD, drug treatment is still more recommended, but in reality, there are certain conceptual barriers. ”
"At present, the mainstream clinical drugs for ADHD, such as methylphenidate, atomoxetine, etc., are 'red prescription drugs', that is, they must be prescribed by a licensed doctor, and the parent's ID card must be registered, and the informed consent form must be signed. Many parents are frightened by this process, and are afraid and resistant to the side effects of drugs. For example, atomoxetine is milder than methylphenidate, but the side effects can be accompanied by loss of appetite, and parents may worry that their child's nutritional intake will be problematic during the medication stage, which will affect development. ”
Zhang Xin said that in terms of the large number of cases she has handled, the effect of receiving drug treatment, combined with family education management, attention training, sports, etc., is far better than that of children who refuse drug treatment.
Can I attend the same class?
"According to the relevant laws and regulations in mainland China, if a student's aggressive behavior is identified by the relevant authorities, such as qualitatively attributed to emotional and behavioral disorder or ADHD, it is indeed a target for special education," Xu said. However, in most cases, the child's special education does not mean that the child must be sent to a special education school, but that the child will be placed in a regular school to receive a regular class. ”
Xiong Bingqi, dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, also said that at present, some schools accept special children to study in the same class, and parents will be required to accompany them, cooperate with teachers to restrain their children's behavior, and not disturb other students. In addition, some data show that in some provinces and cities, there are also schools that will adopt separate classes for children with ADHD, centralized teaching, slowing down the learning progress, reducing the difficulty of learning, etc., but not every school can refer to this example. Moreover, it is easy for children with special needs and their parents to be regarded as "outliers" and cause "harm" on another level.
China News Weekly has learned that compared with children with autism, children with ADHD have different disability recognition standards and special education methods.
In addition, China News Weekly consulted the admissions hotlines of some special education schools, and was clearly informed that autism is classified as one of the categories of mental disabilities recognized by the state, and once diagnosed by a designated hospital, the local disabled persons' federation will issue a disability certificate, and the voucher can only be sent to a special school. "ADHD is not an officially recognized type of mental disability, so children with ADHD alone are not eligible for admission, unless children with ADHD have a low IQ (the general standard is IQ below 70), other forms of disability, special schools will accept them according to regulations. A special school hotline in Beijing replied.
Several autistic children in a province play Ocean Park accompanied by their teachers Photo/China News Photo by Wang Biao from China News Service
Therefore, for a single child with ADHD, regardless of whether they receive medication or not, the teaching mode of ordinary schools as the "main front" of accompanying the class has not changed.
He Li, an expert in child psychology and an associate professor at the Department of Psychology at Beijing Union University, called for the lack of awareness, knowledge and experience in special education for ordinary primary and secondary schools and preschool teachers in some areas, due to various factors, and need to improve comprehensive training. The awareness of parents, especially families with special children, also needs to be carried out by the education and health departments to carry out popularization and publicity to improve coverage.
"Parents need to be aware of the importance of seeking help and advice from the professional field, as well as the formal channels of intervention, intervention and treatment. In short, I advocate that parents should grasp the three principles of parenting, 'do not hurt themselves, do not harm others, and do not destroy property', and if they encounter these three situations, parents should actively seek help from the professional field. ”
Author: Ye Zhufeng