Education News – Julia Steiny
“In the early part of the 20th century, a pediatrician identified what he called “an abnormal defect of moral control in children.” This described kids who had challenging behaviors, but were otherwise intelligent and normal. Later in the 1950s, the same behaviors were labeled in the US as “hyperkinetic impulse disorder.” As you’ve guessed, the label morphed eventually to the more familiar ADHD, or just ADD, depending on how physically hyperactive the kid is. The disorder was obscure until the late 1990s when the rate of diagnoses started to increase by 3% every year. Remember that the late 1990s was also the era of “zero tolerance” and the massive spike in school suspensions and expulsions. The crack cocaine epidemic spawned widespread, and now unfounded fears, of “super-predator kids” who would grow up to be aggressive and violent. Perhaps most importantly, the traditional family, which had started to dissolve in the late 1960s, began to fray the culture as a whole. Fewer children were being raised in two-parent families, attached to extended families, consistent neighborhoods, faith-based communities and common norms. Increasing numbers of kids were coming to school with behavior that was less please-and-thank-you and more rude and defiant of authority.”(more)