‘Calm Down Or Else’: When Managing Child Behaviour Goes Too Far

An interesting perspective of how certain schools in the United States tackle children with special needs. Hopefully, we in India will never see such times. Or will we? Dr. Joseph Mercola comments – and offers some useful at-home guidelines for parents of children with special needs.

For more than a decade, parents of children with developmental and psychiatric problems have pushed for their children to gain more access to mainstream schools. One unfortunate side-effect may be schools resorting to forceful methods to control behavior. Many staff members are not adequately trained to handle severe behavior problems.

Federal law leaves it to states and school districts to decide when physical restraints and seclusion are appropriate, and standards vary widely. Oversight is often nonexistent, despite great potential for harm and little evidence of benefit.

- New York Times (July 15, 2008)

How to best handle special needs children in the classroom is a highly controversial issue among educators. At the heart of the controversy is the fact that many of these children with developmental and psychiatric problems do not understand why they are being subdued, and only become more frightened and combative as a result. And if they were hurt, some of them do not have the communication skills to tell anyone.

When ‘Managing Behaviour’ Goes Too Far

Aside from physical restraint, many kids are being subdued using powerful mind-altering drugs. In the U.S. foster care system, kids as young as 2 and 3 are given drugs that act on their central nervous system, reducing their mobility and acting like, as one former pharmaceutical representative put it, ‘a chemical straightjacket.’

These children may have any number of formal diagnoses, ranging from ADHD to autism to the ambiguous behavioral disorders and emotional disturbances. This is all irrelevant though, as no child that young should be put on mind-altering drugs, period.

If physical restraint of special children in schools becomes acceptable, what’s next? Will it be acceptable to give children mind-altering drugs when they become disruptive in the classroom? Or will teachers be outfitted with tranquilizer guns to quickly ‘calm’ an overzealous first grader? Will public schools become nothing more than holding pens for drugged up pseudo-children?

Kids in the US are already being drugged for normal ‘kid’ behaviors

I’m only half-joking here.

Kids are already being drugged for normal ‘kid’ behaviors – fidgeting, speaking out of turn, not wanting to sit still, and being hyper. And there are numerous allegations of 2- and 3-year-olds in US-based foster care systems being drugged for behavioral and emotional problems.

Correcting Behavioral Problems Without Force Or Drugs

You might be surprised to find out that many behavioral problems in children are very frequently related to improper diet, emotional upset and exposure to toxins. Therefore, addressing these root causes is often enough to greatly help the child. I realize there are cases when a child with a mental or emotional disturbance may need to be restrained for their own safety … but I believe these are the rare exception, not the rule.

To address the underlying toxins that may be causing behavior or emotional problems in your child — without resorting to drugs or force -

• Give your child plenty of high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fats like krill oil.
• Balance your child’s intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fats (from vegetables oils), by limiting their intake of vegetable oils.
• Avoid giving your child ANY processed foods, especially those containing artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.
• Replace soft drinks, fruit juices, and pasteurized milk in your child’s diet with pure water. This is HUGE, since high fructose corn syrup is the number one source of calories in children — remember this includes fruit juices!
• Reduce or eliminate grains and sugars from your child’s diet – yes, even healthy organic whole grains can cause problems. Try eliminating them first for 1-2 weeks and see if you notice a radical and amazing improvement in your child’s behavior.
• Make sure your child gets plenty of exercise and outdoor playtime in the sunshine.
• Give your child a way to deal with his or her emotions. Even children can benefit from the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which you or an EFT practitioner can teach them how to use.

Copyright © Joseph Mercola

Dr. Joseph Mercola is an internationally renowned Natural Health Physician and Doctor of Osteopathy, educated and licensed in both conventional and natural medicine and in practice over two decades. He is the founder/director of www.Mercola.com, the world’s #1 visited natural/alternative health website with over 2 million unique visitors per month

Additional resources:

• Calm Kids ADD Program – Increase your child’s concentration, focus and attention span and calm him down in minutes. Eliminate hyperactivity, increase attention span, eradicate defiant behavior and finally end the ADD/ADHD nightmare with the only treatment that combines cutting edge audio technology, behavior modification and diet.
• Overcoming ADHD: A Guide for Parents – Discover how your child can end ADHD/ADD naturally, safely and without drugs. Learn how a child with ADHD got his life back from out of control to being happier and successful at school.
• ADHD Meditation – 5 independent studies say the same thing: Use meditation to overcome ADHD. But how? Most people with ADHD (especially children) have trouble sitting still, let alone meditating. Recent technological advances now offer us the key. And it’s surprisingly easy.

Photo credit familylife

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