[Rapunzel]

I was just reading DocJohn's blog entry about mental health screening. What do you all think about that? I can understand that it's scary to give the schools more control over our children, especially in an area like this, and especially if they are going to be pushing meds that may not be warranted, but if the schools don't do something, what about all the kids with legitimate mental illness who would benefit from treatment they are not receiving? This is stirring up some deep feelings for me, especially since I'm interviewing tomorrow for a job doing mental health screening for Head Start, and also because I'm one of those kids who slipped through the cracks and wasn't detected, and my life could have been very different if someone had cared enough to do something back then.

I left a comment:

<font color=blue>What, exactly, do they plan to do with the results of this screening? I have mixed feelings. I don’t think that just medicating all these kids is going to solve anything, and that may cause whole new problems. But, on the other hand, when there are legitimate mental health concerns that can be detected and effectively treated (including provision of social support, encouragement of resiliency, etc.), then that could be a very good thing. This issue hits home with me on a number of counts. I had obvious symptoms of depression that I can trace back to at least the age of 9, and probably 5 or 6 or earlier. It only got worse as I got older, even through adulthood, and I am so angry at all the people who could have and should have done something back then. Maybe I wouldn’t spent 30 years believing that I had no potential and was doomed to failure, and that nobody cared. But, back then I would not have questioned taking medications, although now I don’t feel that is the answer for me.

Now I have applied for a job doing mental health screening with preschool children. As a screener, I doubt that I will have much if any influence on what treatment is provided, although I think I would have some involvement with followup. The job would be a great opportunity for me, but I hope that I would be doing some good, and not harm.
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What do you think?

<font color=orange>"If a light beckons to you, follow it. If it leads you into the quagmire, you'll probably find your way out of it again; but if you don't follow it, you'll be plagued for the rest of your life by the thought that perhaps it was your star." Friedrich Hebbet</font color=orange>

[LadyDragus]

I am a firm beliver of letting kids get screend my oldest gets it every year due to her SSI stuff, but I also think that parents should take an active role in the screening. So they can also understand what is goin on..
Some parents will just let the school say, oh your child needs this medicane to help calm them down "no worries" and they will take it and go on with there busy lives.. WRONG!!!!!! IT could be that the child is just hyper active.. ONe thing that some people over look is DIET, what the kids eat, I know ther are also food that can cause kids to be hyperactive like WHeat, and chedder and some other things, (but I am rambling again)
Just rember, you are there to help the kids.. Help them to find the best possible thing for them.. And sometimes pills are not always the answer ok..
This is just my opion ok..

I think you taking this sort of job will be a wonderful thign for you., Cause you will be able to handle this.. I am also very proud of you for being storng enough to do this and I wish you the best.. You will be able to see taletell signs of deperssion cause you are deperssed, and since you sliped through the cracks maybe you can help others not to do that with this job if you do get the job..

I hope I did not ramble to much..

Love you..

<font color=blue>
I am not worthy of your love
I am seeking worth
Let me find it now
Let me look for it with you
I am not worthy of your friendship
Help me to find it

[dexter]

I didn't read the blog... but I agree that there are positive and negative possibilities. I think the best scenerio would be to view this as an opportunity for parents and schools to work together to each provide something they can use their resources for. I have several teacher friends... friends that amaze me with their dedication to teaching and to their students in spite of how lousy teachers are treated in society... and often they talk about the parents who get involved with their children's schooling... when the child has a weakness they ask how they can help at home to help them learn or encourage them to like school... as opposed to parents who seem to think that school is nothing more than an 8 hour day care center... if a child is having a serious problem with learning or with behaviour, and the teacher talks to the parents about it, the parent's response is like during those 8 hours the kid is your problem, not ours, so you deal with it.

It certainly could be an opportunity for an abuse of prescribing medications, I think schools would have to be surveilent to not let that happen, and parents would have to have a responsibility to make their own decisions based on the school's recommendations, but the school could help by providing research to help the parents understand it better. In cases where parents may be ignorant or unaware of such problems, or that such problems are treatable, this could be a really good opportunity to find at least some of the children who might otherwise be "left behind" to suffer needlesly. Of course there will still be parents who are stubborn and believe the stereotypes and stygma's... maybe some input from the school can help them change their minds in some cases, but for the really stubborn not much is going to help I think.

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