Jumping to Diagnosis

Lower Kindergarteners sit in rows and (4 year olds) listen to the teacher

There is no mandated special education in India. Children are not sent for expensive evaluations by their parents, nor are they medicated for psychiatric disorders. Schools often don't have social workers, counselors or psychologists. 

Back home, my inclination is to provide an answer, give it a name, label it and explain it for parents and teachers. I give a diagnosis and it makes sense to everyone. I make suggestions and recommendations about strategies that will benefit a student and our teachers can "run with it". 

But here, I am forced to honestly truly and unequivocally place the emphasis on strategies and interventions, as diagnosis holds no weight, opens no doors and has no meaning. In fact it may only stigmatize a student.  

Today when discussing a 7th grade student -- who was overly active, couldn't sit still, didn't retain directions, got distracted easily, was disorganized with his materials and had no other family or health factors -- I tentatively suggested that back home this might be a student with AD/HD. "What's AD/HD?" asked the teachers? When I explained the acronym, of course they knew what it was, but they said no parent would ever seek this label or pursue medication. With a wave of a hand, they explained that the typical societal response to a student like this is "its probably just a phase". Of course, the teachers themselves are hungry for more knowledge. 

So just like the towering Mt. Kanchenjunga has only been visible fleetingly on our trip, I am starting to get more first hand insight into how child development is perceived here in this part of India. 

Here are some of the issues teachers came to me with after my talk on Saturday: 

• How to approach the parents and help an elementary student who left a suicidal note in a school notebook?
• How to approach the parents and help an elementary student who is displaying pseudomature and sexualized behavior, and insists that he is a "girl on the inside"?
• How to approach provide instruction for an elementary student who has failed to make progress for several years and likely has a significant learning disability?

And as I talked with the Principal today I learned that the rate of childhood sexual abuse in India approaches 50%, especially among boys.  Sikkim also has one of the highest rates of suicide in India. 

An earthquake drill