My school population where I teach has about 700 students grades K-6. Of those, there are only 2 special education classroom and one “severely handicapped” class. These kids are often overlooked by onlookers. We have a wonderful staff of special education teachers, in fact the best I’ve ever professionally known. They do a wonderful job at attempting to mainstream these kids whenever and as much as possible. The theory behind the “least restrictive environment” is that these kids will one day need to function in a normal life situation where there won’t be extra helps here and there to get them through. But mental health and handicaps don’t fit neatly in categories. I actually heard a psychiatrist once say that the science of diagnosis is frustrating because you are either: “bipolar” or “schizophrenic.” My, how limiting that is. Between the severely handicapped classroom and the GATE classroom, there is an array of mental awareness. Some notches along the line are considered genius and others insane.
I have been studying since 1999 as a personal pet project and form of professional development the concept of “genius vs. madness.” I have found many correlations. Now, I must admit my research is loosely based on blog reading and online sources more than academic books. I have however read academic books on schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, brain damage, autism, and other disorders that have shown me the line between genius and insanity is a very fine one indeed.
I wish our society saw mental illness as a potential virtue rather than something to “overcome.” Of course, kids with mania or severe ticks must be protected from their disorders but we should spend at least an equal amount of time showing them their “idiot savant,” or “early onset bipolar” etc. puts them in a category of people that have made stellar contributions to society since the beginning of humankind. Beside special ed classrooms, regular ed always has an array of mental health issues going on in a given year. Are we treating these as positively as we could be?
I started thinking about this post after reading a Newsweek article about how a certain group is attempting to erase the stigma against mental disorders. You may interested in checking that out on my psychology blog.
What’s your take on teaching the mentally ill child?
4 Comments
I keep coming back to this post, trying to decide if (what) I want to comment. Just happens to be a topic that hits close to home. Wanted to thank you for highlighting this and pointing me to that Newsweek article–very interesting! The stigma associated with mental illness has GOT to go. I recently “went off” on a teacher-blogger (something I hardly ever do) because this person wanted to do away with labels and call “those” kids what they are — bad. I’m still shuddering at the thought of individuals like this working with kids, especially kids with special needs. Anyway, I appreciate your very positive approach. I don’t think we hear it enough in schools. Great post.
@diane: People like yourself showing the science … to the stigma, is what will eventually make things better for people living with these disorders. Kids especially need to be seen as “unique” not strange or abnormal.
Thank you so much for your comment.
Great post!
Children grow into adults, and these adults will run the world one day. It may be hard to picture a mentally handicapped person as your boss, or a person with Bi-polar as your neighbor, but trust me, the statistics suggest (1/4!) that there are mentally ill people that are not just suffering, but are highly functional and out there everywhere (oh my god, what will the normals do?)
If we can help people with mental “illness” and “handicaps” when they are young to integrate faster then really, no-one really needs to know or care that there are any differences between “normal” and “abnormal”.
Imagine if we did the same thing to people of other cultures? For example: forced them not to talk about their religion, ancestral home or ethnic food, etc… and then made them dye their hair, skin and eyes so they blended with what we considered to be normal? It is essentially what we do with “abnormal” children. It is a little shameful. Oh well. It is, apparently, for the best.
Mentally ill people never get “cured.” Instead they have to adapt to the imbalance and find ways be they medication or cognitive therapy to maintain a normal life. I really like your comment. I hope more people come around to your way of thinking. After all, we all have deficits in some way.