-=> Quoting Mark Probert to All <=-
 MP> I recently wrote Russell Barkley about something that has disturbed
 MP> me  for some time. Regina's post (which I quoted from in my letter to
 MP> him),  along with what happened to Josh, provoked this. Why do our kids
 MP> seem to  be punished more often and harsher? Are they really that
 MP> "bad"? 
 MP> So I wrote to Barkley. If you all are interested, I could post the 
 MP> letter here. If you have any comments, I will gladly forward them
 MP> along.  He has done some studies in this general area and I have a
 MP> hunch he has  some important things to say.
 MP> Why do our kids
 MP> seem to  be punished more often and harsher? Are they really that
 MP> "bad"? 
 I for one would love to see it and this statement above (that I repeated)
 has me thinking this way one minute and thinking its wrong the next.
 I strongly believe that these kids are not worse than other kids, but that
 certain behaviors are harder to get under control.  The frustration builds
 up so much from trying to (us) control them that we forget that it is them
 that must learn control.  It is a learning process for them and not an
 easy one.  If I look at my daughter and other kids I find that there are
 other things they do that are just as "bad" (habitually so).  Maybe because
 they have no label on them that we just call it a normal problem and
 therefore easier to cope with.  Once your child is labeled ADD/ADHD or
 anything else we have a tendency not to look at our children as children,
 but as handicapped.  Which brings in all the stress of making things look
 worse than they may be.  This is my assessment of the statement after
 you seem to have put it so clearly.  And I now understand why Jeremy
 may at times seem like we are picking on him.
 Also as far as the school system goes, they are mainly trained to deal
 with kids that are as some put it "normal".  They build a routine based
 on these kids.  Once a child or two who is handicapped comes into the
 picture, their routine is torn apart.  They have to deal with some of
 the same kinds of stress we do.  They are not really trained to do that.
 Oh yes, they may have gone to college, but their psychology book only
 has several paragraph's (some books only one) of some of these handicaps.
 So what happens?  They become inadequate or at least feel they are and
 so goes discrimination.  Discrimination based on ignorance.  How sad.
 Regina
... A feature is a bug with seniority.
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