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A 21st Century Illness? the great ADHD debate
Various Authors
This article looks around the debate of ADHD. Six points of view from different perspectives look at the experience of ADHD, including a child with ADHD, a parent, a Child Psychiatrist, a professor of Childhood Studies, a nutritional specialist and the founder of ADDISS.
Chat back
Megan Marsh and Sara Male
The authors explain how they implemented the Strengthening Families Project. They identified this North American project via a literature search, and received a grant to go to the USA to receive training. The project brings together parents and their 10-14-year-old children. The families came with various problems including school refusal, bullying, self-harm, depression, aggression and bereavement. The aim is to reduce these problems.
Green giant
Cherie Booth and Paul Ennals
The Government’s consultation document ‘Every Child Matters’ could see the largest reform to children’s services for 30 years. Cherie Booth QC, discusses the recommendation for the post of Children’s Commissioner for England. Paul Ennals (Chief Executive of the National Children’s Bureau) welcomes the Green Paper, but says that improving the outcomes for children is about more than merely restructuring services, it is about changing the culture in which they are delivered.
Memory test
Cato Hoeben
This article looks at the pressures faced by school children in their quest for knowledge and asks would a different approach to learning help. The author asks whether our education system is counter-productive to student’s mental wellbeing? The author explores the potential of Tony Buzan’s Mind Maps as an alternative to rote learning. The article includes some cases where Mind Maps have been used with children who have disabilities such as autism and dyslexia.
School's out
John Khan
This article is based on new research from Save the Children, which paints a bleak picture of the lives and experiences of young people excluded from Education. The study focuses on young people labelled with emotional and behavioural difficulties, domestic violence or ongoing complex medical health needs. The research included interviews with young people. Nearly all of them saw the support they received while out of school as crucial to facilitating their return to mainstream education. The author concludes that the government and Local Education Authorities (LEAs) are still not fully meeting their responsibilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Stop, look, listen
Terry Philpot
The author explains how a new public health campaign - Stop it Now! - is trying to quash the secrecy and taboo that surrounds abuse. The campaign has been imported from the USA where it has met some success. It encourages those who are in danger of abusing children, but who have not yet done so to come forward. It runs as a helpline and through community groups.
Take a chance
Reva Klein
This article discusses the work of a mentoring project called Chance UK, which is about to be rolled-out nationally. The project is aimed at vulnerable children who are characterised by poor social skills, very few friends, have been inappropriately disciplined by their parents and being disaffected at school. The project aims to provide these children with a positive role model, to help them overcome these problems. Ultimately, it aims to prevent them getting involved in crime. Generally, the school refers the child to the project. If they are assessed as being appropriate for the project, they are allocated a mentor for 12 months. These mentors are volunteers who are given some training and support to carry out their work. Middlesex University is carrying out an evaluation of the project, but the organisation claims that in most cases there has been a significant improvement in behaviour.
Taking it higher
Roger Catchpole and Jenny Cobb
The authors look at the lessons and achievements from the first year of the Masters Degree in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, jointly run by City University in London and YoungMinds, and how it was set up and run.
Review: Nature via nurture
Ceilidh Stapelkamp
This book looks again at the nature-nurture debate. There are chapters on schizophrenia, Darwin, twin studies and more.
Review: Nurture groups in school
Annie Henriques
The author of this book talks about the criteria for admission to Nurture Groups and talks in detail about how to go about setting one up, and the kind of behaviour one can expect from deprived children.
Review: The best of boys
Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer
This article champions the cause of 9- to 18-year-old boys, the message being the best route to achieving harmony and enjoyment at home is to celebrate the good things about being male, accept your son’s view of the world and work with, not against his vulnerabilities. The book includes interviews with parents, professionals and boys. Up to date research on puberty, hormones etc is presented in a straight forward way, and the author has supplemented her own experiences with many of her friends.
Webwatch: International celebration
Paula Lavis
This column pulls together websites that are either about World Mental Health Day 2003, or provide useful information or resources relevant to children's mental health.
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