The
government has been running a campaign to stamp out anti-social behaviour;
some of the measures have included exclusion orders, parenting classes,
eviction notices or jailing parents who allow their children to play
truant. However, what these measures have not addressed is one very
important cause of challenging behaviour: Learning difficulties.
It
is unfortunate that society today seems to be so intolerant of young
people and has labelled many as a group from which local communities
need protection. However, are we as a whole actually exacerbating
these problems by finding ever-increasing ways to exclude children
and young people? Is our intolerance and lack of understanding actually
breaking down the lines of communication and social interaction? Are
the government’s policies protecting children or setting a very
vulnerable group up to fail.
Recent
reports in the newspapers have already highlighted the fact that the
£885m has been spent on boosting school attendance by the Department
of Education and Skills. School truancy has become a punishable crime,
however, some schools are attacking government policy on inclusion
saying that many of these children have special educational needs
ranging from learning disabilities to attention disorders. On top
of this, figures from the DFES show that the number of maintained
special schools fell by 7% between 1997 and 2003, though the average
size of special schools increased during that period. Are we making
it harder for parents to get the support their child is entitled to?
Behaviour
that is likely to cause “harassment, alarm and distress to other
people” may be subject to an ASBO and could draw a child or
young person, through no fault of their own, into criminal proceedings.
Yet these feelings are so subjective. As demonstrated in a recent
Horizon programme – “Living with ADHD”, anyone witnessing
a screaming child throwing itself on the floor spitting and swearing
in the middle of a supermarket would be hard pressed not to say that
they were slightly alarmed and distressed, and what if that child
demonstrated violence? Indeed, the natural assumption is that this
behaviour is the result of bad parenting. However, things are rarely
what they seem.
