Why do we have such a growing problem with learning disabled children?

Question

The reason I am asking in this section is I think it's from the decades and decades of chemicals the government didn't stop industry from putting into everyday consumerables and products like.....preservatives in food, lead in paint, chemicals in carpeting, insecticides, refridgerants, arsenic and mercury levels in water sources.....and so on and so forth. I think it's contamination and chemical abuses in industry. You have to remember this has been going on for generation after generation after generation for nearly a century.
Any other theories?

Answer 1

So glad you asked that Kelly ole girl. The no kid left behind theory is based on the opinion of a Delayed Development Child, GW Bush! and that is the most ignorant standard set for education I have ever seen. God almighty we were progressing and doing better in educational systems before he came into the picture. Texas is a very poor academic level, and all he wants to do is retard everything to those levels so the rest can catch up so we all end up stupid and under seige! My goodness we have so many problems, then the immigrants will catch up and don't forget they are the ones voting too? Why not build schools in Mexico and start sending some of our out of work teachers there? And of course pay them? Instead of that crappy Nafta?
How about it? Mercury poisening has been a big contributor to Alzheimers disease, kidney function, liver disorders which in fact drastically in many cases during the formative yrs. do damage to the brain? Lead poisening, and too much injestion of pork as well? This is a proven fact that pork is bad for your enzymes in your bowel and that it effects the brain by slowing the thinking process. Turkey because of it's enzymes makes you very tired when you eat too much of it? Perfect case scenario Thanksgiving everyone is asleep after dinner. And we never in this country ever promoted holistic medicines, natural foods, herbs, spices for medicinal purposes as well. Vitamins are very important throughout your life. Natural sleep modes with music?
No we had to sell pills for everything and buy stock in the pharmeceutical companies and have sticking rich doctors walking around being hippocrites, instead of hippocratic oaths!
Insurance companies gauge their charts for medical treatment with the pharmeceutical companies and not Doctors? So who is in Charge? It is too late for schools now? We need medical care drastically to reduce it's rates, and the insurance companies need to pay! And find alternatives to these pill pushing methods of these rich and infamous lobbiests for the pharmeceutical companies!Like a big kick in their butts will do for now! Children are the future and we need to help the generation to come? There are 1000's upon 1000's of children on anti-depressants in this country alone? And those insurance companies have already decided they will cut those children off in the future! They also know about their ailments and that now the big corps want to have the medical records of employees so as not to hire them if they are going to have any serious health problems? so what do you think of that!

Answer 2

Actually I believe it is maybe not so much having learning disabilities but rather the world expects them to grow up and learn at a faster pace then say, my generation. Baby boomer, brought up in the 1950's and beginning in Kintergarden we learned basic skills...some motor skills, a bit of the teacher reading to us in a group, beginning to learn the alphabet and to print our names or the alphabet. We used the thick pencils and crayons that were easier for small children to grasp and if we were good, we had a little art thrown in and some beads to string. We didn't have computers, our mom's helped us with what was brought home IF she had time. After all, she was a homemaker, a wife and a mother with laundry, 3 times a day meals to prepare, floors to scrub (on her hands and knees) dishes to do by hand and clothes to wash, which took awhile because of the old fashioned 'wringer washers.' So, she was pretty much tied up...but she was there if we needed her.

Things were just pretty basic after that...Reading, Writing and Arithmatic. NOT algebra....plain 'ole arithmatic skills were all that was needed until we got into High School.

In today's society, everyone wants to speed things up and I don't believe it was the floride in the water or the toothpaste because we didn't get that until the late 50's. Back then, most people had well water, unless the lived in the city. And it was good, no two ways about it. Tasted MUCH better than city water to us.

I just really believe it is todays supercomputer, fast paced world that take the average children and seperates them from the 'fast children' and they label it 'learning disability.' When you think about it, their little brains can only mature so quickly and it seems as though if a child isn't talking understandably, like a little adult by age 2, everyone thinks there is something wrong with them. There isn't though. They ARE the average thinker.

My mother told me I didn't converse sensibly until age 4...to repeat something and it sounded like sense. It's just my point of view, but I've watched the changes over the years. Everyone want's their kids to converse and think for themselves way too soon, and it's a push that is injuring them into early depression. When I was young, there wasn't any such a thing as ADHD, childhood depression...because no one tried to 'keep up with the Jones's.' We went outside to play and if it rained we found something inside to do...and that was hard. All we had were our dolls and coloring books and crayons. We were a much happier crowd, back then.

Answer 3

My theory is that today's kids are really no different (developmentally) than kids in the past. But our society has become prosperous to a point where if we don't have any real problems, we make up syndromes just so we have something to "cure".

Doctor's prescribe Ritalin and other drugs to kids without fully testing if the child has anything wrong with him. All they need to hear is that the kid is hyper and doesn't pay attention. Guess what, that is a normal kid. It is the parents job to teach the kid how to behave, but instead of doing their jobs, parents want the easy way out and so they drug their kids into submission.

Kids will grow up and grow out of behavior. Too many parents don't want to do their jobs.

Answer 4

I think now a days teachers are not teaching kids. Kids have to fit in one or another category. Either they get it or they have some sort of a disability.
Schools that has special programs; like speech learning disability the state gives them funding
Grants.
When they pass testes. Like here in Michigan the MEAP, they get funded.
Teachers do not teach the basics the three R's.
Example:
My son brings home this everyday math.
You don't learn by repetition any-more that is way they change Math. They learn the In's and Outs.

Answer 5

Those are possibilities, but also we may have become more aware of disabilities and more willing to do something about them. People in the past were more ashamed of anything having to do with mental illnesses and would cover it up or deny it. Education has also become more important, in the past families needed the children to work (maybe on the farm) and help their family. I'm not denying your theory but wonder if there is anything about people becoming more aware of disabilities.

Answer 6

Your theory is certainly possible and has been advance by others. I also think that we tend to over-diagnose people from a young age. Rather than deal with a child's behavior problem the parents demand ADHD meds. Rather than deal with a life style problem people rush out to get anti-depressants to feel better and so on.

Answer 7

I know what you mean. I just heard that 1in 150 children has autism. That's outrageous. I think the solution is to use products that are as natural as possible and to switch to a diet rich in organic fruits and vegetables. Take a look at www.drday.com.

Answer 8

I think it is a combination of the environmental factors you mention as well as the an improved ability for the medical field to identify these disabilities (there may have been disabilities in the past that were diagnosed as 'bad' kids, or kids who just didn't want to learn, etc)

Answer 9

There's no doubt that many of the chemicals that you listed have been proved to cause damage to reproduction systems, nervous systems and have also been determined to inhibit the functioning of organs.

I don't think it's as black and white as attributing child development issues to hazardous substances, but I am sure that what you have listed may have some effect on child development.

Answer 10

I believe it is because the schools are now only teaching the kids what they need to know to pass the test. The no child left behind is really hurting kids that can't learn on their own. They are only taught to pass the tests for that year. I know so many who do so much better when their parents pull them out and homeschool.