One of the great things about this new town is that it has a large, organized PTA for special ed moms. School districts often forget about after school activities and programs for the special ed kids. This PTA makes helps to fund programs and equipment for that population.
As part of the meeting, the Special Education Director for the town gave a presentation about the district's offerings. She told us how many kids were getting services and where she was noticing shifts. For example, she said that there were less kids getting help for speech therapy this year. She also said that she and her staff were finding a huge jump in the number of kids with anxiety disorders. She was seeing it very young kids in Kindergarten, because the demands on young kids have increased so dramatically. It was also become apparent in the high school, as the number of kids who were cutting had jumped.
Apt. 11d 
With a daughter in grade 1, I am not surprised. I actively hold the extracurriculars and the homework at bay in order for her to have enough time to hang out and get bored and just “be”.
You wouldn’t believe how many of her classmates and peers have some organized activity every day of the week after school plus more on weekends. That’s tacked onto an almost 6 hour school day.
And I am sure that most of the parents are doing all of this with the best interests of their child at heart. But so many seem so tired and exhausted (kids and parents!).
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While I don’t doubt it I kind of cringe at the “anxiety disorder” because it seems to me if you have things to be appropriately anxious about, it’s not a disorder. I suppose it might work like depression where an appropriate situational depression can become generalized.
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I’m glad the schools are paying attention but I”m not convinced the numbers have actually jumped. Back in the 60s and 70s, no one acknowledged anxiety in children, so we all stayed home with stomach aches, remember?
And then became anorexic/bulimic/alcoholic in high school. Same stuff, different era.
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I also had the thought of how anxiety is a disorder if it’s a reasonable response to the pressure. Diagnosing anxiety disorder seems a part of the bigger problem of assigning disorders to half of the normal curve, after having raised demands and expectations to a level only reachable by the top 20+percent of the curve.
One can make the same argument for the requirements of focus and ADHD and social skills and Aspergers. And, yes, I know that disorders/brain atypicalities could be the cause, but it is also the case that the requirements themselves affect whether people will be able to reach them.
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For example, what behavioral disorders could we uncover by requiring everyone in the 1st grade to do algebra?
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BJ – a different angle on what I was getting at. Or a 2000’s version of prescribing valium to depressed 1960’s housewives – how much is situational whether it’s anxiety or ADHD?
What disorders could each of us be diagnosed with depending upon how inappropriate the situation that we find ourselves in?
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