Dr. Mel Levine interview in GH Magazine, "The Myth of Laziness"

Good Housekeeping ^ | February 2003 Issue | Beth Johnson

[visualops]

Today, reading Good Housekeeping while waiting for the doc, I came across an interview with this man about children and "laziness". I started reading, and within minutes was absolutely astounded by what he was saying.

GH: You've often said it's hard to be a child in school today.
Dr.L: Kids are expected to be competent in many things all at once:writing, math, sports, art. It's ten times easier to be an adult!
GH: Where do kids usually have the most difficulties?
Dr.L: Writing. Kids have to spell and generate ideas and remember punctuation and hold the pencil properly. It's a tremendous amount to combine. When you're a school-age child, so much depends on getting your ideas out on paper. And schools tend to have very little sympathy when it comes to difficulties with productivity and completing homework.

Holding the pencil properly?!?
This tripe is being spewed by Dr. Mel Levine, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School. He is also the founder of "All Kinds of Minds".
http://www.allkindsofminds.org/

[visualops]

Maybe we should just let the kids color all day, if holding the crayon isn't too stressful.

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[visualops]

To read the full interview you have to get the print magazine. It's the issue with the Laura Bush interview.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Kids have to spell and generate ideas and remember punctuation and hold the pencil properly. It's a tremendous amount to combine...

You bet it is. And teachers of the *better* schools are demanding perfection at an even younger age. I have a 9 year old grandson who can spell every word on his spelling test correctly and still get a "C" because of handwriting or punctuation. It's especially hard on the boys.

I have a 7 year old autistic grandson in Special Ed who gets marked down if he wiggles in class. Doesn't matter if he does the assignment correctly -- he still fails if he wiggles or sits sideways in his seat; and he has to repeat, repeat, repeat until sheer boredom dictates that he will never get to the next lesson.

[netmilsmom]

HOMESCHOOL!!!!!!!!!
www.k12.com

[Change]

Please consider signing the petition on www.ablechild.org to stop the drugging of innocent children. For those of who do not believe in ADHD or ADD, we need help. No parent should feel they need to label their child with a subjective mental illness in order to receive a free and appropriate education. Please sign up for our children's sake. Parents are not told their child can not join the military in voilation of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Please sign the petition on www.ablechild.org

[Change]

Please consider signing the petition on www.ablechild.org to stop the drugging of innocent children. For those of who do not believe in ADHD or ADD, we need help. No parent should feel they need to label their child with a subjective mental illness in order to receive a free and appropriate education. Please sign up for our children's sake. Parents are not told their child can not join the military in voilation of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Please sign the petition on www.ablechild.org

[visualops]

Well, that's a problem with the teacher obviously. But, going to the other extreme as I feel this guy does is no solution either.
The problem is they are not teaching phonics and the basics, giving kids a basis for learning all the rest. Kids also need to learn self-discipline. That means learning to buckle down and do things (like homework) that they may not otherwise want to.
As a parent of a kid with a low-normal IQ who we had to keep back because the school wanted to social promote a failing child- tough discipline and work work work have turned my kid into a happy straight A student. But he knows he can't slack off, but he's also learned there are rewards to hard work. It's very tough I know, inside myself I wish I could make it easier for him, but I can't. I'm sure you know that all too well.
The thing is, it's as if all common sense has just flown out the window when it comes to kids and school.

[visualops]

I went thru that when my son was in second grade. I had a meeting with the guidance counselor, and the first thing she suggested was I take him to the doc and try ritalin!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Dr. Levine is all over on the Media outlets:

[MainFrame65]

My oldest son - now 32 - went through 4 years of special ed, ritalin, and failure. He could not finish more than a single line of the trivial number fact problems on one of their drill sheets before he would start scribbling on the sheet, and the teachers would show this to us as evidence that he could not do any better.

So I bought a TRS-80-1 computer, learned the Basic language, and wrote a simple drill program to teach him number facts. The program presented a problem, ran a loop to limit the response time, and accumulated the counter remainder after each answer for "bonus" points. Each correct answer reduced the time limit on the next problem by a small amount, so he had to answer faster and faster.

He could work 30 problems in under 3 minutes, and never have a chance to get bored or distracted. As he advanced, I added multiplication and division, and reduced the response time limit.

He was back in regular classes the next semester. He never became a great student, but he does arithmetic in his head better than I do, and he graduated from college with a BBA.

[savedbygrace]

being spewed by Dr. Mel Levine, a professor of pee-diatrics

[VietVet]

"...Kids have to spell and generate ideas and remember punctuation and hold the pencil properly. It's a tremendous
to combine."

It is. I wonder how the children of my grandfather's generation, and my father's generation, and my generation managed it. I can tell you that about 2/3 of this generation of High School students cannot do it.

VietVet
(and private tutor)

[visualops]

Yep. Learning something worthwhile is work, geez what a concept.
Both my kids have plenty of classmates who simply don't bother to do homework at all, and don't do much classwork either. There are few consequences. Not only are they not learning much, they are being taught that it's okay not to learn much. Most of them only want to shop, entertain themselves, and pretend they are grownups.

[Valin]

Writing. Kids have to spell and generate ideas and remember punctuation and hold the pencil properly.

OMG! I'm just thankful that when I was in school we didn't to do ALL these things.

Give me a break!

[Change]

ADHD “Informed Consent” and National Defense Education Act

It is time for the American people to bring the ADHD “Ritalin” debate to a new level of “National Defense” and “Informed Consent”. According to the Associated Press report released on January 20, 2003 between 1987-1996 the use of psychotropic drugs among children has increased 200%-300% with the largest increase after 1991. The “experts” claim it is the result of greater awareness of psychiatric disorders and marketing drugs directly to the public. Human right advocates claim it is the result of the public schools diagnosing children with labels like “ADHD” through checklists, and failing to ensure proper “Informed Consent”. The responsibility for the checklists and lack of informed consent, we believe, lies with the Association of School Psychology and the information they are distributing to parents.

With war looming and special education reform on the slate for Congress, it is important to point out some basic facts. According to The Indianapolis Star, Tuesday, September 29, 1999, entitled “Thousands of Troops Let Go for Psychiatric Troubles”, “Defense Department: commanders say they are concerned by the losses and are searching for explanations.” Were these same troops informed that they would be eliminated from military service by labeling themselves with a “subjective” mental illness and “treating” themselves with mind-altering drugs? More pointedly, are parents informed of the fact that if their child is over the age of 12 and taking these psycho-stimulants for ADHD they will be ineligible to serve in the armed forces? Is the National Association of School Psychology failing to provide parents with the basic right to refuse psychological services through the public education system that is mandated by law? We believe the answer is yes.

The purpose of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 was to ensure the education of the ABLE children to increase the overall intelligence of the American people, which would secure the defense of the United States. The fundamental purpose of the National Defense Education Act is being thwarted. This is done when we allow the National Association of School Psychology to eliminate the vital resources of the military with “subjective” profiling checklists without proper informed consent.

There are constitutional issues as well that surround the profiling of children based on characteristics of behavior and labeling them with “subjective” mental disorders. In the Hearings before the 91st Congress, 2nd Session on September 29, 1970, ethical questions were raised regarding research studies and conflicts of interest. During the testimony it was noted that Keith Conners, PhD (the creator of the Conner’s Rating Scale - a widely used ADHD checklist) not only received federal grants for his research, but was also in charge of interpreting the outcome of his own research. This called into question the ethics of having research oversight by those who profit from those same research grants. These important documents are being withheld from parents so as an “informed” decision cannot be made.

The ADHD Ritalin debate needs to be brought to a higher level than debating whether the drugs are effective or not. Basic human rights are being violated and the outcome not only affects the individual child, but the entire Nation. With the lack of intelligence that brought our Country to its knees on September 11th, it is important to enforce the National Defense Education Act. This will ensure that the basic aptitude of every child is protected and the American people are well educated. www.ablechild.org

Written by Sheila Matthews & Patricia Weathers,
Parents for Label & Drug Free Education
New York & Connecticut