Sir, No doubt there are parents who are not doing as good a job as they might, and professionals who label children too readily after diagnostic assessment, but, like the professionals she disparages, Professor Priscilla Alderson (report, July 28) earns her money through work concerning children and judges them by exhibited behaviours.
It is not the behaviours but the causes that should be examined objectively. There have been countless changes which could have affected the development of children in recent years, including lifestyle, diet and even birth procedures. These children do not need labels or condemnation as much as they need help.
Recognition and remedy of the problems serve the children better than denial and recriminations.
The clock cannot be turned back to a time when there was authoritarian rule backed by corporal punishment in all areas of life. We need to look at new knowledge on child development and the way it impacts on progress.
Would a little investment in children cost more than dealing with the results of the present neglect?
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Yours faithfully,
GWYNETH JEYES
(Educational consultant),
18 The Park, Newark,
Nottinghamshire NG24 1SD.
gwyneth@absonline.net
July 30.
From Mrs Wanda Pratt
Sir, Professor Alderson states that only children who avoid eye contact and lack empathy can be truly autistic.
There is a range of impairments associated with autism. My son of ten was diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder when he was seven. We had an idea what might be amiss by the time he was five, but it took some extremely distressing classroom behaviour to make us seek help.
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We had to wait a year for him to be assessed but it was well worth it. I attended all his assessments and saw how the tests highlighted his impairments. The diagnosis was vital in helping his teachers to understand his strengths and weaknesses and, with this awareness, his life in the classroom and playground was transformed from a confusing ordeal to an acceptable experience.
At no point did I feel that the doctors and educational psychologists were in it for the money.
Yours faithfully,
WANDA PRATT,
98 Narbonne Avenue, SW4 9LG.
July 30.
From Mr Robert Forsythe
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Sir, Three huge cheers for Professor Alderson. If the parents who bombard GPs with complaints about the behaviour of their children were to deny their offspring their daily fix of burgers and soft drinks and sit them down to a wholesome meal followed by homework, the problem would disappear, leaving the manufacturers of Ritalin with a well-deserved headache.
Yours, etc,
ROBERT FORSYTHE,
35a Clifton Gardens, W9 1AR.
July 30.