Bad Therapy is the cure for children worse than the disease?

Many of her points, though, are devastating. Shrier tackles well-worn issues such as over-medicalisation and smartphone use, but also offers some startling new analysis. She reveals a widespread use of school surveys that ask young children leading questions about their feelings. In Florida, 14-year-olds are asked during the past 12 months, how many times did you attempt suicide? . In Colorado, elementary school children are asked to agree or disagree with questions like: Important people in my life often let me down. In some states, parental consent is assumed, says Shrier; and parents wouldn t even know about these questions were it not for freedom of information requests made by dogged campaigners.

Many British parents will recognise this trend of school staff clumsily playing therapist , and leaving parents out of the loop. Shrier describes horrific-sounding restorative justice sessions in some American high schools, where victims are forced to sit down with school bullies in a cosy circle which imagines all bad behaviour as a cry for help . She talks to teachers who are afraid to speak out about this quasi-therapy that has led to a worsening of academic outcomes.

via www.ft.com