It is most likely that boys are more affected than girls when it comes to learning to read and attendent behavioural problems.
Julia <http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Children-in-crisis-the-real-diagnosis/2004/12/05/1102182155642.html> The Age (Melbourne) 6 December 2004 Children in crisis: the real diagnosis By Caroline Milburn Children's clinics at hospitals nationwide are clogged with youngsters whose real problem is their inability to read rather than a medical ailment. This is according to the chairman of the Federal Government's inquiry into reading. Dr Ken Rowe, the newly appointed head of the national inquiry into the teaching of literacy, said psychology clinics at hospitals were straining to cope with the deluge of children seeking medical attention for problems caused by their failure to learn to read at school. "Hospitals are complaining that their clinics are being filled with kids who are being referred for things like Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)," said Dr Rowe, who was last week appointed by the federal Education Minister to run the inquiry. "But once the pediatricians sort out the children's literacy problems, the behaviour problems disappear. What is essentially an education issue has become a health issue." The Royal Children's Hospital is overhauling its clinical services after an internal audit revealed that one-quarter of all children who attended the emergency department and other outpatient services for medical help, were diagnosed as having non-medical conditions, such as learning difficulties and behaviour problems. Professor Vicki Anderson, director of the hospital's department of psychology, said she and her colleagues were stunned by the audit's findings. About 500 Victorian children over the past year were treated at the hospital's Learning Difficulties Centre and demand for its services has almost doubled each year for the past five years. Professor Anderson said many children, sent to the clinic because teachers, families and GPs believed they had ADHD, did not have the condition. Instead the child's inattention or poor behaviour in class was secondary to their primary problem of failing to learn to read. "ADHD is clearly overdiagnosed," Professor Anderson said. "The appeal of a pill for ADHD is much easier than arranging twice-a-week remedial reading sessions." Professor Anderson said specialists in charge of child psychology clinics at large hospitals in other states had similar concerns about the growing number of struggling readers attending their clinics. She said families often sought help at the Royal Children's Hospital's learning difficulties clinic because of long waiting periods at schools to have a child's learning problems assessed by Education Department psychologists. A spokesman for Victoria's Education Department said Professor Anderson's concerns related to up to 250 students at the hospital's clinic whose main problem seemed to be reading failure, out of a statewide population of more than 540,000 students at government schools. He said the department was unaware of lengthy waiting lists for students who needed assessment of learning problems. --- Web links: RCH: Learning Difficulties Centre http://www.rch.org.au/learndiff/index.cfm?doc_id=3563 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/pyIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boysed/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
