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FREEDOMWAYS
FIRST QUARTER 1972

a recent issue of Science, Dr. Twitchell is of the opinion that the entire concept of minimal brain dysfunction is badly in need of critical appraisal. He goes on further to state, "But where does the 'abnormal' leave off? Are we likely to see a profusion of young children indiscriminately labeled MBD because they appear to be overactive and distractible? The 'dyslexia' craze appears to have waned, but it was not unusual several years ago to see a three or four year old brought in for a neurological consultation by a worried mother concerned that her child might have 'dyslexia' because he reversed his letters and numbers (a normal phenomenon at that age). Might we now see the same with MBD? The whole syndrome has become so nebulous and definitions are so blurred that it is becoming another diagnostic wastebasket, and it is no surprise that attempts to determine the incidence of MBD among school children yield estimates ranging from 1 to 20 per cent."

Treatment for MBD is equally imprecise and confusing--not surprising in view of the difficulty of knowing what one is supposed to be treating. Most of the "authorities in the field" agree that the children so labeled should be placed in classrooms in which there are few distractions and where the classwork is carefully organized. The child's achievement should be warmly praised while his weaknesses should be improved. But surely this is the kind of school situation which would benefit the overwhelming majority of children and only serves to support the angry demands of large numbers of black parents who realize that their children cannot perform well in schools and classrooms which often border on bedlam. Living in crisis ridden homes and in endless confrontation with a hostile society, it is amazing that they do as well as they do. Seven years ago, Dr. Kenneth Clark in his book Dark Ghetto stated, "A key component of the deprivation which afflicts ghetto children is that generally their teachers do not expect them to learn." Has this situation changed for the better in the intervening years? Apparently, Dr. Clark has not been favorably impressed, because as late as June 1970, in a report prepared for the Metropolitan Applied Research Center, he continues to stress that the normal child will learn if he is properly stimulated and taught. More germane to the question of classroom environment, the report states, "Specific, and a general pattern of external interferences, such as noise, poor lighting, inadequate ventilation and so on, could reduce the academic achievement of normal children. It is reasonable to assume that when such interferences are identified and corrected or eliminated, the normal child will begin to learn." Thus it appears that in respect

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