Grade School Counselors Could Boost Student Performance, Study Finds

"Next on Reback's agenda: Studying the impact of early mental health intervention on crime and drug abuse among older students."

How about intervening BEFORE these children's lives are ruined by the DRUG ABUSE of their parents??? How about blood or hair drug tests, instead of the "bring-in-someone-else's-pee" drug tests that we have now??? How about serious JAIL TIME foe selling your food stamps for drugs??? How about permanently losing your kids when it is proved that you USE THEM as a commodity? (Buying drugs with benefits paid for your children.)

My 11 year-old grandson is currently in a mental facility on SUICIDE WATCH, because a year ago he was molested, cut and threatened by a guy, in full view of his mother, who was too high from snorting Vocodin to realize or react.

This was his THIRD molestation. His first was his own father, whom his mother knew had molested his own neice and nephew. The second was the crack addict who lived with him and his mother for 3 1/2 years... CPS in our county is USELESS, and we have a stack of dead children to prove it.

Oh, and my grandson's guardian ad litem defended a PEDOPHILE all the way to the state supreme court, working in conjunction with another slimeball attorney who goes into court and demonstrates how the image of an adult body can be morphed to look like a child, so "you can't prove that this defendant's collection is REAL kiddie porn!"

SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL for EVERYONE involved in the betrayal of our children!!!

Yeah, counselors are fine, unless they don't know squat about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in children, and most don't.

The kids get molested, 80-some percent NEVER tell ANYONE. Instead, they act out, then it's "you can't play with my kids, anymore; you can't ride our church bus anymore, you can't come to our school anymore..." Off you go to juvie... The kid thinks, "I was molested because I'm bad, I deserved it." They cut themselves, burn themselves with cigarettes, and many kill themselves...

All the while, there's NO accountability for the parents, the pervert judges let the molesters off... If you ever wonder how "a loving God" could send anyone to hell, you have never seen the suffering of a miolested child!

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How about actually studying. I'm a high school teacher.

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Getting rid of the children born to illegal aliens from mexico (anchor babies) that are badly overcrowding and dumbing down American childrens education. Mexicans are very slow learners and very fast at overpopulating our schools and overworking our teqachers. American children are suffering due to mexican anchor babies.

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It is true that today in most PUBLIC SCHOOLS , Guidance Counselors only do the scheduling for the students.(I'm a teacher, so I get this first hand) Assistant Principals take care of of the so called "discipline", but beats me who offers my students and my own children any couseling. It saddens me that this is our future-ONE in FIVE children will become ADULTS with MENTAL DISORDERS. Really has gotten me thinking about the future of this country. On a side note, my own child(daughter) asked to go into counseling to "work out some issues" We were lucky enough to find help fairly cheaply and it has helped her immensly.

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Try teaching them HOW and make a difference, for God's sake.

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Make's a heck of a lot of sense. Talking it out. Instead of Acting it Out. C'mon why does everything have to be about race. . We see children acting out on all sides of the spectrum. In high schools and college .Student going on rampage killing in predominately white neighborhood. So who are they talking all students from every race and class. Who are they talking about all children who are troubled trying to live in a sometimes very disturbing world.

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Signs and Symptoms of PTSD in Children (from National Center for PTSD)

School-Aged Children (6-11 years)

Feelings of responsibility and guilt

Repetitious, traumatic play

Feeling disturbed by reminders of the event

Nightmares, other sleep disturbances

Concerns about safety, preoccupation with danger

Aggressive behavior, angry outbursts

Fear of feelings, trauma reactions

Close attention to parent’s anxieties

School avoidance

Worry / concern for others

Behavior, mood, personality changes

Somatic symptoms (complaints about body aches and pains

Obvious anxiety / fearfulness

Withdrawal

Specific, trauma-related fears, general fearfulness

Separation anxiety

Loss of interest in activities

Confusion, inadequate understanding of traumatic events (more evident in play than in discussion)

Unclear understanding of causes of bad events

Giving magical explanations to fill in gaps in understanding

Loss of ability to concentrate at school, with lower performance

Spacey or distracted behavior



Signs and Symptoms of PTSD in Children (from National Center for PTSD)

Preadolescents and Adolescents (12-18 years)

Self-consciousness

Life-threatening re-enactment

Rebellion at home or at school

Abrupt shifts in relationships

Depression, social withdrawal

Decline in school performance

Trauma driven acting out, such as sexual activity and reckless risk-taking

Effort to distance self from feelings of shame, guilt humiliation

Excessive activity / involvement with others, or retreat from others in order to manage inner turmoil

Accident proneness

Wish for revenge, action-oriented responses to trauma

Increased self-focusing, withdrawal

Sleep / eating disturbances, including nightmares

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How about adding testing for ADD or ADHD? My son has ADD and was not achieving to the best of his ability. The teachers were giving him low grades, he wouldn't score high on a test, yet I would be studying with him for a few nights in a row before the test and he would still get a D or a C-. The guidance counselor at school couldn't figure out why my son's teachers said he seems bright, we just don't know why he isn't performing well. My husband's a doctor and once he said to me, "Maybe he has ADD." That went in one ear and out the other. It wasn't until my son reached 9th grade, last year, that he came home and told us he thought he had ADD. He had the same symptoms as his friend and his friend was now on medication and was getting A's, when he was failing before. Well, my son has been on the medication ever since we took him to the pediatrician and he was diagnosed with ADD. The hardest part has been finding the right dosage and medication as the stimulants effect their sleep, their appetite and makes them irritable. However, we cut the dose in 1/2 and he is doing much better.

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I wouldn't be so quick to herald the beauty of school counselors. My grade school counselor nearly ruined my life when she tried to "help" me through my parents divorce. She tried to force me to open up and when I refused, tried to suggest to my mother that I was suffering from depression and possibly other mental disorders. I've never had any of the other counselors and therapists I've seen since (none related to the divorce) say I needed medication or suggest I be diagnosed. She just couldn't accept that I didn't like or trust her enough to talk to her about an issue I really didn't, in the long run, have a problem with.

As for high school counselors, some of them are wonderful, but some of them (the ones who help you get into college, at least) tend to be incompetent.

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