Parents "know".. especially Mothers [View all]

[SoCalDem]

Even parents who are inexperienced (with children) before becoming parents get that "ache in the gut" when they realize that their child (or one of their children) is a bit "off".

For a parent with resources, it's not that hard to seek an evaluation, although I fear that too many pediatricians still fall into "they'll grow out of it" mentality to assuage the parents' worries.

Poor parents with little or no health care availability or resources, often just have to cross their fingers and hope the kid "changes".

To be fair, many/most kids do change as they grow up (into their own), but a LOT of them do not.

"Normal" is a wiggly word, but it's worrisome if parents go the que-sera-sera path and give up on getting the real intervention that their child might need.

Humans are naturally "social", so it's not normal for a kid to not have any friends.

How many times do we have to read about a "shooter" who was withdrawn, solitary, friendless, quiet, etc?

Many kids are shy..this is not shyness. This is different, and if the child is male (part of the profile) and there is a gun culture in action around the kid, someday those traits could turn to anger, resentment and bloodshed.

Every time there is a shooting incident, people come forward to relate all the odd things they saw during the formative years, and usually this kid has slipped through the cracks.

We cannot afford to have all these cracks, even if it means spending some real money on early assessment and real help for these kids and their families so they do not flip that switch from passive to aggressive.

Sadly, schools HAVE to be the front line for doing this. We cannot count on people pressing a pediatrician, since many kids only go to the doctor for physical illness or injury, but MOST kids have regular contact with schools.

Vast sums of money are aimed at testing for academics, but little or nothing is spent for psychologists (good ones..full time..) and comprehensive testing that might shine a light on some of these potentially dangerous kids who need an early intervention.

It's too late when they are teenagers.