By Bernard Rimland; 192 pages. Subtitle: Why Millions of Kids Are "Hyper," Attention-Disordered, Learning-Disabled, Depressed, Aggressive, Defiant, or Violent -- and What We Can Do About It
If the "what we can do about it" part of this slim volume was more of the story than the "why millions of kids are messed up" part, I might have liked it better. By the time Dr. Rimland gets done sharing statistics on widespread brain damage, toxic environments, and medical malpractice, hope seems like kind of an afterthought.
- At under 200 pages, it's not an overwhelming book to read
- Writing style is non-technical and accessible to parents
- There are interesting thoughts here about trends in behavior and learning
- Biomedical treatments may well be worth considering for children with brain dysfunction
- If you're already a believer in Dr. Rimland's work, you'll be shouting "Amen!"
- If you're not already a believer in Dr. Rimland's work, you may be shouting "Rubbish!"
- Complete dismissal of parenting styles as a factor may rankle some readers
- Ditto condemnation of medication, psychotherapy, and conventional medicine
- And ditto characterization of children with disabilities as "tragic" and "ruined"
- For much of the way through, it's a highly depressing read
- Part I: The Dyslogic Epidemic
Chapter 1: Overview: What Is "Dyslogic"? - Chapter 2: The Dyslogic Epidemic's Victims: America's "Mad," "Bad," and "Dumbed Down Children"
- Chapter 3: Why "Nurture" Fixes Won't Cure Dyslogic
- Chapter 4: Why Drugs Don't Cure Dyslogic
- Part II: The Dyslogic Culprits
- Chapter 5: Dietary Dyslogic: Why What Your Kids Eat (or Don't Eat) Can Make Them Crazy, Sad, or Violent
- Chapter 6: The Contaminated Brain: How Our Toxic Environment Affects Our Children's Thinking
- Chapter 7: Medically Caused Dyslogic: When Drugs and Other Medical Treatments Damage the Brain
- Chapter 8: Why NO Dyslogical Child Is "Hopeless"
- Chapter 9: An Action Plan for Ending Dyslogic
Dr. Bernard Rimland, who died in 2006, was the director of the Autism Research Institute and author of Infantile Autism, which helped put an end to blaming autism on "refrigerator mothers." This posthumously published new book similarly assures parents that they are not to blame for "dyslogic syndrome," defined here as "cognitive defects that lead children to commit illegal, destructive, and even dangerous acts."
An early chapter is devoted to research proving dyslogic is all nature and no nurture -- the best parenting can't prevent a psychopath and the worst techniques can't create one. Following that, though, are chapter after chapter of research on the way food and medicine and environmental toxins work with those all-powerful genes to cause catastrophe. And who, exactly, does he think serves that food and OKs those meds and spreads those pesticides on the lawn? Isn't providing meals and healthcare part of "nurture," too? If Dr. Rimland didn't think parents would blame themselves for getting those vaccines or taking those drugs during labor or buying those neon juice drinks, then I think he profoundly underestimated parents' quickness to feel guilt, and society's to assign it.
I was interested in the Action Plans that come at the very end of the book, but what came before that bothered me deeply. As the adoptive parent of a child with Fetal Alcohol Effects, I'm plenty convinced that alcohol and other toxins can cause brain damage that badly impacts behavior. I'm also plenty convinced that there are parenting techniques that make a significant differences. I wish Dr. Rimland hadn't felt such a need to dismiss anything but his biomedical interventions. Parents may not be to blame, but I don't care how much research you show me, I won't believe we're technicians charged only with properly tweaking brain chemistry, either.
