 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
Northern News Services
Child psychiatrist Dr. Gary Hnatko, based in Edmonton, travels to Yellowknife once a month. During his three-day stay, he's sees between 24 and 40 kids through the mental health clinic.
 Donna and Peter Huffam are the parents of an eight-year-old boy diagnosed with a mental health disability. They want kids like him to receive everything they need from the education system. - NNSL file photo  The Canadian Academy of Child Psychiatry writes that for every 15,000 people, adults and children, there should be at least one child psychiatrist serving that population. Yellowknife has a population of 18,000 and no resident child psychiatrist. Definitions Books to read |
"Whereas in the past these kids would have been called bad kids, now they're seen to be truly suffering from a developmental or mental health-related disorders," says Hnatko.
The brain, says Hnatko, should be considered no different than any other organ, such as the heart.
"It can have problems in a lot of different ways. It's involved in emotion, thinking, pulse control, tension modulation, and it's responsible for making sure your heart keeps pumping, and it's responsible for breathing and making sure your bowels work. "This is the central processing unit of the body and it's remarkably complex."
Donna and Peter Huffam know all about complexity. As if little human creatures weren't perplexing enough, their eight-year-old, who attends Weledeh school, might have Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism) and/or bipolar disorder.
Donna lists her son's symptoms: behavioural problems, very difficult, very hyper, very reactive, horrible temper tantrums, and terrible night terrors.
A visit to the general practitioner led to a visit with a paediatrician, which led to a visit with Hnatko. They also read whatever books they can get their hands on, researching, informing themselves.
"Parents can go after medical treatment, and that's what we've done," says Donna.
Medication controls their son's outbursts and stabilizes his moods.
An enigma with many faces
Bipolar and Asperger's are not the most common disorders that children face, says Hnatko.
"Common disorders are things like attention deficit disorder and a variety of anxiety disorders. Then some behaviour disorders like oppositional defiant disorder. At the same time, a lot of these kids will have learning disabilities."
He adds that when you're looking at any of these disorders in specific children, there's a whole range of problematic behaviours that can present.
"Some do remarkably well on medication and require no additional services. Others do remarkably poor and are treatment-resistant and require a high level of intervention."
Hnatko says it's integral to the child's health that "we really talk about what are the unique needs and functional strengths and weaknesses of each child."
The same questions have to be posed about the systems in which a child lives and goes to school.
"Then what we want to do is make sure that the match is the best. And sometimes we can do some environmental manipulation and sometimes not."
The system the Huffams and their son are currently dealing with is the educational system. Yellowknife Catholic Schools has an integration policy. Kids with special needs, whether because of physical or mental disability, are incorporated into school life.
But Donna believes that there's a real lack of understanding of the difficulties that children with mental disabilities face in the classroom. The Huffams say that their son's needs require a response from the educational system. To begin with there should be a "safe room" available, a dedicated room that is non-punitive, and there should be someone available to work with him -- a trained classroom assistant.
Peter says you have to consider the impact a child with a mental disability has on the classroom.
"By providing a classroom assistant for the children experiencing difficulties, you're improving the quality of education for all children. There's one assistant helping four children in that class, all identified with special needs. And there are 24 kids in the class. Four children to one assistant is overloading."
Peter likens his son's need to a blind child who needs a braille machine.
"By not providing adequate support, they're denying that child's rights."
"An ounce of prevention now is worth a pound of crisis care down the road," says Donna.
Donna has a big problem with the Catholic school board's plan for their financial surplus. The board is talking about building a vocational school for teens.
"That's obscene. Where are the priorities?" she asks. "This is not just about (our son), it's about all the kids."
The Huffams believe now is the time that money and resources should be used -- not later when a child reaches his teens and is already in jeopardy.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools Kern Von Hagen says Huffam doesn't have the whole picture.
"This is one issue. One mom wants a one-to-one classroom assistant with her son. Our work and indicators suggest otherwise," says Von Hagen.
Von Hagen says that there's a need for a vocational centre.
"We need progressive choices all the way through (the system)," he says.
Huffam will present to the board this week, and Von Hagen says they'll be listening.
An overburdened system
Says Hnatko: "Disorders of brain functioning are as influenceable by biology as they are by environment as they are by learning. We need to understand all of those things in an integrated way. We call it a biopsychosocial approach -- it's the way that has the best positive impact on children."
Weledeh's principal John Murphy agrees, but he'd be the first to tell you that though things are better in schools than they've ever been -- it's not an ideal world.
He says problematic behaviour once caused two responses in schools: discipline and removal.
"Globally speaking, we're not so much interested in the discipline aspect. We ask, why is something happening and how can we help the child."
Teachers are now trained to address the whole person.
"It's much more complicated now in the classrooms because we are integrating -- no one is excluded because of disabilities. There's a great demand on teachers, classroom assistants and administration," says Weledeh's student support worker Barb de Bastiani.
"We're constantly given professional development to heighten our awareness."
But de Bastiani says there are so many new diagnoses, it's a challenge to keep up. However, she says, they try to train staff on strategies that can cross over various diagnoses.
Weledeh serves 300 children in twelve classrooms plus the kindergarten class. Next year, the school will have 5.3 classroom assistants.
"We're not responsible for just one child. We're responsible for them all. That's the reality," says the school's principal.
"But," he adds, "the population administering to children is much more highly educated than years ago. We have more of them in the building and we have more resources. We're doing very well."
That the school is doing well is one thing, but that's not enough for the Huffams, whose son sits alone reading in the principal's office over the lunch hour while his peers are out playing.
The school is currently working on an action plan with the Huffams, though they won't discuss the child or the specifics surrounding him.
"It's all remarkably labour intensive and cost intensive," Hnatko says.
No easy answers
On the concept of integrating kids with disabilities into the school system, Hnatko says that's a child-dependent question.
"Some children can be integrated. Others have a much more difficult time being integrated. Some kids can be integrated into system A but not system B. That's a very complex question."
There are no easy answers to any of the questions that arise when one discusses children and mental health.
For the Huffams, the goal is simple.
"We don't want to move to get a decent education for our child," they say. That means they will advocate for their child, even if that means teaching the teachers.
As for the school, they want to see all their kids happy and healthy, thriving and successful. Sometimes they're dealing with super-involved parents like the Huffams, who have clear ideas about what their child needs.
"Then there's the opposite end of the spectrum," says Murphy. There are parents who don't even want their child tested.
"From advocate to denial -- and everything in between. That's what we're dealing with."
Hnatko, however, is clear on what these kids need: child-centered, need-based, focused understanding of children's mental health.
"We need to tailor-make and design interventions."
Finally, the difference between an adult with a mental health problem and a child with the same is that children don't advocate for themselves.
"They engage in an adult world and they're dependent on adult views and understanding of their mental illness problem to succeed or not. Understanding, education, dealing with stigma, meeting their needs, dealing with their strengths, supporting their strengths -- that's what it's all about."
