Over the years, I’ve talked with a number of parents and educators who say they don’t like “labeling” children. I agree with their concern: I have seen far too many people misuse and abuse “labels.” Here are my thoughts.
We should NEVER label the child!
Labeling a child is dangerous if the label replaces our view of her as an individual with specific strengths and needs. All kids tend to generalize their challenges to who they are as a person so we must avoid using “labels” in this way. Saying, “Melody is oppositional and defiant” can result in shame, self-defeating behavior, and a long list of other problems for her. So, I agree with all my heart that we should never label a child in this way; however, I argue that labels of a different type can be helpful.
We should label or diagnose the symptoms the child or teen is suffering.
The child or teen who is struggling already knows something isn’t quite right: a specific diagnosis gives her a specific name to describe her difficulties as a problem that is outside of who she is as a person. Otherwise, she may mistakenly think that she is not smart or bad in some way. Two examples follow.
“Dyslexia” literally means “trouble with words.” I have never met a child who has dyslexia who doesn’t know she has trouble with words. When we diagnose a child’s difficulties, it is important to be clear with her about what that diagnosis means. Although the child with dyslexia is smart, she struggles to sound-out words, read quickly and easily, and spell words.
If a child has symptoms of ADHD, it is important to explain to her that her struggles have nothing to do with how smart she is, how talented she is, or who she is as a person. Struggling with symptoms of ADHD means that in addition to her being smart and have lots of talents and abilities, she can have trouble paying attention to the right thing at the right time and for the right amount of time.
A diagnosis should be made only by a qualified professional only after much thought using a research-based method for making the diagnosis and developing a multifaceted treatment plan.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics says ADHD is diagnosed by gathering historical information from the people who know the child best: his family and teacher. ADHD should not be diagnosed solely by a child’s performance on a computer test on one particular day out of his life. What if he’s anxious about his performance on this test?: anxiety causes children to have problems concentrating!
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The National Institute of Mental Health says that the diagnosing professional should recommend treatment of ADHD involving a multifaceted approach supported by current research.
The label (diagnosis) should drive research-based treatment.
In addition to knowing that her symptoms have a name, a child needs to know that there are solutions and a plan to address to her challenges. A diagnosis is often critical to know what type of help a child or teen needs to be provided. In my opinion, the only reason for a diagnosis is to understand what can be done to help the individual.
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The child who has been diagnosed with dyslexia will benefit from a specific type of research-based reading instruction that emphasizes the development and application of phonological awareness, phonics skills, and other specific skills that are difficult for her.
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In contrast, a child who has been diagnosed with ADHD and has reading comprehension problems will not benefit from instruction designed for children with dyslexia. In fact, the child with ADHD will quickly get bored and lose interest in this type of instruction: eventually she’ll get in trouble for not paying attention to the teacher. Instead, she needs to be taught ways to focus on the details necessary to recognize cause/effect and compare/contrast information within the text.
A wise and balanced approach is always best.
Over 20 years ago, long before she passed-away, I met a wise educator, speaker, and author of 9 books (most are still in print) named Priscilla Vail. I volunteered to drive her here and there during a conference in Dallas, and I actually learned more driving Ms. Vail around than I learned at the conference. Long before the days of blogging, this Saint of Education often told this thought-provoking story on the use of labels: I have searched the internet and failed to find her thoughts written in their original form, so here’s my much less profound (as compared to her telling it) recollection:
At the end of each summer, Ms. Vail and her family would store all their summer gear along with any unused canned goods in the boat shed at their summer retreat. One year, they mistakenly left the cans on the floor. That winter, a surging storm came through, flooded the boat shed, and the labels on the cans of food washed off. When they returned the next summer, they had no idea what type of food each can contained. She had no way of knowing how to best serve the ingredients of each can to her family!
Ms. Vail said the same is true when helping children. If a girl has trouble learning the sounds associated with letters because of dyslexia, she needs the structured and systematic help of an academic language therapist. If a boy has trouble with understanding and using spoken language, he needed the help of a speech-language pathologist. If another child had trouble paying attention, she required yet another approach. Without the label, educators have no way of knowing how to best serve the struggling child.
I whole-heartedly agree that labels are dangerous when they replace our view of a child as a person, but I urge those who raise concerns to understand that without a label that describes a child’s specific difficulties, we have no idea what specific help he or she needs to be successful.
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Originally © 2010, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.
© 2010-2019, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.
