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[wylies99]

A quarter of surveyed kids suffering emotional issues
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2901737

Experts urge yearly mental as well as physical exams
March 03, 2009
A large number of elementary school students are suffering emotional disturbances, a study released yesterday said.

�Our survey conducted last May on a total of 4,107 first-year students in 26 elementary schools across the city [of Goyang] has found that 993, or 24.2 percent, can be classified as members of the �high-risk� group susceptible to mental troubles like autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,� the city government said yesterday.

The survey was conducted as part of Goyang�s project to promote �healthy schools.� The Goyang Office of Education asked the Korea Institute for Children�s Social Development to conduct the survey.

According to the survey, 15.3 percent of the students were likely to be affected by ADHD, followed by the 5.8 percent who frequently felt anxious. Slightly more than 3 percent showed symptoms of autism, the survey found.

�The situation gets worse when students already suffering mental troubles like depression are pressured to achieve higher academic performance,� said Goh Yun-ju, the head of the Korea Institute for Children�s Social Development.

�With increasing numbers of nuclear families and lack of communication between family members, children don�t have many opportunities to develop social skills,� Kim Young-shin, a professor of child psychiatry at Yale University. �There are increasing numbers of children from single-parent families who find it difficult to catch up with their peers in schoolwork due to emotional disturbances while some of them actually have a higher IQ than others,� Kim added.

With parental agreement, the Goyang government has provided a free treatment program since January to 120 students out of the high-risk children.

�As children get regular health checkups, a mental health checkup should be carried out from the early years so that our children can grow up both physically and mentally healthy,� said Goh.

In Japan, the central government announced in 2005 a law on supporting children with developmental disorders and local governments, particularly the Osaka government, have provided �coordinators� who help children with developmental disorders with their school life.


By Lee Won-jean JoongAng Ilbo [[email protected]]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Sounds like a very subjective survey to me.

[ChinaBoy]

Just looking at the how the kids behave, I'd say the percentages are a lot higher. They seem shocked that a kid with a high IQ would have a problem.

Don't they care about how many adults have emotional disturbances?

[tigercat]

I'm not saying there aren't children out there who are emotionally disturbed due to genetics or family/academic problems... but maybe school kids wouldn't be as emotionally disturbed if they don't get hit with sticks at school?