Diagnosing 'Disorderly' Children: A critique of behaviour disorder discourses

by Valerie Harwood

Overview

Based on the author's in-depth research with children diagnosed with behavioural difficulties, this book provides a thorough critique of today's practices, examining:

• the traditional analyses of behavioural disorders and the making of disorderly children
• the influence of the 'expert knowledge' on behavioural disorders and its influence on schools, communities and new generations of teachers
• the effect of discourses of mental disorder on children and young people
• the increasing medicalisation of young children with drugs such as Ritalin.

This book offers an innovative and accessible analysis of a critical issue facing schools and society today, using Foucaultian notions to pose critical questions of the practices that make children disorderly. Rich in case studies and interviews with children and young people, it will make fascinating reading for students, academics and researchers working in the field of education, inclusion, educational psychology, sociology and youth studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134291724
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/02/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	561 KB

About the Author

Valerie Harwood

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Behaviour Disorders and Disorderly Children 3. Disorderly Conducts and the Making of Disorderly Children 4. Disorderly Children Weren't Always Disordered 5. Who Says Conduct Disorder is the Truth? The Power behind the Production of Disorderly Children 6. Administering Disorderly Children 7. Why Do Children and Young People Believe they are Disorderly? 8. Why it is so Difficult to Question being Disorderly. References

Editorial Reviews

"...I am grateful to Harwood for writing a thought-provoking, accessible and timely critical analysis of some of the key issues facing schools and the mental health community. After reading this Foucauldian-animated book, the mainstream educator and psychotherapist will never again look at "conduct disorder" and other such psychiatric/educational diagnostic categories and procedures, with a sense of comfort, acceptance and authority."

—Paul Marcus, Foucault Studies, January 2008.

From the Publisher