Posted on 05/13/2012 12:12:29 PM PDT by KantianBurke
One day last summer, Anne and her husband, Miguel, took their 9-year-old son, Michael, to a Florida elementary school for the first day of what the family chose to call “summer camp.” For years, Anne and Miguel have struggled to understand their eldest son, an elegant boy with high-planed cheeks, wide eyes and curly light brown hair, whose periodic rages alternate with moments of chilly detachment. Michael’s eight-week program was, in reality, a highly structured psychological study — less summer camp than camp of last resort.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
What a pity. Sounds like her tenure was in order to do someone a favor.
“Possessed” comes mind.
Also a failure to properly apply “pain association techniques” for undesirable behaviors. Might not be effective in this case, though.
Even in the gospel times, persons who hurt themselves habitually were regarded as possessed or nuts, rather than moral failures.
From the article: And there are other challenges. Since psychopathy is highly heritable, Lynam says, a child who is cold or callous is more likely to have a parent who is the same way. And because parents don’t necessarily bond to children who behave cruelly, those children tend to get punished more and nurtured less, creating what he calls “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“It reaches a point where the parents just stop trying,” Lynam said. “A lot of the training is about trying to get these kids’ parents to re-engage, because they feel like they’ve tried it all and nothing works.”
Anne admitted to me that this had been her experience. “As horrible as this is to say, as a mom, the truth is that you put up a wall. It’s like being in the army, facing a barrage of fire every day. You have to steel yourself against the outbursts and the hate.”
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Waschbusch is fumbling around arbitrarily applying negative and positive reinforcement. These kids are products of their environment and Waschbusch should be removed from practice. He’s making things worse and seeminly ignorant of basic behavioral interventions that actually work.
From the article: And there are other challenges. Since psychopathy is highly heritable, Lynam says, a child who is cold or callous is more likely to have a parent who is the same way. And because parents don’t necessarily bond to children who behave cruelly, those children tend to get punished more and nurtured less, creating what he calls “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“It reaches a point where the parents just stop trying,” Lynam said. “A lot of the training is about trying to get these kids’ parents to re-engage, because they feel like they’ve tried it all and nothing works.”
Anne admitted to me that this had been her experience. “As horrible as this is to say, as a mom, the truth is that you put up a wall. It’s like being in the army, facing a barrage of fire every day. You have to steel yourself against the outbursts and the hate.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Waschbusch is fumbling around arbitrarily applying negative and positive reinforcement. These kids are products of their environment and Waschbusch should be removed from practice. He’s making things worse and seeminly ignorant of basic behavioral interventions that actually work.
Michael has a problem - the adults in his life.
The objective is to mitigate a terrible, desperate situation — for all parties, not just the troubled boy — before a tragedy occurs.
How could you read that story and not see a tragedy coming down the line, as sure as a train headed toward a car parked on tracks? It’s absolutely inevitable. That boy is going to seriously hurt or kill one of his siblings. Did you READ the mother’s just-kidding-but-not-really joking on the subject? She knows, in her heart of hearts. It’s chilling.
Of course taking him out of the home will hurt him. And his parents. I don’t know how his siblings might feel about it. But leaving him there till the inevitable catastrophe occurs is worse.
Hey - I’m a first born. When the new borns came along, I was expected to be their babysitter. I was a built in nanny, cook, and housekeeper. I ended up raising my sisters and by the time I left the house, I didn’t want to get married because I’d already been a surrogate mother and wife.
However, meeting the right man, the baby of his family, a gentle, fun loving guy who was actually doted on by his family When his mother came to live with us, I found out just how spoiled he was.
We raised an “only”. She married a guy with lots of brothers and sisters. She’s part of a big family and it’s funny to hear her reactions to them. Her husband likes that she’s an only but said he can certainly tell.
Our son-in-law was talking about some virus he read about that attacks ants and makes them do it’s will. I’ve read that certain mental illnesses may actually be caused, at least in part, by virus or bacterial infection. Nurture has as roll in our outcome, but I believe that nature is probably a bigger part of that equation.
By the way, are you a middle kid? Just wondering.
Glad it worked out for you. Somewhat similar story. I work out with a guy who is in mid 40's. Super nice guy, good job. Never married-still lives at home. His mom washes his clothes and makes his breakfast and dinner. He still does stuff like when he was in college-going out to bars. He asked me one day if still living at home at his age is the reason why women turn him down for dates or don't date him after a few dates when they find out. I didn't know what to say. My gf knows him and laughs all the time that it's way past time his mom cuts the cord.
Luckily, mine isn’t that bad. One thing his mom did right - taught him to respect women. He spoils me and is a great husband. So good that I’ve kept him around for 31+ years now.
We were over at our kid’s house. Our son-in-law had a couple of friends over who are college students. Geeky types. He was telling them how they needed to act to get into a relationship. I so wanted to say “moving out of your mom’s house would be a good start”. Both kids still lived at home and were in their late 20’s.
I won't claim to know what has gone wrong, here.
I do know this: Right now, that kid has a date with a bullet.
It's a matter of "when", not "if".
-—Modern science is finding murders and violent people have the same brain structure-missing key chemical areas in the brain normal people have.——
There may be correlation but no causal relationship, or cause and effect could be reversed: repeatedly choosing evil could affect brain structure.
I’m wary of reducing free will to a brain state.
Yes but she is still trading it like it is a joke and nt something that WILL happen.
I don’t think this child is the issue he is already gone it is the other 2 kids that need to be protected and if their parents r others parents don;t see that then when he does kill the other kids they will be just as guilty for not protecting them.It doesn’t matter how much you love this one it is begin a real paent and seeing that the others need protecting form this one.
I don’t think this child is the issue he is already gone it is the other 2 kids that need to be protected and if their parents r others parents don;t see that then when he does kill the other kids they will be just as guilty for not protecting them.It doesn’t matter how much you love this one it is begin a real parent and seeing that the others need protecting form this one.
Sadly, I agree and I feel so sad for the parents.
A good friend of mine is a child psychologist. Many years ago, there was a tragedy in California where a 7 year old child killed a playmate by repeatedly bashing in his head with a rock.
I asked my friend how a child could possibly do this and what do you do about the child. He replied, just as was discussed in the article, that at that age the violent behavior is hardwired and there is virtually nothing one can do about it. The child is virtually predestined to repeat such violent acts.........
My friend is associated with the Wayne State school of Psychology here in Detroit. About 14 years ago he was assigned to do some research counseling at a prison located in Pontiac. The majority of the inmates he had to work with were murderers who came from the maximum security area of the prison. He said this was scariest study that he had ever had to conduct in his life and that he literally was afraid to be in close contact with these people......
I would disagree and I would also offer that had this article never been printed in the NY Times we would never have heard of Michael or the scrutiny being given to this type of uncontrolled behavior.
Nothing was said about their christian background, or lack of, since it had no relevance to the problem........
Christian families are no more isolated from the behavior problems of their children as non-christian.......
If you would have read the article in its entirety you would have found that the behavior of Michael is far beyond the capacity of any loving family such as his to create the monster that he has become.......and will likely continue to be.
No I’m the 2nd and last kid. My father used to half joke that I was the child that broke them of wanting to have more kids. Have 3 myself. Wanted more but the wife nixed the idea.
You sound like you are swallowing Lynam’s speculations as gospel reports about the family. I see nothing inferrable here about it.
This wacko was only two years older than Michael. But do keep that head of yours in the sand Bubba. I’ll ensure I and my family is safe.
Naming something with a fancy Latin term, without explaining what you mean, is an example of intellectual snobbery...
From the article, especially since Michael could start and stop his tantrums at will... it did appear that he was manipulating his parents (even if for childish, nonsensical-to-adults reasons).
Although the writer indicated the mother was strict, no-where did it indicate that Michael consistently received any serious consequences for his terrible behavior. Should he get spanks for every infraction? Of course not, but willful disobedience....needs serious consequences.
The calm “I hate him” and other creepy behavior made me suspect not merely lack of discipline (i.e. spankings) is at work here, but possibly the occult.
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