Posted at 5:00 am.
Increasing problems and difficulties
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
No, but what’s wrong with our coconuts? All you have to do is listen to an elementary school teacher for ten minutes to become incredulous. The children have changed so much that our memories of school no longer have anything to do with reality. Any pro will tell you that running a class in 20 years has become very complicated.
Children in crisis will throw chairs at the slightest irritation. Special education technicians are called in to catch students who slip while the others are forced out of their rooms for their own safety. Children scream, bite, insult. School principals even go so far as to call 911 to have the police come and stop children as young as 7 or 8! Others leave by ambulance.
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY ANNIE LOISEAU
dr Annie Loiseau, Child Psychiatrist and President of the Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
The healthcare system also has to deal with situations that were previously unimaginable. “We’re seeing distressed teenagers coming into the emergency room,” says Annie Loiseau, a child psychiatrist who practices in Rimouski. Other children refuse to go to school. Sometimes the opposite is true: the school says they are unable to teach them. In any case, professional teams must take care of them.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
dr Jean-François Chicoine, Pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal
More and more often I delay first grade simply because the kids lack self-discipline and self-control.
dr Jean-François Chicoine, Pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal
His colleague, social pediatrician Gilles Julien, reports that in almost 50 years he “has never seen so many children”. [ses] mental health clinics. […] We see many more cases of great severity. »
It’s not like that in schools for nothing.
Almost 25% of students have an ‘intervention plan’, a written strategy for the school to deal with their particular situation (20% at primary level, 30% at secondary level). It can be hyperactivity, impulsiveness, inattention, dysortography, autism, developmental or behavioral disorders. Sometimes a little bit of all of that at the same time.
It’s already huge, but it keeps growing every year.
Will we someday have to deal with 50% of the kids in trouble? If the trend continues and nothing is done, there is a risk.
Of course it would be a disaster. Imagine the pressure this would put on our already understaffed school network… The teachers are at their wit’s end, causing their absenteeism rate to skyrocket1. While the specialists around them – special educators, psychoeducators, speech therapists, social workers, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists – don’t meet the needs. Even in the private sector, long waiting lists are discouraging.
The children do not fare any better during the care period. According to a recent survey by your union, every second educator says they have been the victim of verbal or physical violence. There is talk of hits, bites, insults, spitting on2.
We can find all possible solutions to deal with the situation and we do it with the means at our disposal. But we also need to understand what is causing this rapid proliferation of all these disorders affecting children. Without this knowledge, it is impossible to think about the issue and not act accordingly.
In the case of climate change, scientists were able to enumerate the list of harmful human behaviors. We know we need to reduce air travel and red meat consumption. Some people end up feeling uncomfortable driving an SUV, others continue to deny the obvious, but the information is getting around. It contributes to the debates.
We couldn’t imagine science hiding information from us on the pretext that it makes us feel guilty.
With children, however, the issue is more emotional, more personal.
In addition, those who dare to pay lip service and question the way of life of society in general and families in particular are quickly met with criticism.
This is not about putting extra strain on the shoulders of parents who are doing their best in an increasingly demanding environment. Rather, it is about looking for answers, hypotheses and observations to understand what causes so much challenge in our schools when it is not outright chaos.
Our children deserve to be examined, even if the answers sometimes hurt.
With this belief, I have two pediatricians, a child psychiatrist, two special education teachers (TES), a researcher specializing in child sleep, another who studies brain development, a neuropsychologist, a speech therapist and two for more than 12 hours Elementary school teacher interviews school teachers, a psychopedagogue, a police department and a toy specialist.
Everyone is very worried, more than ever, about the children.
When nothing goes in class
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The world is changing, so are children. No wonder. But if you haven’t set foot inside a school in recent years, here’s a glimpse into what’s happening there on a daily basis.
Despite her 71 years, Lucie Chabot Roy still has the energy and passion to teach in a full-time primary school. She is therefore one of those very rare teachers who has been observing students for … four decades.
She begins by listing the harmful effects of screens on her students. “It takes away the ability to socialize, to be happy for the next one, to have patience. Children don’t congratulate each other like they used to. You speak to disagree, not to compliment. »
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Lucie Chabot Roy has been teaching primary school for 40 years.
And then the kids can’t take it! It can’t be any different when you’ve been playing alone on a tablet for years!
Lucie Chabot Roy, primary school teacher with 40 years experience
Special education teacher (TES) Martine Tardif, who has over 30 years of professional experience, makes the same observation. “Children find it difficult to form relationships with their peers and to approach others. »
Without having conducted any scientific research, these two women, who have a total of 70 years of teaching experience, perfectly summarize what the studies show: a multitude of small and medium insidious changes in society and families have converged over the years, changed the children profoundly.
Ladies, is it true what they say about exploding children?
“Yesterday morning we had two seizures within an hour! », replies Lucie Chabot Roy.
Oh yeah ? Yesterday… Tell me about it! In the seven years of my elementary school days in the 1980s, I had never experienced anything like this.
“In the first grade, an angry boy knocked over his chair. The teacher called TES, who couldn’t stop her. The director came, it’s a mirrored wardrobe, he took the child under his arm like a bundle. It was an hour before he stopped screaming, “I have the right.” The other was in kindergarten. The teacher told the boy to take his lunch box with him. He threw himself on the ground and screamed. It easily took 40 minutes. We would never have experienced that 15 years ago. “The children hadn’t developed the ability to tell us ‘No, I won’t do that and that,'” says the teacher.
At his school, days without seizures are rare. And there is permanently the equivalent of a TES for two classes.
Thirty years ago there was an explosion of two students per school. Nowadays it’s one, two or even three per class and it could be every day. Some don’t explode, but they don’t learn anything.
Martine Tardif, Special Education Technician (TES)
Ms. Tardif is assigned to a full-time primary school class. One of the tasks of TES is to ensure a climate conducive to learning through crisis prevention.
Because crises damage the climate enormously. The rest of the class who heard screams are not in the best mood to study. In short: everyone is affected.
Imagine the effect when the little ones see the law enforcement officers intervene. Last year, for example, the Saint-Jérôme police carried out five operations in the primary schools on their territory. And that’s despite “schools being instructed not to call us too often,” says communications agent Robin Pouliot, because school staff are “in a better position” than the police to intervene.
When experts are asked what has changed most in children in 20 years, some answer inattention, others – fear. These are the two most common answers.
“Inattention is crazy, 50% of my workday is waking up students. Do you hear? I have to tell them to listen to me. Half the class isn’t there,” says teacher Martine Leduc, who has thirty years of experience. His strategy: constantly marching through the classroom, hoping that his movement will keep the mood alive.
TES Martine Tardif does exactly the same thing. “I take my 10,000 steps a day at school! »
Lucie Chabot Roy remembers the introduction of TES in the school environment. “At first they were completely useless. The poor girls didn’t know what to do and we teachers didn’t know what to do with them. We had always conducted our courses with their tanners. »
Today the reality is very different: there is a shortage of TES almost everywhere. You need to manage crises, but also attract attention and engagement, encourage effort, assert authority, and help students with all kinds of difficulties.
TES even struggle with underused legs!
“Young people don’t move! They come to school with an excess of energy. It has become necessary to get them to take steps during their period, give them objects to manipulate and pedal in the expulsion rooms. You ask them what they did over the weekend and they didn’t do anything. They spent it on the phone, in their room and chilling on social media,” says Stéphane Garneau.
This TES, who has been working with young people in first secondary school for more than 20 years, is amazed at how difficult it is for young people to stay in a class. It is true that the streets full of children struggling are rare.
This change can even be felt in toy shops, says experienced buyer Céline Grenier. “Twenty years ago, when summer came, we had displays in stores with lots of outdoor games for several children. Badminton, balls, skipping ropes, water guns, insect watching things. You hardly see that anymore. »
Also, all fantasy toys that allow the child to pretend, like disguises and plastic tools, have lost a lot of interest.
Too bad, because they also stimulate creativity, language and fine motor skills. And surprisingly, “fine motor skills are directly related to reading and math skills,” warns Linda Pagani, a researcher at the University of Montreal’s CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center who specializes in child brain development.
Learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysthography are also “on the rise, but we must not think that there is some kind of epidemic,” said Paul-André Gallant, President of the Order of Speech Therapists. If students’ needs aren’t being met even though there are twice as many speech therapists in Quebec as there were 20 years ago, he believes it’s because we’re making better diagnoses.
The one we forgot in the middle of class is done today.
Paul-André Gallant, President of the Order of Speech Pathologists
Pediatrician Gilles Julien is particularly concerned about the sharp rise in anxiety disorders. “No basic fear like stomach ache before an exam,” he says.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVE
Benoît Hammarrenger, neuropsychologist and founder of the Cognitive Assessment and Rehabilitation Clinic (CERC)
For neuropsychologist Benoît Hammarrenger, there is no doubt that this is the “most significant” change there is. “The lack of fear is when you managed to overcome an obstacle and you felt good. To build that sense of efficiency, we need proof that we’re capable of overcoming an obstacle, of overcoming it, he explains. We can therefore assume that the young people did not have any major difficulties. »
By protecting your children in good faith, you prevent them from preparing to meet adversity. We weaken them. “Many parents do not want their children to feel uncomfortable. So they raise the flag easily. They don’t want them to fail. They level the ground in front of you,” explains psychopedagogue Brigitte Alarie, who works in a child psychiatric clinic in Trois-Rivières.
“Today I rarely see happy children. It’s crazy, isn’t it? I ask them if they are happy and they reply, “Ho”… It’s a heaviness…” concludes Dr. Julien.
List of stakeholders consulted for this report
1. Benoît Hammarrenger, neuropsychologist and founder of the Cognitive Assessment and Rehabilitation Clinic (CERC)
2. dr Annie Loiseau, Chair of the Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Practice as a child psychiatrist in Rimouski.
3. dr Jean-François Chicoine, Pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal
4. Dr. Gilles Julien, social pediatrician, president and founder of Dr. Julien Foundation
5. Dr. Linda Pagani, Associate Professor at the School of Psychoeducation and Researcher at the University of Montreal’s CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center (Brain Health Axis)
6. Evelyne Touchette, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Psychoeducation at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR) and researcher specializing in sleep in children
7. Brigitte Alarie, psychoeducator in a child psychiatric clinic. Has 33 years of experience.
8. Paul-André Gallant, President of the Order of Speech Pathologists
9. Lucie Chabot Roy, full-time primary school teacher aged 71. Has 40 years of experience.
10. Martine Leduc, teacher since 1986
11. Stéphane Garneau, Special Education Technician (TES), has been working with secondary school students since 1998
12. Martine Tardif, TES in primary school since 1993
13. Céline Grenier, Buyer for toy stores from 1998 to December 2022
14. Constable Robin Pouliot, in charge of communications at the Saint-Jérôme police force