Thanks...but no thanks.
School passes on screeing teenagers for mental health 'disorders'
By:C.T. Kruckeberg September 29, 2005
By:C.T. Kruckeberg September 29, 2005
The Washington school district handles at-risk students on a case-by-case basis, and does not use blanket mental health surveys such as TeenScreen, said district superintendent Dave Schmitt.
TeenScreen, developed by the Columbia University in New York City, is a mental health survey schools use to try to identify students with mental health problems or at-risk tendencies that cannot be immediately detected. The program, funded in part through government grants, is used in 43 states, including Iowa, and was recently instituted in Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Arizona through grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
While the program has received financial support from the government, some schools and parents don't agree with its methods.
In Indiana, parents are suing a school district over TeenScreen. They claim their daughter's school, Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., violated their constitutional rights by not informing them their daughter would be subjected to such a screening process which, according to court papers, consisted of "yes" and "no" questions. The questions gave no opportunity for students to explain answers or offer alternative responses, yet determined that many students were suffering from "disorders." In the Indiana case, Chelsea Rhoades, 15, the daughter of Michael and Teresa Rhoades, was informed, after the yes-no test, that she suffered from at least two mental disorders: obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety disorder. Chelsea's parents, who were never asked to fill out a consent form for the test, were outraged, and with the help of a civil liberties organization, filed suit.
According to Chelsea Rhoades, a majority of the students who were subjected to the TeenScreen exam were told that they were suffering from some sort of mental "disorder."
Such a case wouldn't happen here, said Schmitt.
TeenScreen, developed by the Columbia University in New York City, is a mental health survey schools use to try to identify students with mental health problems or at-risk tendencies that cannot be immediately detected. The program, funded in part through government grants, is used in 43 states, including Iowa, and was recently instituted in Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Arizona through grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
While the program has received financial support from the government, some schools and parents don't agree with its methods.
In Indiana, parents are suing a school district over TeenScreen. They claim their daughter's school, Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., violated their constitutional rights by not informing them their daughter would be subjected to such a screening process which, according to court papers, consisted of "yes" and "no" questions. The questions gave no opportunity for students to explain answers or offer alternative responses, yet determined that many students were suffering from "disorders." In the Indiana case, Chelsea Rhoades, 15, the daughter of Michael and Teresa Rhoades, was informed, after the yes-no test, that she suffered from at least two mental disorders: obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety disorder. Chelsea's parents, who were never asked to fill out a consent form for the test, were outraged, and with the help of a civil liberties organization, filed suit.
According to Chelsea Rhoades, a majority of the students who were subjected to the TeenScreen exam were told that they were suffering from some sort of mental "disorder."
Such a case wouldn't happen here, said Schmitt.
©Washington Evening Journal 2005
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