This is exactly like my nephew but he has been labeled as bipolar and/or early onset schizophrenic. While he is only in 3rd grade he has spent most of this year inpatient on a psych ward for similar behavior. It has been horrible to watch from the outside.

We weren't sure what was going on but around 18 months is when I really started to notice that he was completey different than my similarly aged son. My sister and I both have older sons and he was different from them too. The tantrum were so much more than the other kids. We ignored it thinking he was just more sensitive/emotional than the others. Anyways, as he has gotten older it has become worse. Harming of family members is really when they began to realize that he most likely couldn't even be in the family setting any longer.

Well the problem is you can't group children like that together, but you also can't group them with "normal" children either. The camp didn't sound very therapeutic (except in the sense that it gave the parents a break).

I felt for the parents, they seemed like nice normal people and I canNOT imagine the judging and shunning and isolation they must feel.

I have (had, actually) a friend who's DS is like Michael. It was frightening to see how he refined his manipulation skills and he was totally without remorse - he was only sorry he got caught. We knew there was somethign wrong with him even before he was a year old and by the time he was 3, DH and I agreed that we could leave our younger children alone with him - not even to go to the bathroom. He'd hit them, seemingly unprovoked. He either wanted to see what happened when he punched them or in relatiation for something that had happened days ago. He also went into frequent rages, biting, hiting and kicking his mother. It was scary. Even though we'd been friends a very long time, we had to drop the friendship. The mother (single mom by choice, BTW) was in a lot of denial about his behavior or tried to say it was similar to my kids who have ADHD. Yeah, my kids have some behavioral challenges at times but this kid was in his own class. I feel really sorry for her but I've got my hands full with my own kids and their challenges. I just don't have the energy for her.

I thought it was bullshit - they made up the diagnosis first, then try to fit the kids into it. Bad science, bad reporting.

Anonymous wrote:I'm about three quarters of the way there. Reads like a horror movie.

Exactly. And I watched it - We Need to Talk About Kevin, based on a book by Lionel Shriver. As I was reading the article I couldn't help but picture the characters of the movie. I think the author of the NYTimes either read the book of watched the movie. The movie BTW is really really well done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also wondered how it makes sense to put a bunch of psychopathic kids together and expect them to improve.

I agree. There's a good deal of evidence that sending adolescents and young adults to prison actually makes them more antisocial. I'd say the same logic may apply to these kids.

I am a school psychologist and cringed when I read that the kids were grouped together. I hope they are following up with providing support at the students' schools. They all probably learned how to be more disruptive and manipulative. One kid like that ruins the classroom for all the other students. At one school we have a similar type of student enrolled. The patents refuse to agree to place him at a special school. Three of his classmates left the school. At least once a week we have to evacuate the classroom when he goes on a rampage. He is physically and verbally aggressive (he whispers in your ear in a calm voice that he is going to kill you).

I agree the article was "chilling". But , I don't see why the author seemed surprised that there is such a thing as psychopathic kids ... their wiring for deviancy might just be there from birth.

I think this link might work:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/magazine/can-you-call-a-9-year-old-a-psychopath.html

Fascinated by this article.

My favorite line " I am coming for you, Allan."

It is quite chilling, but somehow gave me hope that at least there are people willing to study and try to treat psychopaths.

Do you have another link or an article title? The link doesn't work for me.

Anonymous wrote:Also wondered how it makes sense to put a bunch of psychopathic kids together and expect them to improve.

I agree. There's a good deal of evidence that sending adolescents and young adults to prison actually makes them more antisocial. I'd say the same logic may apply to these kids.

It was terrifying but I also found it slightly manipulative eg not all of the behavior sounded that abnormal but the guy leading the tour kept saying "oh, see that, it's really abnormal..." Also wondered how it makes sense to put a bunch of psychopathic kids together and expect them to improve.

I read this the other day and "chilling" was precisely the word that came to my mind too. I'm a psychologist, so I find the topic fascinating, but as a parent I find thinking about this very scary and depressing.

I'm about three quarters of the way there. Reads like a horror movie.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/ma...pagewanted=all


Fascinating article but incredibly chilling.