Well, I am certainly glad to find myself acquitted of the charge of dreaming up some connection between Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy and home education; I find that people have evidently been talking about this idea for years. Asking around, I have found a few home educators who feel that they have been suspected of this. Even the woman who sat next to me at the select committee was herself suspected by some professionals of having this syndrome a few years ago. She didn't, I hasten to add, have it at all. Most frequently, it seems to be with reference to ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, as I surmised, but I have also found it associated with autism. All very curious. Actually, this shows Graham Badman in a rather better light. Instead of simply plucking the idea out of thin air, it suggests that he had actually been doing a bit of research. Mind you, as Julie said a few days ago, without knowing how he said it and exactly what was said, it is hard to know how serious he was being. I have certainly said things myself in exasperation such as, "I think some of these home educators must be absolutely mental!". Of course this has been said to my wife in the privacy of my own home; I would have thought twice about saying anything of the sort in front of a witness.
I don't suppose for a moment that Graham Badman meant to suggest that all home educating mothers suffered from this syndrome or even that it was a major factor in the decision to home educate. He is not a fool. The second meeting with Paula Rothermel took place after he had visited a home education group at which practically every child to whom he was introduced apparently had some special need or other. One was too gifted for school, another had ME, a couple were dyslectic, there was OCD, dyspraxia, ADHD and various other syndromes. I heard about this from one of the few mothers present who had home educated through simple choice. I can see that after meeting so many children described like this, he might have felt tempted to wonder what on earth was going on!
The main objection that people seem currently to be raising to the idea that there might be cases of Munchausen's by proxy among home educating mothers seems to be that the majority of home educators do not crave attention, which is usually seen as a defining factor of the syndrome. I am not so sure that this is a good argument. Often, the very act of withdrawing a child from school does attract attention to a mother. Attention from the school, from her family and friends, from the local authority, health services, sometimes even social workers. So although it may not be the only reason why parents take their kids out of school, it could still be a factor in some cases. I am not a huge fan of Paula Rothermel's research, as I said yesterday, but she did find that over a fifth of home educating parents have children whom they claim to have special educational needs.
In short, it should be quite clear now that I did not myself invent this idea of a connection between Munchausen's Syndrome and home education. I felt I had to nip that in the bud, otherwise I would find it being accepted as fact that Simon Webb told Graham Badman that home educators had Munchausen's! Without wishing to be unkind, I can't help noticing that the person who started this particular hare is not only on medication for anxiety, but has also self-diagnosed herself as suffering from dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. More worryingly, she has apparently retrospectively diagnosed some of her grownup children as having had similar learning difficulties. I would have thought that such a person could hardly keep too quiet on the subject of Munchausen's syndrome by proxy; never mind accusing complete strangers of starting a scare about it! It is however an interesting notion and I would be keen to find out more. I certainly would not dismiss it out of hand as a contributing factor in some parents decision to de-register their child, but I would have to see an awful lot of convincing evidence in order to persuade me that it was a major cause of home education.
Showing posts with label Munchausen's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Munchausen's. Show all posts
Monday, 9 November 2009
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Munchausen's by proxy and certain home educating parents
Over on the HE-UK list yesterday, Maire Stafford was trying to start a rumour that I was the one who persuaded Graham Badman that Paula Rothermel's research was flawed. I didn't of course, Paula met Badman before I did, but Ms. Stafford also mentioned a possible connection between Munchausen's by proxy and home education. This had not occurred to me before, but it started me thinking.
After looking into it a bit and reading the submissions made to the select committee, I see that Paula Rothermel says that Badman asked her whether she thought that some home educating parents suffered from Munchausen's by proxy. This might need a little explanation. Munchausen's of course is a psychological problem which causes healthy people to pose as injured or ill. Munchausen's by proxy is an even stranger and more disturbing condition where people try and make out that a child, disabled person or elderly relative is actually ill. Sometimes they can go as far as poisoning the victim in order to maintain the fiction. How might this tie in with home education?
I can, in a way, see what might have motivated Graham Badman to ask this question. An awful lot of home educating parents do seem to say that their children have special educational needs of one sort or another. Now I work in this field and I certainly know some children with disabilities who are being educated at home. I am not talking about these children. A blind child has a special need and this can easily be diagnosed and verified. Similarly the child with Down's; you only have to count the chromosomes to know what the problem is. Likewise congenital deformities such as spina bifida.
No, I am thinking of the home educating parents whose children apparently have some problem which makes it difficult for them to attend school, but cannot be diagnosed objectively as suffering from any recognised condition. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as myalgic enchephalomyelitis or ME is a classic example of such a disorder. Diagnosis is dependent upon a cluster of symptoms and there are is seldom any physical evidence of disease. Indeed, many doctors deny that the syndrome even exists. ADHD is in the same category. Before people start going mad and asking whether I am saying that these disorders do not exist, I wish to make it clear that I am saying no such thing. Only that it is often hard to decide if somebody has them or not. There is no reliable test for such things. Curiously, it is these very same, hard to identify problems which seem so prevalent among home educated children.
One wonders whether it is at least possible that some parents could be diagnosing their children with vague disorders like CFS, ME and ADHD and then giving this as a reason why their children cannot leave them to go to school. I do not say that it is so, only that I think that this might be what Graham Badman had in mind. I cannot deny that I have myself been astonished at the range and variety of obscure illnesses which some home educated children suffer from. I also find it curious to observe a number of cases where mother and child are both apparently afflicted with the same type of odd, possibly psychosomatic difficulty. The thought has certainly crossed my mind that this might be some kind of folie a deux.
I shall probably post more about this in a week or two. Until Maire Stafford drew my attention towards it, the idea had honestly never occurred to me. Still, now that I do think about it, I can see that it might tie in with a particular type of home educating parent. I doubt that these represent a large proportion of home educators, but there are perhaps enough of them to make a sub-set well worth examining.
After looking into it a bit and reading the submissions made to the select committee, I see that Paula Rothermel says that Badman asked her whether she thought that some home educating parents suffered from Munchausen's by proxy. This might need a little explanation. Munchausen's of course is a psychological problem which causes healthy people to pose as injured or ill. Munchausen's by proxy is an even stranger and more disturbing condition where people try and make out that a child, disabled person or elderly relative is actually ill. Sometimes they can go as far as poisoning the victim in order to maintain the fiction. How might this tie in with home education?
I can, in a way, see what might have motivated Graham Badman to ask this question. An awful lot of home educating parents do seem to say that their children have special educational needs of one sort or another. Now I work in this field and I certainly know some children with disabilities who are being educated at home. I am not talking about these children. A blind child has a special need and this can easily be diagnosed and verified. Similarly the child with Down's; you only have to count the chromosomes to know what the problem is. Likewise congenital deformities such as spina bifida.
No, I am thinking of the home educating parents whose children apparently have some problem which makes it difficult for them to attend school, but cannot be diagnosed objectively as suffering from any recognised condition. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as myalgic enchephalomyelitis or ME is a classic example of such a disorder. Diagnosis is dependent upon a cluster of symptoms and there are is seldom any physical evidence of disease. Indeed, many doctors deny that the syndrome even exists. ADHD is in the same category. Before people start going mad and asking whether I am saying that these disorders do not exist, I wish to make it clear that I am saying no such thing. Only that it is often hard to decide if somebody has them or not. There is no reliable test for such things. Curiously, it is these very same, hard to identify problems which seem so prevalent among home educated children.
One wonders whether it is at least possible that some parents could be diagnosing their children with vague disorders like CFS, ME and ADHD and then giving this as a reason why their children cannot leave them to go to school. I do not say that it is so, only that I think that this might be what Graham Badman had in mind. I cannot deny that I have myself been astonished at the range and variety of obscure illnesses which some home educated children suffer from. I also find it curious to observe a number of cases where mother and child are both apparently afflicted with the same type of odd, possibly psychosomatic difficulty. The thought has certainly crossed my mind that this might be some kind of folie a deux.
I shall probably post more about this in a week or two. Until Maire Stafford drew my attention towards it, the idea had honestly never occurred to me. Still, now that I do think about it, I can see that it might tie in with a particular type of home educating parent. I doubt that these represent a large proportion of home educators, but there are perhaps enough of them to make a sub-set well worth examining.
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