Cando - Australia's Voice's Posts

It is extraordinary that the Gillard government - which finds it difficult to handle its core functions - should engage in something which has nothing to do with them. Worse, experts say is a potentially dangerous social engineering project. This is not about adults. It’s about little children. Three year olds – yes 27, 000 three year olds - are to be screened. They’re to be for early signs of mental illness. The misnamed ''Healthy Kids Check'' programme seeks out children who show troubling behaviour. This apparently relies on such things as sleeping with the light on, having temper tantrums or extreme shyness as signs of possible psychological problems. The program is expected to identify more than 27,000 children. But some mental health experts fear children may be misdiagnosed or given psychiatric drugs unnecessarily. Dr Alan Frances, a professor from the prestigious psychiatric and behavioural science department at America’s Duke University says accurately predicting mental illness in thre