Marta Mossburg, columnist: Despite ‘new rules,’ boyhood is not a mental illness

Article here. Excerpt:

'All the employees of school districts on a witch hunt to expel and otherwise permanently punish young boys for shooting toy guns or forming their fists into the shape of a gun need to read “Back to Normal.”

The purpose of psychologist Enrico Gnaulati’s 2013 book is to argue how ordinary childhood behavior is often misdiagnosed as ADD, ADHD, depression and autism — frequently with life-long, disturbing consequences.

But along the way he raises the taboo question of whether we “label boys as mentally unstable, behaviorally unmanageable, academically underachieving, in need of special-education services, or displaying behavior warranting school suspension just because their behavior deviates noticeably from that of the average girl?”
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And it should give school administrators perspective on how best to handle unruly boys and channel their energy without condemning their nature.

At the very least, we don’t need any more boys suspended for chewing a Pop-Tart into a gun.'