I think you misread the article. It says he was NEVER normal but got more violent at 17.

I wouldn't judge her for doing this because I think this sounds like a sad situation where the son had some sort of mental health or developmental problem that they couldn't handle him in any other way when he got too big/strong/violent to deal with. I know a lot of parents who deal with this situation in the US where their children (particularly boys) reach puberty and basically get strong enough to really hurt their parents. But here, the options are usually to send the teenagers/adults into facilities-- possibly for the rest of their lives but with some government assistance.

In fact, given the circumstances, this is probably the most humane way they could have treated him-- it looks like the mother really loves him and actually cares for her son. She is pleading for help since she is concerned about who is going to take care of him when she dies. I doubt there are (m)any social services in rural China for anyone who is mentally or developmentally challenged.

@jozjozjoz I've known mentally disturbed kids that when they reach teenage years become so violent they are impossible to deal with. They typically drug them since we don't have mental hospitals like we did in the past. Some have to sneak the meds in. It's a sad existence but not many options.

Schizophrenia actually manifests in the late teens to early twenties, so yes, it's actually highly likely that he was (at least mostly) fine until he was 17.

I love your statement: "I’m just baffled by what goes on in other parts of the world sometimes and how they treat human beings."

I found this statement amusing, especially after reading recent news.

Maybe we just need to have a look in our own backyard.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds...

@PamelaNRed@jozjozjoz

I have a family member who tried to kill herself and unknowingly (or knowingly, no one can tell) almost took other family members with her. She was eventually saved by two of my uncles, but not quick enough to save her from permanent physical injuries.

With medical help (and luckily, we do have the resources), she has since been recovered mentally, but she will have to live with physical injuries that will plague her for the rest of her life. So yes, mental illness can definitely lead to violence and self-mutiliation. And to be honest, none of us would be comfortable living under the same roof with her in the long term, given our experiences (One of my other cousins would have been dead, if my Uncle didn't arrive in time).

Since then, her parents sell their house and had been living with her since and she seems okay. We're lucky that we have the resources to deal with these issues, but what about people who doesn't? In a rural village, without the medical help, how do you make he's not going to harm the other members of the family?

"Just look at the majority of young children with ADHD who are given ritalin. Most of them act the same way that we all did growing up: with a fire for knowledge and an attention span of a flea."

Please don't contribute to the general public's gross misunderstanding of ADHD. There is a significant difference in how people with ADHD process and engage stimuli, and reducing the disorder to "attention span of a flea" is very incorrect and leads to all sorts of problems when people with ADHD are coming to terms with their disorder.

Since the general public tells them they only need to "calm down and pay attention more", they have all sorts of self-esteem problems when they just seem to have a much harder time doing this then the rest of us, and also they feel like their disorder isn't "real" so they don't put the proper efforts into addressing which adversely affects their life.

Plus, there's a LOT more to it than the stereotype of the kid that can't sit still or pay attention.

:(

Actually, there's more of that story from the family (link is NSFW). http://chiquita.blog17.fc2.... It actually says that he got fine grades and what not, and at 17, just went nuts. I did ask my wife who reads a lot of medical records, and she said that its common for people who have a mental break to happen at that age. But, no, I didn't misread the article. I just chose not the share the other link because it was NSFW (the site is anyways).

And right, the first reaction is the disgust part, but I also went to the... well, it's in poor rural China so .. what facilities if any do they even have for that.

@N like I always said in China to the smug expat backpacking English teachers: in the west they just hide it better than in China - where they don't even make an effort to pretend to be anything better.

why can't he at least get the human dignity of some clothing?

@darkmoon I didn't realize you had referenced another article. It was just confusing because you stated it that the man was normal under 17 and then went crazy, while the woman's quote in the article you posted was the complete opposite. It's okay to mention (without linking, though linking is always better) when you doubt something in an article you're citing because you have seen sources that say otherwise-- that way people don't think that you misread the article but instead realize that you actually had done more research beyond the cited article.

That said, I spent a few minutes searching for the original Chinese source article and according to this article-- which is totally SFW-- it is apparently true that he was normal until he was 17.

http://big5.xinhuanet.com/g...

This article describes a sad scenario where the father had passed away when the son was 9. He had studied hard in school until suddenly, he snapped at age 17. He became violent toward others, almost burned down the house (wherein the family wouldn't have even had shelter), and was even violent toward neighbors.

The article says that the woman is really heartbroken to have to chain her son up like that and thinks about letting him go, but is scared that he will hurt someone else or himself if he is released. The article goes into a lot of detail about how the woman basically spends her days and nights caring from her son-- waking up early in the mornings and cleaning his waste at least twice a day. It also talks about how in the winters, she basically spends all night making sure he is warm and then changing out his covers when he soils them in the middle of the night.

The final portion of the article talks about how the government is trying to help the situation and also quotes a lawyer as saying that chaining up another human is illegal but that given the Mom's situation, the penalties of what she had done would probably not be serious.

If anyone is curious to see a (Chinese) video news report about the topic:

http://video.yayun2010.sina...

In this one, the news reporter basically talks about how great the love of a mother is since she has spent the last 23 years caring for her son without many resources.

@jozjozjoz@darkmoon Just stepping in to say that I added in the quote from the article to give it context. Sorry if this caused confusion.

In Ben's defense, I don't think what the article says is exactly opposite from what he wrote but I do agree that we should reference other links that explain the story in fuller detail, especially if different articles state conflicting information.

@moye@darkmoon Thanks for the clarification.

Here's the upshot for everyone who thinks the thread was too long to read:

Quote from article (which now seems dubious):

"‘I have three children but although his brother and sister are normal he was never normal, and when he was 17 he became violent and smashed things."

Ben's statement (which is corroborated from the original news article):

"Apparently he was normal until he was seventeen and started setting fire to the house and ripping off his clothes."

Thanks for the clarification, everyone!

@N

Off comparison, since it appears the neighbors knew about the boy in chains, whereas the executioner father snapped.

@mwei my guess is it's cuz he'd just destroy whatever he's wearing. same thing with his hair, my guess is that she cuts his hair really short so he can't tear it all out.

As a teacher, I've found the best way to "deal" with special needs students is to simply use all the same principles of good teaching that applies for all students. Even "normal" students have variation in management and instructional needs, and dynamic and adaptive teaching is just the logical way to go. All kids are "special" needs to me.

As for diagnoses, I think they're helpful in helping us better understand students on the one hand, the way it's just good for all teachers to understand the idiosyncrasies of every child, but I think we definitely go a little too label-happy. Plus, the labels start to become stereotypes when teachers don't fully understand what those "disorders" are exactly.