Hello,

The first thing I will say is that I want to thank you for being a special ed teacher and devoting your work to teaching children who are emotionally disturbed.

About 3 in 1,000 kids have schizophrenia.  Childhood schizophrenia is thought to be rare however it's my contention that symptoms can start showing up at a young age.  Read here for some info about childhood schizophrenia.

It is possible for a person to have more than one illness at the same time.  There is also a diagnosis of schizoaffective which is the combination of schizophrenia with a mood disorder such as mania or depression.

So I'm not sure why the kids in your classroom were given two diagnoses instead of the diagnosis of schizoaffective.

I would not be so hung up over the actual diagnosis which can change over time and is not set in stone, based on the arrival or new symptoms or a change in symptoms that warrants a reclassification.

I would be attentive to any symptoms the child is exhibiting.  It is possible for someone as early as five years old to have symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar.

There is a great debate about whether or not children should be medcated.  I'm conflicted about this although I do draw the line at indiscriminate diagnosing and medicating of children.

A famous psychiatrist was actually paid I think hundreds of thousands of dollars by drug companies and of course he most likely recommended drugs and was a popular "expert" on bipolar in children if I recall.  I do not think doctors should accept drug money.  I also do not think children should be given diagnoses that are expedient ways to control them or make them "perfect" as some overachieving parents could possibly do when their child doesn't perform.  This does happen sometimes too.

So the last thing I can tell you is to monitor your student's symptoms because if they are exhibiting symptoms that is the true way a diagnosis is made and like I said even kids could have schizophrenia and bipolar.

The author Marya Hornbacher wrote Madness: A Bipolar Life about how in restrospect she realizes she had bipolar as a young kid and it wasn't until later in her life she got an accurate diagnosis and treatment that helped her.

In a good way if a young kid is having such clear-cut symptoms earlier treatment might prevent the worsening of the disability down the road.  A recent NAMI study said that for adults with schizophrenia the average delay between first exhibiting symptoms and getting treatment was 8.5 years.

So you can see that with an illness like schizophrenia the earlier you're treated the better the outcome.

You know yourself if your students are exhibiting symptoms because you are working in a special ed class.

Again to me I contend childhood mental illness is not as rare as it is believed and this is possibly because it goes undiagnosed and untreated for a lot of kids.

Thank you again for devoting your work to treaching children with emotional problems.

Regards,

Christina