Sandy Hook
 

Surprising that this topic has not a thread. On 21 Nov 2014, State of Connecticut released their report on Adam Lanza. A fascinating study of the history and mental condition of Adam. No one smoking gun is identified as the 'reason'. In fact, the report does not try to point blame. Instead it notes the many mistakes, missed warnings, and the many potential reasons that made Sandy Hook possible.

One glaring fact is a failed strategic objective promoted by Nancy Lanza who was more interested in shaping a world to fit Adam rather than shape Adam to fit the world. Who did this, in part, because others who should have known better, instead, conceded to her beliefs. A school system that entertained her demands rather than address the problem. A Yale Child Study Center that identified the problem but that was mostly ignored by the Lanzas and by school experts. And a mentally accomplished child that, well, it make interesting reading on a kid who had serious mental problems and yet was not psychotic.s

Do you have a link to the report?

This bit pisses me off. Clearly Lanza's mother was making bad decisions from the beginning, and his home environment was no doubt unhelpful to the situation, but I am also 100% certain that school for Adam did not involve "socialization that kids enjoy as part of their education." That's exactly the kind of bullshit understanding of middle school that a "child advocate and author" would have.

Being home was terrible for him. But I am quite sure that being at school would have been just as terrible for him.

Yeah, that's complete bullshit. My middle school experience was a damn horror. He needed something better but the placement he opted out of probably wasn't it.

Presented without comment.

link

Appreciate a common thread to the entire problem. They kept trying to adapt the world to Adam rather than adapt (ie fix) Adam to the world.

His problems became most apparent as soon as he transistioned from elementary school to junior high school. Adam did not adapt to change (which may also be why he shot his mother and others after learning she was planning on moving).

Rather than treat Adam (of a problem they apparently did not have the skills to understand), the school and community psychiatrist conceded to what Nancy Lanza wanted. And did not properly follow up on his homebound condition (which is specifically different from home schooled).

His father also deferred all decisions to Nancy Lanza except once. At one point he pushed to have Adam diagnosed by the Yale Child Study Center. They, in turn, recognized the seriousness of Adam's mental disease. Including a need for Adam to take drugs. Nancy Lanza resisted because Adam would refuse. Most of what Yale recommended never happened.

Yale recommended that the community psychiatrist (who was better located to do so) take the lead. This Yale decision meant that even work by Yale and conversations with local authorities were ignored; not even in files of local authorities.

School assembled special teams for Adam composed of all his teachers and associated professional advisors. Teams were quite responsible and agressive in addressing Adam's problems. But they had one problem. They did not understand. A problem made worse by bogus strategic objective. They were more interested in Adam's education rather than his psychological conditions and treatment. Since that was what Nancy Lanza wanted. In part, because Nancy Lanza clearly had no idea of a problem she was stuck with. Nancy Lanza eventually took a most evil attitude also explained in a song that is just as irresponsible. "Don't worry. Be happy". Somehow she expected things would resolve themselves.

Finally, one key point not entirely obvious in the report. Adam may have been bullied repeatedly. Report implies that teachers either did not know about bullying or (as so many teachers do) ignored it. That does not say bullying did or did not exist. Only that the report says bullying could have existed and they have no idea whether it did or did not happen.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about a universal mental health screening. Schools don't have the funding to take care of kids with known issues... unless Pearson publishes the screening, then all bets are off.

To be fair, legally the school does not have the right to treat the child. They are not in any way allowed to diagnose or even mention the possibility of a diagnosis. All they can do is say "X behavior prevents him from being in the classroom" and recommend evaluations with community psychiatrists. You are correct though, homebound is different from homeschooled, I didn't catch that the first time. I've never seen an effective long-term homebound situation, myself.

These special teams are assembled, again by law, for every single special needs student who runs outside of the ordinary in any way, even mild dyslexia. And the strategic directive is always the student's education, even when the parents beg for help in other arenas. Even if the school could force the child into particular medical treatment, which they can't, they don't have the money to provide those psychiatrists or therapists or anything else. They will tell you that a nonverbal child who is unable to walk doesn't qualify for speech or physical therapy, because they are currently able to meet their academic goals (which were arbitrarily decided upon by that same committee.)

The school failed Adam Lanza, I fully agree. What I'm telling you is this is not some isolated case; the schools fail 99% of their special needs children.

The 99% failure rate doesn't match with what I've seen at least in early education in New York State. My kids with speech delays and milder autistic tendencies can succeed given motivated parents and professionals. They tended to be ahead of their age-mates when they hit kindergarten, but without support could easily be lost after that. Unfortunately, the movement away from individualization under Common Core does seem likely to push us toward that 99% number rather than away from it.

Oh I didn't mean 99% of the kids fail; many have motivated parents and motivated individual teachers that ultimately result in success. But those teachers are often acting against the bureaucratic rules in place. That child I referred to who was denied physical therapy, for example--I happen to know that whenever possible the teacher sent her along with another child who did manage to secure a physical therapist, thanks to an aggressive parent, and had the room aide casually copy whatever the therapist was doing with the first child.

I just mean "the school" as an institution (which includes the legislators that refuse to properly fund it) fails to hold up its end of the deal in 99% of cases, forcing children to rely more than is fair on those parents and individual teachers. And if the parents suck, as in Adam Lanza's case, you're almost guaranteed a bad outcome for the child.

Parents are so much more important than any other factor.

Nancy Lanza was fully involved in helping Adam. Problem was inactive attempts to address his problem. Even money does not appear to be a deciding issue. Problem was knowledge. Adam Lanza apparently had problems detected at the age of three. But the 'powers that be' did not associate or fully understand what that problem (symptom) meant.

Only institution that appears to have identified his problem and potential solutions was the Yale Child Study Center. Even their recommendations for meds was all but ignored. In part because Nancy Lanza was trying to adapt the world to Adam rather than fix Adam so he could adapt to the world. The report suggests a more confrontational approach was necessary.

'Powers that be' in that school system did not even include Yale's analysis and recommendations in their files. Despite numerous conversations. It is not stated why. But that school officials did not understand what Yale was recommending might be a possible explaination.

In desperation, Nancy Lanza tried home schooling. In desperation, Adam was later reintegrated into tenth grade. This was done with extensive effort by all including Nancy Lanza, teachers, and other school professionals. Again, it is not for lack of money or for trying. The system did not really understand his problem AND - this is most important - used a defective strategic objective.

Once Adam left school, then all desperately needed support evaporated. His degradation appears to have been greatest between 18 and 20 years old. By this point, he even rejected all attempt by his father to contact him.

This report takes great effort to note its does not cast blame on anyone. It cites the many technical reasons why Adam was where he was. It also says "why Adam did what he did" is completely unknown. We know how he got where he was. We have nothing but speculation as to why he did what he did.

One final point from the report are facts proven by research: "The conclusion that access to guns drives shooting episodes far more than the presence of mental illness is inescapable. Those countries that have tight gun controls in general experience less overall gun violence and have fewer episodes per capita of mass shootings. ...
We also know the period during which a shooter must reload provides an opportunity for others to stop the shooter or to escape. ... The smaller the capacity of the clip, the more reloading episodes there will be, and the greatest the opportunity for escape or rescue by law enforcement."

That is not just common sense. That is well documented by research.

She allowed him to isolate himself in his room (he didn't leave for the last three months he was alive except to commit the shooting,) she allowed him to refuse to eat (he was anorexic and weighed 110 pounds at his death,) and she gave him access to guns. I'm sorry, but those are not the actions of a fully involved parent. Experienced parents of mentally ill children have locks on the knives in the kitchen, and guns are completely out of the question. Honestly I suspect Nancy Lanza had mental issues of her own, because nothing else makes any sense.

Nancy Lanza created a monster and got what she bargained for. It's a tragedy there was collateral damage from her experiments.