Page 5992 - Week 18 - Thursday, 12 December 1991
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The needs of children who are quiet and withdrawn are very different yet again. I do not think enough emphasis was placed on either of those groups of young people, but in particular the quiet and withdrawn. Just because behavioural disturbance is not easily identified as the externalised type, that does not mean that those young people are not going to have serious problems as they continue on in their lives.
Drug and alcohol abuse is seen by those working with young people as a serious problem. Again, it is a problem that often is not recognised. There is a limited range of services available for young people, and this certainly came up when I was on another committee looking into illegal drugs. It was put to us continually that, in terms of legal drugs such as alcohol, there were problems in relation to services, particularly for young females and women, and in this report young females are the ones I am referring to. Again, there are significant gaps, and the problems of most young people who present at specialist drug and alcohol treatment services are well advanced. There needs to be more emphasis on teachers and general health and community service workers, in terms of prevention and early intervention, so that they receive the necessary training in drug and alcohol related issues.
I have mentioned numerous times already the need for early intervention as a means of preventing the development of secondary problems. This is because behavioural disturbance is often evident from a very young age, although I acknowledge that the development of behavioural disturbance can occur at other times during a child's life. In relation to providing appropriate early intervention programs, it is a case of redirection of those funds that are already available, and I think that is very important. To date, most of the early intervention programs have been only piecemeal, and that is very unsatisfactory. (Extension of time granted)
I urge the ACT Government to recognise the value of and give priority to the development and implementation of such programs for children and young people. As I said at the outset, the report concentrated almost exclusively on behavioural disturbance. It is absolutely essential that we look at programs to identify the needs of young people prior to their being identified as young people with behavioural disturbance. I should like to quote a couple of paragraphs from my dissenting report:
The needs of other classroom students were not given attention, the needs of the gifted and talented young people were not sufficiently addressed, the needs of the shy, quiet students very often not learning were also not addressed in the necessary detail.
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