Diagnosing ’disorderly’ Children: A Critique of Behaviour Disorder Discourses

Based on the author’s in-depth research with children diagnosed with behavioural difficulties, this book provides a thorough critique of today’s practices, examining:

• the traditional analyses of behavioural disorders and the making of disorderly children
• the influence of the ’expert knowledge’ on behavioural disorders and its influence on schools, communities and new generations of teachers
• the effect of discourses of mental disorder on children and young people
• the increasing medicalisation of young children with drugs such as Ritalin.

This book offers an innovative and accessible analysis of a critical issue facing schools and society today, using Foucaultian notions to pose critical questions of the practices that make children disorderly. Rich in case studies and interviews with children and young people, it will make fascinating reading for students, academics and researchers working in the field of education, inclusion, educational psychology, sociology and youth studies.