Who is Minding Them in 2001? - Reclaiming Children and Youth

Minding the Children in 1951:Who Is Minding Them in 2001?Nancv BelknapArt by Eathen G., age 15,Lawrence Hall Youth Services,Chicago, IL Used with permission.Fifty years ago, Fritz Redl and David Wineman wrote Children Who Hate. In celebrationof this anniversary, Reclaiming Children and Youth has dedicated this issueto reconsidering the state of troubled youth by applying Redl's view to their worlds.This editorial provides a description of Children Who Hate and calls for scrutiny ofthe progress that we have made in troubled children's lives during these 50 years. Thearticle asks us to consider who listens-and how we listen-to children and youth today.Imagining different and better perceptions of troubled youth is a fitting tribute toFritz Redl's work. The articles by the authors who contributed to this issue reveal howRedl's work continues to influence and permeate programs for and work with troubledchildren and youth today."How can I believe there is a butterfly inside you or mewhen all I see is a fuzzy worm?"-Trina Paulus, Hope for FlowersThis issue of Reclaiming Children and Youth celebrates the50th anniversary of the publication of Children Who Hate(1951) by Fritz Redl and David Wineman. These authorswere intensely involved with the children and youth whomothers were determined to "throw away." From the descriptionsof their experiences found in this classic text, we canderive a prototype based on a humanistic orientation towardaggressive children that contains psychoeducationalattitudes and techniques with which to effectively workwith these children.Children Who Hate is about young boys whose lives hadbeen shattered and frayed. The initial challenge facing Redland Wineman was to try to understand that which hadeluded helping professionals for decades: how to helpalienated children lessen their distorted views of life anddevelop self-controL From 1942 through 1946, 10 aggressiveboys who had been expelled from their communities fordelinquent acts lived in an experimental residence in Detroit,Michigan. Aptly named Pioneer House, it was the placewhere Redl and Wineman "minded" the 10 boys and observedthe nuances of their behaviors, from each boy's entranceinto the house to his exit from it. Redl and Winemansoon discovered that it was not aggressive and destructivebehavior that needed to be understood but "the problem ofcontrol ... and solidification of hatred into an organizeddepartment of shrewdly developed defenses .... " (1951,p. 31). They shifted the emphasis of their inquiry fromfinding explanations for the boys' behavior to studying thefailure of the boys' "control systems." Redl and Winemanlearned by a trial-and-error life among these boys ratherthan from traditional scientific inquiries. They gained in-66 reclaiming children and youth 10:2 summer 2001 jf'.s; pp. 66-69

sights concerning the breakdown of the ego and defensemechanisms used by antisocial youth who could not live effectivelyin an adult-dominated society. During the 4 yearsat Pioneer House, shape was given to the concepts of thetherapeutic milieu and the Life Space Interview. Anecdotesabout and interpretations of the behaviors of theboys are revealing and parallel those behaviors of disenfranchisedyouth we continue to hear about today. Redlhad the unique ability to turn every crisis into a learningevent. He listened to the most challenging children ratherthan demanding that they listen to him. He reversed thetypical adult command to children to "mind"; instead, he"minded" the children. Instead of following the old adagethat children should be seen and not heard, he believedthey must be seen, heard, and listened to. Indeed, Redl believedthat each of these troubled children had "a butterflyinside," and it was his mission to help children and youthshed their "fuzzy worms."Although much has changed in the last 50 years, manythings have stayed exactly the same. In 1996, Long andMorse reminded us that our knowledge far exceeds ourpractices. Today the hatred of children and youth resultsfrom many of the same conditions as those surroundingthe boys whose behaviors were chronicled in Children WhoHate. In the year 2001, children and youth are disconnectedfrom caring and influential adults and from spiritual supports.They are bombarded by violence in both fact andmedia-concocted fantasies and threatened by society'sincreasing "boot camp" mentality concerning the "best"remedy for their egregious behaviors.Redl devoted his professional life to finding solutions-­rather than punishments-for children who became victimsof their early and pervasively destructive life circumstances.Menninger (1989) has indicated that rehabilitationis not about treatment per se, because recovery of individualsdepends upon professionals' attitudes about developingthe person's capacities. Redl would have agreed withMenninger. Moving beyond professionals' preoccupationswith the negative and focusing upon the psychologicalwell-being of individuals was at the heart of the lessons offeredin Children Who Hate.Redl and Wineman brought to the attention of educatorsand psychiatrists that interventions for these children andyouth who were being expelled from their communitieshad to be different from society's overly traditional sentimentalor harsh responses. These children were "beyondthe reach of education and below the grip of psychiatric interviewtechnique" (Redl & Wineman, 1951, p. 277). InChildren Who Hate, Redl and Wineman expounded upon aunique perspective--that occasional and mild expressionsof hatred are typical in the normal course of development.However, they noted that the typical youth they had studiedwas a boy "who had been reeling under the impact ofcruelty and neglect to such a degree that the acid of counteraggressionhad eaten itself by now in the every liningsof his adaptational system" (p. 26). These children whohated had their primitive expressions of hatred and aggression"hard-wired." There were no options for behavingotherwise, even when well-meaning helpers tried toprovide support. Although these behaviors were acquiredthrough no fault of the boys, families, teachers, mentalhealth professionals, and people in their communities soongave up on them.Redl and Wineman described the symptoms of hate: "Nomatter how their specific pathology of 'hatred' looks in thebeginning, or which part of their personality has beenmost severely affected by it, the children who hate becomean insoluble problem for the communities in which theylive" (p. 28). Today we glibly refer to these troubled youth aschildren without consciences-those youth who do not feelremorse-or as sociopaths or superpredators. Gillogy (1997) defineda child who cannot care about self or others as someonewhose soul has been murdered; that is, there has beena systematic destruction of his or her personal identity.The sense of anomie that results from the loss of personalidentity was as acute for the youth about whom Redl andWineman wrote so instructively in 1951 as it is for troubledyouth today. Redl's theories about recovering youth whoseem beyond the grasp of anyone are timeless. Redl remindsus that in today's fast-paced solution-oriented world,listening to children and youth is the only chance that communitieshave to recover them.In 1966, Redl said,All the impressive knowledge about children and theirservice needs, so easily "taken for granted" by ourselves,does not come close enough to the "actionscene" unless we bring it forcibly to the attention ofthose who have the power to translate it into wellimplementedreality. (p. 14)Prothrow-Stith (1991) tried to bring about such attentionwhen she identified juvenile and youth violence as theNumber 1 public health problem in the United States. Despiteall the outcries, we continue to teach our children tokill each other. When Redl was questioned at the conclusionof a costly National Institutes of Health project for aggressiveyouth that was deemed a failure, he said, "Whatworried us is that we are producing this type of child invery large quantities-sometimes as early as 6 years oldand we don't know why" (R. Greene, 1959, p. 1D). Todaythat is sadly prophetic. Our youth accept as normal thatwhich used to repel. Some witness and seem immune tothe destruction of their peers. In a recollection that evokesmemories of the Columbine tragedy, a young man describedthe result of 3 years of constant heckling by hishigh school peers:volume 10, number 2 summer 2001 efo 67

I got up and choked the kid behind me who just happenedto be the most recent foe. This is in sight ofevery single person in that room, including the instructor. ... Nothing happened to me. I was not reprimandedfor being out of line just as no one had beenfor making my life a living hell. (Fransen, in Brendtro& Larson, 1999, p.132)decades as a teacher educator, I could present this bookwithout title, author, or publication date to my studentsand they would easily assume that it is a current publication.Redl and Wineman's ideas continue to serve as beaconsof light during an increasingly dim period for compassionand patience toward children and youth whose intense hateturns to action in the face of life's simplest frustrations.Fritz Redl observed, listened to, and took seriously everythingthat children did and said. Redl's work endures becausehe believed in the inherent goodness of children andthe badness of the events in their lives. His work continuesto help us unravel the marvels of the hidden, frozen, anduntapped potential of those disheartened youth who "continuallybite the hands that feed them" (Brendtro & Long,1996, p. 129). What would Fritz Redl be saying today in responseto the current conditions for children and youth?Perhaps he would claim, as he did at a convention of professionalsin 1962, that the United States has a "love of kids,neglect of children, and hatred of youth" (Redl, 1966, p. 9).In paying tribute to Fritz Redl, itis fitting to use the words of MaxineGreene (1995), an educational "Redl bel ieved that each ofand social philosopher: "To imaginethings as if they could be oth­these troubled children haderwise may be a first step towards 'a butterfly i nSide' ..."acting on the belief that they canbe changed" (p. 114). Children WhoHate-indeed, all of Redl's work-epitomizes this eloquentstatement. In our field, it is tempting to lump youth whoabuse, refuse, and confuse professionals into a homogeneousgroup and hope that from studying this pool ofidentities a cure will emerge. It is also tempting to give upon these youth. Redl taught us that each child is an individualand is worthy of a personal and respectful response.He put a face on each child with whom he worked.Imagining that circumstances could be different and betterfor each and every child is another of Redl's enduringcontributions. Troubled youth variously cooperate or obstruct;persist in a task productively or resist it destructively;are reasonable or rebellious, and momentarilybrilliant and unable in the next moment. Although it ispossible to believe that these young people are ready tolearn more during their moments of cooperation, persistence,reasonableness, and brilliance, it is difficult to imaginesuccess for them during their protracted periods ofaggressive decay. The challenge that Redl undertook wasto imagine that things could be otherwise during the child'sworst times. Long (1991) said that he believed that Redlwas at his best when working with aggressive students.Children Who Hate is as relevant today as it was when firstpublished. It was the first book in the area of emotionaldisturbance that I was required to read as an undergraduatestudent studying special education. Today, after threeWho is minding these children and youth? In keeping withthe voice of Fritz Redl, the editors of Reclaiming Childrenand Youth answer by reminding people that "Childrenwith emotional or behavioral problems often are blamedfor their difficulties . ... They are hungry for hope, so thosewho believe in their potential will be most effective inworking with them" (Long & Brendtro, 1992, p. 3).It is in this spirit, as we celebrate the enduring work ofFritz Redl, that in this issue we listen to the voices of today'syouth, which include an article by Joan Braune andan interview with four youth conducted by Elisabeth K.Hess and Anthony M. Walkerabout being angry. Frank J. Moscaand Deborah S. Yost offer a uniqueperspective concerning teachers'counteraggressive responses toyouth who bother them. Theirwork is derived from the theoriesof several leading psychoeduca-tors and educational historians.Philippe J. Dupont, a school principal, presents a personalreflection about a question that Redl posed in 1966-Whyshould professionals care about what adolescents stir upin them? Listening to someone who is involved with troubledstudents all day is instructive.Several professionals who had the privilege of workingwith Fritz Redl contributed to this issue. William C. Morseand Henry W. Maier talk about their experiences withRedl. Each article reveals the evolutionary process ofRedl's longstanding concepts of the therapeutic milieuand the Life Space Interview. Morse and Maier's articlesare fitting tributes to the 50th anniversary of Children WhoHate.Redl first described the Life Space Interview (LSI) as atechnique for listening to children in crisis at the time ofthe crisis. Redl knew that making angry, aggressive childrenwait to talk about a crisis during their scheduledweekly sessions with the therapist was counter productive.These children needed someone to listen to them andextinguish "their fires" on the spot. Since then, Nicholas J.Long has continued to use, teach about, and perfect thistherapeutic intervention, renamed Life Space Crisis Intervention(LSCI). All LSCIs require concentration, listeningand questioning abilities, and genuine concern for the welfareof the youth at that time in his or her life. Trying to re-68 reclaiming children and youth

store a sense of what an angry and rejected child ownswithin and cares about is the focus of the LSCI conductedby Lisa M. Shepard and commented upon by Long.Fewer and fewer programs are willing to take the time andrisks involved in working with youth who are out of controland hostile. In this issue, several professionals describecomprehensive therapeutic programs that provideopportunities for troubled youth who have in essense been"exiled." Howard S. Muscott describes how Redl's conceptsare integrally woven into an after-school program,So Prepared for Citizenship, that helps youth whose "egoscannot perform" to develop self-control. Robin Troup describeshow Albuquerque's juvenile justice system dealswith children. The program challenges prevailing attitudesabout quickly ridding communities of delinquent children.Huda Aden and Sarah Leffler describe other ways that angrychildren are being served.Stephan Lhotsky discusses the current rise of hate crimesand the development of right-wing extremism in Europe.Finally, in a book review column, John H. Hoover andTammy Lynn Bailey highlight related works of interest toadults who are working with children who hate. In this issue,they offer a review of the writings of Lonnie Athens, arenowned criminologist who has asserted that "losing control"is outmoded as an explanation for violence.We dedicate this issue to those individuals who work withthe children and youth many adults consider "discardable."Nancy Belknap, EdD, is professor emeritus at George WashingtonUniversity in Washington, DC. While at the university, shehas developed and coordinated Professional Development Schools(PDS) training graduate students to be teachers of students withemotional disturbance. These PDS are unique in this country.For 30 years, she has been a teacher and teacher educator in thearea of emotional disturbance. As a clinical teacher educator andin the tradition of Fritz Redl, she has remained close to the bestsource of information-children and youth. Dr. Belknap can bereached at: 703/461-8730; e-mail: njbelknap@earthlink.netNancy BelknapREFERENCESBrendtro, L. K, & Larson, S. (1999). To reclaim or discard? ReclaimingChildren and Youth, 8, 130-133.Brendtro, L, K, & Long, N. J. (1996). A crisis of conscience. ReclaimingChildren and Youth, S, 129-135.Gillogy, R. (1997). Soul sparks. Reclaiming Children and Youth, S, 194-196.Greene, M. (1995). Releasing imagination. New York: Teachers CollegePress.Greene, R. (1959, July 19). Wolf children. Detroit Free Press, pp. 01, D6.Long, N. J. (1991). What Fritz Redl taught me about aggression: Understandingthe dynamics of aggression and counteraggression in studentand staff.Long, N. J., & Brendtro, L. K (1992). A journal is born. Journal of Emotionaland Behavioral Problems, 1(1), 3.Long, N. J., & Morse, W. C. (1996). (Eds.). Conflict in the classroom: Theeducation of at-risk and troubled students (5th ed.). Austin, TX: PRO­ED.Menninger K (1989). Love against hate. Topeka, KS: The MenningerFoundation.Prothrow-Stith, D. (1991). Deadly consequences. New York: Harper­Collins.Red!, E (1966). When we deal with children. New York: The Free Press.Redl, E, & Wineman, D. (1951). Children who hate: The disorganizationand breakdown of behavior controls. New York: The Free Press.volume 10, number 2 summer 2001

Fritz RedlDavid WinemanAbout Fritz Redl and David WinemanFritz Redl (1902-1988) was born in Austria, where hereceived his early training in psychology and education.He worked with August Aichhorn, author of the classic1925 book on treating troubled children, Wayward Youth.Redl also received therapy training from Anna Freud. Heemigrated to the United States as the clouds of World War IIspread over Europe. Having already written numerouspublications in German, he became equally prolific in hisnew language. Redl spent much of his career on the facultyof Wayne State University in Detroit, where he was distinguishedprofessor of behavioral sciences. He founded PioneerHouse, the Detroit Group Project, and the summertherapeutic camping programs and authored several majorbooks on what he called aggressive children in units atthe National Institute of Mental Health, where his colleaguewas Nicholas Long, co-editor of Reclaiming Childrenand Youth. He served as a consultant to children's mentalhealth programs and lectured on an international scale. In1965, he was awarded a White House Citation for servicesto the mental health of children of the United States. He wasan early advocate of strength-based perspectives on troubledchildren, suggesting that someone should write a bookon "The Virtues of Delinquents." He opined that it mightbe difficult to find a publisher for such a piece in a societythat feared and hated its most troubled children.David Wineman (1916-1995) was one of the 20th century'spioneers in the treatment of and advocacy for troubledchildren. He was a student of Fritz Redl's at Wayne StateUniversity in Detroit and then joined him as a colleague,teaching there for 35 years. In the late 1940s, Redl and Winemandeveloped the Pioneer House group horne, which experienceeventually led to the publication of Children WhoHate in 1951 and Controls From Within the following year.They documented the logic and motivation behind antisocialbehavior, and their methods built the foundation fortoday's Life Space Crisis Intervention. They worked withWilliam Morse to develop the University of Michigan FreshAir Camp for troubled children, which provided graduateinternships to a generation of leaders in mental health, specialeducation, and delinquency. David Wmeman was at theforefront of the fight for respectful treatment for challengingstudents, developing early statements on corporal punishmentin schools. Shortly before his death at 79, hecompleted the chapter on children's rights for the 19thedition of the Encyclopedia of Social Work. David Wineman'sclose professional colleague, Adrienne James, described himas exemplifying the best in youth work practice: "Hetaught future professionals by demonstrating fantastic skillsin direct work with the most difficult children." For 31 years,he served with the Metropolitan Detroit ACLU. JanetCooper, president of that organization, said of David Wineman,"He brought the Bill of Rights to life."70 reclaiming children and youth 10:2 summer 2001 eIo p. 70