Ever since November 1997, I have been fascinated by the troubled youth of our land. I also was struck by the similar patterns I had noticed in some of the students with whom I had worked. As school shootings increased around the country, I became even more curious as to what I could do.

 I was primarily fascinated by the process of HOW these adolescents got to where they were. How was it that they dropped through the cracks of our educational and social system? After all, most of the time, when a student was dropping behind or having a problem in school, we diagnosed them as "learning disabled" or "ADD" or "ADHD" or "Dyslexia" and put them in special classes. Shouldn't that have been enough? Should we have done something else?

 I decided to widen my database of students and started working within local "Alternative Schools" which serve struggling students who are having a hard time making it in the normal school setting. I interviewed the students and teachers to see if I could find any patterns in their experience that would explain why the students had "dropped through the cracks" of our educational system.

 And did I find patterns!!! And, the patterns were consistent almost to a student! And, the patterns revealed some potential solutions in how we need to relate to students. Note: For a more extensive write-up of these students and solutions, go to the article "Kids Shooting Kids ."

 The major patterns that were present in all the "troubled students" that I have interviewed were:

1. Trauma—There was trauma in all the students. For the more severe "at risk" students, there were multiple traumas. Some of it occurred in early years in the home or with the family. Some of it occurred in relationships with peers. And, much of it occurred in school as the result of not being able to succeed in the academic assignments. As noted earlier, most students diagnosed with ADD or ADHD were traumatized almost daily in all three (in school, in their families and with peers). Some of the time, the trauma was a perception of the student, instead of an obvious physical or mental trauma. Or, in other words, it was traumatic because of the meaning the student assigned to the event.
2. Inappropriate feedback—There was some type of inappropriate feedback, a type of inappropriate communication that the students received from teachers, parents and peers when their behaviors were not consistent with expectations. For example, a student might make a bad grade on a test and the parent might get mad and curse him or punish him. If the feedback were perceived to be abusive or blaming or judgmental, the students would fight back or withdraw. This would attract more of the same kind of feedback and the fighting or withdrawal would escalate. The perceived unfairness of the feedback, along with the escalation, creates anger that grows into rage if not reversed.
3. Inappropriate meaning—The kind of meaning the student attaches to the feedback usually dictates their response. Many students "take it personally" by taking it to the Identity level (as in the example above, the student might think he is "dumb" or "stupid" or "learning disabled" or "ADD" or "just a bad person"). Many times the feedback is perceived to be abusive and personal. Other times, the feedback is well intentioned and designed to help them but the student assumes that something is wrong with them as a person. This places it at the Identity level and labels them as a "bad" or "inadequate person."
4. Escalation—In all "troubled" or "at risk" students, escalation of on-going disagreements or arguments had occurred. Instead of the feedback being a "one time" event which could generate a correction, these students and their family, peers or teachers escalated the feedback to an ongoing battle. So, in the example above, if the student did poorly on another test, the parent might get even more angry and the student would react more angrily to the increased anger. The parent then starts to react to the student's increasing anger and rebellion, etc, etc. Many times the original reason for the battle was buried under the escalating battle over issues of control or of winning or of who was right or of independence. The growing rage over the perceived unfairness and a lack of anger management strategies fuels the escalation even more and it laps over to others who had nothing to do with the original perceived injustice. They now start to add to the escalation and rage and the list of "enemies." The student is now generally perceived as an angry and rebellious person or a person with a "bad attitude."
5. Alienation—Since the student feels attacked at the Identity level, they feel different than the other students who seem to be doing all right (the ones that the system deems okay). They feel separated and alienated. This increases the emotional impact and they become even more traumatized. As the escalation continues, they look for ways to recapture a sense of worthiness and belonging by looking for others who are going through the same experience or to whom they can relate.
6. Search for identity and belonging—Desperate to find an identity and to feel like they belong, they look around for others with whom to identify. They find others in their school and community who are going through the same type of experience and they band together. They could be attracted to each other by a common interest: a type of music, a philosophical or political position, a style of dress, hair, body adornment, recreational drugs, etc. Such forces as TV, or movies, or music groups or internet games often influence their search. This very strong need for a sense of identity and belonging has a life-changing influence on the way they decide to live their life.
7. Group rebellion—The group now can become the one who is doing the rebellion or striking back at family, teachers or the students and peers who used to torment them. To not only have an identity and a group to which they can belong, but also to have a common purpose is pretty heady stuff. This group level activity insulates them from the personal responsibility of their actions. This can lead to the many violent behaviors that occur, including the gang drive-by shootings and the growing number of kids who are shooting other kids. They are many times doing this within a group mentality—not always as an individual.

 These patterns do not occur in a linear fashion. Many of them occur simultaneously in an explosive fashion and/or occur repeatedly over a long period of time. The unique role that school plays is that it is one of the major ongoing environments within which the above patterns are bred and develop. Going to school is one of the major activities of growing up. How they do in school, both academically and socially, IS one of the major concerns of youth. It is THE primary focus of energetic outlet for most youth.

As the above patterns continue to escalate to extremes, and the alienation becomes more severe, the kids group together with common feelings of being treated unjustly and unfairly. The rage becomes justified within the group. Revenge would be a common way to seek relief. When we factor in the violence of the movies and TV and computer games where these students spend a lot of time; shooting people who have mis-treated them previously could seem like the cool thing to do. This is particularly true when they join a like-minded group and they sit around discussing their common plight. The alienation grows and so does the demonizing of those from whom they feel alienated.

This article was written by Don A. Blackerby, Ph.D. founder of Success Skills, Inc.

Success Skills specializes in helping struggling students of all ages who are experiencing all sorts of different kinds of difficulties. Penn Henthorn currently runs Success Skill, Inc., and the processes that he uses are very different from the normal type of help struggling students receive. He is a personal development coach. He teaches students HOW to use their mind to succeed in school. He teaches them learning strategies that really work. He also teaches them ways to think about school and learning that "turn them on" to school and motivates them to want to succeed.

 He also specializes in helping students who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities such as Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Contact Penn Henthorn today for a free initial interview to find out how he can help by calling him at 1-405-562-6670 or by e-mailing him at info@nlpok.com. More information can also be obtained off of the web site www.nlpok.com.