Letter: Problem kids, easy answers

My Son has a history of being "troublesome", was excluded twice from school and is a boy who "find[s] it difficult to concentrate on lessons, or to retain and organise information". He is one of those children of whom you write in your article "The taming of the unruly" (Review, 14 July). He has been for all his nine years. How foolhardy to think that every unruly child could be tamed by the programme offered by Jean Robb and Hilary Letts.

My son's unruly behaviour is caused by Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. The heartache involved in reaching this diagnosis is denied by the facile statement that he has been "shoved under one of those convenient labels and put on the shelf". Asperger Syndrome will continue to be a burden for the rest of his days. Hence the need for a special place, where he can be taught social and academic skills.

Remarks about the kind of help the unruly child needs are a slap in the face to parents like me who battle daily to help their child understand the world as it is and not the troubled and confusing way they perceive it.

Christine Davies

Dunham-on-the-Hill, Cheshire