When a home environment becomes unstable as in physical beatings or extreme punishment meted out for minor infractions, or the misplacement of a person in a special studies program, a person can become unstable, as well. The effect of the environment on an individual, during the formative years of childhood can become devastating. Aspects of the personality are effected as the stress endured by the individual becomes unendurable. To maintain a pattern of a normal life, which is absolutely essential for a person's intellectual and psychological development, stresses will destroy this need. Intellectual impairment can be characterized not really as impairment, but as forced avoidance of a scholastic area. The tampering with an individual's growth process or the steering away of an individual from even one academic area because of a misdiagnosis or a medical opinion that is not fully understood, pursued and then acted on can be traumatizing.
Academic areas are analogous to biological psychological process. The mental functioning's which encompass these areas and the intellect itself, have their basis in biological processes and it is these processes that academic studies mimic and enhance. To leave out an individual from these studies in any way and for any purpose will impair the overall intellectual developments. To exclude an individual from learning these areas along with his peers of the same age can stigmatize the individual by creating a social obstacle between the student and his peers. As of now doctors and psychologists alike have very little idea of how the mind works and its creation of intelligence.
To look upon an individual and judge them just because of an opinion based on the little knowledge available of the human mind and to control or influence an individual's education is at the very least aberrant and extremely poor thinking and judgment. To base any sort of judgment on the intellectual and psychological functioning's of an individual on the small bit of information available and to make plans for his educational future is wrong.
The home environment and the treatment of the child by the its parents can severely stress the intellectual functioning or psychological stability of the child. If advice is ever given about a child's intellectual functioning it is best to severely criticize and scrutinize the diagnosis. Acting on any advice no matter what it may be for should be scrutinized, understood, and never ever acted on until these are done so. With the increase of drug use, violence with arms and physical abuse, the high proportions of dropout to graduating seniors, the shortage of quality educators, the extreme politicizing of school curricula to fit the needs of industry, social welfare ideals, religious beliefs, and economic pressures, have created a trap for any student. The arbitrary labeling of students based upon minimal and ineffectual.
The direct correlation between the consistent underscoring of American students compared to students of other countries in tests which assess basic academic ability and the rise of the number of potential students who have been labeled as learning disabled, hyperactive, or attention deficit.