Tragedies renew focus on helping teens

"The surgeon general says 21 percent of adolescents have diagnosable mental health disorders," he says. "Only about 1 in 5 of them get any kind of treatment."

The warning signs and risk factors that can lead to trouble appear on the surface to be fairly obvious: sudden changes in a child's personality, depression, substance abuse, social isolation, academic failure, aggressive acting out, and other types of disruptive behavior.

"But many people who are vouchsafed with the safety of boys still don't know the warning signs," says Dr. Pollack. "For instance, a child who acts out with bravado and negativity, may in fact be signaling he's more sad and more disconnected."

In reality, there is also no single criterion, no magic red flag that can be used to predict trouble. And childhood is by nature a time of changing behaviors and experimentation.

That's exacerbated in adolescence, when the stress of an external event - say, a move from one school to another, or a divorce in the family - can set off trouble. But the vast majority of kids in those situations end up working through difficult periods and healing on their own, according to Laurence Steinberg of Temple University in Philadelphia.

"But one of the things that we are sure of is that the more risk factors that are present, the greater the chances are the child is going to have problems," he says.

Some psychologists suggest reaching out to help in elementary school, instead of waiting until high school.

"Experts say they can predict with 75 percent accuracy by third grade those students who are going to have problems and are going to drop out of school or be involved in negative adolescent behaviors," says Linda Bakken, an educational psychologist at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan.

To counter such outcomes, Colvin Elementary School in Wichita decided five years ago that it had to be "relentless" in ensuring every student was successful. They changed their whole curriculum, lengthened the school day, brought in a full-time psychologist, and got the community and local police involved in the everyday running of the school. If any child starts acting out negatively, the school, with community supports, reaches out to that child and their family.

"Whatever it takes, that's what we do to make sure our children are successful," says Principal GwenCarol Holmes.

The result has been significant increases in academic scores, and also significant improvements in behavior. In 1997, 113 children were suspended. Last year, just 13 kids were sent home as a punishment.

"There is a ray of hope. Each time something like this happens, we learn more and more. And places that put that into action have gotten positive results," says Pollack. "I think people will grasp onto this if they realize that it's the most important thing we can do."

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