Fetal Conditioning and Prenatal Development across Cultures and Times: a cross-cultural psychological perspective on historically significant and respectable ancient and indigenous cultural practices of the body and illegitimate and dangerous New Age trends

 by Alex Colombos, CRC, MA, MPS, MA Ed

ΝΟTE: Often a technical error occurs and makes challenging the reading of the following article.  If thick white lines hide part of the following text, please highlight them with left click and the hidden lines will recover.

    The purpose of the following paper is to examine a hard and scarcely discussed topic, fetal conditioning and rituals of the prenatal development, first from the western perspective of advanced research in fetal psychology and clinical treatment using fetal conditioning, and then from a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective. The second section, the more emphasized one, attempts to shed light on the symbols and archetypes of the fetus as they emerge from various traditional ancient and still existing cultures as well as New Age religious customs and rituals associated with prenatal development, a special and quite interesting issue.

Introduction

Dr. Zavos

    Today, medicine is supposed to do the same with eugenics, but for the well-being and survival of the fetus and the mother, though in the case of some experiments, ethical questions arise and leaders of various religions object such interventions. We live in times, when geneticists, such as the Cypriot Nicholas Zavos and the Italian Severino Antinori, announce that the first human clone will be born in January 2003. Such a delicate issue is also fetal conditioning. But before fetal conditioning, what were the origins of fetal psychology?

I. Fetal Psychology and the Modern Western World
a. Origins of Fetal Psychology

    Far before the behaviorists and the advanced neurocognitive and embryological research, the famous psychoanalyst Otto Rank, in his The Trauma of Birth, spoke first about fetal memory, fetal learning, and fetal trauma, as he accepted full human identity and enough intellectual and psychological functions for the fetus. David Winnicott, another major psychoanalyst, believed that “in full term, there is already a human being in the womb, one who that is capable of having human experiences and of accumulating a body of memories and even of organizing defensive measures to deal with traumata...” (De Mause, 1996, p.1). Winninicott even dealt with prenatal experiences in his analyses with children who had them more freshly on their subconscious. He used to take the child patient in his coat and tell it to turn upside down with the head between his legs, as in the fetal posture! (De Mause, 1996). Other psychotherapists who followed Winnicott were Fodor, Mott, Roskovsky, Janov, Grof, Verny, Fedor-Freybergh, Janus, and others. They successfully treated patients with birth feelings of being trapped, feelings of crushing head pressures, cardiac distress, death-rebirth struggles, and emotional explosions due to prenatal trauma (De Mause, 1996). Lloyd de Mause (1996) reports that 60 % of the dreams content prenatal and perinatal images as this is manifested from the professional experiences of most psychotherapists. Lynda Share pointed that “early trauma produces an overwhelming fear of all progress in life.” (De Mause, 1996, p.2).

    Alessandra Piontelli, an Italian psychotherapist reported case studies, such as one on an 8-month boy who felt much psychological pain and anxiety to other’s responses, since as a fetus, he had experienced frustration with his non-responding co-twin, also a male, who was dead two weeks before birth. Piontelli has spent thousands of hours in a combination of ultrasound research and clinical psychoanalytic work and much of her findings match those of other therapists who have mentioned pre- or perinatal “Fantasies” in children (De Mause, 1996). Lloyd de Mause has reported himself traumas from children who were fetuses, while there was war. It seems that the frightening noise of crushing bombshells, the noise of the planes crossing above houses and screams and cries of agony and despair were aversive auditory stimuli that caused fear and anxiety to the same individual at an older age at a degree even of post-traumatic anxiety (De Muse, 1996).

b. Fetal Conditioning

Pavlov's dog and Classical Conditioning

    Learning theories, such as conditioning and habituation have been applied on animal and human fetuses in medical laboratories for a long time. By definition, Fetal conditioning is the classical conditioning of the fetus in utero, which is when the fetus learns to elicit a CS (conditioned response) after an UCS (unconditioned stimulus) (Hepper, 1996), such as a tone, light, or a galvanic skin stimulus (electrical stimulation of the fetal skin).

    In an experiment on Conditioned Galvanic Skin Response in the chick embryo, conducted by R.Fried and S. Gluck, from Hunter College of the City University of New York, two 14-,15-, 16-, 17-, and 18-, day-old chick embryos were conditioned to a tone associated with a shock (Fried - Gluck, 1967). W.S. Ray paired a vibration (CS) with a loud noise (UCS). Ray reports that the subject, when grew up, suffered “no ill effects from her prenatal education”, as he wrote himself (Hepper, 1996, p.2). However, a noise in that early age, might be an anxiety-provoking experience. Using a similar method, D.K. Spelt paired vibration (CS) with a loud noise. After, 15-20 pairings most fetuses in the last 2 months of gestation, responded to the vibration (CS) alone (Harper, 1996). P.G. Hepper (1996) replicated Spelt’s procedure in an fetal memory experiment, using 24 pairings of audio stimuli and after 32-39 weeks and 19-20 trials 50 % (10/19) of the fetuses were conditioned (Harper, 1996). Hepper’s and the other experiments in the field of cognitive behaviorism, mentioned above, showed hard evidences of fetal memory, a serious prerequisite for learning.

    Habituation is a behavioral concept essential to fetal perception. Habituation is “the decrement in response to stimuli following repeated presentation of the same stimulus” (Harper, 1996). In other words, the fetus gets used to certain stimuli. Most fetal experiments use audio stimuli, unlike the newborn experiments which also use visual (Harper, 1996). That is because the fetus has not yet developed its visual functions and it is more habituated to audio stimuli. That is very important, since fetal mental representations, to use a cognitive term, memories, and experiences play an important role to later development.


c. Fetal Conditioning in Medicine

    Fetal conditioning is studied in clinical medicine, in cases such as of chemical stimulation, as in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), soap in uterus, and hormones, as well as mother’s weight loss, blood diseases, or in behavioral medicine. From the above I will prefer to discuss a more psychological issue only, such as behavioral medicine. It could be interesting to refer to a series of longitudinal studies conducted by Dr. Catherine Monk, Dr. Michael Myers, and Dr. William Fifer (2000) from the developmental psychobiology department of Columbia University. They studied both the prenatal, prenatal and post-natal (from birth to four-months) neurobehavioral characteristics of subjects, whose mother suffered from maternal anxiety or depression.
    The purpose of the study was to detect a pattern of familial transmission of mental disorders, such as maternal anxiety and depression. The results showed that there were more probabilities for the children of mentally ill mothers to be affected by the same disorder, than those whose mother was not mentally ill. Fetuses and newborns of mothers with mood disorders, such as depression were more likely to alter states of mood, especially when their mothers did so (http://nypisys.cpmc.columbia.edu).


II. Fetal Conditioning across Cultures and Rituals of the Prenatal Development
a. New Age Rituals of the Prenatal Development
    It is evident that Eastern Religions, other ancient religions polytheistic in origin, and indigenous practices are currently fashionable and often reinterpreted and rediscovered in a naive and distorted consumerist context which often lead to an unhealthy and ambiguous "spirituality", often syncretistic (related to religious eclecticism or all-faith accretion) which has nothing to do with real healing and spiritual direction.  There are current trends of misleading and often very dangerous neo-Pagan and New Age cults that deceive and manipulate a lot of people and especially the inexperienced and troubled youth who are looking for answers to their problems or are disappointed by organized religion or act impulsively and often join New Age cults disguised as patriotic and nationalist organizations that claim to recover ancient practices.   In a post-modern and in particular deconstructionist fashion, concepts and notions get revised and too often misdefined and misrepresented in the dark world of New Age politics, such as "tribal" and "tribalism", "folklorism", "Hellenism" and many more.  "Folklorism" is a dry utilitarian and naive misuse of customs and traditions which are used by subcultures and deviant groups as well as by everyday youth  culture that sometimes can take elements of various respectable and legitimate ancient and indigenous cultures and conncet it with marginilized and even deviant patterns of social behavior.  "Hellenism" is another misdefined word which originally means "Greekness" and Greek culture in its diachronicity and historical continuity and not exclusively "ancient Greek" or "Hellenic/Greek Pagan" or "ancient Greek religion" or "neo-Pagan revival", as unfortunately now stands for for most people. One also needs to be very careful with some groups and practitioners who combine science with superstition (http://www.oodegr.com/ ; http://www.apologitis.com/ ).

There are books by ignorant and uneducated
revisionists with suspicious and hidden agenda who attempt to re-write history based on lies and inaccuracies in order to fight Christianity and  proselytize innocent people to their dangerous and mischievous cults.  Some of them express ideas and even commit actions that are fascist, religiously intolerant, anti-monotheistic, especially anti-Christian, racist, white suprematist, neo-Nazi, satanist, totalitarian, and authoritarian.  Here, OODE, a Greek Orthodox Christian group that watches such cults and books and warn against them, criticizes with a sense of humor one of those "authors" and cult leaders in Greece by changing the author's name, book title and publishing house's name (For further inquiry, see http://www.odee.com/).
  

    In our post-human, post-modern and globalized world, there are places on Earth were traditional societies co-exist with science and quantitative research. It is thrilling when scientific research meets cultural studies and religion, without prejudice and taboos, not just for the favor of research, but also in the realm of religious practice. New Age cult leaders deceive their victims by claiming that this combination manifests the goals of the New Age religions. An example of merging new age ambitions and practices with traditional religious practice in situ, in the original country of the religion, is a prenatal research and ritual practice in India. Hinduism is an open-minded and highly sophisticated and spiritual religion, rich in important archetypal images, mythology, and symbols.  However, New Age occultists often exploit public's interest in Hindu esotericism and spirituality and Ayuverda or Indian Medicine and take advantage of Hinduism's open-minded and holistic perspective by placing it in a distorted cheap consumerist postmodern context.  Thus, they confuse their victims and give them the wrong idea about ancient and indigenous practices and they also belittle and tarnish those practices.  They mix up original ancient and indigenous spirituality with New Age consumerist "spirituality" or pseudo-spirituality.  New Age religious attitudes and scientific research, though India is a developing and traditionalist society and only traditional. In Hinduism, Ayurverda or Indian medicine is very ancient and it is a combination of medicine, philosophy, and cosmology as well as ecological, spiritual and religious practices often combined with herbalism, Indian Astrology and tarot (www.oodee.com; www.apologitis.com).

    Gajanan S. Kelkar is the director of the “Manashakti Research Center in Lovavla, India. This institute runs the “Manashakti REST (Research Education Sanatorium Trust) New Way. Its activities are: study seminars, machine test (which assess the inner energy quanta expenditure and ways to attain that energy), publications, performance of social and cultural rituals, and outstation programs. Manashakti means “new way” in Sanskrit and the goal of the prenatal program Sanskar is to research, teach, and practice that new way. Sanskar is the Sanskrit word for “good or positive values. According to Mahabharata, the great Hindu work and source of Hindu mythology, Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, fought for those good values the evil forces in the womb of his mother, to be later reborn. The goal of this program is to administer fetal conditioning applied in prenatal moral education.  Specifically, the official goal statement is: “I. To welcome the baby with good thoughts, II. Imparting Sanskar to the fetus, III; improve the emotional health of the parents, IV; increasing the courage and confidence of mother during labor” (www.birthpsychology.com/life before/sound7.html). The tests and procedures are: “Stage I: Temperament coordination test of both parents before marriage. Stage II. Post-marriage adjustment test; Stage III: Three-day study course to be taken before or during pregnancy (preferable before conception); Stage IV: Stroboscope test for improving the concentration of the parents (during the first six months of pregnancy). Stage V: Fetuscope test”, which is recording of heart pulse rate and the monitoring of the development of the fetus’ main organs “(after six moths of pregnancy). Stage VI. Post-delivery personality test for parents” (Ibid.). The researcher who administers the tests and procedures is Swami Vijnanand. (For more information, see www.birthpsychology.com).

    In America, as also in Europe, there are many nationwide New Age and neo-Pagan organizations, convents, circles, churches, community service agencies, and the like, found on the Internet, that provide information about pagan parenting, spiritual teachers, and ancient recipes for fetal and mother conditioning, though they usually do not use this term, but that is exactly what they do. Such are www.paganparenting.net and www.goddessmoon.org, just a very few samples of the inumerous popular websites on this subject. They suggest the use of incense, music, and massage for the relaxation and peace of mind of both mother and the fetus. Many such societies reconstruct and practice rituals for the fetus and range from Druid/Celtic, Wicca, Green Magic, Earth Mother/Moon Goddess religions to neo-Gnostic/Christopagan , Greek and Roman Pagan, Phrygian/Egyptian/Chanaanite Revivals to various cults of Animism/Syncreticism/Eclecticism, and also Shamanism/Vudoon/Ayuvenda/Yuruba/Native American Religions, not to mention the New Age movements related to Sufism and Eastern religions. Christianity considers neopaganism and new Age incompatible with its doctrines and dangerous for humanity and its salvation (http://www.apologitis.com/gr/ancient/ -http://www.scribd.com/doc/7011279/- http://www.oodegr.com/ )

b. Couvade

    Beliefs that maternal anxiety and depression, especially postpartum, are maternal problems or other similar environmental factors (quarrels, noise, depressive environment, father’s or relatives aggressive attitude towards the mother) that may affect the fetus’ psyche, are not only western, though traditional societies may have not been aware of such scientific concepts. Yet, have they felt them in everyday life and dealt with them in their traditional shamanistic, animistic, or transcendental way through rituals and religious ceremonies of purification, exoneration, and evocation of the spirits.

    Some cultures practice couvade, French word for “hatch”, in which father expects on his bed very specific taboos of the prenatal development, shortly before birth. What is not pointed much by couvade researchers is that it is a practice of “fetal conditioning”, as the expectant father not only deals with his own situation toward the pregnancy phenomenon, but also “purifies” and “exonerates” the evil spirits that posses the fetus for the fetus’ well-being and its future luck. Such couvade practicing culture is the Arapesh of New Guinea, who interprets childbearing as a heavy burden and drain of energy for both mother and father. The main purpose of couvade is to have the father “distract the attention of the evil spirits so that the mother and the baby can easily go through the childbearing transition , more safely” (Helman, 1990, Newman & Newman, 2003, p.124). Other cultures, such as the Thai were studied. A study conducted by Knonobdee, C. et al (1993), observed 179 Thai males whose symptoms were very similar to what many American and European males have experienced (www.childbirth.com). Couvade is not just a traditional practice after all. It derives from the same motives that other expectant fathers in western societies have, then they naturally feel the tendency to observe their partner’s belly and appear symptoms of general fatigue, stomach cramps, dizziness, or backache, exactly as those the couvade fathers experience. According to H. Klein, symptoms often appear from the end of the first trimester to culminate in the end of pregnancy, and disappear after birth (Klein, 1991, Newman & Newman, 2003).

    The expectant father’s crisis in couvade is eloquently explained by M. Finley, who presents him as a confused and anxious human being who finds himself “at the bottom of a barrel of his manhood” facing the unknown and his only weapon is his faith. Finley (1984) correctly observes that both the ancient and the modern man are quite alike as they both “value their security” and “they are both threatened when their manly armor starts to crack.” Trethowan (1972), the first to document and talk about couvade, suggested that the pregnant wife’s physical appearance causes those symptoms which are products of man’s emotional ambivalence toward his partner’s pregnancy. He tries to empathize with his wife’s pregnancy and thus he identifies himself with her. As Newman & Newman (2003) shrewdly pointed out, that many unexpressed unconscious feelings of the expectant father are amplified in his conscious worries about his wife’s and his child’s health and security and the produce stress might be what causes the couvade syndrome, as Newman & Newman call it. They also pointed that an unconscious envy of the expectant father for his wife’s pregnancy might be a crucial factor that intrapsychic conflict, which sounds very Karen Horney’s kind of thinking, who spoke of men’s womb envy (Fadiman & Frager, 2002). However, this concept is not mentioned by Newman & Newman, and we do not know whether the authors were influenced by her theory or their opinions accidentally match with hers and of other feminist psychologists.

c. Other Reactions to and Rituals of Prenatal Development in non-Western Societies

    Besides the unconscious reverence that some men may have for childbearing, conscious appreciation of this miracle of life exist in both the western and the non-western world, but are more explicitly expressed in the non-western traditional societies through rituals and formal practices. Thus, in many such societies, women are considered blessed, chosen, or even magic, and thus they are respected by their community. In Jamaica, the nana, or midwife, serves also as a spiritual advisor for the pregnant women and of course she is key figure in Jamaican society. Her rituals during pregnancy and the first 9 months of childbirth are not only to purify the woman from the evil spirit and prepare her psychologically and spiritually, but also does a kind of fetal conditioning, of course unaware of its scientific concept (Kitzinger, 1982 - Newman & Newman, 2003).

Arapesh of New Guinea

    On the other side of the coin, in some other traditional societies, such as the Arapesh of New Guinea, which are already mentioned, or the Kadu Gollas of India and the Vietnamese villagers, the pregnant withdraws from the village, while the Cuna Indians view pregnancy as a sickness (Newman & Newman, 2003). This withdrawal, besides the psychosocial needs of both the woman and the community, might also have some demonological character, since evil spirit may be supposed to possess both mother and fetus. As a result, withdrawal may serve as a prescription generally as a purification or preventive ritual and specifically as a kind of fetal conditioning, since the isolated environment, the lack of audio stimulus, such as talking may affect fetus. Mother’s feelings of loneliness, frustration and isolation may also affect the fetus.

d. Ancient Rituals and Symbols of Prenatal Development
    We have discussed about existing societies and now it is time to go back in time, in a reverse way than it usually happens, but this is also the journey the modern man has to take, to go back to his roots and discover the origins of humanity and finally of his own self. We mentioned the positive and negative tendencies toward prenatal development and childbearing among various non-Western societies. Besides the non-Western world, the ancient western world is quite interesting and spiritual and many of its symbols, mentalities, and rituals match with non-western, as both traditional and un-standardized, unlike the standardized modern world of globalization and technocracy.

Aegean steatopygous figurines

Marija Gimbutas 

The Minoan Snake Goddess of Crete

    From the down of civilization, from prehistory, the image of pregnancy took a magic character, as the image of the pregnant goddess persists in many unearthed artifacts from the western (Greece: Neolithic cultures of the mainland; Balkans: Vinça, Cucuteni, and Karanovo cultures) and non-Western (Mesopotamia, India) worlds. The study of archaeomythology, or the mythological research in ancient art and archaeology is best represented from the work of a unique woman, Marija Gimbutas. Marija Gimbutas was a great archaeologist and archaeomythologist who was connected to the work of Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist and cultural researcher, and immersed in Carl Jung’s theories of symbols and archetypes, which we will explain in later section. Gimbutas in her books Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe and the Language of the Goddess, she saw that Neolithic Balkan and Greek artifacts indicated a reverence and sense of divinity for the pregnant woman, as it is expressed in steatopygus figurines, or figurines which emphasized the protruding waist and the blown belly (Gimbutas, 1989 and Gimbutas, 1974). Long or many breasts on female figurines and the image of the mistress of the animals, a symbol of fertility and an indication of a metaphysical fear were dominant in both western and oriental cultures of the ancient world (Ibid). The Minoan (prehistoric Cretan) snake goddess, Eilethyia or the original image of mother Earth or Gaia and Artemis, the goddess of hunting and nature, is a symbol of fertility, as is the snake, a universal symbol of fertility, primitive and wild instincts of preservation and metaphysical fear, thus an apotropaic image (Giimbutas, 1989, Burkert, 1977, Campbell, 1974, and Gimbutas, 1974). Images of the mighty goddess are such as Tara in Buddhism (Campbell, 1974).

Aegean fresco

Idean Cave in Crete: Zeus' cave

    The egg symbol that appears in Greece and the Balkans, but probably in non-western places of the world as well, is a symbol of germination, gestation and prenatal development and resembles the theory of panspermia, or the theory that the primordial substance of the world was a seed that infinitely spread and multiplied. The image of the fetus was also found in rock art, cave painting, and figurine sculpture. The multiplied eggs, a symbol of gestation and cell multiplication, converges with the symbols of the spiral and the meander, whose unfolding lines resemble the regenerating course of life, which as the DNA strand does, it unfolds and develops in a spiral, spreading, and multiplying fashion. Prehistoric birth shrines in Greek caves may also indicate a worshiping of the fetus and the newborn, as well as, of the mother or they were just considered vehicles of that miraculous and divine process (Gimboutas, 1989).

Cycladic steatopygous fertility figurine

Besides, the celebrating and positive sense of the symbol of the fetus, it represented the transition from death to life and for this reason, in many cultures, from Mesoamerica to the prehistoric civilization of the Greek island-complex of the Cyclades and the Homeric Age of Greece, the dead was buried in a fetus position (Burkert, 1977). In Greek after-life mythology, Hades or after life was a personified deity, but also the underworld, a surrealist dark world, a resemblance of womb (Burkert, 1977). Similar was the after-life in the Aztec and Mayan mythologies, a journey to a dark, humid netherland (Coe, 1962), a resemblance to the womb, the liquid, humid, dark environment of the amniotic sack. The fertility goddesses and mighty goddesses which accompanied the fetal images were also ladies of death and life, fear and beauty (Gimbutas, 1989).

Hemenaios

sernikovotano

    In Classical Greece, there were many deities of prenatal development and birth, such as Hymenaios (god of wedding and conception) who blessed and guided the wedding ceremony or hieros gamos (sacred wedding) and Leto (goddess of nursing and childbearing), not to mention Hera, goddess of mating and family, and Zeus’ wife, and Hestia, goddess of the house, in a general sense and household (Berkert, 1977). The power of those deities was supposed to be associated with lifestyles and foods, such as walnuts and herbs. A similar herb is the so-called sernikovotano or the “male herb”, which was and is still used in the Greek provinces as the magic or healthy nutrient that is supposed to affect or alter the sex determination process in prenatal development and causes childbearing of a male child. The concept of divine and magic food or simply healthy reminds us common beliefs and practices in Hinduism. In the wedding, the newly married couple should eat a pastry in shape of placenta, called placus (Venizelos, 1873), from which the Latin word placenta derives! This ritual of fertility served also for good luck in the fetal development and, as I would suggest, had an a priori shamanistic character of fetal conditioning that goes beyond the modern conventional concept of conditioning, applied even before conception, since the couple had to dance, drink from the same cup a lot of red wine (resemblance of the Dionysian orgiastic sense and even a resemblance of blood, the red life-giving power!?) and eat the wedding cake. In a way the divine powers of Hymenaios would be put to work in the wife’s womb.

    Yet, even if we accept that all the idea of those rituals was a self-fulfilling prophesy, in other words a make-belief play, then we may speak of a behaviorist fashion of conditioning, since the bride may have conditioned herself to the idea of getting pregnant and thus she models her behavior in a way that will lead her to bed with her groom and then to pregnancy. Now, for the “male herb”, if behind the myth, there is also even the slightest bite of truth, then it could be explained, in my opinion, as the classical conditioning of sex determination, though it is hard to explain how, but I am sure that what happens in psychosomatic medicine and the conversion and somatoform diseases happens also and in this kind of cases. Psychodynamic (unconscious) and cognitive (schemata and mental representations) theories could also explain such phenomena. Finally, the wedding cake and the drinking from the same cup are customs still occurring in the reception parties of our modern western society and such a similarity suggests an assimilation of the pagan customs in the Christian world, but at the same time similar images and symbols derive from the universal intellectual capabilities of humanity.

e. Theories of Interpretation: combining different perspectives

Jung and one of the mandala he painted

    In a previous section, we saw how the modern western society and how psychology and science has dealt with fetal psychological traumas. One name that was not mentioned was Jung and that because he did not really dealt that much with early development. He was more preoccupied with adult development and that is what gave him more credit. However, we cannot discuss symbols and archetypes if we do not mention Jung. “The universal intellectual capability of humanity”, mentioned above, is what Jung thought to content the collective unconscious or that area of unconscious that is biologically rooted, as individual unconscious was meant by Freud to be. The collective unconscious “as the ancestral heritage of probabilities of representation, is not individual, but common to all men, and perhaps even to all animals, and is the true basis of the individual psyche” (Jung, 1983). It pertains all the shared culturally transmitted information that emerges in dreams, visions, peak and psychedelic experiences (to use a transpersonal terminology), mind trips, and the so-called occult phenomena, such as telepathy, and ESP (extra-sensory perception), or in other weird situations, such as in our case, the lapses of prenatal memories and traumas in children and adults.

    The power of the collective unconscious and the archetypes is best manifested that two or more people share such experiences, when those people have not met or they are not aware of the process. Such collective unconscious procedures may take place in all fashions and manifestations of fetal conditioning that we have examined here. Another useful concept of Jungian theories is the archetypes or “typical forms of behavior which, once they become conscious , naturally present themselves as ideas or images, like everything else that becomes a content of consciousness” (Jung, 1983). Jung believed that archetypes are biologically rooted, but they are not inborn ideas, as many people may fall to that trap (Jung, 1983).

Cycladic Steatopygus figurines and
egg shaped sacred sculpture
as a fertility symbolism in prehistoric art

    An interesting archetype here is the divine infant, since Jung did not talk about any fetus archetype. Yet, the idea of cosmological order in the theory of the archetypes is the master-key to unlock the many different doors of cultures and their religions, as it contains a common denominator: the symbol of death and regeneration, symbolized in the mythic images of the mask, the egg inside the egg, the homocentric circles, the fish inside the fish, which is also the mythical image of Christ, the Christian personification of the savior who through his death he regenerated and as force of good, he defeated the evil, which is the master of death, the devil. So the fetus is the transition from death and non-existence to life and existence (Jung, 1959). All these are mythic images of the fetus, whose birth is represented in the archetype of the divine infant. As Joseph Campbell has shown, there are such mythic images, symbols, and archetypes in every culture and religion, from the West to the East, from prehistory to the present. The image of the egg, the fetus and the infant occur from the Virgin Mary (Christianity) and the Child to Krisna (Hinduism), Moses (Judaism), and even to the deities of many aboriginal cultures of tropical islands (Campbell, 1974). The image of the Madonna is a symbol of procreation which produces the divine seed/fetus/infant, and it is the assimilated and convoluted form of the prehistoric mighty goddess, or the Greek goddess Athena, who was also a virgin, but instead of giving birth to a savior, she gave birth to ideas, as she was the goddess of wisdom. So under a Jungian prism, all these cross-cultural images are projections of the same archetypes. Thus, fetal conditioning and fetal rituals are overt expressions of the human esoteric needs to identify the real object of life, the fetus, with its archetypal image, its ideal one, the absolute depiction of hope and regeneration.

  

Animus and Anima: Gender Archetypes

    The Freud’s and Klein’s concept of the death instinct, as well as Maslow’s survival instinct and self-actualization instinct (Fadiman & Frager, 2002) could interplay here in a vicious circle of life and death representations manifested in actions of changing the human condition, such as in the case of fetal conditioning and the various scientific or ritualistic interventions in the fetal development. Death instinct operations in the collectively unconscious creation of cultural and mythical images might be detected in negative representations of the self, as those of the fearsome deities, such as Kali in Hinduism or the spooky Minoan snake goddess with the bare breasts of fertility. This negative self is what Jung called the shadow. The feminine ideal imagery is the anima occurring in the collective unconscious of every man, while for the women, the male counterpart is the animus (Jung, 1983 and Jung, 1959). Human has the tendency to play God and prove to himself/herself that can handle things. The essence of that play-God game, as happens in shamanism, is the death and life transition that occurs in any change: something you lose, something you gain. The point is to lose the negative, troubled, weak, defeated self and gain a positive, peaceful, strong, heroic self.

    Charlie D. Laughlin (2002) is a professor of neuroanthropology and anthropology of religion, a painter for pleasure (he has painted mandala and meditated on them), a Buddhist and Tantric practitioner, and a person who lived for many years with and closely observed the Navaho people of the American southwest. He combined his strong transpersonal and Jungian background with his religious experiences and the anthropological theory of biogenetic structuralism, which, as he wrote, has “to do with the brain, consciousness (including alternative states of consciousness) and culture. In other words, biogenetic structuralism is a kind of neuroanthropology with touches of neurophenomenology” (www.neurognosis.com). His combination of brain theory and phenomenology is much supported by Jung’s assertion that the phenomenology of the self, which manifests the conscious actions, hides unconscious forces which are biologically determined and in their collective sense, they act as biologically rooted archetypal mechanisms (Jung 1983 and Jung 1959).

Archetype of Wholeness: when animus and anima meet

    The knowledge that spontaneously springs through our neural functions is called neurognosis. Thus, all our fetal experiences are unconsciously interpreted through our neurognosis by our holistic operator of the brain, as Laughlin calls the neural component for integrating all experiences into the already existing and inherited archetype of wholeness. In his examination of the Buddhist pictures of meditation or mandala, Laughlin wrote that some of them help us recall birth experiences and he actually implied even the fetal experiences, that reflect “the calling” of the anima. This “calling” is rooted in the cosmology that we inherit through enculturation, or the lifetime process of integrating into our self our cultural experiences. This calling of the anima may all be what happens in the collective unconscious of the couvade expectant father. Laughlin wrote that “the cosmology that people mainly carry around in our heads, is imagined and expressed by way of their culture’s stock of symbolic material in such a way that people are able to participate in their version of a symbolically pregnant mythic reality” (www.neurognosis.com).

Navajo Indians

    Laughlin delved into the Navajo mythology and found interesting representations of the anima and the animus, as in their mythical images of the “Blue Corn Girl” and the “Blue Corn Boy.” An anima mythical image of the Navajo or “the holy people” as they are called, is the “Changing Woman”, their beloved and most revered goddess, the Earth Mother (www.neurognosis.com). If for them the “Changing Woman”or the “Blue Corn Girl” and the “Blue Corn Boy” have a personal meaning, for us who see similar mythical images from different cultures melted in the same pot of the human neurognosis and collective unconscious, the meaning is transpersonal. Thus, there are two parallel cycles of meaning, the personal cycle of meaning and the transpersonal cycle of meaning (www.neurognosis.com). In the transpersonal cycle of meaning, we discover our cultural relation to the others and we understand and realize all the mythical images and symbols. Such might be couvade, shamanist practices of the nana, the egg and spiral symbolisms of the fetal position, or images of the Navajo that may ring a bell for our own personal meanings, such as meanings of our own self, which came through our own cultural experiences, let’s say the modern western experiences, and are all embodied in the archetype of wholeness.

Mantra (ritual song or sound repetition) in Sanskrit inside
a mandala (meditation picture) 

    The realization (conscious) of this process is a way to explain the tendency of modern artists to primitivism and abstraction, since art, besides art, drama, music, and literature, is the most expressive way to mirror the archetypal images of human nature, and consequently of ourselves, since the visual stimuli are stronger and more imaginative. However, the fetus does not have developed visual skills and therefore most lapses of fetal experiences could more easily emerge through a combination of mantra (meditation on sacred sounds) and mandala (meditation on psychedelic/sacred/imaginative/visual images), as Laughlin tried himself.
We discussed cognitive behaviorism in previous section, and now after merging all this body of different theories with neurognosis and neuroanthropology, I would like to connect neurognosis with neurocognition, since I think that the first is a part of the second. Neuro-cognition is a main concept of modern cognitive theory and is the study of the relationships between brain (“mind-hardware”) functions and cognitive functions (“mind-software”) (Solso, 1995). Research in neurobehavioral organization and sensory input has showed that spontaneous fetal activity appears at about eight weeks of post-menstrual age, while even after complete elimination of sensory input, by surgical lesion in both humans and animals has shown no effect in normal spontaneous movement, specially of the leg (Michel & Moore, 1995, p.309). Research has showed that “some relevant auditory originate from the external environment, but the mother is a particularly rich source of these stimuli in the movements of her internal organs and her voice. Thus, fetal conditioning through music or other auditory stimulation is possible. That is also supported by fetal brain plasticity, an important factor for adaptation (Michel & Moore, 1995). Neurognosis may be more flexibly developed, rather than being just plugged in the fetus by inheritance. Fetal brain plasticity may welcome changes, maturation, and integration of the body of neurognosis.

    As sensory signals are recorded in the fetus’ LTM (Long-Term Memory) after monitoring and filtrating operations of various neural centers of perception. Perception and pattern recognition is rooted to geoms or basic geometric patterns and other cognitive structures that help us to reconstruct images in our memory, dreams, day-dreaming, or art. That is how we may cognitively explain lapses of fetal memory through meditation on mandala or mantras. It is hard to talk, about mental imagery or mental representation, or even dreaming in fetus, since the visual skills of the fetus are not yet fully developed, but stored sensory information is used in later development for the formation of mental representations (Solso, 1995) and as a result, for the formation of schemata or general themes that help us to remember in respect to the situation and in a larger picture, are sets of cognitions about people and social experiences (Feldman, 1996). An almost equivalent to understand Jung’s archetypes in cognitive terms is the schemata. If we combine all these theories, we will see how universal is the situation of the fetus, as well as the concepts of fetal conditioning and prenatal development. The holistic sense of the universality of the functions of human psyche may one day meet a truly holistic approach of interpretation of cultural and other psychological phenomena.


Conclusion
    In this journey throughout cultures, time-periods, and various rituals and transcendental experiences related to fetal conditioning and prenatal development, we may realize that there is always a common denominator in all these and that is the human nature itself. Tools to explain human nature and its process of symbolism as well as its expression in art and religion, range from the least applicable for cultural interpretation, but good to explain fetal conditioning, such as the behavioristic concepts of learning theory (classical conditioning and habituation) to the most efficient to explain culture, the Jungian theories.

    Also, we examined recent research in fetal memory in the realm of cognitive behaviorism, cognitive theories of schemata and mental representation, the various psychoanalytic (Freud, Klein, Horney), and Maslow’s schools and also some new concepts of modern anthropological theory, such as biogenetic structuralism and neuroanthropology. From modern western applications of advanced medicine to reconstruction and revival of old cults and practices, from the non-traditional and ancient symbols and rituals to the neo-Pagan and New Age movements, we spot the same archetypal (Jung) or schematic (cognitive) representations of cultural material.Psychology should also be open to practically examine emerging trends in subculture and cults and other psychosocial problems that jeopardize everyday human condition instead of being an aloof mechanistic quantitative discipline.  It is time to see things in a historical and cultural perspective and it is time for psychology to leave the taboos of modern bureaucratic style (e.g. it's a taboo to talk about religion in some psychology classes), dogmatic attitudes (e.g. psychoanalysis Vs. behaviorism) and the curse called “political correctness” and have an open mind. The cross-cultural study of fetal development interpreted from a well-rounded theoretical perspective of psychology is still a "terra incognita" that awaits for us to be finally explored. Being open to examine the psychological, cultural, and anthropological dimensions of not only fetal development, but of all themes, is to delve into the deep roots of the problem and actually take a look to our own human nature. Otherwise, we play the game of the ostrich who hides its head in the dirt. We should not forget that nothing is closed to an open mind.

    However, we have to be careful with some people and groups who misleadingly use the terms such as "holistic" or " complimentary and alternative medicine" or "spirituality" and in fact all they do is blending science with culture and superstition to create a pseudoscience of witch doctors for financial interests and narcissistic concentration of power.  Also, human rights are in danger when science is manipulated by corporate interests and the government without following certain ethical standards and respecting religious objections, especially when it comes to genetic control and interventions in prenatal development.  Bioethics is a growing field that needs to take into account many of the out-of-control emerging trends that may find loopholes in laws, professional codes of ethics, and societal institutions.  A dialogue between research institutes and religious groups should be done in depth and on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment.  Other words that often ill-defined and misrepresented in the dark world of New Age politics is "Tribal" and Tribalism".  "Folklorism" is a dry utilitarian and naive misuse of customs and traditions which are used by subcultures and deviant groups as well as by everyday youth  culture that sometimes can take elements of various respectable and legitimate ancient and indigenous cultures and connect it with marginalized and even deviant patterns of social behavior. 

    "Hellenism" is another ill-defined word which originally means "Greekness" and Greek culture and not ancient Greek religion or neo-Pagan revival, as unfortunately now stands for for most people. In these times of economic crisis and decadence not only in economy, but especially in value systems, aesthetic and intellectual development and moral standards, where atheism and materialism prevail along with deterministic science, we have to be extra careful with neo-Pagan and New Age religions that not only create a pseudoscience of witch doctors, but also cults that are fascist, religiously intolerant, anti-monotheistic, especially anti-Christian, racist, white suprematist, neo-Nazi, satanist, totalitarian, and authoritarian.  Such cults use the glorious ancient past to invoke sentiments of nationalism and patriotism often turned to a dark direction that is antagonistic and hostile toward Christianity and other monotheistic religions.  Such tendencies can lead to religious intolerance, worsen person's psychological condition, intensify family and social problems and financially exploit cult members.


REFERENCES

1. Books
----Burkert, W. (1977). Greek Religion, trans. J. Raffan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
----Coe, M.D. (1962). Mexico, from the Olmecs to the Aztecs. London: Thames &Hudson, Ltd.
----Campbell, J. (1974). Mythic Image. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
----Fadiman, J. & Frager, R. (2002). Personality and Personal Growth, (5th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
----Feldman, R.S (1996). Understanding Psychology (4th ed.). New York: McGrow Hill, Inc.
----Gimbutas, M. (1989). The Language of the Goddess. New York: Thames & Hudson.
----(1974) Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe. California, New York: California University Press.
----Helman, C.G. (1990). Culture, Health, and Illness, (2nd ed.). London: Wright.
----Jung, C.G. (1983). The Essential Jung, selected/introduced by Arthur Storr. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
----(1959). Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, trans. R.F.C. Hull. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
----Michel, G.F. & Moore, C.L. (1995). Developmental Psychobiology: an Interdisciplinary Science. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
----Newman, B.M. & Newman, P.R. (2003) Development through Life, (8th ed.). New York: Thomson/Wadsworth.
----Solso, R.L. (1995). Cognitive Psychology, (4th ed.). Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon.
----Venizelos, T.V. (1873). On the Private Life of the Ancient Greeks. Athens: Demiourgia (in Greek).

2. Articles
----de Mause, L. (1996). Restaging fetal traumas in war and social violence. Pre & Post=natal Psychology Journal 1996, 10 (4), 227-258.
----Fried, R. & Gluck, S. (1967). Conditioned Galvanic Response. Conditional Reflex, 3 (2).
----Hepper, P.G. (1996). Fetal memory: does it exist? What does it do? Acta Pediatrica Scand. Suppl. 416: 16-20.
----Kitzinger, S. (1982). The social context of birth: some comparisons between childbirth in Jamaica and Britain. In C.P. MacCormack (Ed.), Ethnography of Fertility and Birth (pp.181-203). London: Academic Press.
----Klein, H. (1991). Couvade syndrome: male counterpart to pregnancy. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 21, 57-69.
----Trethowan, W. (1972). The couvade syndrome. In J. Howells (Ed.), Modern Perspectives in Psycho-obstetrics. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

3. Internet

-----Apologitis.gr ("The Apologist": Greek Orthodox Christian website published in Greek language).

www.apologitis.com/gr/ancient

-----Αποστολική Διακονία, Νεοπαγανισμός: η απειλή από το παρελθόν

(Apostolic Service, Neopaganism: the threat from the past)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7011279/-
----de Mause, L. (2002). Restaging fetal traumas in war and social violence, Part 2.
www.psychohistory.com
----Finley, M. (1984). Couvade and the cloud of unknowing.
www.mfinley.com/articles/couvade.htm
----“Goddessmoon Circle”, (2002). Pregnancy and childbirth.
www.goddessmoon.org
--------Knonobdee, C. et al. (1993). Couvade: sympathetic pregnancy.
www.childbirth.org
----Monk, C. - Myers, M. - Fifer, W. (2000). Maternal emotion, fetal behavior and etiology of psychopathology.
http://nypisys.cpmc/columbia/edu
----Kelkar, G.S. (2002). A prenatal project.
www.birthpsychology.com/lifebefore/sound7.htm
----Laughlin, C. (2002). The anima project.
http://www.neurognosis.com/

----Ορθόδοξη Ομάδα Δογματικής Έρευνας ("Orthodox Group for Reasarch on Dogma": Greek Orthodox Christian website published in Greek language).

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7011279/-
----Pagan Parenting Network, (2002). Pregnancy and childbirth professionals.
www.paganparenting.net

"Η 25η Μαρτίου: Ημέρα Εθνικής Συνείδησης και Προσωπικής Επανάστασης και η Σημασία της Σήμερα για τους Έλληνες Ομογενείς της Νέας Υόρκης"

              

Στην εποχή του Δ.Ν.Τ. (δηλ. του Διεθνούς Νομισματικού Ταμείου) και εν όψει οικονομικής κρίσεως, είναι πλέον αυτονόητο και φυσικό συνεπακόλουθο ότι η κρίση έχει και άλλες διαστάσεις, όπως κοινωνικές, πολιτιστικές και πνευματικές. Κρίση, δηλαδή, περνάν και οι ιδέες, τα αξιακά συστήματα και ο πολιτισμός εν γένει. Μέσα στο όλο αυτό κλίμα, η ένταση γίνεται αισθητή και στα εθνικά μας θέματα, καθώς μια αόρατη απειλή πλανάται στον ορίζοντα των γεγονότων. Είναι όμως τάχα εξωτερική ή έγκειται στην ίδια την ελληνική κοινωνία και νοοτροπία που περνάν και αυτές κρίση, όπως και η παιδεία, η γλώσσα και οι θεσμοί του ελληνικού κράτους; Διαφθορά, ατιμωρησία και σύγχηση των εννοιών (ελευθερία-ελευθεριότητα, δημοκρατία-οχλοκρατία, ισονομία-αναρχία, πλιάτσικο-απαλλοτρίωση, αστυνόμευση-κατάχρηση εξουσίας, μεταναστευτική πολιτική-αθρώα εισαγωγή μεταναστών, κ.α.) είναι μερικά μόνο από τα κοινωνικά φαινόμενα που μαστίζουν την Ελλάδα του 21ου αιώνα.

Παρατηρείται, συνεπώς, έντονα και το φαινόμενο χαλάρωσης της εθνικής συνείδησης σε επίπεδο εθνομηδενιστικών τάσεων από πολλούς πυρήνες της πολιτικής και πνευματικής ζωής που εντοπίζονται κυρίως στην μητροπολιτική Ελλάδα. Τουναντίον, στον απόδημο ελληνισμό, και λόγω του νόστου και των ακόμα διατηρούμενων ιδανικών του γένους, κάποιες εθνικές αξίες μένουν αναλλοίωτες και παρά τα όποια προβλήματα που εντοπίζονται στην διατήρηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας και παιδείας, κυοφορώντας έτσι κάποιες ελπίδες, αν αναλογιστούμε ότι και η εθνική μας παλιγενεσία οφείλεται κατά πολύ στους λόγιους του ελληνισμού της διασποράς που μεταλαμπάδευσαν το φως τους στην μητέρα πατρίδα και έσπειραν τους αείζωους σπόρους της παιδείας και της ιστορικής μνήμης-ζωτικής σημασίας προυποθέσεις για την απελευθέρωση του γένους. Κάπου μέσα στον κυκεώνα της καθολικής αυτής κρίσεως, τα εθνικά σύμβολα, οι παρελάσεις και οι εθνικοί εορτασμοί και η διατήρηση τους συχνά συγχέονται με τον στείρο φολκλορισμό ή την κατά συνήθεια τήρηση του πρωτοκόλλου, ενώ ένα μεγάλο μέρος από την μαθητηώσα νεολαία δεν γνωρίζει καν το περιεχόμενο τους και δεν συναισθάνεται επ’ ουδενί την βαθύτερη ανάγκη και σημασία διατήρησης και διαιώνησης τους.

Όσο κοινότοπο και αν φαίνεται, οφείλουμε να θυμηθούμε, ότι, όπως κάθε εθνική επαίτειος, έτσι και η 25η Μαρτίου, έχει ως σκοπό της να φωτίσει τις μνήμες και να προκαλέσει ρίγη συγκίνησης για τους ήρωες που με περίσσεια ανιδιοτέλεια και αυταπάρνηση έδωσαν και την τελευταία ρανίδα του αίματος τους για να είμαστε εμείς σήμερα ελεύθεροι και να διατηρούμε ακόμη την εθνική και θρησκευτική μας ταυτότητα. «Θέλει αρετή και τόλμη η ελευθερία» μας θυμίζει ο ποιητής Ανδρέας Κάλβος (Κάλβος, 1826). Ζούμε σε μια εποχή όπου η Παγκοσμιοποίηση και η Νέα Τάξη Πραγμάτων (Ν.Τ.Π.) μάς θέλει άβουλες μαριονέτες στα χέρια κάποιων που κινούν τα νήματα, σε μια εποχή όπου μεταμοντέρνοι «ειδήμονες»¨διαστρεβλώνουν την ιστορία μας, ελαφρά τη καρδία, προς εξομάλυνση δήθεν των διεθνών σχέσεων μέσω της λήθης. Ζούμε σε μια εποχή όπου κάποιοι καρεκλοκένταυροι ιθύνοντες, λόγω πολιτικών σκοπιμοτήτων, κωφεύουν στις ανίερες και θρασσύτατες προκλήσεις ξένων δακτύλων. Ταυτόχρονα, σχεδόν σε καθημερινό επίπεδο, παραβιάζεται ο εναέριος χώρος της πατρίδας μας και απειλείται η εδαφική ακεραιότητα της ενώ γίνεται ακόμη λόγος και για μειονότητες εντός ελληνικών εδαφών. Κάποιοι κάνουν λόγο για «τουρκική μειονότητα», ενώ είναι ως γνωστόν Μουσουλμανική και μόνο, αποτελούμενη κυρίως από Πομάκους (Kavalanet, 28 Μαρτίου, 2008). Για άλλη μια φορά καλούμαστε να συνειδητοποιήσουμε οτι ο τουρκικός κίνδυνος που τόσο γενναία πολέμησαν οι πρόγονοι μας κινήται για άλλη μια φορά προκλητικά στο Αιγαίο.

Κάποιοι, επίσης, κάνουν λόγο και για «Σλαβομακεδονική ή Μακεδονική Μειονότητα» (εννοώντας προφανώς «Σκοπιανή») στην Ελλάδα (EFA, 1977-2011), όταν είναι ιστορικώς, αρχαιολογικώς, λαογραφικώς και γλωσσολογικώς αποδεδειγμένο ότι η Μακεδονία είναι ελληνική (Χατζηδάκις, 1879 – Καργάκος, 1992). Προφανώς, αποσκοπούν σε μια μορφή «τεχνητής» εθνογένεσης μέσω εξαγοράς συνειδήσεων εξαγορασμένων στον βωμό του εύκολου κέρδους και με σκοπό την «σαλαμοποίηση» και το κατακερματισμό της χώρας προς εκπλήρωση σκοτεινών γεωστρατηγικών στόχων. Σε μια τέτοια εποχή, έχουμε περισσότερο από ποτέ την ανάγκη να αναλογιστούμε την βαριά ευθύνη της πολιτιστικής μας παρακαταθήκης.

Ευγένιος Ντελλακρουά, "Η Σφαγή της Χίου"

Σε τέτοιες στιγμές, είναι εθνικό μας χρέος, αλλά και πρακτική ανάγκη για επιβίωση ως Έλληνες και μάλλιστα απόδημοι, να ακούσουμε τον απόηχο των ηρωϊκών κραυγών που ακόμα στοιχειώνουν τα αιματοβαμμένα και κακοτράχαλα βουνά της πατρίδας μας. Τα περισσότερα τοπωνύμια του χάρτη της Ελλάδας συνδέονται αυτομάτως με αλησμόνητες ηρωϊκές μάχες, κρυφά σχολειά, ακρητικά νησιά, πόλεις και χωριά αντριωμένων αγωνιστών: Σούλι, Γιάννενα, Ψαρρά, Χίος, Αρκάδι, Μεσολόγγι...και τόσα άλλα... Πως μπορεί κανείς να μην συγκινηθεί μπροστά στον πίνακα του Ευγενίου Ντελακρουά «Η Σφαγή της Χίου»; Ο πίνακας αναφέρεται στη σφαγή που έγινε στο ακρητικό νησί του Αδαμαντίου Κοραή από τους τούρκους το 1822. Πως μπορεί κανείς να ξεχάσει την έκφραση αγωνίας, πανικού, οργής, καρτερικότητας, ικεσίας και θλίψης συνάμα, στο πρόσωπο της μάνας με τα παιδιά στην αγκαλιά κατάχαμα κουρελιασμένη και από πάνω της ο Τούρκος έφιππος κραδαίνοντας με το γιαταγάνι και εφορμώντας ανελέητα κατά πάνω τους;

Ρήγας Φερραίος

Μαζί όμως με τους ήρωες, τους οπλαρχηγούς και τους καπετανέους, πρέπει να θυμηθούμε και όλους εκείνους τους λόγιους του Νεοελληνικού Διαφωτισμού που για αιώνες προετοίμαζαν την Επανάσταση του 1821, οι περισσότεροι από αυτούς μακριά από την πατρίδα. Απόδημοι Έλληνες και αυτοί, της Ιταλίας και των Παραδουνάβιων Ηγεμονιών, της Γαλλίας και της Ανατολικής και Κεντρικής Ευρώπης, με επιστολές τους και με βιβλία, με τη γενεσιουργό δύναμη της γραφίδας, καλλιεργούσαν τον νόστο και την εθνική υπερηφάνεια στον αμαθή ραγιά για να αποτινάξει κάποτε τον ζυγό, όπως και έγινε. Ρήγας Φερραίος ή Βελεστινλής, Αδαμάντιος Κοραής, Ευγένιος Βούλγαρης, Δημήτριος Καταρτζής, Ιώσηπος Μοισιόδακας, Ο Διονύσιος Σολωμός με τον Εθνικό μας Ύμνο, τον "Ύμνο εις την Ελευθερίαν" είναι μερικά μόνο από τα ονόματα των εκπροσώπων του Νεοελληνικού Διαφωτισμού που έδωσαν την δική τους μάχη για την πατρίδα μέσα από την διδασκαλία και τη συγγραφή και απετέλεσαν τους αφυπνιστές του ελληνισμού και τους πρόδρομους της επανάστασης που άνοιξε τον δρόμο στην λευτεριά (Δημαράς, 1977 – Παπαρηγόπουλος,1986). Αυτοί ήταν οι Διδάσκαλοι του Γένους!

Το Κρυφό Σχολειό

Όμως, ας μην ξεχνάμε και την προσφορά της εκκλησίας στην επανάσταση, όχι κάποιων προσκυνημένων μεγαλοδεσποτάδων του τύπου "σφάξε με αγά μου να αγιάσω"-διότι υπήρξαν σαφώς και αυτοί, όπως προδότες και προσκυνημένοι υπήρξαν και υπάρχουν σε όλες τις κάστες και τα λειτουργήματα και σε όλες τις εποχές-αλλά την προσφορά και την αυτοθυσία του ηρωϊκού μας Πατριάρχη του Γρηγορίου του Ε' καθώς και όλων εκείνων των αφανών ηρώων με το τριμμένο ράσο.  Κληρικοί και μοναχοί που έδωσαν το υστέρημα τους και τον χρόνο τους, πολλές φορές και την ζωή τους για να διδάξουν στα ελληνόπουλα με περισσή πίστη και γενναιότητα, όχι "τα άθεα γράμματα" της σημερινής εποχής μας, αλλά αρετές και πνευματικά γράμματα, κυνηγημένοι από τους Τούρκους και βρίσκοντας καταφύγιο σε διάφορες κρυψώνες, μοναστήρια, εκκλησίες, ακόμα και σε σπηλιές.  Δεν έπαψαν να διδάσκουν ακόμα κι αν το μάθημα γινόταν μέσα στο κρύο και τον φόβο και κάτω από άθλιες συνθήκες.  Κρατώντας το οχταήχι (η Οκτάηχος) δίδασκαν στα παιδιά βυζαντινή μουσική και δη βυζαντινή μουσική θεωρία που στηρίζεται στην Πυθαγόρειο θεωρία της αρχαίας ελληνικής μουσικής,  καθώς και βυζαντινή μουσική σημειογραφία, υμνολογία, τυπικό και ψαλτική, κάτι που δεν διδάσκεται σήμερα σχεδόν σε κανένα σχολείο της πρωτοβάθμιας και δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης στην Ελλάδα, παρά μόνο σε ωδεία.  Δίδασκαν υψηλή θεολογία ακόμα και σε παιδιά του δημοτικού και όχι τα "στρογγυλεμένα" θρησκευτικά που διδάσκονται σήμερα, που και αυτά ακόμα τείνουν να καταργηθούν από τους μετανεοτερικούς εθνομηδενιστές πολιτικούς της Ελλάδος.  Έδειξαν έτσι οι ρασοφόροι αυτοί ήρωες των ελληνικών γραμμάτων και της ορθοδοξίας ότι ο ιερέας και ο μοναχός δεν πρέπει να έχουν τον νου τους στον άκρατο πλουτισμό, τα εγκώσμια, τις επιχειρήσεις και την εξουσία, την απαξίωση και τον εξευτελισμό του ρόλου του δασκάλου των ελληνικών και του ελληνικού σχολείου και την καταδίκη των ελληνόπουλων στην αμάθεια και τον γρεκυλισμό, όπως γίνεται με τους περισσότερους ιερείς σήμερα στην Ελλάδα και ειδικά στην ομογένεια της Αμερικής, αλλά αντιθέτως πρέπει το έργο τους να είναι πνευματικό, φιλανθρωπικό και ανθρωπιστικό.  Έδειξαν ότι ο δάσκαλος πρέπει να είναι σύμβολο, αρχέτυπο και πνευματικός πατέρας των μαθητών του και όχι "μολυβοσπρώχτης" υπάλληλος που απλώς μεταβιβάζει στείρες υλιστικές και χρησιμοθηρικές γνώσεις, όπως δυστυχώς γίνεται σήμερα στα περισσότερα σχολεία της Ελλάδος.

Έργο μαθητή του δημοτικού

Έχουμε, λοιπόν, ανάγκη σήμερα, περισσότερο από κάθε άλλη φορά, να αποτίσουμε φόρο τιμής στον Έλληνα δάσκαλο και την Ελληνίδα δασκάλα που ακούραστα και με έναν πενιχρό μισθό, σχεδόν εθελοντικά, αγωνίζονται με στέρηση και αυταπάρνηση για να μείνει άσβεστη η φλόγα του ελληνικού πνεύματος και της ορθοδοξίας στην Νέα Υόρκη, την μεγάλη αυτή πόλη που αγκαλιάζει όλους τους πολιτισμούς και τις εθνότητες.  Στην κυριολεξία κάνουν το Κρυφό Σχολειό του 21ου αιώνα.  Φυλάττουν Θερμοπύλες.  Οι Έλληνες ομογενείς εκπαιδευτικοί είναι οι άνθρωποι που κάθε χρόνο δίνουν την μάχη τους για να προετοιμάσουν τους μικρούς μαθητές για τον εορτασμό της 25ης Μαρτίου, την ημέρα της Παλιγενεσίας.

James Kent

Σαν τον φοίνικα που αναγεννάται μέσα από την τέφρα του, έτσι κάθε χρονιά όλοι νιώθουμε το ίδιο, ξαναγινόμαστε παιδιά, ξαναγεννιόμαστε για να θυμηθούμε ξανά ότι πρέπει να θυμώμαστε... Να θυμώμαστε, για παράδειγμα, κάτι που δυστυχώς λίγοι γνωρίζουν, ότι στην Ελληνική Επανάσταση συνεισέφεραν και οι Έλληνες της Νέας Υόρκης και εν γένει των Η.Π.Α, αλλά και πολλοί Αμερικανοί φιλέλληνες, οι οποίοι οργάνωσαν διάφορες κινητοποιήσεις για την ενημέρωση και ευαισθητοποίηση και των Αμερικανών και δη των Νεοϋορκέζων στο ζήτημα της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης. Το 1823 η ελληνική επιτροπή που συστάθηκε από τον William Bayard έκανε έρανο, όπου μάζεψε ένα σεβαστό ποσό από πλούσιους Χριστιανούς Yankees και Knickerbockers, οι οποίοι υποστήριζαν τους Έλληνες ως επίσης Χριστιανούς και ανησυχούσαν για την εκτεταμένη κυριαρχία που κατείχε τότε η Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, που οι περισσότεροι Αμερικανοί έβλεπαν ως βάρβαρη και επικίδυνη για τον δυτικό πολιτισμό του οποίου κοιτήδα θεωρούσαν την Ελλάδα. Επίσης, την ίδια χρονιά, ο Chancellor James Kent, υπέβαλε πρόταση στο Κογκρέσο, όπως αναγνωριστεί η Ελλάδα ως ανεξάρτητο κράτος από τις Η.Π.Α (Burrows, E. & M. Wallace, 1999).

Όταν, όμως, σήμερα εμείς οι ίδιοι δεν γνωρίζουμε την ιστορία μας και δεν υποστηρίζουμε τα εθνικά μας συμφέροντα πως επιθυμούμε οι ξένοι να την γνωρίζουν και να μας υποστηρίζουν; Δεν είναι τυχαίο που στον Ναό του Απόλλωνος στους Δελφούς υπάρχει η ρήση «γνώθι σ’ αυτόν», αυτό που δίδασκε ο Σωκράτης, την αυτογνωσία, που ισχύει όχι μόνο σε ατομικό, αλλά και σε συλλογικό και εθνικό επίπεδο. Μόνο όταν ένα έθνος έχει αυτογνωσία μπορεί και επιβιώνει.



Η παρέλαση στην 5η Λεωφόρο του Μανχάταν

Την ιστορική αυτή μνήμη, αλλά και την ευθύνη που κατά συνέπεια γεννά πρέπει να την μεταλαμπαδεύσουμε στις μετέπειτα γενιές. Έχουμε ιερό καθήκον περισσότερο από κάθε φορά να κατεβούμε στην 5η Λεωφόρο στο Μανχάταν της Νέας Υόρκης και να καμαρώσουμε τα ελληνόπουλα μας ντυμένα τσολιάδες και αμαλίες κρατώντας ψηλά την ελληνική σημαία. Κι όμως, παρόλα αυτά, κάποιοι αμφισβητούν ακόμα και τον θεσμό της παρέλασης... Προς απάντηση σε όλες αυτές τις σύγχρονες Σειρήνες, ας υψώσουμε το δικό μας λάβαρο προσωπικής επανάστασης! Τιμή και δόξα στους ήρωες του ’21. Ζήτω η Ελλάς.
      

   

Βιβλιογραφία

Α. Νεοελληνικός Διαφωτισμός και Επανάσταση του 1821

-Κάλβος, Α. (1826). Ωδαί. Αθήνα. Ανασύρθηκε από:

www.cslab.ntua.gr/~phib/hellas/kalvos...

-Δημαράς, Κ. Θ. (1977). Νεοελληνικός Διαφωτισμός, 5η έκδοση (1989). Αθήνα.

-Παπαρηγόπουλος, Κ. (1986). Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, Τόμος 18, Βιβλίο 14. Αθήνα.

Β. Η Ελληνικότητα της Μακεδονίας

-Χατζηδάκις, Γ. (1879). Περί της Ελληνικότητος των Μακεδόνων. Αθήνα.

-Καργάκος, Σ. (1992). Από το Μακεδονικό Ζήτημα στην Εμπλοκή των Σκοπίων. Αθήνα.

Γ. Προπαγάνδα περί «Τουρκικής Μειονότητας» Θράκης

Kavalanet. Δικαίωσε την «Τουρκική Ένωση Θράκης» το Ευρωπαϊκό Δικαστήριο. Παρασκευή 28 Μαρτίου, 2008. Καβάλα. Ανασύρθηκε από:

http://www.kavalanet(official website)

Δ. Σκοπιανή Προπαγάνδα
European Free Alliance (EFA)- Rainbow 1997-2011

http://www.florina.org/

Ε. Η Προσφορά της Ελληνικής Ομογένειας Νέας Υόρκης στην Επανάσταση του 1821
Burrows, E. & M. Wallace (1999). Gotham. New York.

Teaching Modern Greek to Middle School Greek-American Students with ADHD

By Alex Colombos, CRC, MA, MPS, MA Ed

Rehabilitation Serivce Association (RSA) Grant Recepient/Researcher in Rehabilitation Counseling and Disability Studies at the New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) (2010-2013)

Athens Square Park in Astoria, NY, the heart of the Greek-American community
Image Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoF5lyH-yl7b7u9EJiWLV1-pAKjwNhiB5POiMCM5tMT27RYnYiDBleFrs91oYFLMIDRnV-nVQhEcz_miVn3I2yqSJI3xKnNCjLGlQN8quDtRk6QKHf89YOd3FHwhAj7fZvTv8TIkDS_Rc/s1600/Athens+Square+Park.jpg

                                               Abstract

Ancient Greek (Athenian) coin with owl, symbol of Goddess of wisdom Athena and associated with education
Image Source:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOq-faY5e4ulcGZpfwqPbz_wPXjWlvEjyz-LQNJoJzb7KWmWivwLx3ioaH1vFRsx19SjEA14q1ZG2KNvVzvj9ikgrThtD4YKAf_Bas1dXhxmLg41oIIbKrj_av5dEU2snrOsECu17gNBA/s1600/owl+coin.jpg

A literature review was conducted in order to explore the international bibliography on middle school students with ADHD (Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder) who learn Modern Greek.  The study focused on the unique challenges of Modern Greek, especially in parochial Greek Schools and their day and mostly afterschool programs.  The study took into consideration students who were both of Greek and non-Greek descent, but most of them of Greek dissent.  The challenge for students with ADHD who are in the middle school is that they enter puberty and at the same time they need to learn a hard language with a different alphabet than their first language, English.  Those of Greek dissent often receive a lot of pressure from their demanding and over-protective Greek-American family and at the same time they get very frustrated and tired after a long day in the public school (afterschool) or after dealing with the demanding standardized test-oriented American curriculum, which is an issue for every Middle School student, so it is even worse for the student with low attention span, impulse-control deficit and hyperactivity

                Keywords: ADHD, middle school, Greek education, afterschool, modern Greek

   What is ADHD

    ADHD (Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder) is listed in DSM IV-TR as Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders which are part of developmental disorders that are usually diagnosed in childhood but can also continue to manifest themselves in adulthood and for life (APA, 2000 – ERIC, 1998).  ADHD has two types: 1) inattention; 2) and hyperactivity-impulsivity (APA, 2000) and one may be diagnosed with either the one or the other.     Some of the signs of either type have causing impairment have to be present before the age of 7 and may occur in at least two settings (e.g. home and school).  Also impairment in social, academic, and occupational life has to be clinically evidenced and clearly unrelated to other Pervasive Developmental Disorder or any other mental disorder (e.g. psychotic, personality disorder, etc.) (APA, 2000). 

    At least six (6) symptoms of inattention may appear for the first type that persist for at least 6 month, such as failure to stick to detail, difficulty focusing on tasks and activities, failure to listen or respond, failure to follow instructions, difficulty organizing tasks, often avoiding or disliking tasks that require certain mental effort (e.g. homework), easily getting distracted by the environment or being too often forgetful in daily activities.  For the second type (impulsivity and hyperactivity), six (6) of the following signs of hyperactivity and impulsivity may occur for at least six months.  Symptoms of hyperactivity may include: fidgeting, leaving seat in classroom, running about or climbing up to inappropriate situation or as it happens to adolescents and adults, may appear restlessness and inappropriate subjective feelings (APA, 2000).  Impulsivity symptoms may include: answering before questions are competed, often cannot wait turn, or often interrupting or intruding on others (e.g. games, conversations, etc.) (APA, 2000).  National studies report that among parents of children age 6–13 years who have an emotional disturbance, 65% report their children also have ADHD. Studies supported by the Department of Education suggest genetic predisposition, as parents of 28% of children with learning disabilities report their children also have ADHD (US De. Of Ed., 2006).

   Middle School Students with ADHD

    It is not an accident that the most conservative studies estimate a percentage of students with ADD/ADHD to be at least 3% to 5% (ERIC, 1998).  Smith (n.d.) supported that “as students grow older and reach middle school, they exhibit less activity than younger children with ADHD"….“may begin to decrease and develop into symptoms older adolescents and adults face, such as poor self-esteem, difficulty in relationships, and problems with drugs and/or alcohol)” (p. 1).  However, in an empirical study of students, including preschoolers and eighth-graders, Hill (2011) concluded that those of them having ADHD are more likely to display aggressiveness and defiance then students without ADHD.  Hill (2011) didn’t make any distinction between preschoolers, first-graders, and eighth-graders either in the results or in the discussion/summary section.  As having experience myself teaching both preschoolers and eight graders with ADHD, I agree that they both display aggressiveness and defiance, with more aggressiveness and defiance exhibited with eight graders.        

   The Double Challenge: Middle School students with ADHD who learn Modern Greek

    The first Greeks arrived in the US in Florida in 1768 building a community f 400 people, the New Smyrna (SAE, 2007-2012).  In a census of 1980, there were almost 1 million Greeks in the US recorded or precisely 959.856 (SAE, 2007-2012).  Modern Greek is taught in US and especially in New York were many Greeks live in three types of programs: a) as a foreign language in public schools, where only language skills are taught with some elements of literature and history only for the most advanced classes; b) Greek parochial day schools, which function the same way with other private schools, but Modern Greek is taught, often in place of Spanish or as an additional foreign language with one 45-minute period every day; c) Afterschool Programs, which may run i) everyday; or II) most of them twice a week, and; d) the Saturday Programs, which run every Saturday from early in the morning to early in the afternoon.        

    Some afterschool Greek programs belong to partnership associations, networks, and communities so that quality assurance and effective treatment of various problems and needs may be enabled and facilitated as well as consumers may get easily networked with afterschool programs.  However, many are missing from the list of such programs, such as the New York City Guide of the Partnership for Afterschool Education (PASE, n.d.).  Day and Evening Parochial schools combine Modern Greek language with Greek history (ancient, byzantine, modern Greek), mythology, religion (Greek Orthodox Christian tradition/culture & the Bible), Greek geography, Greek customs, Greek drama, poem recitation and artistic activities for various festivities and holidays, Byzantine Music/Chant, Greek music and dance.  Students in New York public schools and charter schools affiliated with the New York City Department of Education follow the New York City Department of Education standards for assessing Modern Greek, such the Regents Exams held by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and overseen by the NYC Dep. Of Ed (Makedon, 2007).  

    Accommodations are offered for students with special needs, including ADHD, such as extra time (Makedon, 2007).  Also in public schools were Greek is taught, support and accommodations are provided (NYS Dep. Of Ed, 1992).  The Office of Special Education of the NYS Department of Education (1992) did not make a clear distinction in the 90s between emotionally disturbed and ADHD, but included accommodations in this categories, such as extra time for taking a test and it also described a certain system of getting the child identified and the interventions in a Greek version for parents who do not speak English.  Assessment of Modern Greek as a Second Language similar to the Regents is also provided in Australia with accommodations for students with special needs, including ADHD (NYS Dep. Of Ed, 1992; Evangelinou-Yiannaki & O’Donoghue, 2011; Thomson, 1997). 

    The teachers usually are of three types: teachers sent from Greece, in particular, form the Greek Ministry of Education, after they pass the English language exams and are motivated to migrate to other countries to teach Greek as they are paid both by the Greek government and the local Greek Orthodox church.  Most of the Greek parochial schools are run by the Greek Orthodox Church.  Some Greek education program organization occurs in Australia, as well.  Bringing teachers from Greece is called “The second Teacher Greece Scheme” (Evangelinou-Yiannaki &  O’Donoghue, 2011).  This type of Greek Education teacher has three stages of adaptation and rearrangement to the new environment after migrating from Greece to the New World: 1) idealism, 2) conflict, and 3) cooperation.  First, they come with aspirations and visions as well as teaching styles, methods, mentalities, and lifestyles that may not be competent o those in the new country.  They come in conflict and they often may get disappointed or even return back to Greece.  However, many of them are able to rearrange themselves and cooperate.  One of the greatest challenges they face is dealing with emotional disturbance in children adolescents and especially ADHD (Evangelinou-Yiannaki &  O’Donoghue, 2011).    

    The other two types of teachers are those who are hired in US and are qualified or licensed teachers and the other is those who are not trained as teachers and they are hired with just a High School education and the credential of being native speakers of Modern Greek, though some of them do not even have those two qualifications!  Many of them also become Principals depending on their connections with the community.  Those problems in Greek-American parochial education are often attributed to underfunding (Zoupaniotis, January 5, 2012). 

    Many teachers who come from Greece do not speak English properly, they do not have enough education courses, they are hardly prepared, sometimes not even familiar with special education, and they just master the target subject they teach  that is Greek  (Kalyva, 2008), but they are not familiar with American or Australian society as it also happens in Australia, and they do not understand their students who are raised outside Greece and their primary language is English (Evangelinou-Yiannaki,  &  O’Donoghue, 2011).  They are also not trained in teaching Greek as a second language, but just as a native language.  They also lack knowledge of all the other Greek subjects that go beyond Modern Greek language.  Those teachers who are trained in US or Australia, may be licensed/certified by a state (e.g. NY), but they may not be trained to cover all Greek subjects or deal with special education students.  The last category for teachers are not prepared at all and they rather tend to totally ignore and neglect servicing the needs of a child with special needs or just may not be able to identify them or they may not believe in special education, psychology, counseling or other areas of education and academic services (Papadopoulos, 2009).  

    Students with ADHD may be thought by the Greek parochial school staff or their parents are just being “too hyper,” having a low conduct or morality or, especially for middle school students, as being average out-of-control teens and they may be very concerned about medication side effects, as they are very protective of their children and for a good reason, especially when it gets to medication (Papadopoulos, 2009).  Inclusion in Greece is very limited usually to agencies rather than general education and for special education there are special schools (Kalyva, 2008 – Spyridakis, 1981).  Also, in Cyprus, inclusion is not really well established and expanded and it is rather closer to the Greek model with some better organization and funding, though (Spyridakis, 1981).  Some teachers or Principals may think the student’s behavior may relate to his/her family or upbringing or being just a “phase” of their developmental stage.  Kalyva  (2008) reports that in Greece, lack of general education teacher’s knowledge of child psychology and special education lead to students’ being labeled “naughty”, “ brat”, “spoiled” and so on (Kalyva, 2008).  Many Greeks in Greece and Cyprus may think that way and many of the parents of school staff that come from those countries may bring their mentality to the states.

    Studies show that Greeks, just like many Asian cultures, especially those of low education and agrarian values (e.g. immigrants who came to the states before the 70s) may resist psychological, counseling or special education intervention as they consider them stigmatizing (Papadopoulos, 2009).  Many Greek parents, especially those of first generation (who came from Greece or Cyprus, which is of Greek origins, language, and culture) may feel ashamed to disclose information about their children’s special education status or may even deny this status of their child (Sprydakis, 1981).   They feel that sensitive personal data may spread in the Greek community, especially if it is small.  Greek-American communities are run by the Church so many parents may see their child’s exceptionality through religious lenses and avoid any other context or intervention (Spyridakis, 1981).  They may not resist or reject services within the public school system, but they may not accept any outside it (Papadopoulos, 2009). 

    The Greek Orthodox Church of America and its office of Greek education provide annual staff development training in many different teaching, classroom management, and special education skills, including ADHD, but the focus is still on the Greek language education and the American curriculum (like the one of the public schools) (Makedon, 2007).   It also depends on the Principals’ initiative to send their teachers to those training seminars.  Also, every summer, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Office of Education sends teachers to Cyprus for training (Makedon, 2007).   Interventions in the parochial school and especially in the small afterschool program, but even in the public school system (e.g. NYS in the 90s) may are limited only in disciplinary actions, penalizing student with extra assignments, or by affecting grades or conduct remarks on report (NYS Dep of Ed, 1992 - Zoupaniotis, January 5, 2012).

    Modern Greek is a difficult language, with many archaic structures and affinities with ancient Greek, with different pronunciation and a different alphabet than English (Evangelinou-Yiannaki, A. &  O’Donoghue, 2011).  It requires a certain amount of focus and mental effort, a lot of time and practice, especially if it is an afterschool or Saturday school program.  For any child that would be hard, so one may imagine how it hard would be for a student with ADHD.  If we add the rest of the Greek parochial curriculum, then we get the picture.  As a result, the most crucial challenge for the Modern Greek teacher working with students is motivation.  The picture gets even gloomier and more chaotic if we now also add other negative factors and misconceptions, such as: the underfunding and the lack of appropriate teachers and Principals or the tendency of many parents to see afterschool programs as places for babysitting, somewhere they can leave their kids when they are at work or the ignorance of many parents and community leaders whose goals for Greek education are more emotional and stem from nostalgia for the “Old Country” rather than genuine academic goals.  Also, more and more unmotivated and at-risk students of non-Greek origin enter Greek schools not because they want to learn Greek, but because their parents place there for a better and safer future beyond the risks they face in various public schools, usually in ghettos or unsafe neighborhoods (Zoupaniotis, January 5, 2012).  All these factors make the school lives of students with ADHD even harder.  Thus, learning Greek is a double challenge for the student with ADHD and the teacher, both academic and behavioral.      

    Teachers’ Interventions for Success with Middle School Students who learn Modern Greek

    Some basic behavioral and classroom management interventions for Middle School students with ADHD are the following in terms of attention and selection: stay alert, ignore distractions, concentrate at the right time, plan and control impulses, and adjust their pace and control activity (Lanir, 2011).   

    Modifications in the classroom in order to accommodate students with ADHD may include some efforts from the teacher: remember names quickly and keep in mind some information about your students; be in class well ahead of your students; have small exercises ready as students enter. Also, ensure they go towards their class grade; start promptly with attendance; try to be well-organized with lesson plans, handouts, homework and student files; mark the initials on the board of those who are late, misbehave, forget materials.  If they behave well, then erase their initials, but still note down that they were late, etc.  Also, keep clear documentation of completed work, homework handed in, absences, tardiness etc.  Finally, ensure your students know that you keep this checklist up-to-date and keep exercises, assignments, within a time limit with clear instructions and grading methods (Lanir, 2011).  Choose together six to eight of the most important classroom rules.  Some of them can be the following: post those chosen, explain why and present the consequences for breaking them.  Then give a copy to each student to sign that they are in agreement.  Frequently review and keep the list of rules in view and refer to them if necessary.  Make sure chosen expectations and consequences are fair, consistent and clear.  Have a strong, structured, consistent and, therefore, predictable classroom routine.  Also, continually reinforce acceptable and unacceptable behavior by: praising and rewarding good work and behavior (Lanir, 2011).

    Utilizing collaborative learning may really help as we make a positive use of students’ tendency to side-talk and oversensitively attach to external stimuli by having groups of peers as role models to encourage on task behavior. Important is also to relentlessly following through with rules, consequences, praise and rewards (Lanir, 2011).  Also, connecting to students, empathizing and developing a healthy rapport with the student and the parents are really crucial.  Colleagues can help too, if they know some important information about the child’s history and needs (Lanir, 2011). 

      The US Department of Education (2006) suggests some useful strategies for academic interventions when teaching language skills.  For silent reading, establish a fixed time each day for silent-reading, follow-along reading. Ask the child to read a story silently while listening to other students or the teacher read the story aloud to the entire class.  As Turketi (2010) put it, “an ADHD student is thus a socially impulsive person “(p 2).   Collaborative learning can help in the form of partner reading activities in groups or pairs (US Department of Education, 2006).

    Also, creative and artistic activities can turn student’s impulsivity and hyperactivity into something positive.  All this excessive energy that the student with ADHD may have can be utilized in doing something meaningful.  So when we have a student with ADHD who wants to leave his or her seat, we can encourage him or her to do so in order to create, let’s say, storyboards, where pages of stories are posted on boards with attractive colorful illustrations (US Department of Education, 2006).  Essays of students can be displayed on holidays and various community activities as those are very dominant in the annual Greek school calendar.  In storytelling, the child can retell a story and express him/herself (US Department of Education, 2006).  That can be used in mythology, history, or practicing oral Modern Greek/conversation skills.  Playacting can be easily used in Greek drama education and poem recitation which are extremely important and often used in holiday school events and activities (US Department of Education, 2006).  Spelling and vocabulary activities can include “hard-to-read” sight-vocabulary words from the word bank that is a set of pieces of color paper on board with words and their meaning on the back can be used for hard Greek vocabulary and terminology for various Greek subjects (US Department of Education, 2006; Turketi, 2010).  Also, Greek music and dance can help the fidgeting child positively use all its excessive energy bursts and socialize for both fun and learning.  

    Time management accommodations can be provided in a diverse classroom of different grades and language groups being in the same classroom as often happens in the Greek school, where students may be few and each one with his or her own needs and different level of language (US Dep of Ed, 2006).  Then, using independent tutoring strategies can help address time management accommodation needs for students with ADHD.  However, more than one teacher may be needed in the classroom. 

    Assistive technology recommended by the US Dep. Of Ed. (2006) may be the case for charter schools and public schools that are well funded, but may not be the case for underfunded Greek parochial schools which are the vast majority of US Greek education programs, run by the Church, whose least concern and least recipient of funds seems to be the Greek school (Zoupaniotis, January 5, 2012).  In a small classroom of 5-10 students, I would suggest handy alternative to assistive technology, such as teacher’s own ipad, ipod or laptop, though Principal’s approval to such “unorthodox” practices may be an issue.

    An interesting proposal for creative interdisciplinary Greek curriculum that draws a lot from community affairs and students’ cultural experiences based on multicultural learning comes from a kind of old source as written in 1975, but still extremely fresh and creative: ideas for the classroom, such as lesson plans on the history of Greek-American immigration, Greek communities, mementos, photographs, and stories from grandparents.  Thus, making the student with ADHD involved in a family and personal project, you make him or her less bored, the lesson less “book-smart” styled and more concrete and fun.  Thus, the student feels more connected and his or her energy bursts and fidgeting are channeled in positive and healthy kinesthetic ways while inattention and trouble remembering or focusing are addressed by making stronger emotionally, spiritually, and culturally enhanced associations in a concrete multicultural and whole-person perspective.  This project reported success with both Greek and non-Greek students who equally found it an interesting multicultural and academically, culturally and spiritually enriched experience that left its positive and rewarding mark in those students’ lives (FSU, 1975). 

    In conclusion, as it is already said, while motivation of tired and exhausted students who come to the afterschool program after the public school to learn a whole different universe of demanding and exotic curriculum, the Greek curriculum is a great source of motivation strategies and community activities, as the Greek school calendar is overloaded with national and religious holidays that require a long array of school events, concerts, community activities, and religious services that may connect families, school, communities, local Greek-American associations and local parishes in a very interactive, lively, vivid network of cultural, academic, and spiritual support.  Even for the non-Greek student with ADHD, finding a new community, a new support system and learning something stimulating and academically demanding may give them a sense of purpose, sense of self-esteem and pride overcoming disability limitations.  They may also get a sense of equality sharing a type of “white” culture which however is also a minority culture at the same time, far different from the “dead male white Greek culture” that is often portrayed in the mainstream learning arena and trace affinities between their own culture and other cultures, such as the Greek one.  Thus, both unmotivated students and parents who may have thought of the underfunded Greek classroom as a babysitting place or equivalent to chores or “busy work” chores, may use it in an effective way that for a student with ADHD and developmental challenges such as those of the Middle School may become actually a positive experience that enriches the student’s academic strengths and builds social, community, and spiritual roles and identities with some collaboration and effort by the teacher and the school community, as the literature suggested above.        

                                      References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

(4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Council of Greeks Abroad (SAE) (2007-2012).  USA: Greek-American population (de jure

translation from Greek). 

Retrieved from:

http://www.sae.gr/?id=13227&tag=%CE%97.%CE%A0.%CE%91.

ERIC (1998). Teaching Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Update 1998. ERIC

Digest E569.

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED423633.pdf

Evangelinou-Yiannaki, A. & T. O’Donoghue (2011).   A Qualitative Study of the Teaching of

Modern Greek in Western Australia under the 'Seconded Teachers from Greece Scheme': Implications for Other Similar Schemes.  Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36, 1, 1-12. 

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ943404.pdf

Florida State University (1975). A Project in Multicultural Learning: Greek-American

Contributions to American Society. Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?searchtype=advanced&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_Operator_2=and&ERICExtSearch_Operator_1=and&ERICExtSearch_EDEJSearch=elecBoth&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_2=kw&eric_displayStartCount=1&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_2=Greek-American&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_1=kw&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&ERICExtSearch_FullText=true&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_From=0&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_To=2012&ERICExtSearch_SearchCount=2&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b80042d36&accno=ED208090&_nfls=false

Hill, J. (2011). Prevalence of Aggression and Defiance in Children with ADD/ADHD Tendencies.

Wayland Baptist University June 2.

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED520253.pdf

Kalyva, E. (2008). Special Education: What do Greek Teachers Know about Learning Disabilities,

Autism, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?  City College, Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield.

Retrieved from:

http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/263/

Lanir, L. (January 4, 2011). ADD/ADHD Students - Foreign Language Classroom Management.

Retrieved from:

http://lesley-lanir.suite101.com/addadhd-students---foreign-language-classroom-management-a327724

Makedon, M (2007). Archdiocesan District Office of Education Report.  April 26-27. Greek

Orthodox Archdiocese of America: Huston, TX. 

Retrieved from:

http://www.goarch.org/archdiocese/departments/education/reports/AC%20REPORT_Houston-TX-Apr_07.pdf

New York State Education Dept., Albany. Office for Special Education Services (1992).  A Parent's

Guide to Special Education for Children Ages 5-21: Your Child's Right to an Education in New York State. Non-English Language Editions.

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?searchtype=advanced&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_Operator_2=and&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=disabilities&ERICExtSearch_Operator_1=and&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_2=kw&eric_displayStartCount=11&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_1=kw&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_2=Greek&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&ERICExtSearch_FullText=true&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_From=0&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_To=2012&ERICExtSearch_SearchCount=1&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b80402b03&accno=ED359690&_nfls=false

Papadopoulos, C. (2009).  Stigma towards people with mental health problems:

An individualism-collectivism cross-cultural comparison.  Doctoral dissertation submitted at the

School of Health and Social Sciences, Middlesex University.

Retrieved from:

http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6253/1/Papadopoulos-stigma_towards_people_with_mental_health_problems_PhD.pdf

    

Partnership for Afterschool Education (PASE).  (n.d.).  New York City Family Guide to Afterschool

Programs.

Retrieved from: http://www.pasesetter.com/publicationResources/Publications/PDF/NYC%20Guide%20to%20ASP/NYC%20Family%20Guide%20to%20Afterschool%20Programs.pdf

Smith, R. Lee (n.d.). Teaching Middle School Students with ADHD. University of Florida: FL.

Retrieved from:

http://mypage.iu.edu/~rllsmith/ADHDweb.htm

Spiridakis, J.D. (1981).  Special Education for the Greek Bilingual Child: Greece, Cyprus and the

United States. Paper presented at The Council for Exceptional Children Conference on The Exceptional Bilingual Child (New Orleans, LA, February, 1981, Session F-3).

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?searchtype=advanced&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_Operator_2=and&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=disabilities&ERICExtSearch_Operator_1=and&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_2=kw&eric_displayStartCount=11&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_1=kw&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_2=Greek&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&ERICExtSearch_FullText=true&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_From=0&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_To=2012&ERICExtSearch_SearchCount=1&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b800420a5&accno=ED204878&_nfls=false

Thompson, L. C . (1997). Foreign Language Assessment in Grades K-8: An Annotated

Bibliography of Assessment Instruments. Language in Education: Theory and Practice 90.  Delta Systems Inc.: IL.

Retrieved from:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?searchtype=advanced&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_Operator_2=and&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=modern+Greek&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_2=kw&ERICExtSearch_Operator_1=and&eric_displayStartCount=21&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_1=kw&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&ERICExtSearch_FullText=true&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_From=0&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_To=2012&ERICExtSearch_SearchCount=1&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b800afb08&accno=ED413768&_nfls=false

Turketi, N. (2010).  Teaching English To Children With ADHD. (Master’s Thesis). School for

International Training Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Retrieved from:

http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1489&context=ipp_collection&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dcreative%2520teaching%2520foreign%2520language%2520to%2520students%2520with%2520adhd%2520full%2520pdf%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CCoQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcollections.sit.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1489%2526context%253Dipp_collection%26ei%3DAtZ_T6fgIcPn0QGz3uCiCA%26usg%3DAFQjCNEbvDzrcJA94_2JCIabnsk80UglmQ#search=%22creative%20teaching%20foreign%20language%20students%20adhd%20full%20pdf%22

U.S. Department of Education (2006).  Teaching Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder: Instructional Strategies and Practices.

Retrieved from:

http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/adhd/adhd-teaching-2006.pdf

Zoupaniotis, A.  (January 5, 2012).  Greek-American Community:  We either change or we sink.

Greek American News Agency (de jure translation from Greek).