But, asks Ian Sample, are behavioural problems so easily solved?
It must have made fascinating viewing for anyone bringing up a child with learning or behavioural problems. Last week’s Child of Our Time, the BBC programme that follows the trials and tribulations of children born at the beginning of the new millennium, told the story of James and Ruben, boys with very different behavioural problems. James was aggressive in the extreme, his day a blur of punching, beating and demolition. Ruben’s problem was less visible: he was uncommunicative and struggling to make friends. As a test, the two were given fish oil as a daily supplement. Three months later, we saw James as a different child: he was popular with other children, sharing his toys rather than clubbing people with them. Ruben had also changed. He was chattering away and had worked out how to make friends. The question: was it all down to fish oil? It is impossible to say, of course. In the same three months, other factors changed in both children’s lives: James’s mum split from her partner,
