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Special Needs
Unique Way of Helping Kids With Behavior Problems
The human body, specifically the human personality and the human mind, are among the most interesting territories anybody can explore. Aside from being a constant topic for research, the human body is also one of the fields that experts continue to delve into because of the unending mysteries and possibilities such as the occurrence of various behavior problems.
But as time goes by, more and more findings are being linked to the human body that can affect its major parts like the brain. These major developments or possibilities continue to be under the observation and study of the leading institutions in the world right now.
Among the age brackets that are prone to developing behavior problems are kids that are in the grade school level. This is because they often lack guidance from their parents and understanding from their teachers and peers.
Today, many experts have realized that there is one effective way to help children veer away from the possible development of behavior problems—this is by giving the child a pet companion.
Experts agree that pets—specifically dogs—are effective companions that can bring physical and emotional benefits especially to young kids. Studies show that dogs are quite effective companions especially in dealing with mood disorders and other behavior problems.
Possessing calm, loyal and intelligent qualities, canine companions are said to be ideal for those people who go through mood swings and disorders because these animals can provide the peace and tranquility the person needs to soothe his or her nerves. When it comes to psychotherapy, canine companions usually serve as clinical bridges and distractions using uncomfortable sessions.
Studies show that a strong psychological and emotional attachment between people and animal companions have resulted to lasting and strengthened human-animal bonds. Reports also show that canine companions help their owners have a positive outlook in life by minimizing the tension amongst people and family members.
Just like any other inquiry or study that has been conducted recently, the reports regarding the supposed benefits of people interacting with companion animals or Animal Assisted Therapies (AAT) are not yet final. These reports, though initial, present studies of efficacy that exude great possibilities. With continuous research, it has been found out that those animals that are involved in AAT increase people’s understanding of the human-companion animal interaction, thus can lead to therapeutic possibilities.
As early as the 18th century, AAT is being administered by people as a medical intervention for improving a person’s structural and postural balance. Aside from the physical benefits AAT gives, it has also been found out that animal companion also helps the person to improve and develop a sense of self-worth, ego strength, self-confidence and social competence.
Today, AAT is known to work well with children who have behavior problems as well to kids that are autistic, nonverbal, schizophrenic, inhibited, withdrawn, obsessive-compulsive and even to those who are culturally challenged. Because of this, AAT/nature education programs were created to be therapeutic for patients in residential treatment especially for those with attention-deficit/hyperactive and conduct disorders.
It has also been observed that canine companions included in the AAT program were effective in decreasing the patient’s agitated and aggressive behavior while improving their cooperation with the instructors, thus leading to engaged learning and behavioral control in a regular classroom setting.
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Parenting Tips: Dealing With Behavior Problems Among Children
Behavioral problems are among the most common issues of parents with their children. Behavioral problems can manifest in their habits, due to psychological disorders, and can affect social relationships. Parents need to understand the reason for their children’s behavioral problems to help and encourage them.
Here are some common behavior issues that parents have to deal with:
• Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders can lead to anxiety, depression, aggression, and may affect the child’s mental performance. This can be a result of a traumatic experience like an abuse or injury. It could also be due to sudden family changes or problems like divorce, illness or death.
Children may not show their response right away to traumatic events especially if it would involve separation or divorce, death or an addition to the family. When changes like these happen, it is important to encourage them to share their feelings. Changes should be explained to them prior to the event.
Children from different age levels would respond to traumatic events differently. In younger children, it could manifest in their sleeping and eating habits. Teens and young adults would often show changes in their social relationships with their families, friends, and school performance.
• Habits
Habits like thumb sucking, nail biting, hair pulling, hitting or biting themselves could be a response to situations where children may experience tension and pressure. To address these, parents should reinforce the child’s positive development. Meanwhile, habits like thumb-sucking is better off ignored.
• Sleeping issues
Every child seems to have undergone sleeping/night-time problems, like nightmares, enuresis or bed wetting. For instance, about 20% of five years old wet their bed. By the time they reached 10 years old, the percentage is just 5%. About 2-3% of children bedwetters, wet their bed due to medical conditions and problems.
Bed wetting could be a result of diseases, small bladder, food allergies, hormonal imbalances, sleep apnea, constipation, social changes and stress. Nightmare is another night-time issue. It is important to talk to children who are suffering from sleeping problems.
For bedwetters, make sure that they feel assured that bed wetting is normal. Never humiliate or physically punish them for wetting the blankets. There are different treatment methods that parents could use to help resolve bed wetting like alarms, use of medication, schedules and of course, encouragement.
Night terrors, nightmares, sleep walking and sleep talking are other sleep problems. You could start by having a calming bedtime routine to settle down the children, assure and settle their fears. If sleeping problems continue and disrupting the child’s activities, then there are sleep specialists and doctors who can help you.
• Eating problems
Children could be picky and they could end up not consuming the right amount of nutrition that they need. Eating problems could be refusing to eat, playing and not eating during meal time, and eating non-food items.
Children may refuse or dawdle when eating if they want attention, too pressured by the parents, eating time is not pleasant or they may be still full. It is important to plan their meals. For example, if they want to eat snack so close to lunch time, you could provide them small proportion of snacks which would still leave them interested to eat during lunch time. Make sure that there are no toys, television, and other disturbances during meal time.
Children could have eating disorders if they are dealing with complicated situations and emotions. Talk and reassure them. After all, they are still children, they are still confused with things and their feelings.
Another eating problem is when children eat non-food items. This disorder is called Pica. This disorder could be a result of nutritional deficiencies that target specific cravings, mental problems, parental neglect, or food deprivation.
It is normal for children to exhibit behavioral problems, since they are continuously learning and adjusting to their world. Changes, simple or drastic, could have a large impact on them that parents sometimes miss. Talking, encouragement, reassurance and professional help (if necessary) could help parents deal with these issues.
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Dealing With Asperger’s Disorder
Asperger’s Syndrome is one type of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is closely associated with Autism, another type under ASD. One major difference between patients of the 2 disorders however, is that people with Aperger’s Syndrome (AS) have developed language skills and can communicate using language, though not as efficient as others.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Asperger’s is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by an inability to understand how to interact socially. AS can be noticed during childhood, and is characterized by peculiar behavior, social isolation, strange way of speaking, aggression, clumsiness and poor motor skills, and a fixation for a certain area of interest, disregarding all other topics and age-appropriate subject matter.
The cause of AS is yet to be discovered, though theories such as heredity, genetic difference, or brain abnormality have been considered. Furthermore, diagnosing a child of Asperger’s is not as easy, since there is no single test that could spot AS. One would need a group of experts on the area of Developmental Disorders, a thorough inspection of medical history of the child and his/her family, and undergoing physical and neurological exams, especially when diagnosing an adult with AS.
It is indeed a difficult task to raise a child with AS, but the sooner it is diagnosed, the better. There is no full-proof way of managing people with AS, and there is no cure for this Disorder. Furthermore, there’s no medication that can control the core symptoms of Asperger’s.
The ideal treatment would be therapy which should be individually tailored based on the capabilities of the person. A program which involves social skills training, cognitive behavioral therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy may help a child or even a adult with AS to function in their environment. Though no medication has been created or discovered for AS itself, professionals may also use prescriptions for the symptoms or AS, such as depression and anxiety disorder.
It is also helpful for parents to take undergo specialized training in handling their child with AS. Previous studies have shown a large probability of parents divorcing due to the constraints of having a child with this kind behavior disorder, and of course, this solution would do nothing to help the child cope at all. In contrary, the child would lose a stable environment because of shifting from one parent’s place to another, and might just heighten aggression and depression tendencies because of the ambiguous parenting skills of separated parents.
Establishing an ideal family environment, with understanding and supportive parents and siblings, may largely contribute to the well-being of a person with Asperger’s. One study have shown that parents who have undergone workshops on how to deal with Asperger’s Syndrome reported less behavioral problems with their child.
People with Asperger’s still have a huge chance of living a normal life with proper training and assistance. They can undergo Vocational Education, aside from the therapies, so that they may be trained in proper work etiquettes as well as skills needed to function at work. One can go as far as saying that Asperger’s Syndrome is not a Disorder, but only a sign of difference from one person to the next.
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Does Your Child Have Hyper-Aggressive Behavioral Problem?
Our office allows their employees to bring their children from time to time to the office. Normally children act shyly at first but it’s a given that they’ll soon begin to roam around and explore things. Almost all of the women at the office have kids and at one time or another, they have already brought their kids to work. However, there is this child who stood differently among all the other kids. He tears up papers, he runs around, he slaps others, and sometimes he breaks things like calculators and staplers. He is constantly moving and doing different things. He disrupts everyone with his antics to get one’s attention. One of our research consultants who happen to be a psychologist, too, asked the child’s mom if the child behaves like that all the time. When the mom said yes, our research consultant suspected that the child has hyper-aggressive behavioral problem.
Hyper activism-aggressiveness is one of the major behavioral problems prevalent among children ages 5-11 years old (Pearson, Child Developmental Psychology). Children who have this behavioral problem are often violent with other people and do things hurriedly. They are often irritated and moody, have short attention span and ignore you when you call their attention. When parents observe these manifestations with their children, the best way to handle this situation is to be calm, understanding and open-minded.
The psychologist said the one way to handle children with this behavioral problem is to channel their hyper activism to sports and other creative activities. Let them exhaust that energy by doing sports, with the parents consistently encouraging them to excel in it. Make them watch documentary films that have slow pacing so that it may somehow influence and reduce their constant moving. Talk to the children and make them understand and empathize that hurting people is not good. Avoid hitting and spanking the child as this may be misinterpreted by the child as the proper way to deal with stress and mood swings. Physical abuse will only exacerbate the problem and will not help you in dealing with your child.
In severe occasions, a child with this behavioral problem won’t listen to you. It would be all right if you make him stand at the corner without speaking to him and afterward explain to him the reasons why you did that. It is also best if you consult a psychologist for early detection and intervention.
But what causes this hyper activism-aggressiveness among children? Before you blame yourself, you must understand that there is no conclusive evidence that it is solely caused by genetics. A lot of experts in medical and psychological fields believe that genes only predispose one to have behavioral problems instead of directly causing the person to have it. Majority of the experts still believe that nature and nurture complete the equation of having behavioral problems.
Always remember that our children deserve unconditional love and understanding from their family. Deal with the situation by embracing it with an openness with which you’d be able to forego all negative reaction to the problem. And since this is the moment when your child needs support and care from other people, it’ll be best to assure the child that he/she has the whole family behind her/his back.
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