Children and Behavioral Problems
How Parents Can Help Mental Health Experts Diagnose their Child
Feb 20, 2008
When a child exhibits psychological or behavioural problems, some intervention is warranted. What is less clear, however, is what form of intervention is sufficient. Interestingly, parents can assist professionals in diagnosing and selecting treatment for a child by paying attention to critical details and gathering information that educators, psychologists, and psychiatrists need to properly treat a child.
Note Pervasiveness of the Behavior Problem
Among the first questions a parent must ask is whether or not the problem is present in more than one area of the child’s life. Like adults, kids have several areas of their life in which to perform and function. Kids may show different aspects of their personality, temperament, and behaviour at home, at school, at extra-curricular activities, or with their peers.
So, while a child may show undesirable behavior at school, he or she may not be showing evidence of this same behavior at home. This might indicate more that the child is struggling with some issues inherent in the school or classroom environment than a problem with the child and requires further investigation before concluding something is seriously wrong.
One thing is certain; a child who has a serious psychological, intellectual, or emotional problem will show evidence of this problem across several, if not all, areas of his or her life. Making these types of observations and even going so far as to record problem behavior will help professionals better help the child.
Note Severity of the Behavior Problem
A second critical question that parents must ask is how extreme is the behaviour in question. Is the child unable to learn certain school subjects? Is the child harming him/herself or others? Is the child unable to make friends? Is the child troubled by the so-called problem behaviour? Perhaps having few or no friends does not bother this particular child.
If, however, a behavior is extreme in that it interferes with the child’s (or family’s) basic functioning, success, or happiness, it warrants careful attention regardless of the fact that it occurs in only one environment. For instance, consistently failing to perform at least adequately in school may reveal a very situation-specific difficulty like a learning disability.
Enlist Educators
Because children are not able to understand or adequately express their inner experience, it falls on parents to help professionals make sense of their child’s world. One of the most useful things parents can do, in addition to observing and charting when the problem behavior occurs, is to enlist the aid of the child’s educators.
Since children spend at least 40% of their waking hours at school during the work week, it makes sense for parents with a child who is showing difficulties, to communicate with the child’s school. This might involve several meetings with the child’s teachers, the principal, and after school program coordinators.
This diligent recording of the problem, rather than rely on memory, will inform parents if there really is a problem worth further intervention. Undesirable behavior that rears itself only with peers and does not harm anyone or trouble the child may not be worth more involved interventions such as psycho-educational assessment or therapy. It may only require that parents help the child gain more effective peer skills.
Should more involved intervention be required, however, having a greater understanding and journal of the child’s behavior will provide valuable information to educators and mental health professionals so they are better able to effectively help the child.
Additional Child Psychology Readings
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