Normal Behaviour Vs Behaviour that needs following up in Children & Adolescents
Finding Services
Questions???
- Find a psychologist using APS: http://www.psychology.org.au/FindaPsychologist/
- Find other community health services: http://www.gmsbml.org.au/hp_directory.php
- Parenting Programs for Behavioural problems: http://www.123magic.com/,
- Autism Service Programs: http://www.autismpartnership.com.au/ , http://www.autismqld.com.au/
- Child and Youth Mental Health Service: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/metrosouthmentalhealth/resources/fact-sheets/cymhs.asp
What type of problem is my child experiencing?
Okay, so my GP and I have worked out what's going on, what's next??
- Your GP will refer you to psychologist to further work out what the problem is and provide suggestions for intervention
- Parenting programs
- 123 Magic (we'll be talking about some of these strategies in other sessions).
- Triple P
Okay, but what interventions are out there?
Behavioural
- When something in the child's environment is rewarding the problem behaviour or keeping it going
- e.g., attention may reward some tantrums
Behavioural problems -
Developmental
Autism - Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA), social skills programs
Intellectual impairment - Individual learning programs to help child progress at their own pace
Mental
- When something is different about the way a child is developing, which leads to the child's difficulties
- e.g., Autism, intellectual impairment, learning disorders
- Something is different in the child's brain
- Child may have difficulty attaining the same skills as other children
Developmental Problems -
- Something is different about the way the child thinks or perceives the world, which leads to distress
- e.g., Depression, anxiety
- Mental disorders are caused by a combination of differences in the child's brain and experiences the child has
- No difficulties attaining skills, but may be difficulties with functioning
- Psychologist
- Group programs for things like social anxiety
Mental illnesses -
Why do we need to know what's normal and what needs following up?
- Disruptive behaviour can be part of what needs to happen for our children to learn things, grow and develop (e.g., kids need to argue with siblings to learn social boundaries)
- Disruptive behaviour can also be an indication that our children need extra support
- We need to know the difference so we can tolerate the behaviour or get help to change it!!
- What is normal or abnormal behaviour changes depending on age
Okay, so my child is doing some things that need following up, what do I do next?
Need to decide whether the problem is behavioural or mental or developmental
You don't need to know the answer to this - just go to the GP and they will help work it out
Normal
Normal vs needs following up in Infancy & Early Childhood (ages 0-5)
- Settling difficulties when uncomfortable (e.g., wind, tired, hungry)
- Difficulty sharing
- Fear (of separation, dark, new situations)
- Some aggression, kicking, biting, yelling
Needs following up
- Withdrawing from caregivers
- Not engaged (e.g., eye contact, smiling)
- Always difficult to settle
- Too frightened of familiar people
- Too friendly with strangers
- Excessive aggression with no trigger
What's normal Vs what needs following up in Adolescence?
Normal
Needs following up
- Moodiness
- Less attention toward parents
- More self-involved
- Peer conflicts
- Worries about relationships
- Testing limits (e.g., arguing about curfew)
- Identity searching
- Substance experimentation
- Preoccupation with sex
- Sexual promiscuity
- Suicidal or homicidal thoughts
- Self-harm
- Withdrawal from usual activities
- Huge changes in grades, hygiene, attitude, sleeping, eating
- Delinquency
- Excessive fighting/aggression
- Many complaints of physical illness
- Hearing or seeing things that other people can't
Normal Vs Needs following up in Childhood (6-12 years)
Needs following up
- Excessively aggressive
- Injuring self or others
- Excessive fears
- School refusal
- Fire setting
- Frequent excessive emotional reactions
- Inability to focus for longer than 5 minutes
- Delinquent behaviour
- Violating other's rights
Normal
- Arguments with siblings and peers
- Curiosity about sexual body parts
- Testing limits
- Poor attention span
- Lying
- Worries about peer acceptance
- Not taking responsibility for own behaviour