If I could choose any topic within the early childhood field to research and it would have a positive outcome on the entire community, it would be behavioral problems in young children. I choose this topic because I lived with this issue for much of my life. My brother has had behavioral problems his whole life due to a severe brain injury he got when he was two. I know what it is like for children to be put through test after test, and the Doctors never come up with a correct diagnosis. I would run a study to make sure that children were not being passed over when there may be something seriously wrong. Too many children today are being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, and I find that to be the "easy way out" for doctors and parents. A child who is two or three years old should not be given this diagnosis. The child is more than likely just acting their age and the partents do not know what else to do, so they run to the doctor and get a prescription for Ridlin to calm the child down. This makes it difficult for the next child that comes along who may have something more severe than ADD or ADHD. I had a child in my class years ago who was, for lack of better terms, terrible. This child was as sweet as could be when things were going his way or he was playing. When he lost his temper though he was capable of injuring even adults. He woudl throw chairs, tables, knock over shelves filled with toys, bite, punch, the list goes on. There was something about this boy that I was drawn to. I took him under my wing and played a little bit of favorites with him, so I coudl possibly point his mother in the right direction. Jeremy was three and there was no reason for him to be acting the way he was for no reason. After I took on this mission I found that there were triggers that would set him off and allow him to lose his temper. He had a very difficult time with transition and needed ample time to prepare himself for that to happen. I would always alert him when there was 10 minutes left of an activity and allow him to begin his own transition before the rest of the class. This helped him a great deal. It was not medication that he needed it was attention.
I want to run a study that would allow people to see that jumping to conclusions like ADD is not always the right choice. A child may simply need some extra TLC and some time to work things out for themselves.
TIffany, what a great topic. I agree that many children are misdiagnoised with ADD and ADHD. I just finished a great book that compared the dsm criteria for ADHD with that of Attachment disorder. The symptoms are almost identical. I think many of the children diagnosed with ADHD may in fact suffer from poor attachment.
ReplyDeleteI had a child in my class who was exactly like the child you described in your class. He was only two but was extremely aggressive, not only verbally but physically as well. there were times when he would get on top of the other children and punch them as hard as he could until I could pull them apart. I spoke with the parent but she did nothing about it and neither did the center director and management. I wish he would have been tested to see if he had some underlying issues. The day he dropped from my room was the happiest and saddest day. I was happy because I knew that I would no longer have to be afraid of what he would do to the other children or to me but I was saddened because I knew that once he was out of my class, there was no guarantee that anyone would even try to help him.
ReplyDeleteTiffany, I agree, too many children are diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed medication they might not even need. I work with children who do require some psychotrophic medication, but as you,I don't think a two or three year old needs meds to control their behavior; many times it is the parent who cannot handle this behavior and they want their child put on meds. It is very sad to see a child who is so overdosed on meds just because a parent or caregiver cannot handle their behavior. Hopefully rules about this will change in the near future and children will not get prescribed meds unless they are over the age of 5 years.
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