Looking over the Developing Child website, I was
particularly interested in reading about the state of mental health in children
in this generation. In my career, I have
heard stories about children who have made alarming comments, whose parents
deal with mental health issues and the children exhibit signs of having mental
health issues as well, and children who could very well have mental health
issues if some of the issues that plague them are not dealt with. Also, with so much talk regarding mental health,
around the world I wanted to explore what can be done at an early age to help
those who may be affected by mental health.
1.
Significant mental health problems can and do
occur in young children. Children have
anxiety (especially depending on their home life or other factors that can
induce anxiety), ADHD, and neurological disorders and may respond to emotional
experiences and traumatic events in differing ways. Speaking with colleagues, I was told of a
young child in the program whose mother is in the process of terminating her
parental rights, yet she still sees him at least twice a week. My colleagues voiced concerns over his
behavior on any given day, but especially on those days that he sees his mother
– he comes in to the center, leaves to see his mother and once he returns, they
have numerous problems with him and have had to resort to a one-to-one ratio
(highly uncommon and expensive for a program that specializes in group care).
2.
Genetics and experience play a major role in
mental health. The experiences that we
have deeply affect our lives. Events
that cause toxic stress may increase mental health problems either immediately
or in years to come.
3.
Early intervention can help individuals who are
exposed to traumatic events significantly.
Although later intervention can be helpful, early intervention can help
combat problems in self-regulation, emotional adaptability, relating to others
and self-understanding.
Additional information that I have learned from the Save the
Children Federation website is that they work tirelessly to end child
marriage. Child marriage occurs often in
low and lower-middle income countries.
If affects children under the age of 18 and mostly affects girls. As of now, there are not many investments to
end the practice but the rate of child marriage is declining over time. The statistics that stood out most to me
were:
·
Child marriage is harmful (mostly to young
girls)
·
There are efforts in place to completely
eradicate child marriage by the end of 2030
·
Close to 100 million girls all over the glob are
not legally protected against child marriage
·
While there are laws in place against child
marriage, they are not sufficient enough to end the practice.
References
Early childhood mental health. Center on the Developing Child. Harvard University.
Wodon, Q., Tavares, P., Fiala, O., Le Nestour, A., Wise, L.
(2017). Ending child
marriage: Child marriage laws and their
limitations. Save the Children. Retrieved from https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/advocacy/ending-child-marriage.pdf
Hi Alivia,
ReplyDeleteHonestly I didn't even know that his problem existed. Child marriage was something I thought happened in the movies, a long time ago. As for the information on the trauma of family spreading to children, I am all too familiar with that. I have students that are being raised by grandparents, when the children get to visit with mom, they too show some not so ideal behaviors. Luckily for the children they have loving, supportive, grandparents to bring them to school everyday and care for them. I am curious if you were able to find out in which country the marriage issues still exist.
Hi Alvia,
ReplyDeleteEarly intervention is so important for children who experience trauma or toxic stress. If they don't get help, the issues they experienced can manifest themselves in other ways which people sometimes disregard because they think a child was too young to remember something they experienced.
Genetics plays too much of a role in issues with mental health which is unfortunate for those who are uneducated to know how to, or unable to have access to help. I had a students once who clearly had mental health issues as did his mother and our concerns were dismissed because we were told he was only 4 years old, it wasn't a major issue. I truly believe that by dismissing his dangerous red flag behaviors at 4 years old, he would be on to another level of behavior by the time he was 10 or 11 because he did not get the help he needed early on.