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Is Your Son or Daughter Depressed?

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It might initially be difficult to determine whether a child is just “down in the dumps,” or whether he or she is experiencing a major depressive episode. Parents can watch for symptoms that are persistent, troubling, and interfering with typical life functioning. In a major depressive episode, many of the following signs may be observed: It’s persistent. First, the sadness has been ongoing for at least two weeks or more, without lifting. It’s causing changes in the family dynamics or is contributing to family stress at home. Loss of enthusiasm. The child is no longer interested in activities that were … Continue reading →

Have You Failed to Recognize Your Child’s Anxiety Disorder?

We assume that parents intuitively know when their child has a problem. Yet in about half the cases of childhood anxiety, mom and dad have failed to recognize what is going on (Berstein and Layne 2004). See if you’ve observed any of the following symptoms in your son or daughter (he or she may have several or many): The child: worries about as many as six things at a time. has difficulty falling asleep, unlike most children who are sleeping twenty minutes after going to bed. wakes in the night or early morning and can’t get back to sleep. has … Continue reading →

Syndrome Soup: When Your Kid Has a Mixed Diagnosis

Although some special needs children have a very specific diagnosis of ADHD, autism, or Tourette syndrome, etc., many children have symptoms from a variety of disorders. For example, a child might have Tourette-like tics, with ADHD-like inattention, OCD-like anxiety, and bipolar-like mood swings. Add a dash of learning disabilities, and you’ve got syndrome soup. Many neurological disorders have cross-over symptoms, and many are commonly seen together, such as ADHD and Tourette syndrome. Sometimes these mixed-diagnosis kids have a long list of disorders which seem to utilize every letter of the alphabet, or they might be in limbo with no specific … Continue reading →

15 “Steps” to Find the Right Education Program for Your Child

The path to find the right education program for your special son or daughter can be confusing. Many parents get lost, stuck, or just don’t know which way to go. Here is a map to help you find your way. (If your child is preschool-aged, he or she will benefit from early intervention.) 1. Get an accurate diagnosis. It’s absolutely vital that you understand whether your child has a specific learning disability, ADD/ADHD, an emotional disturbance, mental retardation, is gifted, falls somewhere on the autism spectrum, or has a mixture of several disorders. If you’re still searching for answers, follow … Continue reading →

Specific Learning Disabilities and Your Child

It has been estimated that approximately 5 percent of school-aged children have a specific learning disability (SLD). “Specific Learning Disability” is one of the thirteen recognized areas of disability which qualifies for Special Education, according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA). What is a Specific Learning Disability (SLD)? A child having an SLD typically has average intelligence, but has difficulty with processing information in a particular area, such as receiving, storing, sorting, classifying, expressing, and retrieving information. For example, a child may be able to compute a math problem which has just been explained to … Continue reading →

Teenagers With Autism Rely on School Mental Health Services

A study finds that many teenagers who have autism use the mental health services at their school. This finding shows that schools really need to put effort into making sure that there is a mental health practitioner in the building. It also shows that there needs to be a system of follow up care that can be accessed after graduation. Schools provide many important services to students who have special needs. There should be teachers who have been specifically trained in Special Education. There should be a reasonable amount of teacher’s aids, who are there to work with students (and … Continue reading →

What’s IQ Got to Do With It?

IQ. . . What is it? IQ stands for intelligence quotient, and is a measure often used to determine whether a child is intellectually below average. It is written as a percentage, such as: In other words, if a child is chronologically age eight, but functions at the intellectual age of a four year old, her IQ would be 4/8 = 50% = “50.” In most cases, a normal IQ is considered to be between the range of 90 – 110. And an IQ of 100 would be absolutely average for that child’s age. A child with an IQ between … Continue reading →

What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Children?

It’s common for children to get anxious about various things they face in their lives. A normal amount of worry can help motivate a child to complete a task, try his best in a performace, use caution in a dangerous situation, or show empathy for others. Worry is a natural human emotion. However, kids with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)are ruled by anxiety and worry. Not only is the amount of anxiety they experience unnatural, but the fears themselves are often absurd. For example, a child with OCD might worry that her bus will crash if she doesn’t sit in precisely the … Continue reading →

“I Wish I Were Never Born.” Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder in Children

Like many childhood mental disorders, bipolar can be extremely difficult to properly diagnose. This is because bipolar disorder, which is sometimes called mania or manic depression, can mimic the symptoms of other disorders. Bipolar disorder may present with symptoms similar to conduct disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Also, childhood bipolar disorder can manifest itself very differently from the symptoms we typically see in adults with the condition. In order for the diagnosis of bipolar disorder to be made, the symptoms must be causing the child serious problems at home and school. The child with bipolar disorder will have difficultly … Continue reading →

Conduct Disorder: A Frightening Reality

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When I first heard of conduct disorder, I wondered whether it was some conjured up name for kids who’ve been badly parented. I mean, honestly… “conduct” disorder? Have we gone so far with creating disorders and diseases that we’re giving bad behavior a medical excuse? But the symptoms of conduct disorder are so shockingly anti-social that, one must reason that something has gone wrong in the child’s psyche. This is not merely the case of a spoiled, manipulative child who throws tantrums. The child with conduct disorder has a surprising inability to feel empathy for other living things. This is … Continue reading →