Mental illness in Young Children
Since I have been an early head start
teacher, I have come into contact with many different types of personalities. The
children that I work with may be young but it seems as they are the ones that
are full of the most surprises. They are a joy to work with and sometimes teach
me just as much I teach them. During my time as an early head start I have also
seen an increasing number of children with behavioral/ mental health issues. ADHD
has been one of the most common ones that I have had experience with. So if I were
to be able to choose a topic to research that would make a major positive contribution
to the well-being of children and their families, it would be mental health
illness in young children with an emphasis on ADHD.
I have taught children as eighteen months
that were diagnosed with ADHD and on medicine. While it was a challenge it also
made me curious to know as to what really causes ADHD, and what are some
techniques that can help those children and their families to cope. I feel that
a lot of times parents are so frustrated with whatever issues their children might
be going through, they don’t even seek to get help because mental illness is
the last thing that crosses their mind. Unless there is family history of
mental illness, most times I guess parents feel they will grow out of whatever
may be going on. Which is why I like early childhood education so much because we
focus on intervention for things like ADHD. I know of a mother who sent her
young son to live with his father, because she couldn’t control him or his behavior.
Later on the father took the son to see a mental health provider via the
request of the school. It was then that he was diagnosed with ADHD, and given
meds to help control it.
I feel like research on mental health in
young children would help parents to be more aware of the sign that their
children might display if they are having mental health issues. Which would
hopefully encourage parents to seek professional help for their children, so
these issues won’t hinder children in their adulthood. An
estimated 15 million of our nation's young people can currently be diagnosed
with a mental health disorder. Many more are at risk of developing a disorder
due to risk factors in their biology or genetics; within their families,
schools, and communities; and among their peers (http://www.apa.org/pi/families/children-mental-health.aspx).
Hopefully my research findings would bring about more parent education programs
that focused on mental health in young children. I also hope that from my
research there could be more strategies for teachers to use in the classroom
with the students along with their parents. I also would hope that it make
therapy and counseling more known and available to parents. Maybe even being
about more free mental health clinics in schools and the surrounding communities.
Most of all I just would help that there would be more prevention and intervention
programs created to with mental illness in young children.
Please take second and watch this video, I found it to be very interesting you will find the link below.
References
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