Emotional and Behavioural Problems in Infants and Preschool Children

Question: Discuss about the Emotional and Behavioural Problems in Infants and Preschool Children. Answer: Introduction There are many research work that have been conducted to help identify children who have mental problems. The toddlers may have long term problems or short term (one that is just starting). Recently, the researchers have gained more interest in conducting this type of research because of the many reported cases of weird behaviours from preschool children in turkey. Most of them show signs of emotional problems which later develop into mental and other psychological illnesses. Parents and guardians need to develop very close relationship with their children. This helps in earl identification of any uncommon signs in children. By so doing, these problems can easily be prevented through proper medication and recommendations from a legal health practitioner. Research indicate that most parents tend to bring up their children alone. This means that they do not seek medical help from hospitals. Doctors have always recommended that infants be taken to medical facility from birth date up to the time when they become close to three years. During this period, children are immunized and given drugs that help them grow first, healthy and of sound mind. This helps prevent children from falling sick frequently and from contacting some contagious diseases easily. Children who are not born in hospitals or taken to hospitals immediately after birth, therefore, risk suffering from diseases that could have been controlled and prevented. According to a report by world health organisation, majority of children who develop mental complications at tender age were not immunized against diseases immediately after birth. Emotional Problems in Infants and Preschool Children Parents need to know early if their children have emotional disorders. This is important because early detection will mean early treatment, hence eradication of the disorder. Children can easily be observed during play time with other children. This is the time when the parents need to be very observant of their children (Akca, et al, 2012). There are many things that parents or guardians can look for in their children to help identify emotional and behavioural problems. Some children have temper outbursts. As much as some parents may see it normal, it is good to raise question marks on the same. Research studies point out that such kids may carry the same characters to old age. Thus, affecting their normal life operations (Avi et al, 2007). It is normal for every human being to feel sad at some point in life. For young children to have a prolonged feeling of sadness is something to take note of, and act accordingly. (Bernet, et al, 2016). Poor parenting skills also contributes to weird emotions in children. At early stages of life, children do not communicate well to older people or even the parent. Children whose needs are not provided may become angry due to emotional charges in the body(Falceto, et al, 2012). Parenting research conducted by Thomas Coram in the year 2010 shows that parental affection given to children at tender age contribute so much to what the child become of in his or her older age (Flouri, et al, 2015). Parents on the other hand need not be stressed up or have a feeling of distress. This as well affects the bonding between parents and their children, which psychologically affects childrens emotions (Hornman, et al, 2016). Behavioural Problems in Infants and Preschool Children Children raised and brought up in some areas behaves differently compared to those raised in other places. The behaviours also change depending on whether the child is raised by the parents or guardians. Turkey researchers on children behaviours has revealed that children who cry most of the time, do not eat as required and those who have a problem during sleeping time, may end up developing behavioural problems when they become older (Lianne, et al, 2017). According to the research, 70% of those children develop depression and anxiety after a while. There are many behavioural problems in children and so can be categorised into the following five categories. Sleeping disorders Children of a certain age are required to sleep not more than a specific number of hours. According to medical research, children who are between the ages of one and three months need to sleep quarter of a day probably mid night. It should be noted that parental influence and environmental factors may contribute to the type of sleeping that a child may be having (Yrmez, et al, 2014). Psychological disorders Inconsistent parenting style, child neglect or abuse, bereavement and injury are some of the factors that may cause psychological disorders in children. Reaction to these factors may not immediate, but they will surely be displayed by the victim children. Parents need to guide their children to always anticipate what might come in future. Children who are of older age also have their ways of showing psychological disturbances (Raya, et al, 2011). Some of which include poor performance in their learning institutions, some will distance themselves from family members and friends, while others will avoid eating for a certain duration. Such children need to be advised properly and be given close care. This is because once such problems persist for long, it might result to a serious psychological problem that may not be easily control or treated (Salari, et al, 2014). Anxiety disorder It is normal practise for young children to be fearful of some situations. However, if the same is carried to older age, the result might be a negative one. Anxiety disorders may result into psychological problems that can easily lead the child to a psychologist for medical attention. Research points out that six in every ten children are anxious about something (Smith, et al, 2010). A third of the six may become over anxious and this is why children need to be near parental figure anytime for advice, guidance, encouragement and so on. Habit disorders Habit disorder can be referred to as tension reducing. The table below shows tension reducing habits. Thumb sucking Repetitive vocalisation Tics Nail biting hair pulling Breath holding Air swallowing Head banging Manipulating parts of the body Body rocking Biting themselves These repetitive behaviours are always displayed by almost all children. However, not all are disorders (Wamboldt, et al, 2015). Some are temporary while others need medical attention depending on the persistence and the side effects that come as a result of the behaviour. It should be noted that children learn most of the things at young age. This means that they might be engaged in behavioural activities just to copy what adults are doing. It is, therefore, important that adults watch what they are doing near children. Expert advice informs us that children who are engaged in head banging mostly do so when they are alone (Torres, et al, 2015). This reiterates the importance of being close children and always watching their actions and behaviours. Disruptive behaviours Holding breath while breathing and tantrums in children causes frustrations and anger. This is because children are not able control their environment. Parents and caregivers are advised to always ignore children at that time so that they learn self-control. However, parents need to be keen on any antisocial behaviour in their children. This is not normal and there will be a need to get close to the child and give proper advice if possible, and may be introduce other age mates to the child so that his or her social skills may develop as well (van der Veen-Mulders, et al, 2017). Research Methodology For the purpose of this study, primary data is collected with the help of a questionnaire. A total of 126 participants were selected randomly for the collection of the data. Each of the 126 participants were provided with the questionnaire and the responses of the participants of this study were recorded as data. Most of the data points are qualitative in nature as they record the opinions of the respondents on several behaviours of them and their children. The qualitative data points are expressed numerically and analysis will be performed with the help of appropriate statistical techniques. The analysis will be conducted with the help of the statistical software SPSS version 20. The results of the analysis are discussed in detail in the following section. Data Analysis and Results It has been seen already from the discussion above that most of the infants and preschool children nowadays suffer from emotional and behavioural problems. The possible reasons behind these problems will be discussed in this section. Several factors for family assessments have been asked to the respondents. Questions such as how the problems of the children are solved by the family, how the family communicates with their children, what is their role in controlling their children, how they care for their children, how they control the behaviours of their children were asked and the responses on these matters were summarized. It has been tested whether there is any difference in the assessments run by the family based on the type of symptom their children show. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test has been conducted to test this claim. From the results of the analysis (Table 1), it can be said that significant differences between the assessment scores of the families has been observed on the basis of the type of symptoms (sig value 0.136 level of significance). Further, it can be seen that (Figure 1) the children suffering from speech delay suffer the most from the emotional and the behavioural problems in their chil dhood. The next factor that has been tested is whether there is a relationship between the children showing the symptoms and the children and their parents affected by the emotional and behavioural problems. To test this, regression analysis has been conducted. It can be seen from the results of the regression analysis (Table 3) that 72.3 percent of the children showing the symptoms of emotional and behavioural problems suffer from these problems. From table 4, it can be seen that the results of the analysis are significant. Thus, from here it can be said that the children showing symptoms of these problems might be taken special care of. Especially care from their parents are important for the kids to overcome this behavioural problem. On the other hand, it has also been seen that the child with problem of speech shows the symptoms for behavioural and emotional problems. The reason behind this can be such that these kids are unable to express their feelings as other normal kids do. This leads to depression in some of the kids which results in such behavioural problems. Conclusion Activities that parents and caregivers allow their children to engage in determines their (children) behaviours at a later age. Parents can either make their children behave well or ruin the psychological makeup of children. Psychological practitioners do advise parents to always be close to their children so as to take not of any weird behaviour in children and take a recommended step. Parents should be friendly and approachable. This makes children to stay close to them and tell them most things happening to them. This means that parents need to be responsive and sensitive on matters that mention their children. Responsiveness also help improve the mother child relationship which is good for the mental development of children. As per the research, young infants need to be born in medical facilities or be taken to the medical facilities immediately after birth. The doctors will administer drugs that help the child control her or his movement as he or she grows older. The drugs also help boost the immune system of the child thus preventing the child from contacting contagious diseases which act as stimulants in making children behave in a certain way. While in school, the preschool children need to be watched as well since they play and interact with other children of diverse backgrounds. Some of these students might be suffering from emotional and behavioural problems as well. There is, therefore, a reason for tutors, who are also psychological experts to teach children at preschool level. The tutor in question will as well be in a position to give advice to the parents so that they (parents) become oriented with what to do in case of any unfamiliar behaviours from their children. This means that there will be a continuous cycle of mentorship and training at all level where information might be lacking. There is also a need by the government of Turkey to set up institutions where young parents can go and get information concerning children. Young upcoming mot hers will as well be in a position to know what to do in case of a child coming their way. References Akca, O. F., Ugur, C., Colak, M., Kartal, O. O., Akozel, A. S., Erdogan, G., Uslu, R. I. (2012). 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