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Block 1 Psychological Interventions: Major Modalities

Unit 4 Counseling Children

1) Describe some of the important childhood disorders.

Some important childhood disorders include:

• Learning Disability (LD)
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Anxiety Disorders (AD)
• Enuresis
• Encopresis
• Sleepwalking
• Tics
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

2) What is learning disability? What are its symptoms?

Learning disability (LD) is a disorder where inadequate development is seen in areas such as language, speech, math, or motor skills. It may or may not be due to a physiological or neurological defect. The most common subtype is dyslexia, which is a difficulty in reading and writing.

Symptoms of LD include:

• Difficulties in recognizing and reading comprehension
• Deficiency in spelling
• Discrepancy between expected academic achievement and actual performance in subjects like Maths or English
• Difficulties in language use, reasoning, and social skills
• Hyperactivity, impulsivity, and anxiety

3) What causes learning disability?

Causes of learning disability can include:

• Brain function issues, for example, dyslexia can be associated with the brain failing to develop normally with respect to the right and left hemispheres.
• Genetic transmission
• Basic psychological processes within the individual
• Extrinsic factors like sensory impairment, emotional disturbances, cultural differences, and lack of educational opportunities.

4) What are the techniques for helping learning disability? What kind of counseling will help in LD?

Techniques for helping with learning disabilities include:

• Behaviour modification approach: This involves modifying the child's behaviour by reconstructing their environment, providing opportunities for change, and using reinforcement. Techniques include token economy, positive reinforcement, and timeout procedures.
• Psychoanalytic approach: This method seeks to analyse the child's behaviour and discover the root causes of the learning disorder to plan a remedial program.
• Individualised instructional approach: This involves using small groups or individual instruction to rectify learning deficiencies, including peer tutoring.
• Self-instructional approach: This technique focuses on helping children to realize the concept of self-learning using programs presented in the form of programmed learning texts, or computer-assisted instruction.
• Multisensory approach: This involves using multiple senses (visual, touch, auditory) to enhance learning, for instance using the VAKT method (Visual Auditory Kinesthetic and Tactile).

Counselling for LD aims to identify the root cause of the disorder and implement a program to help the child overcome it. This can include behaviour modification, psychoanalytic approaches, and individualised instruction.

5) What is self instructional approach?

The self-instructional approach helps children realize the concept of self-learning and self-improvement. This approach presents remedial programs in the form of programmed learning texts or computer-assisted instruction. It can also include self-learning questionnaires and instructional modules.

6) Explain briefly multisensory approach, Behaviour approach, Psycho analytic approach of counseling?

Here are brief explanations of the different counselling approaches:

• Multisensory approach: Uses multiple senses to enhance learning. For example, the VAKT method uses visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile methods.
• Behavioural approach: This approach attempts to modify behaviour through environmental changes and reinforcement. It may use classical or operant conditioning to change behaviour, desensitise clients from fear inducing stimuli, and provide positive reinforcement to facilitate appropriate behaviour.
• Psychoanalytic approach: This method analyzes behaviour to identify the root cause of a disorder, such as a learning difficulty. It uses early childhood experiences and unconscious processes to understand the behaviour.

7) Elucidate the technology approach in treating LD. What is the Technological approach to counseling?

Computer-assisted instruction ia a self-instructional approach. This would indicate a technological approach could use technology to aid in learning. 

E-counselling is counselling through electronic means and can be a future direction in this field.

8) Define ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), often referred to as hyperactivity, is characterized by difficulties that interfere with task-oriented behaviour in children, particularly impulsivity, excessive motor activity, and difficulties in sustaining attention.

9) What are the symptoms of ADHD?

Symptoms of ADHD include:

• Excessive muscular activity such as fidgeting or aimless running
• Difficulty sustaining attention
• High distractibility
• Failure to follow instructions
• Impulsive behaviour
• Low frustration tolerance
• Sometimes low IQ (below average) but not always
• Socially intrusive
• Difficulty getting along with parents because of not obeying rules
• Specific learning disabilities
• Behavioural problems in elementary classes

10) What are the causes of ADHD?

Causes of ADHD are not definitively known but may include:

• Biological factors, including genetics
• Environmental factors
• Social factors
• Psychological causes based on temperament and learning factors
• Family pathogens
• Prenatal problems

11) What kind of counseling would help in these cases?

Counselling for ADHD often combines medication with psychosocial approaches.

• Behaviour modification, parental training, and family counseling can also be beneficial.
• Techniques such as social modeling, imitation, social management, self-instructions, self-praise and behaviour contracts can be used.
• Integrative counseling, medication, and yoga can also be effective.

12) Define anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders are conditions where children show more extreme behaviours than those experiencing normal anxiety. These children may have shyness, unrealistic fears, phobias, over-dependency, sleep disturbances, feelings of inadequacy and hypersensitivity.

13) What are the symptoms of anxiety disorders?

Symptoms of anxiety disorders include:

• Shyness and timidity
• Unrealistic fears
• Phobias
• Over-dependency on others
• Sleep disturbances
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Hypersensitivity
• Lack of confidence
• Apprehension in new situations
• Over sensitivity
• Being easily upset
• Unusual constitutional sensitivity

14) What are the causes of anxiety disorder?

Causes of anxiety disorders include:

• Biological/genetic factors
• Environmental settings
• Learning factors that negatively influence the mind
• Early childhood experiences

15) Describe the techniques used in helping children overcome anxiety disorder.

Techniques for helping children overcome anxiety disorders include:

• Assessing the specific type of anxiety
• Behaviour modification
• Systematic desensitization
• In vivo desensitization
• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to identify and treat negative thinking patterns
• Cognitive rehearsal to prepare for tasks
• Parental and family counselling
• Peer group activities in school

16) Elucidate the various behaviour disorders of childhood and adolescence.

Behavioural disorders of childhood and adolescence include:

• Sleepwalking
• Tics
• Functional enuresis/encopresis

17) Describe somnambulism.

Somnambulism, or sleepwalking, involves walking during sleep, with eyes either fully or partially open. Episodes usually last 15–30 minutes and occur during Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep.

18) What are the causes of somnambulism?

Causes of somnambulism are not clearly known, but it is related to anxiety-arousing situations that have occurred or are expected to occur in the near future.

19) What is the counseling that we can use to help child overcome this disorder?

Counselling for somnambulism may involve:

• Washing the child's face with cold water to fully awaken them during an episode
• Finding out if the child is having nightmares and what type
• Assertive training
• Integrative counselling approaches
• Dream interpretation
• Behaviour therapy
• Consideration of neurological and medical reports

20) Describe the Tic disorder and elucidate the causes.

A tic is a muscular twist or spasm, such as blinking, lip-licking, or neck-twisting. Tics generally occur between the ages of 2–14 years.

Causes of tics are not fully understood but they may be related to:

• Conditioning
• Learning based procedures
• Medical reasons

21) What treatment intervention can we plan form this disorder?

For Tic disorders, treatment interventions may include:

• Behavioural interventions
• Relaxation techniques
• Awareness techniques
• Cognitive techniques
• Yoga

22) What is enuresis? Discuss how the same can be overcome.

Enuresis, also known as bed-wetting, is the involuntary, habitual discharge of urine at night, even after the age of 5 years. It can be caused by:

• Stress or undue tiredness

• Organic conditions such as disturbed cerebral control of the bladder

• Side effects of medications or neurological dysfunction

• Personal immaturity, emotional problems, faulty learning, disturbed family interaction, hostility, and anxiety

It can be overcome through:

• Conditioning procedures

• Parental counselling

• Learning-based procedures

• Medical treatment, if required, along with counselling

23) Describe Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that affects communication and social interaction, and is characterized by repetitive behaviours and narrow interests.

24) What causes ASD?

The sources do not specify exact causes of ASD, but they do suggest that parental acceptance and warmth influence the degree to which children internalise standards and expectations. Children whose parents do not hold them in high regard may develop low self-esteem, low self-control, and various emotional and behavioural problems.

25) Describe the techniques of counseling used to overcome autism

Counselling techniques for overcoming autism include:

• Helping the client master the fundamentals of social behaviour
• Developing language skills
• Behavioural counselling
• Parental counselling
• Training children to do their own work
• Engaging the child in various activities
• Behaviour modification techniques

26) Describe the various general counseling techniques used for children.

General counselling techniques used for children include:

• Defining Their World: Understanding a child's viewpoint by asking questions in their language and building rapport
• Sharing Their World: Using role-play to understand a child's experiences. This can include having the child help you write a play or act out different roles to observe their emotions
• Showing Their World: Utilizing art therapy, such as drawing, as a way for children to express themselves, particularly if they are not comfortable with verbal communication
• Play Therapy: Employing specific play techniques to address behavioural, learning, emotional, and social problems. Play therapy can also be used to address issues arising from environmental stresses

27) What are the typical problems middle school children and adolescents face?

Typical problems middle school children and adolescents face include:

• They can exhibit more self-doubt and frustration
• They may return to childish behaviours
• They are developing independent thought processes
• They are trying to understand their strengths and weaknesses
• They face confusion and distractions

28) What strategies do we use to help these children overcome their problems?

Strategies used to help middle school children and adolescents overcome their problems include:

• Directing the strengths of development to offset the weaknesses
• Using mentoring, counselling, and strong role models
• Engaging cognitive processes such as memory, convergence, divergence, and evaluation
• Prompting students to rely on their memories to define, identify, and designate
• Encouraging convergent thinking to consider explanations, relationships, and comparisons
• Using divergent thinking to predict, hypothesize, infer, and reconstruct
• Using evaluative thinking to judge, defend, and justify choices
• Counseling them to use their cognitions to benefit their development and growth

29) Describe other counseling techniques.

Other counselling techniques include:

• Self-assessment: Helping children assess their own motives for self-improvement
• Self-efficacy: Helping children develop the belief that they can achieve specific goals
• Assisting them in overcoming self-defeating behaviour: This includes helping children recognise that self-defeating behaviours can be categorised into three types:
• Pursuit of flawed goals
• Trade-offs: Overeating, stress, shyness, etc.
• Counter productivity: Unproductive behaviour by being attached to one thing only
• Self-monitoring: Helping children monitor their own behaviours

30) What is Individualised instructional approach?

The individualised instructional approach is a counselling technique that advocates for the use of small groups or even individual sessions to help children rectify their learning deficiencies. It has been found that peer tutoring can be successful in providing individual assistance to children, making them feel safe and secure so that they can come up to a satisfactory learning level.

31) How Self instructional approach is used?

The self-instructional approach is a counselling technique that helps children realise the concept of self-learning and self-improvement. For this, remedial programs are presented in the form of programmed learning texts or computer-assisted instructions. Self-learning questionnaires and instructional modules can also be used.

32) What do you understand by separation anxiety and selectivity mutism?

Separation anxiety is not explicitly defined in the sources but is related to children being unable to separate from their parents and is one of the common issues in adolescents. 

Selective mutism is when a child fails to speak in particular social situations, mainly in school.

Causes of selective mutism may include:

• Biological/genetic factors
• Environmental setting

33) Explain the following:

• Relaxation Techniques: These techniques are used to reduce tension and anxiety. They can involve practices like deep breathing, meditation, or guided imagery.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): This approach helps individuals identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviours. CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and actions, and it is used to treat various mental disorders. It is effective in treating anxiety disorders, and can be used for a range of conditions, including depression, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Psychotherapy: This involves talking with a therapist to explore underlying causes of stress, anxiety, and other problems. It is used to treat anxiety by addressing the particular aspects of anxiety that cause the most stress, and through exposure to slowly diminish fears. Psychotherapy can be used to address a wide range of mental health issues, including anxiety disorders.

34) What are symptom disorder and its Treatment?

The sources do not explicitly define "symptom disorder" as a specific term. However, based on the context, it can be inferred that a "symptom disorder" refers to a condition where specific symptoms (like those of anxiety or ADHD) cause significant distress or impairment in a person's life. The sources describe treatments of these conditions in the context of the specific disorders that are listed, such as ADHD, anxiety disorders, and learning disabilities.

Treatment for these types of disorders is variable depending on the disorder and might include:

• Medication
• Behaviour modification
• Parental training
• Cognitive behavioural therapy
• Psychotherapy

35) Why Play therapy is important for children?

Play therapy is important for children because it provides a way for them to address their behavioural, learning, emotional, and social problems through play techniques. It is also used in cases where problems may have arisen from environmental stressors such as divorce.

36) What are Counseling Strategies for middle school students?

Counselling strategies for middle school students involve engaging all of the cognitive processes. They include:

• Memory: Students are prompted to rely on their memories to define, identify, and designate
• Convergent thinking: Students are asked to consider explanations, relationships, and comparisons
• Divergent thinking: Students are asked to predict, hypothesize, infer, and reconstruct
• Evaluative thinking: Students are asked to judge, defend, and justify choices