Description: I am certain that you know that the most prescribed medication for those with ADHD is a version of methylphenidate which is a stimulant. A common question which arises when people encounter this fact is to ask how an individual with hyperactivity (the H in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) could possibly be helped by… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Intervention: Children Adolescents
Big Picture on Child Abuse: Risk and Protective Factors
Description: Imagine, just for a moment, that we have just now decided to take seriously and to do something about physical child abuse. With any ‘from scratch’ effort to design an intervention a first step is to see what you can find out about both risk and protective factors in relation to whatever it is… Read more »
Screen Time is Too Vague a Variable
Description: How much time should toddlers and preschoolers be allowed to spend in front of screens, including televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones etc.)? Based on detailed reviews of current research the advice of the Canadian Pediatric Society used to be no more than 1 hour a day due to the lack of physical or cognitively challenging… Read more »
Treat Anxiety in Children Like a Phobia
Description: Face your fears! Sounds like a pretty basic piece of advice but for children with deep anxieties over often basic things like eating or being alone offering them such advice does not tend to work. There are therapeutic approaches that can work. Exposure Therapy, based on classical conditioning and linked to the much-discussed work… Read more »
Which Treatment is Best for Self-Harming and Suicidal Teens?
Description: Perhaps you have heard about the alarming increases that are being observed in rates of self-harming behavior and suicidal thoughts and actions among teenagers. These stats are often discussed in relation to the question of whether they might be linked to recent generational jumps in use of social media and the attendant shifts in… Read more »
Talking to Children about the Ukraine
Description: When I was 7 years old (in grade 3) at around 11 am on or about October 26, 1962, there was a general announcement by our elementary school principal over the PA system that we were all to pack up and go home. I do not recall whether I had any clue as to… Read more »
Predicting Early Onset Psychiatric Issues: How Many Factors?
Description: If you wanted to try and predict which individuals in a group of children would later develop one of a number of early onset psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety, addictions, dyslexia, bulimia, or ADHD what would you include in your list of predictors? How long would you list be? How accurately would your… Read more »
Can You Out-Grow or Out-Develop ADHD?
Description: You know a little bit about ADHD, right? So, consider this question, if a child is diagnosed as meeting the diagnostic criteria for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) can or will they, over time, outgrow the disorder (or the diagnosis)? A good friend of mine used to be principal at a school for children… Read more »
The Psychology of Covid-19: Anxieties and Uncertainties, What You Can DO About Them
Description: I have posted previously about the stress associated with the high degrees of uncertainty associated with our immediate and longer-term futures in relation to the coronavirus. It is important to keep in mind that while many of the factors contributing to our uncertainty and the related stresses that accompany them are obvious; our health… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: Talking to Kids
Description: How do you talk to a child about …. (enter name of issue/event here). How would you answer that question if the blank were filled in with Covid-19? If you have taken a course or course section on child psychology (or even if not) think about what should go into an answer to that… Read more »
Books for Success!
