Child Abuse Statistics

In 1999, an estimated 3,244,000 children were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies as alleged victims of child maltreatment. Child abuse reports have maintained a steady growth for the past ten years, with the total number of reports nationwide increasing 45% since 1987 (Nation Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA) 2000 Annual Fifty State Survey).

Neglect represents the most common type of reported and substantiated form of maltreatment. In 1996, 25 states provided the following breakdown for reported cases: 62% involved neglect, 25% physical abuse, 7% sexual abuse, 3% emotional maltreatment and 4% other. For substantiated cases, 31 states gave the following breakdowns: 60% neglect, 23% physical, 9% sexual, 4% emotional maltreatment and 5% other (NCPCA's 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey).

In 1999, an estimated 1,401 child abuse and neglect related fatalities were confirmed by CPS agencies, nearly 4 every day. Since 1985, the rate of child abuse fatalities has increased by 39%. Based on these numbers, more than three children die each day as a result of child abuse or neglect (NCPCA's 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey).

According to information from at least 18 states that were able to report the type of maltreatment which caused the child's death for at least one of the past three years. Approximately 54% of the deaths were due to physical abuse while 43% resulted from neglect. Young children remain at high risk for loss of life. Based on data from all three years, this study found 82% of these children were under the age of five while an alarming 42% were under the age of one at the time of their death (NCPCA's 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey).

The U.S. Advisory Board reported that near fatal abuse and neglect each year leave "18,000 permanently disabled children, tens of thousands of victims overwhelmed by lifelong psychological trauma, thousands of traumatized siblings and family members, and thousands of near-death survivors who, as adults, continue to bear the physical and psychological scars. Some may turn to crime or domestic violence or become abusers themselves (U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1995 report, A National's Shame.)"

The Third National Incidence Study (NIS-3) of child maltreatment released by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) in the fall of 1996. Note: NIS-4 is underway and is scheduled for completion Feb 2008.

The NIS is congressionally mandated under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). The NIS collects data on children who were investigated by child protective services (CPS) agencies and on children seen by community professionals who were not reported to CPS or who were screened out by CPS without investigation.

The NIS studies have been published on data collected in 1979 (NIS-1), in 1986 (NIS-2), and in 1993 (NIS-3).

The NIS uses two definitions of child maltreatment: the Harm Standard, under which children are counted as maltreated only if they have already experienced demonstrable harm; and the Endangerment Standard, under which children are counted if they have experienced maltreatment that puts them at risk of demonstrable harm.

The NIS-3 gathered data from a nationally representative sample of 5,612 community professionals in 842 agencies serving 42 counties.

Finding of the NIS-3:

• The estimated number of children seriously injured by all forms of maltreatment quadrupled between 1986 and 1993, from 141,700 to 565,000 (a 299% increase).
• Considering the Harm Standard:
• The estimated number of sexually abused children increased 83%;
• The number of physically neglected children rose 102%;
• There was a 333 % increase in the estimated number of emotionally neglected children; and
• The estimated number of physically abused children rose 42%.
  

CPS investigated only 28% of children whose maltreatment met the Harm Standard.
Although the percentage of children whose abuse or neglect was investigated declined, the actual number of children investigated remained constant.
CPS investigated only 26 percent of the seriously injured and 26 percent of the moderately injured children.

Girls are sexually abused three times more often than boys.

Boys are at a greater risk of serious injury and of emotional neglect than are girls.

The incidence of fatally injured girls declined slightly, while the incidence of fatally injured boys rose.

Found no race differences in maltreatment incidence.

Poverty is significantly related to incidence rates in nearly every category of maltreatment. Compared to children whose families earned $30,000 or more, children in families with annual incomes below $15,000 were:

• More than 22 times more likely to experience maltreatment under the Harm Standard and 25 times more likely under the Endangerment Standard.
• More than 44 times more likely to be neglected, by either definitional standard.
• Over 22 times more likely to be seriously injured using either definitional standard.
• 60 times more likely to die from maltreatment under the Harm Standard.

(Executive Summary of the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, September 1996 and Reid, T. (1996). News NIS-3 Data. APSAC Advisor, 9 (3).)
Children whose parents abuse drugs or alcohol are put at a greater risk for violent victimization (National Commission on Children, 1993).

With the exception of homicide, children and youths suffer more victimization than do adults in virtually every category, including physical abuse, sibling assault, bullying, sexual abuse, and rape (American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth, 1993).

It is estimated that children with disabilities are 4 to 10 times more vulnerable to sexual abuse than their non-disabled peers (National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse, 1992).

In over 9000 divorces in 12 states, child sexual abuse allegations were made in less then 2% of contested divorces involving child custody (Association of Family Conciliation Courts, 1990).

Survivors:
It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today (Forward, 1993)

Long term effects of child abuse include fear, anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, inappropriate sexual behavior, poor self esteem, tendency toward substance abuse and difficulty with close relationships (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986).

Clinical findings of adult victims of sexual abuse include problems in interpersonal relationships associated with an underlying mistrust. Generally, adult victims of incest have a severely strained relationship with their parents that is marked by feelings of mistrust, fear, ambivalence, hatred, and betrayal. These feelings may extend to all family members (Tsai and Wagner, 1978).

Guilt is experienced by almost all victims (Tsai and Wagner, 1978).

If a child victim does not resolve the trauma, sexuality may become an area of adult conflict (Courtois & Watts, 1982).

Adults who viewed domestic violence in the home as children have a greater difficulty holding jobs, maintaining relationships with their peers and have a higher risk of developing mental health disorders (Patterson, 1992).

Men appear to be prone to blame themselves for any sexual abuse they may have experienced as children (Mendel, 1993.)

Abusers:
The typical child sex offender molests an average of 117 children, most of who do not report the offence (National Institute of Mental Health, 1988).

It is estimated that approximately 71 % of child sex offenders are under 35 and knew the victim at least causally. About 80 % of these individuals fall within normal intelligence ranges; 59% gain sexual access to their victims through, seduction or enticement (Burgess & Groth, 1984).

S tress indicators such as unrealistic expectations of a child, unemployment and low self-esteem are important characteristics in perpetrators of child abuse (Health & Human Services, 1993).

Approximately 60 % of the male survivors samples report at least one of their perpetrators to be female (Mendel, 1993).

Little Brother Movie Review

• Share your general review of the movie "Little Brother".

OR

• Do you think an elementary school kid like Byung-yi understand the actual concept of "death"?

OR

• How could you help children cope with grief and bereavement?

OR

• Would you tell a kid if he or she is diagnosed with cancer (or chronic illness)? Justify your answer.

Child Celebrity Has A Lot Of Problems When Dealing With Real Life

Children celebrities always attracted our attention. We watched different sitcoms where these young superstars participated. All the time we wondered about the fact that these young actors managed to reach such a success and wealth being at so early age. What is more, those young celebrities were extremely talented and there was no doubt that they are going to talented actors in the future.

However, when the young celebrities grew up they had to adjust to real life and look for real job. Unfortunately, it is really hard to blame them for the situations they often occurred in because there were so many factors that made a drastic effect on their lives. Since the society used to see in those actors young lovable children it was very hard to see them in another role.

There are a lot of people who think that in case the actor managed to make a considerable amount of money there should be a life after acting. However, in reality the situation is different. Very often child celebrities’ parents even decide to quit their jobs and use the income of the children to support the whole family. As a result they spend money quickly. All people who felt the admiration of the crowd while being on the stage or field they would agree that this feeling is addictive and you can not just give up everything. When the grown celebrity is no longer in the limelight they have really hard times. So, we can only imagine how hard for the child celebrities to overcome all of these difficulties. The years between 4 and 8 are believed to be the most impressionable. During that period of their lives a lot of child celebrities worked. Since acting was the only thing they knew it was really hard to adapt to something else. Since they can not get euphoric feeling from the crowd of the admirers they try to replace it with alcohol or drugs. Even though there are a lot of child celebrities that managed to create a magnificent career in the adult, the majority of the child celebrities did not end up in a successful career but in a failure.

A lot of problems child celebrities face in the adult are caused by the fact that in reality they did not have childhood and never had an opportunity to experience some of the things normal children usually do. Just recall the time when we were very young. There is no doubt that we did not have any responsibilities. We have to take this fact into consideration and understand the life of the child celebrities is not very easy and since they are not regular children they need special care and attention.

Who would object that movies have become an integral part of our life and culture. Up to date there has been produced an immense number of films and it has caused appearance of movie review site. These days start of the independent short films showing in cinemas is made a big event.

So, if you want to stay up-to-date with the latest buzz from the movie world, then use this easy tip: never forget that today the Internet technologies give you a truly unique chance to choose what you require for the best price on the market. Funny, but most of the people don’t use this chance.

Currently every industry has been affected by the world crisis and the film industry is not an exception. Search Google and other search engines for “recession and unemployment“. Visit social networks and have a look on the user accounts that are relevant to this topic. Go to the niche forums and participate in the online discussion. All this will help you to create a true vision of the situation.

Credits to Oh Jo Vyn

Three-year-old girl dies after alleged abuse by stepfather (Update)

SUBANG JAYA: A three-year-old girl, believed to have been abused over a month, by her stepfather has died.

The victim’s 27-year-old stepfather, 27, and 24-year-old mother were arrested by police soon after the child was taken to Poliklinik Komuniti Seri Kembangan by the man.

The stepfather brought the child, Jasmine Lee to the clinic after he found her unconscious at their home in Bukit Serdang at 7.45am on Wednesday.

A doctor who examined Jasmine found over 30 bruises on her body and head.

It is learnt that the injury marks found her resembled those suffered by someone who had been repeatedly assaulted over a period of time.

The doctor suspected something amiss when the stepfather could not explain how the child suffered such injuries and alerted the police.

Subang Jaya police chief Asst Comm Zainal Rashid said the stepfather was arrested soon after police arrived at the clinic and picked up the mother at their home at 12.45pm.

“The case has been classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code. Jasmine’s body was taken to the Serdang Hospital for post mortem,” he said.

He added the couple are being detained at the Subang Jaya police headquarters to assist in investigations.

ACP Zainal said the stepfather, a mechanic, lost his job at a workshop last month adding that he married the woman about a year ago after she separated from her first husband.

“After he was jobless, he spent most of his time at the apartment unit,” he said.

He urged the public especially residents in the area to come forward and assist the police.

Credits to Oh Jo Vyn

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

What is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is when a healthy baby less than one year old dies quickly in his sleep. SIDS can happen in any family. There is no warning, and doctors cannot find a reason for the baby’s death.
A baby’s death is called SIDS when it is the sudden death of an infant under one year of age, which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history.
SIDS is rare in babies less than one month old. Most babies who die of SIDS are between two and four months old. The risk of SIDS decreases as the baby nears one year of age.

What causes SIDS?
No one knows what causes SIDS. Many theories exist. Recent research points to a problem in the brain that affects the baby’s ability to respond to breathing problems during sleep. No one knows the reasons why certain babies may have this problem.


How can I lower the risk of SIDS?

• Place your baby to sleep on his back every time, including naps. Make sure everyone who cares for your baby knows this. The risk of SIDS goes up when a baby who usually sleeps on his back is placed on his tummy for sleep.

• Use a firm crib mattress, covered by a well-fitted sheet.

• Keep soft objects and loose bedding out of the crib. This includes pillows, quilts, sheepskins, and stuffed toys

• Dress your baby warmly enough to sleep without any covers.

• Keep your baby warm, but not hot. Do not bundle the baby in blankets and dress the baby in heavy clothes. The room temperature should feel comfortable to you.

• If a blanket is used, put the baby at the foot of the crib with his feet touching the end. Then tuck the blankets in around the mattress, reaching up only as far as the baby’s chest.

• Share a room, not a bed. If you bring the baby into your bed for nursing or comforting, put the baby back in his own bed when you are ready to sleep.

• Do not bring the baby into your bed for feeding or comforting if you are very tired, using medications, or using drugs or alcohol.

• Do not let your baby share a bed with other children.

• Never sleep with your baby on a couch or a soft chair.

• Think about giving your baby a pacifier at naptime and bedtime. For unknown reasons, pacifier use during sleep seems to lessen the risk of SIDS. If you are breastfeeding, wait until the baby is one month old. Do not make the baby take the pacifier or put it back in the baby’s mouth once he is asleep. Keep the pacifier clean, and do not coat it with anything sweet.

• Do not smoke during pregnancy.

• Do not let anyone smoke around your baby or anywhere your baby spends time, such as in the car.

• Put your baby on his tummy for “tummy time” when your baby is awake and you are watching. This helps prevent flat spots on the back of his head. Tummy time helps your baby develop muscles for lifting his head and chest.

Will my baby choke if he sleeps on his back? No. Healthy babies automatically swallow or cough up fluids. There has been no increase in choking or other problems for babies who sleep on their backs.

http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/mch/documents/SIDS.pdf

Credits to Yong Shu Li (T5)

Child labour – the issues

In the opening decade of the 21st century, reports about children being exploited to make money for others are even more horrifying than the accounts that circulated during much of the last century. For example, children are – literally – enslaved to make carpets that decorate homes in Europe and North America. They are whipped because their employer thinks child servants should collect buckets of water more quickly. They are held captive so that older men can have sex with them. They are even recruited as cannon fodder for political purposes.

The sheer numbers are both startling and sobering – literally tens of millions of children around the world today work long hours before they have even reached the age of 10, let alone 18.

Child labour came under the international spotlight in the 1990s. For the first time since the industrialised world’s campaigns on the issue a century earlier, diplomats and economists started discussing why vast numbers of children were working rather than being educated, and what should be done about it. This time, the focus was on developing countries.

This new attention to an old issue was largely due to worries raised by people in industrialised countries such as the United Kingdom. Trade unionists, politicians and campaigners for social justice voiced concern that jobs were disappearing rapidly as businesses switched production from the industrialised world to developing countries where labour costs were much lower. Simultaneously, organisations in developing countries sounded the alarm when they saw children working longer and longer hours – not only producing goods for export, but also providing a cheap and malleable workforce for the local economy. Their worry was echoed by activists in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union, who realised that the transition that started in 1989, was provoking an economic crisis which hit children particularly hard.

As more attention was given to the work children were performing, so the statistics about the numbers involved became more startling. The estimates of children between 5 and 14 in full-time employment had risen from 100 million at the beginning of the 1990s to 120 million by
1996.1 Six years later, when the information available had been scrutinised more carefully, the total was estimated at 211 million, along with a further 141 million young people aged 15 to 17 who were also in employment.2 At the beginning of the new millennium, 1 in 12 children in the world was reckoned to be involved in work which put their health at risk or caused them serious harm.

The late 1990s saw a series of initiatives – by governments and international organisations such as UNICEF, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank – to consider the policies needed to address child labour globally, and the priorities for action.
Two separate international conferences in 1997, in Amsterdam and Oslo, agreed to a proposal that stopping types of child labour that caused particular harm to children should be a priority – referred to initially as “intolerable” and later as the “worst forms” of child labour. Both endorsed UNICEF’s priority of ensuring that children, particularly more girls, attended school and went on attending classes for longer.

In 1999, a new international convention was adopted at the annual International Labour Conference, the “Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention” (also referred to as ILO Convention 182). This identified four categories of child labour, which governments, trade unions and employers’ organisations all agreed it was urgent to stop. The Convention was rapidly ratified and came into force the following year.

By June 2004, 150 countries had ratified it. In the course of the international deliberations, a whole new vocabulary has been developed for distinguishing between different categories of work involving under- 18s.

From 1999 onwards, UNICEF gave special priority to education, to ensure that children attended school rather than starting work too young. UNICEF has also been advocating for the quality of education to be good enough to keep children in school once they have enrolled.

In 2000, the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, focused on education policies. It was an opportunity to reflect on how badly girls were missing out at school in comparison to boys, and on what action was needed to make “education for all” a reality. In the same year the
UN adopted a new convention to stop children (and adults) being trafficked – taken away from their homes, often to other countries, to be involved in commercial sexual exploitation or other forms of economic exploitation in arduous and unacceptable conditions. UNICEF has paid special attention to the predicament of children who have been trafficked (most of whom are girls), particularly girls who work in private homes, not traditionally seen as places of work.

In May 2002, the United Nations reviewed the situation of children in general, summarising its agenda for the 21st century in “A World Fit for Children”. This emphasises the need for quality education for all children, and commits the world’s governments to a set of actions to protect children against abuse, exploitation and violence. Richer nations, such as the United Kingdom, committed themselves to providing assistance to other countries for social and economic development, poverty eradication programmes and universal education, as well as specific support to address child labour and its root causes.


http://www.unicef.org.uk/publications/pdf/ECECHILD2_A4.pdf

Credits to Yong Shu Li (T5)

Positive Approach

im not sure if u can see.. click to view :D

if you can't see then.. =/

it goes like this.

Positive Approach

Father : I want you to marry a girl of my choice.

Son : "I will choose my own bride!"

Father : But the girl is Bill Gates's daughter.

Son : Well, in that case..... OK!

The next day.. the father approaches Bill Gates..

Father : I have a husband for your daughter.

Bill Gates : But my daughter is too young to marry!

Father : but this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank.

Finally, Father goes to see the president of the World Bank.

Father : I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president.

President : But I already have more vice-presidents than i need!

Father : but this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law.

President : Ah.... in that case..... OK!

This is how business is done!!

Moral : Even if you have nothing, you can get anything. But in order to do so, your attitude and approach should be positive.

PS : i know it has nothing to do with child development.. haha.. totally random.. just thought i might want to share with with u guys ;)

have a great wednesday! :D

cute baby

When Is Spanking Child Abuse?

by Lisa Belkin

A hearing is underway in a Wisconsin courtroom, for Barry Barnett, a 43-year-old pastor. He and the state department of social services both agree that the father of nine and minister at the Lighthouse Family Ministries in Poynette, Wisc., used a wooden paddle to punish his 12-year-old son for lying last spring. But they differ on whether that paddling, which left bruises on the boy, was child abuse.

The son has testified — that his father hit him twice; that they both cried during the paddling; that the two “swats” hurt “a little”; that he loves his father and feels safe at home; and that he understands why he was hit. “You should not lie to you parents,” he said.

The ER where the boy was treated submitted a report to the court — showing that the there were faint bruises on his buttocks but no swelling and that he was in no pain.

The district attorney argued that Mr. Barnett “went beyond reasonable discipline and it’s a pattern.”

The boy’s 21-year-old sister stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that said “Thank you for spanking me Dad.”

Spanking, which has never really gone away in many parts, is back in the news. Sometimes it is still the schools doing the hitting. This summer, the Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union issued a joint report, estimating that more than 200,000 children were spanked at American schools during the previous school year. (Corporal punishment in school is still legal in 21 states.)

Sometimes it is the parents. Alan E, Kazdin, director the Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic at Yale, where he is a professor of child psychology, wrote in Slate late last month, that “Despite the rise of the timeout and other nonphysical forms of punishment, most American parents hit, pinch, shake, or otherwise lay violent hands on their youngsters: 63 percent of parents physically discipline their 1-to 2-year-olds, and 85 percent of adolescents have been physically punished by their parents.”

Is it legal? In the United States, yes. While the United Nations has set a target date of 2009 to end corporal punishment by parents, and while 23 countries have already banned hitting kids, the United States is not one of them. All states prohibit “abuse” of children, and some specifically prohibit the use of “unreasonable force,” against children, which is what Barnett is accused of doing.

Isn’t all hitting child abuse? That’s what the hearing in Wisconsin is trying to decide. But however it starts, warns Kazdin, who is also the author of “The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child, it usually escalates.

“More than one-third of all parents who start out with relatively mild punishments end up crossing the line drawn by the state to define child abuse: hitting with an object, harsh and cruel hitting, and so on,” he writes. “Children, endowed with wonderful flexibility and ability to learn, typically adapt to punishment faster than parents can escalate it, which helps encourage a little hitting to lead to a lot of hitting.”

The message that has not gotten through, say those who are trying to spread the word, is that spanking doesn’t work. Six years ago the psychologist Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff, then at Columbia University, published a review of 62 years of research, analyzing 82 separate studies. And while there was a lot of evidence that spanking makes children do what they are told in the very short term, it seems only to teach children not to get caught. What it doesn’t do is teach them to do better.

I can’t imagine using spanking as a deliberate and proscribed punishment. I have, however, hit my boys a small handful of times, in white-hot anger. They were already stronger than I was, and practically taller than I was, so I didn’t really have the power to physically hurt them. Yet I still cringe at the memory of my own loss of control, of the knowledge of what that could mean in a stronger parent with a smaller child.

We tell our children “do not hit.” Shouldn’t we all practice as we preach?

Adapted from :
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/when-is-spanking-child-abuse/

@Credits to : Erin Yap Peck Shing

Movie Review

Movie Review: EITHER Laskar Pelangi OR Little Brother
13 April 2010 11am
(Since T1, T2, T3 will still be having their presentation this week, you are welcome to join the movie showing at B110A if you are interested and free)

Spanking Kids Leads to More Aggressive Behavior

Disciplining young children is one of the key jobs of any parent - most people would have no trouble agreeing with that. But whether or not that discipline should include spanking or other forms of corporal punishment is a far trickier issue.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not endorse spanking for any reason, citing its lack of long-term effectiveness as a behavior-changing tactic. Instead the AAP supports strategies such as "time-outs" when children misbehave, which focus on getting kids to reflect on their behavior and the consequences of their actions. Still, as many parents can attest, few responses bring about the immediate interruption of a full-blown tantrum like a swift whack to the bottom.

Now researchers at Tulane University provide the strongest evidence yet against the use of spanking: of the nearly 2,500 youngsters in the study, those who were spanked more frequently at age 3 were more likely to be aggressive by age 5. The research supports earlier work on the pitfalls of corporal punishment, including a study by Duke University researchers that revealed that infants who were spanked at 12 months scored lower on cognitive tests at age 3.

"I'm excited by the idea that there is now some nice hard data that can back up clinicians when they share their caution with parents against using corporal punishment," says Dr. Jayne Singer, clinical director of the child and parent program at Children's Hospital Boston, who was not involved in the study. (Read "Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School?")

Led by Catherine Taylor, the Tulane study was the first to control simultaneously for variables that are most likely to confound the association between spanking and later aggressive behavior. The researchers accounted for factors such as acts of neglect by the mother, violence or aggression between the parents, maternal stress and depression, the mother's use of alcohol and drugs, and even whether the mother considered abortion while pregnant with the child.

Each of these factors contributed to children's aggressive behavior at age 5, but they could not explain all of the violent tendencies at that age. Further, the positive connection between spanking and aggression remained strong, even after these factors had been accounted for.

"The odds of a child being more aggressive at age 5 if he had been spanked more than twice in the month before the study began increased by 50%," says Taylor. And because her group also accounted for varying levels of natural aggression in children, the researchers are confident that "it's not just that children who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked."

What the study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, shows is that outside of the most obvious factors that may influence violent behavior in children, spanking remains a strong predictor. "This study controls for the most common risk factors that people tend to think of as being associated with aggression," says Singer. "This adds more credence, more data and more strength to the argument against using corporal punishment."

Among the mothers who were studied, nearly half (45.6%) reported no spanking in the previous month; 27.9% reported spanking once or twice; and 26.5% reported spanking more than twice. Compared with children who were not hit, those who were spanked were more likely to be defiant, demand immediate satisfaction of their wants and needs, get frustrated easily, have temper tantrums and lash out physically against others.

The reason for that, says Singer, may be that spanking instills fear rather than understanding. Even if a child were to stop his screaming tantrum when spanked, that doesn't mean he understands why he shouldn't be acting out in the first place. What's more, spanking models aggressive behavior as a solution to problems.

For children to understand what and why they have done something wrong, it may take repeated efforts on the parent's part, using time-outs - a strategy that typically involves denying the child any attention, praise or interaction with parents for a specified period of time (that is, the parents ignore the child). These quiet times force children to calm down and learn to think about their emotions, rather than acting out on them blindly.

Spanking may stop a child from misbehaving in the short term, but it becomes less and less effective with repeated use, according to the AAP; it also makes discipline more difficult as the child gets older and outgrows spanking. As the latest study shows, investing the time early on to teach a child why his behavior is wrong may translate to a more self-aware and in-control youngster in the long run.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1981019,00.html?xid=rss-fullhealthsci-yahoo

Conduct Disorder (CD)

Definition
Conduct disorder is a childhood behavior disorder characterized by aggressive and destructive activities that cause disruptions in the child's natural environments such as home, school, church, or the neighborhood. The overriding feature of conduct disorder is the repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviors that violate societal norms and the rights of other people. It is one of the most prevalent categories of mental health problems of children in the United States, with rates estimated at 9% for males and 2% for females.

Description

The specific behaviors used to produce a diagnosis of conduct disorder fall into four groups: aggressive conduct that causes or threatens physical harm to other people or animals, nonaggressive behavior that causes property loss or damage, deceitfulness or theft, and serious violations of rules. Two subtypes of conduct disorder can be delineated based on the age that symptoms first appear. Childhood-onset type is appropriate for children showing at least one of the behaviors in question before the age of 10. Adolescent onset type is defined by the absence of any conduct disorder criteria before the age of 10. Severity may be described as mild, moderate or severe, depending on the number of problems exhibited and their impact on other people.

Youngsters who show symptoms (most often aggression) before age 10 may also exhibit oppositional behavior and peer relationship problems. When they also show persistent conduct disorder and then develop adult antisocial personality disorder , they should be distinguished from individuals who had no symptoms of conduct disorder before age 10. The childhood type is more highly associated with heightened aggression, male gender, oppositional defiant disorder , and a family history of antisocial behavior.

The individual behaviors that can be observed when conduct disorder is diagnosed may be both common, problematic, and chronic. They tend to occur frequently and are distressingly consistent across time, settings, and families. Not surprisingly, these children function poorly in a variety of places. In fact, the behaviors clustered within the term "conduct disorder" account for a majority of clinical referrals, classroom detentions or other sanctions, being asked to stop participating in numerous activities, and can be extremely difficult (even impossible) for parents to manage.

The negative consequences of conduct disorder, particularly childhood onset, may include illicit drug use, dropping out of school, violent behavior, severe family conflict, and frequent delinquent acts. Such behaviors often result in the child's eventual placement out of the home, in special education and/or the juvenile justice system. There is evidence that the rates of disruptive behavior disorders may be as high as 50% in youth in public sectors of care such as juvenile justice, alcohol and drug'



The overriding feature of conduct disorder is the repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviors that violate societal norms and the rights of other people. Youngsters with conduct disorder often exhibit aggressive behavior to other people (bullying, starting fights, etc.) or to animals. They may also damage others' property.
(Carolyn A. McKeone. Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced by permission.)
services, schools for youths with serious emotional disturbances, child welfare, and mental health.

The financial costs of crime and correction for repeated juvenile offenses by youth with conduct disorder are extensive. The social costs include citizens' fear of such behavior, loss of a sense of safety, and disruptions in classrooms that interfere with other children's opportunity to learn. The costs to the child and his or her family are enormous in terms of the emotional and other resources needed to address the consequences of the constellation of symptoms that define conduct disorder.

Causes and symptoms

There is no known cause for conduct disorder. The frustrating behavior of youngsters with conduct disorder frequently leads to blaming, labeling, and other unproductive activities. Children who are "acting out" do not inspire sympathy or the benefit of the doubt. They are often ostracized by other children. Parents of such children are often blamed as poor disciplinarians or bad parents. As a result, parents of children with conduct disorder may be reluctant to engage with schools or other authorities. At the same time, there is a strong correlation between children diagnosed with conduct disorder and a significant level of family dysfunction, poor parenting practices, an overemphasis on coercion and hostile communication patterns, verbal and physical aggression and a history of maltreatment.

There is a suggestion of an, as yet, unidentified genetic component to what has generally been viewed as a behavioral disorder. One study with adopted children in the mid-1990s looked at the relationship between birth parents with antisocial personality disorder, and adverse adoptive home environments. When these two adverse conditions occurred, there was significantly increased aggressiveness and conduct disorder in the adopted children. That was not the case if there was no indication of antisocial personality disorder in the birth parents. This finding has important implications for prevention and intervention of conduct disorders and its associated conditions of substance abuse and aggressiveness.

Symptoms

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (also known as the DSM-IV-TR ) indicates that for conduct disorder to be diagnosed, the patient has repeatedly violated rules, age-appropriate social norms and the rights of others for a period of at least twelve months. This is shown by three or more of the following behaviors, with at least one having taken place in the previous six months: aggression to people or animals, property destruction, lying or theft, and serious rule violations.

Aggression to people or animals includes:

* engaging in frequent bullying or threatening
* often starting fights
* using a weapon that could cause serious injury (gun, knife, club, broken glass)
* showing physical cruelty to people
* showing physical cruelty to animals
* engaging in theft with confrontation (armed robbery, extortion, mugging, purse snatching)
* forcing sex upon someone

Property destruction includes:

* deliberately setting fires to cause serious damage
* deliberately destroying the property of others by means other than fire setting

Lying or theft includes:

* breaking into building, car, or house belonging to someone else
* frequently lying or breaking promises for gain or to avoid obligations (called "conning")
* stealing valuables without confrontation (burglary, forgery, shop lifting)

Serious rule violations include:

* beginning before age 13, frequently staying out at night against parents' wishes
* running away from parents overnight twice or more or once if for an extended period
* engaging in frequent truancy beginning before the age of 13

Mild severity would mean there are few problems with conduct beyond those needed to make a diagnosis AND all of the problems cause little harm to other people. Moderate severity means the number and effect of the conduct problems is between the extremes of mild and severe. Severe is indicated if there are many more conduct symptoms than are needed to make the diagnosis (more than three in the previous twelve months or more than one in the previous six months), or, the behaviors cause other people considerable harm.

Diagnosis

Conduct disorder is generally diagnosed when somebody, often a child in school, comes to the attention of authorities (school, law enforcement, and others) most often because of behavior. The person might then be referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist for assessment and diagnosis . It is unlikely that any sort of specific test is given; rather, the individual would have to meet the criteria in the DSM-IV-TR. Usually there is a history of acting out in school, neighborhood, home, and other social settings. Court-ordered treatment would likely occur if the person comes to the attention of the police and if a crime is involved. A judge might order treatment as an alternative to jail, or before a sentence is served.

Treatments

Earlier treatments of youth with conduct disorder relied on legal processes to declare a child in need of supervision or treatment and thus able to be placed in residential settings established for this purpose. While residential placements may still be used, recent treatment models have relied less on such restrictive procedures. The increased visibility and sophistication of the consumer movement, comprised of families of children and youth with mental health disorders, is bringing pressure to bear on treatment providers to stop blaming families, stop removing children from their families for services, focus instead on strengths and assets in both the child and his or her family, and to use community-based interventions in several domains in which the child and family live.

Community-based interventions are sometimes called wrap-around services to describe the intention that they will be brought to the child's natural environment in a comprehensive and flexible way. The idea is to target a range of child, parent, family and social system factors associated with a child's behavioral problems. This approach has been successful in modifying antisocial behavior, rates of restrictive placement, and in reducing the cost of services.

Another treatment that has been used with some success is the Child Cognitive Behavioral Treatment and Skills Training which trains children with conduct disorder in anger-coping, peer coping, and problem-solving skills.

Parent Management Training and family therapy are also used to treat conduct disorder. Parents learn to apply behavioral principles effectively, how to play with their children, and how to teach and coach the child to use new skills.

Medication is sometimes used and may be effective in controlling aggression. Generally, a variety of treatment modes are used to address such a complex disorder. Severe antisocial behavior on the part of the child and adverse parenting practices may suggest that the family will stop treatment before it can be effective, or before meaningful change can result.
Prognosis

Early identification and appropriate and innovative treatment will improve the course of conduct disorder and possibly prevent a host of negative outcomes that are often a consequence of the behaviors associated with it. Unfortunately, the stigma of treatment and the undiagnosed problems of many parents are still significant enough that families whose children could benefit from treatment never find their way to a treatment setting. Instead their children come into contact with the juvenile and criminal justice system.
Prevention

Prognosis may best be improved by prevention of conduct disorder before it becomes so resistant to treatment. Research is being conducted on what early interventions hold the greatest promise. The research incorporates several components such as child tutoring, classroom intervention, peer training, social-cognitive skills training, parent training, and family problem-solving.

Other studies have included early parent or family interventions, school-based interventions and community interventions. Again, these include a variety of elements as suggested before, including parent training that includes education about normal child development, child problem-solving, and family communication skills training. Research is still needed to determine where and when to target specific preventive interventions.

Comic 09

By Ho Khee Hoong

Music Education Benefits

Most experts agree that children who study music at an early age not only excel academicallly, but see emotional benefits as well.



Posted by Wong Shui Tong, T3

Children laugh

Posted by Wong Shui Tong, T3

Intelligence of Kids

Posted by Wong Shui Tong, T3

Learning is child's play

By Basant K. Kapur, For The Straits Times

THE early years of an individual's life have a formative influence on his future development, even though they do not entirely determine it. As the saying goes: 'Great oaks from little acorns grow.'

A striking example is a recent observation by Singapore Youth Award 2006 winner, nanotechnology researcher Yeo Yee Chia: 'A kid has a lot of questions but as people grow older, they become less and less inquisitive. Maybe I'm like a child because I've stayed inquisitive.'

How can we best nurture children's talent? Ironically, it appears this is best done by not taking an instrumental view of childhood, but by letting children enjoy the precious few years when they are children. They should be allowed ample time to engage in spontaneous, undirected play, both by themselves and with other children.

In a 2007 article in the American Academy of Paediatrics, Dr K.R. Ginsburg wrote: 'Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development...Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate.'

Another expert, Mr S. Smilansky, writing in 1990, found that play was directly linked to a wealth of skills that are essential for academic success: better verbalisation, richer vocabulary, better problem- solving strategies, higher intellectual competence, more curiosity, greater empathy, better emotional and social adjustment, more innovation, more imaginativeness, and so on.

Mr K. Hirsch-Pasek and Mr R.M. Golinkoff, writing in 2003, found that play teaches children to think 'outside the box' and helps them cope with 'divergent' problem-solving - that is, where there are many possible ways to solve a problem.

A German news magazine, Der Spiegel, ran a report in 1997 comparing 50 play-oriented kindergartens with 50 academically-oriented ones in Germany. The children from the play-oriented kindergartens excelled over the others in every aspect - physical, emotional, social, and intellectual. The results were especially striking among lower-income children. The results were so compelling that Germany switched all its kindergartens back to being play-oriented.

Mr R.A. Marcon found in 2002 that children who had attended play-oriented pre-school programmes, in which child-driven activities predominated, performed better academically than those who had attended academic-oriented programmes.

The benefits seem to extend all the way into adulthood. Mr S. Brown, comparing the winners of the MacArthur 'genius' award with individuals in prison, found in 1999 that the latter did not have a history of play in their lives whereas the former had a rich history of play from childhood onwards.

How does pre-school education in Singapore measure up from this standpoint? While there is a mix of play and academic instruction, it appears that the balance is tilted towards the latter. The Ministry of Education's homepage says pre-school education 'includes learning activities that develop language and literacy skills, basic number concepts, simple science concepts, social skills, creative and problem solving skills, appreciation of music and movement and outdoor play'.

An article by Ms N.D. Suhaimi in The Straits Times in December 2007 was more specific. She quoted the owner of a Montessori school as saying: 'At Primary 1, teachers expect children to know how to multiply, divide and even work out simple fractions.'

Ms Lina Ong, founder of Babies Inc, an infant school, was reported as saying: 'We're probably the only country in the world that requires children to know how to spell and count before kindergarten.'

A comparison with Finland - widely acknowledged to have an excellent education system, and identified by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as having the world's most competitive economy in 2006 - is illustrative. A recent working paper by Y.W. Yong, A. Chongvilaivan, and J.Y. Chew for the Singapore Centre for Applied and Policy Economics - from which I derived most of the quotations above - observed: 'Whilst children in Singapore are expected to know their ABCs and basic mathematics when they enter primary schools, children in Finland are expected to learn the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics only when they enter comprehensive schools (at age seven).'

Evidently, the highly play-oriented nature of pre-school education in Finland has not worked to its educational or economic disadvantage. In fact, the reverse is the case. The WEF has praised Finland's 'culture of innovation'.

Parental pressure is often cited as a factor in the demands kindergartens place on young children here. But parents are probably responding to what they perceive to be the 'expected attainments' of children when they enter primary school. Ideally, there should be a gradual, seamless transition from kindergarten to primary school, with enough time for undirected play during the primary school years as well. However, this appears not to be the case, as a spate of recent newspaper articles and letters indicates.

One reader said his daughter had to take six year-end examinations in Primary 1. Another noted: 'The children (in her son's Primary 1 class) get tons of homework, frequent tests, and, yes, a list of homework for the June holidays which include maths and English exercises, reading 10 story books, making a model of the school, producing a health booklet and writing a journal thrice a week.'

Reporter Tan Dawn Wei of this newspaper reported: Nearly half (of 200 primary school pupils polled) said they felt they weren't getting enough sleep each day, and homework and tuition were the top reasons they cited for turning in late.' Apparently the education authorities here think that lower primary pupils should get 'at least eight hours' of sleep a day, while paediatricians recommend 10-11 hours. As Ms Tan observed, 'sleep deprivation can affect a child's attention, memory, decision-making and creativity'.

It would appear that the 'Teach Less, Learn More' initiative announced a few years ago is not being adequately practised in schools. As MOE re-looks pre-school education in Singapore, it should also reduce the 'expected attainments' at primary school entry, as well as the primary school workload, and ensure that there is a smooth, painless - and ultimately more productive - transition to primary school.

The writer is professor of economics and director, Singapore Centre for Applied and Policy Economics, Department of Economics, NUS.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 3 Jan, 2009.

Posted by Wong Shui Tong, T3

6 Ways to Curb Your Child's Aggressive Behavior

Teach your child about peaceful ways to express her anger.

By Karin A. Bilich

Most people feel anger and aggression sometimes -- including children. Adults tend to have better control over their behavior when these feelings arise. Children, however, may turn their energy toward violent behavior such as kicking, biting, or hitting. If your child has a tendency toward this kind of aggressive behavior, it's up to you to help him develop judgment, self-discipline, and the ability to express his feelings in appropriate ways. Here are six ways to do that:

1. Set firm and consistent limits. Children need to know what behavior is, and is not, permitted. Make sure that everyone who cares for your child is aware of the rules you set, as well as the response to use if he does exhibit this behavior. A child who kicks, hits, or bites should be reprimanded immediately so he understands exactly what he's done wrong.

2. Help your child find new ways to deal with her anger. Encourage her to use words to express her feelings rather than fighting with her body, and praise her for exhibiting nonviolent behavior. Let her witness other conflicts that arise in your home being resolved in a peaceful manner.

3. Instill self-control in your child. Children don't possess an innate ability to control themselves. They need to be taught not to kick, hit, or bite whenever they feel like it. A child needs a parent's guidance to develop the ability to keep his feelings under control and to think about his actions before acting on impulse.

4. Avoid encouraging "toughness." In some families, aggressiveness is encouraged -- especially in boys. Parents often use the word "tough" to compliment a child. This can cause a child to feel that she has to kick and bite in order to win parental approval.

5. Don't spank as a form of discipline. Some parents spank or hit their child as punishment. A child who is physically punished can begin to believe this is the correct way to handle people when you don't like their behavior. Physical punishment can reinforce a child's aggressiveness toward others.

6. Control your own temper. Children tend to mirror the behavior of their parents. If you express your anger in reasonable ways, he probably will follow your example.

Source: Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 (Bantam, 1998)



Posted by Wong Shui Tong, T3

School is not for Learning

School is not for Learning

by Grace Llewellyn

Why Don't People Learn in School?

Our brains and spirits are the freest things in the universe. Our bodies can live in chains, but our intellects cannot. It's that simple. The mind will be free, or it will be dead. It can be numbed, quieted, and restrained so that it memorizes names of Portuguese explorers and plods through grades one to twelve. If it is fiercely alive and teamed up with a forgiving spirit, it may find a way to be free even in school, and stay awake that way. But these strategies are defenses, not full-fledged learning. Albert Einstein, as compassionate and insightful as he was brilliant, said:

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.

There are other reasons school prevents learning too - fear of "bad" grades, lack of faith in one's abilities (usually due to previous unpleasant experiences with grades - including A minuses), an occasional uninformed teacher, illogical or inherently dull teaching methods and books, lack of individual attention, oxygen-starved classrooms.

These problems are the ones the educators can see. They exhaust themselves seeking solutions - hiring the smartest teachers they can get, searching the ends of the earth for easier ways to learn spelling, providing counseling services, buying textbooks with technicolor photographs, working hard on "anticipatory sets" (the beginning part of lessons which are supposed to "grab students' attention"). Most of these educators - especially when they are teachers rather than superintendents of school boards - do some good. If lots of people continue to go to school, I hope that the idealistic educators continue their efforts. These efforts make school more pleasant, the same way that clean sheets and warm blankets make a prison more pleasant than do bare scratchy mattresses with thin covers.

Their efforts cannot, however, make you free. Even if they encourage you to write research papers on topics that interest you, even if they reduce the amount of homework they assign, they cannot encourage you to joyfully follow your own intellectual mysteries, except in your spare time after your homework. To do so would be to completely undermine the basic structure of the schools.

Because they can never make you free, schools can never allow you to learn fully.

Love of Learning

If you had always been free to learn, you would follow your natural tendency to find out as fully as possible about the things that interest you, cars or stars. We are all born with what they call "love of learning," but it dives off into an elusive void when we go to school.

After all, school does not help you focus on what you love, because it insists that you devote equal time to six or so "subjects." While interviewing an unschooled actress for GWS #73, editor Susannah Sheffer made an astute observation: "It's funny that people think kids should be well-rounded but don't seem to have the same expectations of adults. Adults seem to realize you can't do everything." In Walden, Thoreau laments, "Our lives are frittered away by detail," and admonishes, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand."

Beyond the love and pursuit of something specific, there's another quality you might also call love of learning. It's simple curiosity, which kills more tired assumptions than cats. Some people move around with their ears and eyes perked open like raccoons, ready to find out something new and like it.

However, curiosity is another stubborn quality that thrives on freedom; therefore, school squishes it. Curiosity is an active habit - it needs the freedom to explore and move around and get your hands into lots of pots. It needs the freedom to thumb through Science News and stop only where you want to. It needs the freedom to browse through your library's whole shelf of poetry. It needs the freedom to visit the zoo solo, spending an hour with the prairie dog colony and walking right past the giraffes, or vice versa.

Curiosity puts itself on hold when it isn't allowed to move at its own pace. I am thinking of the week-long field trip our middle school took to Washington, D.C., and of how my own curiosity took a nap during most of our "guided tours," even at the "fun" places like Williamsburg and Jamestown, and how I raced around excitedly when we had an unleashed day at the Smithsonian.

On the up side, the ironic truth is that everyone loves to learn - or at least did as a baby, and can get to be that way again. As John Holt points out, "Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how."

Source: http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/grace_llewellyn.html

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When Big Brothers Bully

Highly critical parents and older siblings can have a negative effect on the self-esteem on the younger children in the family.

By Megan Olden, published on May 01, 2003 - last reviewed on April 10, 2007

Sibling animosity may be a universal truth, but that doesn't mean it is well understood. In a first attempt to link behavioral problems in early adulthood to the relationship with a brother or sister, researchers found that boys with older siblings who were critical of them were more likely to be arrested or to abuse drugs and alcohol.

In the study, 20-year-old boys with older siblings who had negative attitudes toward them were also more likely to associate with deviant peers and have sexual intercourse at a younger age than were boys with noncritical siblings. They exhibited the same antisocial behavior two years later.

The study, published in the Journal of Family Psychology (2003), required 73 men and women to describe their relationship with a younger brother. These findings do not imply that criticism causes deviance: Indeed, the siblings could have been highly critical because their brothers' behavior was problematic. But they do illustrate the potentially harmful impact of sibling interaction, says Bernadette Bullock, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Oregon's Child and Family Center and co-author of the study."Sibling influence is part of an ongoing multidirectional dynamic," says Bullock. The relationship is in turn influenced by parental attitudes and each child's temperament.

Jeanne Safer, Ph.D., a psychoanalyst and author of The Normal One: Life With a Difficult or Damaged Sibling, agrees: "How siblings relate to one another very often has to do with how the parents see the siblings and create the relationship between them."

Researchers including Bullock are now exploring the associations between parental and sibling attitudes, including the possibility of a contagion effect, in which the opinions of one family member affect the perceptions of others in the home.

Adapted from :

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200303/when-big-brothers-bully