Emotional and behavioral disorders in children

According to a United HealthGroup statistical chart, nearly two in five children with special health care needs have an emotional or behavioral disorder. In some cases these disorders coexist with other disorders. Twelve percent of children enrolled in commercial plans have special health care needs. If you do the math this is an alarming percentage. These types of behaviors can often be wrongly categorized with a lower intelligent level. Neither of the two is related, but emotional and behavioral disorders in children can impede the general learning process.

Emotional and behavioral disorders in children are more difficult to diagnose and present a host of other problem for parents, teachers and physicians. They can be more limiting than a chronic physical condition and also create a plethora of hurtles for treatment. Some examples of coexisting disorders that must be clinically diagnosed include: of the thirty four percent of children diagnosed with ADHD, fifty seven percent of those had co-occurring other chronic conditions. This creates a situation that requires long term study of the patient for clear diagnosis.

School systems have set aside special education programs and classes to address the various learning stages and needs. It is important to note that while nine percent of these students attending special education programs are within the classification of behavioral disorders, eighty percent of the students that have the classification of emotional and behavioral problems attend standard school classes. Studies have shown than a majority of these students are males. This has placed the burden of dealing with the symptoms on the shoulders of the school teachers in far higher numbers than ever before.

There are levels of emotional disturbance. The classification with the most concern is the seriously emotionally disturbed and may include children that are schizophrenic and autistic. The condition equates to symptoms that exist over long periods of time and to such a high degree that it affects the child’s performance in educational endeavors. Seriously emotionally disturbed children will exhibit symptoms that include: inability to learn; overall depressive state or unhappiness; lack of the ability to gain or maintain friendships with peer groups; inappropriate behaviors within circumstances that would be considered regular or normal; general sense of fear or physical symptoms when related to school.

Other classifications of emotional disorders include: Motor excess, psychotic behavior, aggressive, personal esteem (anxiety or withdrawal), attention problems.

Causes of emotional as well as behavioral disorders run the gamut. They can include family, biological, neurological, and environmental. There isn’t any one physician or counselor that will be needed, but an orchestrated group of professional working in concert to determine the causes as well as the treatments. Long term studies as well as medical examinations including MRI’s are needed to eliminate and help in the diagnosis. Schools, teachers, aides, care givers and parents must also follow guidelines established by the medical and counseling advisors. In the cases of minor disorders, integrative medicine combined with the reinforcement guidelines will assist in the changing of the behavior. In many cases, a combination of emotional guidance and a medication regiment is required.

The family is the most effected when a child has emotional or behavioral disorders. Everything in the family life must be focused around the needs of the child with the disorder. Other siblings often don’t receive the percentage of attention they need. The concept of normal for the family changes from what one expects to what is needed for the survival and progression of the diagnosed child.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.