Join the association

A Russian discovered something interesting about 110 years ago. He was studying the salivary (spit) glands of dogs. Pavlov noticed that his dogs would start producing saliva way before they saw or smelled food. This happened because the dogs heard the very distinct (to them) boot sounds of the lab assistant that brought them their food. This somehow became distorted in the pages of history to the ringing of a bell. The same boot sounds at other times would also produce the saliva. The dogs learned that boot sounds meant food and made a connection. That connection stayed even when there was no food forthcoming. How could this ever be useful to people?

A professional journal article described a developmentally challenged person would only eat for one particular staff member. This became a problem when the staff member took off for the weekend, a holiday, or a vacation. A clever psychologist paired a succession of staff members with the preferred staff person, and the developmentally challenged person soon accepted a bunch of staff persons to provide food.

Certain levels of spinal cord injuries cause paraplegia and a loss of bladder control. Someone discovered that these paraplegics could empty their own bladders before they had accidents by applying a mild electric shock on the area outside the body that was above the bladder. These folks carried a small device that applied the shock. Before long, many paraplegics discovered that all they had to do was move their hand to area of their body above the bladder, and they would urinate without using the electric shock. There was an association between the movement and emptying of the bladder. Now, think about association learning and education.

One problem with learning to read is learning the sounds that go with letters. Some letters have multiple sounds that change depending on the other letters nearby. Thinking about the rules for word sounds might make an educated person become tongue-tied. Few of us think about the rules after a solid reading education. Some folks find it difficult or impossible to learn the rules involved in the sounds that letters make. Whole word reading may be a way to overcome it, even though some phonological dictators (nice double entendre there) would disagree.

Many less able children at the appropriate age can identify a picture of a dog, and say dog. Learning to read the word dog is an altogether different story. Suppose you repeatedly pair the printed word with the picture? What happens if you fade the picture (progressively make it less and less clearly visible)? It can be done by copying it, then copying the copy until it becomes almost unrecognizable, while maintaining the visible "strength" of the printed word beneath it. You can even use action pictures to teach action words. Sure the technique has its limitations. It also has the potential for teaching something that might have otherwise been "unteachable."

Another important skill that can be taught by association is multiplication facts. A bunch of teachers do not approve of this. You can do it at home and they will never know. Produce pages that contain basic math facts from multiplication tables. Mix up the calculations so that the children do not learn them in order. Now, give them a calculator. That is correct, a calculator. Few things equal a calculator for teaching math facts. Have them use the calculator to solve the problems. Do it over and over again with different pages and problems in different order. Give them a break every 30 to 45 minutes to stand-up and walk around. Set a timer for about five minutes, and then get them back to work. Work on it all weekend. They use the calculator on the first weekend day (Saturday). On Sunday start them with the pages and without the calculator. Check their work. Note the ones that they got wrong, and use them on new pages of problems to work with the calculator. Do it again next weekend. Be certain to provide some fun activities like a trip to the movies on the second weekend. You child has a great chance of learning the multiplication tables (multiplication facts) without stress this way and it is all because you joined the association.

Silent Arguing

Some folks allow loud arguments to get in the way of having a functioning marriage. A therapist who does not do family therapy suggested to a patient that she and her husband might argue silently in the following way:

Get a notebook for arguing. Go to the bedroom when you want to have a disagreement. Sit on the floor, on the opposite sides of the bed with your back against the bed. Bring the notebook. Each side has a pen or pencil. The person carrying the notebook into the room goes first. That person writes their first comment, question, diatribe, whatever concerning the issue at hand and passes the notebook across the bed to the person on the other side. Never throw the notebook. pass the notebook so that the other person can reach it. The other person sits with back against the bed until the first person has turned around with their back against the bed. The receiving person gets the note book, reads the first statement, skips a line, and responds in writing. No talking is allowed. The second person passes the notebook back after writing, and the process continues until a peaceful agreement is reached.

The first time the therapist's patient tried this, the total silence made the children curious. They timidly knocked on the door to find out what their mother and father were doing. The only thing that they were allowed to do is tell them that they were having an argument. The puzzled children left the room.

Another therapist told the therapist that this technique was also used by the well known psychologist, Dr. Stella Chess.

Run Away Tots in Stores

So many parents have experienced the horror of a small child leaving their side and getting lost in a very big store. There are parents who purchase a harness and a sort of leash for their child to prevent the problem. Then there are those who think, "I'm not going to treat my child like a dog." Still others have clever children who figure out how to remove the harness or leash and get away. This last one is one that I've seen.

I love Google because you can search for answers quickly and easily. I did a search and read a number of the answers. I found a parent who taught her child the old fashioned game of "Red Light, Green Light." I mentioned this to the mom of the child who was always running away, and she liked the idea. She taught the game to her very clever little girl. The idea, is to practice the game in several settings, starting at home, then working in a park, moving on to small stores, and working up to the larger ones. After the child learns to stop on mom saying "Red Light" you can make the game more entertaining by throwing in a different color with something else to do. For example, "Blue Light" could mean "jump up and down" or "dance." Be aware or beware of stores that have "Blue Light Specials" though. Some food stores might resort to an overhead page, "Child jumping/dancing in Aisle 5" when you yell "Blue Light. You will be able to find your child that way.

Another parent that I know professionally, has stopped her child with another solution. They have a fish tank/bowl in their home that has a high turnover in residents. Every time the little girl goes to a big department store, they make the first stop to buy a fish (for a very low price) in a plastic bag. The child has to hold the bag without running or she might drop it. This mom has never lost her child while she was holding a fish in a bag.

Cheap Thrills - Low cost fun to have with toddlers

Television and electronic games have all but stopped parents from engaging in some of the older types of activities with their children. One of my greatest joys occurs when I draw a smiling face on my thumb and show it to a toddler. I have not met one who does not want me to draw a face on his thumb. Then, my thumb "looks" at his/her thumb and starts having a conversation. What a great way to teach social interaction! You could even draw them on his/her other fingers so that they can have a play group. One possible secondary benefit to this thumb person is the possible resistance to thumb sucking, because he/she would not want to "eat" the thumb person. Be certain to use nontoxic markers when you draw them.

Drinking straws make really cool musical instruments. You flatten one end. You really have to work at flattening one of those plastic straws, unless the plastic is really thin. Then, cut off the corners to leave a near point (leave a little bit of a straight edge at the front). Continue to work on flattening that tip. Insert the cut end in your mouth so that you lips are on the round part. You may have to work a bit to get the flat part just right. Blow. The shorter the straw, the higher pitch sound you'll produce.

Paper airplanes are a lot of fun. You can have distance contests with them.

Mood Swings in Infants and Toddlers

Disclaimer: This is not intended to be either a comprehensive review or a diagnostic rubric. The purpose of this paper is to present alternative hypotheses to a consideration of the reasons for mood swings and their treatment. The final decision about treatment and diagnosis depends on professionals having direct contact with the children and their families.

There are many causes of mood swings. The moods of children can change because of physical illnesses and environmental factors. Some children develop a “temperament” that may be perceived as being extreme. Unexplained mood swings in children might be termed idiopathic. It is this author’s experience that idiopathic expressions of an emotional nature are often given psychiatric or psychological labels. Thus, we see increasing numbers of small children being labeled as Bipolar or Manic-Depressive because of unexplained mood swings.

A brief list of physical causes of mood swings (not comprehensive):
Environmental allergens or toxins
Food allergies – manifested by low blood histamines, idiosyncratic food preferences.
Sleep disturbances that may or may not be related to environmental or physical causation
Headache that may or may not be related to environmental or physical causation
Child abuse (physical, sexual, or neglect)
Medications used to treat allergies - added 1-30-2010 - Montelukast (generic for Singulair) has numerous postmarket reports from consumers that children have severe mood changes while taking this medication - consider www.drugs.com/sfx/montelukast-side-effects.html
Ear infections
Epilepsy
Endocrine (hormone) problems including juvenile diabetes/hypoglycemia
Vitamin deficiencies
Scoliosis (undetected spinal torsion – even of a mild nature)
Autoimmune disorders including HIV, PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus).
Coeliac Sprue
Yeast Syndrome – infantile seborrheic dermatitis
Pyroluria
Cystinuria
Seitelberger Disease (Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy) – rare, autosomal recessive disorder.
Polycystic Kidney Disease – rare
Prader-Willi Sundrome – rare, and marked by obesity and food craving.

The New York Times Sunday magazine recently (September 21, 2008?) had a long article about the "Puzzle of Bipolar Disorder In Children." The article mentioned sections of the book The Bipolar Child by Papalos and Papalos, but left out critical information, some from the book, and some that was absent. Dr. Andrew Stoll, Massachusetts General Hospital, has done research comparing the effectiveness of Omega-3 Fish Oil with that of standard prescription drugs for treating Bipolar Disorder. I have had success with recommending it for my patients. They even discuss the success of parents using flavored, chewable fish oil capsules to treat the bipolar symptoms of children. There is a big question here. If it works, why haven't more psychiatrists recommended it? We might have a fairly good guess about that. Perhaps a side-bar might help.

I worked in a prison as a psychologist for about 17 months, and once attended a mental health conference for the Department of Corrections in my state. Drug companies (they prefer to be called Pharmaceutical Manufacturers) paid folks big bucks to speak, and brought out bunches of little gimmick hand-outs for attendees. One speaker discusses the benefits of a form of "hard drug" to treat Bipolar Disorder. I raised my hand and asked about the success with using fish oil (citing the research of Andrew Stoll, MD). His response was an inappropriately sarcastic, "You don't want a bunch of inmates running around with fish breath, do you?" Money makes people dumber than they really are.

There is research that also strongly suggests that a young child’s mood is often dependent on the mood of their caregiver. This means that mood swings of any kind expressed by a caregiver can result in having a child express similar mood swings as a reaction.

Being in two places at the same time.

Billy was a child who was identified as being brain blind. That just means that his eyes worked fine, but his brain wouldn’t tell him what he was seeing. Billy did not walk. He was about 12 years old. We worried about him because he would use his hands to punch himself in the head. The home that he stayed at thought that they had tried everything. They placed his hands into large plastic soda bottle with big holes in them so that he would not hurt himself as much when he punched his own head. We had a meeting with his parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones would sometimes take Billy home for weekends. They loved their profoundly retarded son. Mrs. Jones told the team at the meeting that Billy did not have a problem at home. I asked how they stopped him when he started to punch himself. Mrs. Jones said that she simply tells him to stop. I said that they needed to stay at the home so that Billy wouldn’t hurt himself. The rest of the team appeared either amused or angry. I explained that I wanted the parents to create an endless loop audiotape that played their voices telling Billy to not hit himself in the same way that they did at home. We had the tape in less than a week. The cassette tape player went where Billy went. Staff simply played the tape when Billy started to hit himself. It worked and kept on working.

The Magic Interview

Let’s talk about magic.

If I gave you any magic power right now, talk about what you would do.


Supposing you had the magic power to travel through time. Go back to a time that you want to visit. Talk about it.



Go ahead to a time that you would want to visit in the future. Talk about it.



Sometimes magicians meet up with others that can do stronger magic. Supposing there was an evil/mean magician who wanted to send you back to a time that you did not want to visit. When would that be? Talk about it.



That same evil/mean magician wants to send you to a bad time in the future. When do think that would be? Talk about it.



Another type of magic involves changing into other things, like people or animals. Lets talk about people. Who would you like to trade places with?
How would things be different if you did that?



What would that person say about being you?



Suppose you traded places with an animal. What animal would you pick? Talk about the reasons for trading with it.



What would the animal think about being you? Talk about it.



Supposing you could change your size. Would you become bigger or smaller? What would you do after you have changed, that you could not do now? Talk about it.




(Gender change). Supposing you could become a man/woman. The change would be temporary. Would you do it? Why or why not? What would be good about the change? Talk about it.



What would be bad about the change? Talk about it.



Talk about being invisible. This means that no one could see you or feel your presence. You could walk through walls, but you could not touch anything or any one. What would that be like?



Is there something magic that we have not talked about? Talk about it.