Investment in the Future

Recently the local Raleigh newspaper - The News & Observer, ran an article called "Unruly Kids May Not Change". I found it pleasantly ironic that we had just learned about that very topic in our OTA psychosocial class. It was wonderful to read about research that supports what we do in OT, even indirectly.

The article was about how a group of psychologists from Duke University just ended a study that took several DECADES (talk about delayed gratification!) as it followed the participants from childhood well into adulthood. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of learning (or not learning) patience and delayed gratification as a child. Honestly my first thought as I started to read was that it just seemed so logical that what you do or don't teach a child, will effect their adult behavior. But I think sometimes the medical community needs to prove that something is exactly true so that it can become fact to the medical world. The study linked a child's poor self-control with their adult behaviors of smoking, abusing drugs or alcohol, unplanned and early pregnancies and mismanagement of finances.

My thoughts turned to our recent class discussion about Life Stages, where Early Childhood (age birth -4yrs) involves teaching control of impulses, and then Middle Childhood, ( 5-12 yrs old) involves teaching children the importance of considering other's needs, and about delayed gratification. Here is a link to Erickson's life stages which explains his theory. http://www.learning-theories.com/eriksons-stages-of-development.html

I loved how the article went on to say that interventions in childhood that boosted a child's self-control, improved the participants adult life in the areas of health, wealth and crime. A child psychologist, Linda Silber, who was also interviewed for the article, recommended teaching even toddlers self-control, beginning their foundation as young a 2 years old(temper tantrums come to mind).

As OTAs we learn to focus on the behavior that needs to be changed, rather than on the person or just the diagnosis. We will be faced with the behavioral challenges of children who have not mastered these tasks and will be able to respond to that challenge with treatment interventions that utilize the psychoanalytic, behavioral and environmental approach. Our goal will be to give these children the foundation they may be lacking as we teach them trust, appropriate behaviors and appropriate social roles. What an empowering thought, that we as OTAs can have a positive effect on these future members of society. Here is the link to the original article for anyone who wants to read it in its entirety:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/30/955533/unruly-kids-may-not-change.html#storylink=misearch