Early detection and intervention in childhood disorders

Increasing trends in psychological illnesses and psychosomatic conditions and

somatization/ stress related disorders like hypertension and pulmonary heart diseases have over the years reiterated the need for early detection and intervention.

Early childhood behaviour  as has always been emphasised sets the tone for later behaviour- a well known saying in hindi language ' poot ke pauw palne mein nazar aana'-  future of a child is visible while she is still an infant, becomes equally relevant when we talk about difficult behaviour.

Psychologically, a lot of behaviour is learnt and is influenced by the social milieu and the interaction pattern of the family, peers and teachers with the concerned child. Early detection and reporting of difficulty helps identify faulty maintaining factors, inconsistencies in parenting patterns and other environmental aberrations. There have been instances where early identification and intervention has helped avert many a children from falling into the drudgery of hardcore psychiatric problems, on the other hand the lack or failure to do so has led to severe psychiatric conditions. There are a no. of cases where early identification has proved beneficial in making a child a part of the mainstream, I would like to point out a case ( many more would be there) where a 19 years old- being brought in with complaints of - reduced rather zero social interaction, disregard for personal hygiene,  repetitive talking ( echolalia) incoherence in speech - on drugs for OCD for the last 4 years . A detailed history revealed that  even as a child he found it difficult to cope with school work, communication skills with teachers and peers were poor, being a 'weak' child he was defended and indulged with by parents, when in class 7 he was bullied by some classmates , which resulted in school avoidance - instead of addressing the issue – he was moved from the school and sent to a hostel where things deteriorated further for demand of a certain degree of independence and self reliance- to be again withdrawn from the boarding and put on psychiatric drugs. As of now the child has very low self esteem, avoids social interaction and unable to function even at a minimum level without direction. He is always unsure of himself.

The importance of early identification cannot be emphasised enough in the light of the fact that besides some cases where there are genetic and/ or neurological / neurodevelopmental factors leading to psychological disturbances, many of the psychological disorders have roots in the psychosocial experiences during the course of growing up.

In this regard the awareness and acceptance regarding psychiatric illness needs to be worked on. There is a persistent need for spreading awareness regarding various aspects of personality building, communication and interaction patterns to parents, teachers and the society as a whole. It is very important to develop appropriate social skills, empathy, critical thinking, problem solving outlook and skills in children right from the beginning. Not only this, there is an increasing need to gear young adults towards positive and proactive parenting. Gone are the days when children just grew up- they need to be carefully groomed and reared . Gone are the days when the only source of information to kids were their families and teachers and within the family setup there was ample emotional support system to cater to the individual needs if not in the form of a parent , then at least in the form of a grandparent, uncle, aunt, cousin, older sibling. Today the child is influenced by information from all over the world yet has very scant approach for emotional support.

On the one hand while the access to information at a click of a button has made us more aware and well informed , the flip side is that it has made us hypersensitive to certain other aspects of our life. Growing awareness has made us more intolerant to deviation from the so called ‘normality’. This information overload poses more challenges and points out to us in a hundred ways our inadequacy  as individuals. Therefore a fine balance is the need of the hour. 

Guess Who Am I?????

Guess Who Am I?????

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. 

I am completely at your command. 

Half the things you do might just as well be turned over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. 

I am easily managed––you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. 

I am the servant of all great people and, alas, of all failures, as well.

Those who are great, I have made great. 

Those who are failures, I have made failures. 

I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin –– if makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. 

Who am I?

!

!

!

!

!
!

!

!

!

!

!

I am habit!

Note: A habit is a system that you have mastered through practice.

Seeds of Greatness

by Denis Waitley

I’ve traveled the world to the seven seas. I’ve been up at the top and down on my knees.

I’ve been blessed with abundance and plenty of weeds. But I’ve never stopped caring about others’ needs.

As you tend your own garden, unlike any other, remember the words of my lovely grandmother.

“If you’re hoping to harvest a life of great deeds, remember you first have to plant some great seeds.”

Happiness is Nowwwww

 We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

 We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are we able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

 Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with...and remember that time waits for no one.

 So, stop waiting....

 --until your car or home is paid off
 --until you get a new car or home
 --until your kids leave the house
 --until you go back to school
 --until you finish school
 --until you lose 10 lbs.
 --until you gain 10 lbs.
 --until you get married
 --until you get a divorce
 --until you have kids
 --until you retire
 --until summer
 --until spring
 --until winter
 --until fall
 --until you die

 There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So -- work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching.

Team work

There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn.
Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and
prizes.


One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something
interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the
farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors'.


"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors
when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the
reporter asked.


"Why sir, "said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen
from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my
neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn,
cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am
to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."


The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His
corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is
in the other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help
their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace... Those who choose to
live well must help others to live well. The value of a life is measured
by the lives it touches.


SUCCESS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN ISOLATION. IT IS VERY OFTEN A PARTICIPATIVE
AND COLLECTIVE PROCESS.


So share the good practices, ideas, new learnings with your family, team
members, neighbors. All the Successes is a Team Work of a family, group,
enterprise, corporation... Infact TEAM as an acronym of letters T,E,A,M
T Together
E Everyone
A Achieves
M More

A Wife's letter

In an ordinary Indian family the usual  day began with the man blaming his wife of  how careless she was. He woke up pointing out how she had failed to teach her children good habits and discipline. How horribly messed she keeps the house and how lousy a cook she was. To add to it every allegation ended with how well he himself could have handled the whole household perfectly and efficiently. Fed up of clearing her position year after year - she decided to give up and take a break that would keep her away from the family for almost a month.  

Knowing fully well that the man wasn't aware of the actual effort that goes into maintaining the household she decided to write a letter to her  husband. This is how it goes.

Dear Hubby

Ever since our brief talk in the morning, I've realized that you are right and that the time has come when I should actually launch myself. Now that you have agreed to look after the household matters as well- I second thought tells me there are a lot of things that you have not seen me do. So, in order for you to not feel cheated and lied to, I think its my duty to let you know what all needs to be looked after , taken care of and attended to throughout the day, every few days and every 2-3 months.

 

I really don't know where to start - well I'll start from the morning assuming that the base work had been done at night.

Kids' tiffin has to be prepared- with no  repetitions and bread not more than twice every  week. As for fruit to be put in the tiffin pomegranate is their favourite. Besides filling their school water bottles, the empty bottles from the previous day are to be filled and placed in the fridge so that you and the kids have cold water to drink at night and throughout the day respectively.  

 

Prepare good, wholesome, healthy breakfast and lunch for yourself -no short cuts please because your health means a lot to all five of us.

 

Before leaving for office put all the towels outside to dry or they will start stinking and you'll have to wash them every fourth day ( dried towels can to used for 10-12 days.

Before leaving also make the beds- and fold blankets- you can't sleep on previous day's laundry and all the toys and books scattered on the bed.

 

In case you want to save on your time and energy - lay out clothes that the kids have to wear after they return from school- or else straighten their shelves of clothes every third day. 

Clothes need to be washed everyday - but you can do the laundry every second day also. A full load of colored clothes on one day and whites on the other. When washing whites esp their uniforms- preferably soak in warm water at night (also put bleach and detergent)- for best results and it will save you on a lot of labour. Second option is to take both of them to task and warn them not to dirty their uniforms- curtail their fun and feel bad about not letting your children enjoy their childhood just to save some of your labour. Well. you are the best judge-  

CAUTION- if you decide to do a weekly laundry there can be a few hazards

1. By the weekend none of you may be left with any undergarments to wear

2. The heap of clothes may get unmanageable

3. You might have to do all the washing in 2 or 3 rounds - each round takes 2-21/2 hrs and drying area may become a problem. also the dried clothes need to be managed.

4. Not all clothes can go to the Ironing lady  because kids' t-shirts carry prints that may get damaged.

( well you might not want to bother about that - 'we'll get new ones ) then make sure to go to the market and buy new ones every month- that actually sounds interesting and tempting. That reminds me its been long when I went shopping almost about 2 I/2 months)

 

All this assuming that the maid is generous enough not to take any offs .

Shopping reminds me every 2-3 months check for each one's stock of undergarments and review wardrobe every month to shuffle the less worn and most worn clothes otherwise they do not fit any more.

 

Before getting back home bring the grocery- fruits, vegetables and other things that each one of you likes- buns for the younger one, bananas for the elder.

Sorry you can't stack all this on a Sunday because till next Saturday  they'll not edible or won't last.

 

Every 15 days flush the filters in the kitchen and  clean the refrigerator or it will stink of stale food.

When You prepare dinner make sure that there are certain things that your father doesn't eat and there are things that he eats and no one else eats. Granny will help you with this- alternatively she can cook in your place and you can feel guilty for having your old mother doing all that while your arrogant wife is out enjoying life.

Before I forget- do not forget to check the doors and windows before going off to sleep, take your medicines on time, check for the availability of bread and butter in the refrigerator and make sure the children have done their homework and have no pending projects to be finished. 

In case any one of you may have any health issues the doctors nos. are in the diary and the first aid box contains the preliminary medicines. 

 

 How you like to take charge of the situation entirely depends on how you want to feel - proud of your wife or sorry for yourself.

Love you Dear for whatever you've done for me.

Your worthless wife.

 

 

 

 

People are more important than the money we earn off them.

  
I would like to share something we all need to learn. 

Suze Orman: The Right Order Is People, Money, Things When financial planner and motivational speaker Suze Orman talks, people listen. Orman says we all need to get our priorities straight. “The United States of America would not be in the situation it is right now if we had really cared about people first, and we cared about the well-being of people more than we cared about the money we made off of them. We would have had the strength to say to them, ‘You can’t afford this mortgage; we’re not going to lend you money you’re never going to be able to pay back,’ ” Orman says. To sync your priorities with your finances, Orman says: Don’t buy things unless you have the money to buy them. Don’t expand your business unless you have the money to do so. Realize people are the key to everything—money can’t do anything without people. Think about and understand what you’re doing—and why—with your money.