Pervasive developmental disorders are a group of psychiatric disorders that begin in early childhood and have attracted the attention of an increasing number of scholars who have conducted research in multiple areas because of their early age of onset, peculiar symptoms, and poor prognosis. As they continue to grow older, they develop more pronounced emotional behavior problems by adolescence.
Adolescence is the transitional period from child development to adulthood. Adolescents in this period undergo great physical and mental changes regulated by the endocrine system. There is a great difference between male and female children, the development of the reproductive system suddenly accelerates, the morphology of reproductive organs changes, functional development and secondary sexual characteristics develop rapidly, girls have menstruation, breast development increases, individual girls appear lactation, boys appear spermatorrhea, grow beard, the laryngeal nodes become larger, the voice changes, the hormone level in the body undergoes significant changes.
During puberty, normal children have begun to receive mental health information at school and learn about their physical development, the function of the reproductive system, and their reproductive parts. In terms of interpersonal relationships, they can talk to their intimates and parents about sex, ask questions about sex, and make correct judgments about their sexual behavior. They understand the consequences of premature sexual behavior, can control their sexual behavior, know how to avoid others, and can learn about family planning.
Children with pervasive sexual developmental disorders, because most of them have abnormal interpersonal and social communication skills, verbal and nonverbal communication disorders, narrow, limited, stereotyped and repetitive interests and activities, most of them are accompanied by different degrees of intellectual developmental delay, and some of them also have seizures at the same time. When they grow into adolescence, they have difficulty expressing their physical and psychological changes in words and cannot effectively control their sexual impulses and regulate their emotions, often showing emotional instability, irritability and temper tantrums. All should attract the parents of children and related professionals to pay great attention, to prevent problems before they occur, to have a positive ideological preparation and the necessary perfect contingency measures to help them smoothly through puberty.
I. Common emotional behavior problems of children with pervasive developmental disorders in adolescence.
1, anxiety.
They are timid, nervous and worried, because they have difficulty in expressing themselves verbally and cannot express their inner experience correctly, they can only rely on their family members to observe and guess the reasons for their abnormal performance, such as being overly sensitive to interpersonal things around them and having difficulty adapting once the environment changes, and feeling insecure. They are suspicious, hesitant to do things, pester family members, afraid to stay alone in the room, afraid of the dark, inattentive in class, fidgety, some children refuse to go to school, cannot mention school matters, such as conflicts with classmates, that is, a strong emotional reaction, more than a noise, or accompanied by compulsive actions, such as repeatedly closing the door, opening the door, acting very alert, repeatedly going to the bathroom to urinate, but actually not, tantrums and crying. The child may have a strong emotional reaction after a conflict with a classmate, or may be accompanied by compulsive actions, such as repeatedly closing and opening the door, acting very alert, repeatedly going to the bathroom to urinate, but actually not, throwing a tantrum and crying. Some children show physical discomfort: rapid heartbeat and breathing, fatigue, chills in the limbs, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal dysfunction, significant loss of appetite, individual vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty sleeping, black and white confusion, easy to wake up, many nightmares, and unpredictable mood changes. Some children, because of unsatisfactory results, criticized by teachers, frequent toilet urination takes a long time, some go to school to wet their pants or appear stomach pain, stomach discomfort, gastroduodenal reflux, in fact, the city avoidance of school performance.
2, depressed mood.
The performance of emotional instability, the slightest change in the external environment, easy to cause mood changes, low, avoidance, withdrawal, fear of difficulties, poor tolerance for frustration, the range of interest reduced, activities significantly reduced, sullen or unhappy all day, unresponsive, contact with people more reduced, passive contact, reluctance to go out, extremely simple answers to questions, some children more bedridden, lazy life, washing, eating are expressed Passivity or crying for no reason, social function is obviously affected, etc.
3. Impulsivity with aggressiveness and destruction.
As their personalities mature online during adolescence, their psychological development significantly lags behind that of normal children of the same age. In addition, they have certain obstacles in communication and interaction with others, and their verbal expression is also significantly behind that of children of the same age. They have poor self-control and tend to do things without considering the consequences and the impact on their families or neighbors. If they do not meet the slightest demands in life, they may lose their temper, drop things, and destroy things, such as throwing things from the window to the floor, without considering that they will hurt others. Sometimes there are sudden impulses, hitting, kicking, and being mean to family members who are close to him. Some of the children deliberately poop in their pants or wipe it on the wall, and drop glass objects when they see them, as if to hear the sound. A 12-year-old child had repeatedly thrown his parents’ cell phone from upstairs to downstairs, because his mother had a younger brother to reduce his care, so he lost his sense of security, he took an inappropriate way to draw attention to him. Some children overeat, specializing in bullying people who coddle him, rowan hair, scratching, pinching, biting, killing and abusing small animals, etc.
4.Self-injury, self-harm.
Most children have difficulty in expressing themselves verbally, so it is difficult for them to express their inner experience completely. Individual children to pick their own eyes, digging nose, hands to knock the chin, the second side of the temporal lobe area has been bald not to grow hair, repeatedly bite the hand, the back of the hand or fingers into a thick callus or bite bleeding, as a way to vent their frustrations.
5, masturbation behavior.
Most children to puberty due to endocrine changes in the body, they often do not express the discomfort of somatic changes, coupled with psychological development is significantly behind the same age children, behavior and behavior performance childish, easily impulsive, emotional vulnerability, lack of senior will, poor self-control, often take some unrealistic performance, such as in public places, in front of a large audience or lying in bed repeatedly rubbing genitals, appearing to pinch legs, the Full of sweat, facial flushing, eyes rounded, genital erection, to sexual pleasure. In front of the opposite sex will not hide themselves, no sense of shame, public pants off urine and defecation or naked, to attract the attention of others. Girls with menstruation also will not avoid their fathers, walking around the living room after bathing, some boys see young and beautiful girls dress, want to go to contact with people, but in the wrong way, to touch people stockings, hair, or inexplicably concerned about whether people wear belts, etc.. They are often mistaken for “hooligans” in public places and are scorned by others, but they do not apologize in any way. Some parents, in order to prevent their children from getting into trouble, lock them up at home and do not let them go out, which adds to their isolated character, so that they are far away from society, away from the crowd, social function gradually appeared to retreat.
Second, the causes of emotional behavior problems in adolescence of children with pervasive developmental disorder.
1. Parents of older children with autism have endured the tremendous pressure of raising children with disabilities for more than ten years, and some of them have suffered long-term frustration. They often feel physically and mentally exhausted, and feel a strong sense of helplessness, despair and anger when they see their children growing up with little progress. This has a negative impact on the child.
2. Some children with more severe degrees may not have the opportunity to enter school and enjoy the right to education throughout their lives. When they are young, they can still go out with their parents and family members. But when they grow up, their bodies grow taller and stronger, their families often dare not take them out alone for fear that if they lose their temper, they will not be able to control their problematic behavior, especially in public places, and parents will lose face, so the opportunity to take them out is significantly reduced, so much so that some children later refuse to go out.
Some parents divorce, or have a younger brother or sister, and place the child with grandparents or relatives, so that the child suddenly loses the warmth of the family, has no sense of security, has no food and sleep, and has strong emotional behavior problems.
4. For older children, most of them have graduated from normal schools and special education schools. At present, the community does not have the ability to place them, so they have to stay at home for a long time and seldom go out to activities. They can eat and drink, life becomes more and more lazy, weight gain, no ^ at home, dare to provoke, their requirements must try to meet, otherwise the parents can do nothing.
Third, deal with countermeasures.
1, parents should take a positive attitude to create a relaxed environment for children.
Parents should be bold enough to face the reality, do not take an avoidant attitude, afraid of children to their own face, go out to attract the right and wrong, the child locked in a small space at home; to create a relaxed and harmonious family atmosphere, as much as possible to bring children in contact with the natural environment, to public places, more children to participate in some useful social activities, such as dinners with family, parties, field trips, travel, shopping, walking, taking the bus, subway, airplanes, ships, etc. subway, airplane, ship and so on. Add children’s interest in life, gradually make them know how to comply with the moral code of social behavior, and improve their ability to adapt to society.
2, actively and correctly guide them to cultivate their ability to take care of themselves, to develop the habit of cleanliness and hygiene.
For example, when girls have their menstruation, they should be taught how to use sanitary napkins, how to clean their perineal area, learn to avoid their fathers and male comrades, to prevent being deceived, etc.
3, to develop good sleep habits.
Pay attention to the boy’s masturbation habits and leg rubbing genitalia, do not let it casually lie in bed during the day, and do not go to bed early at night to avoid masturbation, get up immediately after waking up in the morning. In addition, if you find that your child is rubbing his genitals or masturbating, do not shout, reprimand, or even scold, but find ways to divert attention.
4, according to the child’s ability.
For children with poor function and heavy degree, the goal is to train them to take care of themselves, teaching them to dress, wash, eat, control urination and defecation and take care of themselves after defecation independently. For children with better functioning and less severe disabilities, we train them to do simple household chores such as sweeping the floor, wiping the table, taking out the garbage, washing the lai, washing the dishes, and so on. For those with strong hands, you can also let them imitate cooking simple meals, teach them to use household appliances such as gas, microwave ovens, rice cookers, washing machines, and teach them to call for help. For higher functioning, less advanced children with some special abilities (drawing, music), you can explore their potential, such as teaching them to type on the computer, draw, copy, learn to play a musical instrument, cultivate their interests, and provide them with opportunities and places to show their talents. To let more people around to understand these disadvantaged and innocent children, so that they get the love and help from the society with more good people.
5, active and correct guidance.
According to the child’s language ability and level of comprehension, for the better functioning children should be actively guided to participate in some social practice, to broaden their horizons, to enhance their interests, to let them participate in some work within their ability in the community, to create conditions for them to engage in simple social work skills.
6, drug treatment, the choice of common drugs.
For children with serious emotional behavior problems, learn to pay attention to the observation and analysis of the causes and consequences of their problem behavior, take the child to a regular hospital, by experienced doctors after clinical observation, or in advance telephone consultation with professional doctors, diagnosis and selection of drugs with positive efficacy and fewer side effects, do not blindly listen to the opinions of others, sickness, so as not to delay the best period of treatment.
Fourth, promote the construction of social security system and service system and service system for people with disabilities.
Improving the construction of social security system and service system for disabled people, creating a relaxed social environment for autistic people, and reducing the economic burden and mental pressure of their parents not only guarantee the solution of the emotional behavior problems of children with pervasive developmental disorder in adolescence, but also solve the problem of their care and placement.
Pervasive developmental disorder is a mental disability that seriously disturbs children and their families and significantly affects the quality of life and social adjustment of the children. Their symptoms change in form and degree as they age, but the core social, communication, and social adjustment deficits will persist. When they become adults, most children are unable to enter society normally and are unable to support themselves, causing great emotional stress and financial burden to their families. The family is a basic unit of society and its stability and harmony is the foundation of social stability and harmony. The majority of parents of autistic children experience pain and confusion, blame and blame, and feel the hardship of the psychological journey.