Positive Parenting

"Baby" is a valuable prize for parents but being parents is not easy. Many parents may feel the weariness from the pressures arising from raising a child. Most of them are not prepared for this before while they want their children to grow up to be happy and capable of making a living. Frequently, they feel that they are hopeless to take care of their babies and all of these pressure make parents manage their kids with violence.In the learning process in order to serve the role of parents, they will need a support for information, training and mental support from their families, peers, community and society. They also want correct methods and appropriate skills as well. It's not too difficult for parents to develop their children’s skills, and to motivate the children to behave properly. This learning process not only helps parents to manage children’s behavioral problems, but it also

Get Early Childhood Ready For Mathematics

Mathematics is important in everyday life; therefore, parents and caregivers should teach their children since they were young before they can learn this subject in school. However, it is a matter of parroting rather than teaching numbers because children who have received the preparedness for basic skills in math and reading are better learners when entering into a kindergarten. In addition, it is found that the math skills involve with ability in the future as much as the skills of reading and meditation. Parents are crucial in the development of basic skills in mathematics from toddler to 5 years then children will use these skills in performing his daily activities and events for example, climbing up and down the ladder, sharing toys or sweets to siblings or friends. Developing skills through these activities is vital to the readiness of children to schooling so that they can solve

Learning and Understanding Children with Autism

Taweesak Siriratrekha, M.D.Child and adolescent psychiatrist Autism does not make any difference but every child is different. We should learn and understand individual differences. Typically, children with autism have difficulties building relationships with people around them, inappropriate social skills and repetitive and restricted behaviors. If they do receive early intervention on behavior modification with proper trainings on social skills and are allowed to live peacefully in the society, they will be able to develop their full potential and live in the community accordingly.What are children with autism? How do we know that a kid is autistic?Autism is a developmental disorder that possesses unique symptoms apparently characterized by impaired social interaction, improper verbal and non-verbal communication in accordance with their ages, and by repetitive pattern of restricted b

Dental Treatment in Children with Autism

Special children often have problems accessing dental care due to their physical, emotional and behavioral difficulties. Family factors and social pressures cause these groups of patients to have less access to services than normal children(1,2). Patients with autism usually have a habit to eat soft and sweet food and always eat the same food. (3) They also have poor masticatory muscles and cognitive limitations that hinder self-cleaning. With isolating behaviors, it would also be difficult for a caregiver to help a child clean the oral cavity (3-5). As a result, patients with autism have a high risk of periodontal disease and tooth decay (6, 7). However, some studies turned out that patients with autism had lower prevalence of dental decay than normal children (8, 9). In addition, patients with autism have more chances to have their front teeth trauma than normal children since they ar

Sibling Rivalry

Author: Arpaporn Puengyod, MD.SiblingsSiblings mean many persons born from the same father and mother (brethren), or that of his father or mother alone (brother and sister of the same father, brother and sister of the same mother) including an older sister and younger sister, older brother and younger brother.Relationships between/ among brothers and/ or sistersBrotherly relations come into various forms. A good example of the relationships is helping, sharing, playing, emotional support and a consultant since siblings can understand each other's problems better, have effective interactions, help solve problems among them, and sometimes talk on some secret issues that may not talk to anyone else such as sex and so on.Apart from good relationships siblings may have bad relationships such as fighting or brawling arising from jealousy of each other.Factors affecting the relationships betwe

Feeding Problems in Children

Author: Worawan JongsangawittayalertFeeding for children aimed to give them sufficient nutrients for their growth and brain development. Babies cannot help themselves with food, hence; they need to depend on the caretakers until they learn how to eat once grow up. The importance of feeding in kids is not only to concern with the nutrition intake, but also the relationship among family members during meals.Feeding problems that often found in Thailand are food pickiness, food refusal, lack of appetite, keeping food in the mouth, slow eating, etc. These problems deeply rooted in Thailand due to the lack of understanding in children’s development and their eating habits. Nowadays, these problems have intensified causing stress to both parents and children. If parents can’t solve problem, they’ll become more severe and could possibly lead to a relationship problem or other behavior probl

Preparing For the Basic Skills of Reading in Early Childhood

Rajanukul Institute,Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health Children's reading is on going development starting from early childhood. Readiness for reading skills is essential that parents and caregivers will need to train their children some specific skills from early childhood before the children are enrolled in kindergarten. Children should read various stories from storybooks, signs and symbols which will help developing language skills, listening skills, stimulating imagination and promoting conceptual thinking. These are the brain development of an early childhood through reading. My First TeacherChildren’s reading is usually the coherence of a part of the brain whose functions are relating to symbols and the brain that acts on the language. Basic elements that make children literate involve with the large number of vocabularies in their brain, awareness of sound

Thumb sucking

Author: Jomsurang Phothisataya, MD. Thumb sucking is a behavior found since a baby in the womb when gestational age of 18 weeks, infancy, preschool, and may continue until school age. Mostly after the age of 2-4 years, children gradually stop sucking. However, some babies might continue sucking for a certain period of time which usually occurs only before bed time until the age of 5-6 years. Children younger than 4 years old are not required to get treatment if sucking does not affect any aspect of development because children can develop self-control and stop sucking. It will be a problem only if it causes some impacts on the physical health, development, social interaction and self-esteem regardless of age.Epidemiology• 80 percent of children are born with a sucking habit.• 30 – 45 percent of preschool children are commonly found.• 5 – 20 percent of children older than 5 years ha

Identification of Symptoms of Epilepsy in Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Identification of Symptoms of Epilepsy in Children with Intellectual Disabilities Patients with intellectual disabilities often have complications additional diseases such as epilepsy, heart disease, movement disorder, self-control, complications of psychotropic drugs, anticonvulsants, etc. They may have epilepsy, movement disorder or behavior that occurs intermittently. Clear classification of symptoms is necessary for determining the cause, following up and arranging proper activities that support safety living. Children refer to those from birth to 15 years of age. In case their actual age cannot be identified, all age ranges are accepted. Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities refer to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy or autism. Seizures means symptoms in which brain cells abnormally and continuously disperse a larg

L.D. - Learning Disabilities

L.D. - Learning Disabilities 　　　　　L.D. - Learning Disabilities in an academic area, it is defined as “disabilities in basic psychological process relating to verbal language or writing which are expressed in the defectiveness of hearing, thinking, speaking, reading(dyslexia), writing(dysgraphia), spelling math dyscalculia”. 　　　　　It also covers perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia but not for the group of auditory, visual or movement, intellectual, emotional impairments or economic, cultural and environmental disadvantages. 　　　　　In medical field, it is diagnosed as learning disorder (as per criteria posted by American Association of Psychiatry, DSM-IV) or specific developmental disorder of scholastic skills (as per cr

Problem Behaviors in Down syndrome Children

　 Problem Behaviors in Down syndrome Children Consideration Guidelines for Problem Behaviors 1. Whether that behavior intervenes learning and development　2. Whether that behavior impedes activities in a family, school, work place 3. Whether that behavior poses any danger to a child or others 4. Whether that behavior differs from the expressions of other children at the same age　of development 　　　The first step of evaluation for children/ adults with Down syndrome, who express problem behaviors, is the investigation of acute or chronic medical dysfunctions relating to those behaviors. Medical symptoms may have some relationship with behaviors’ change as follows. 1. Visual or hearing deficits 2. Thyroid functions 3. Celiac disease 4. Sleep apnea 5. Anemia 6.Gastroesophageal reflux 7.Constipation 8.Depression 9.Anx

People with Disabilities and Social Opportunity

People with Disabilities and Social OpportunityThaweesak Siriratrekha, MD, Child and Adolescence Psychiatrist 　　　　　　　　　 　　 The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first international convention pact?of human rights that the United Nations (UN) has declared as a security for the rights, freedom, and human dignity for persons with disabilities equally to people in general. This supports 650 millions of the handicapped worldwide for their rights and freedom in doing things without discriminations. Thailand has pledged the allegiance to join the convention on 29th July 2008. This is effective for Thailand to follow the covenants of the convention on the rights of the persons with disabilities which have the material theme to be a tool for driving society to realize the importance

Asperger's Disorder

Asperger's DisorderThaweesak Siriratrekha, MD, Child and Adolescence Psychiatrist 　　　　　Asperger's Disorder or originally known as Asperger's Syndrome is one of developmental disabilities with peculiar characteristics and categorized in the same group as autistic disorder with some differences in details. 　　　　　For more than 70 years the patients had been reported and mentioned before Leo Kanner, MD., psychiatrist of John Hopkins, reported the patients with autism. Since 1934 Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician said about children who had problem socializing with others, absorbed with strange and repeated actions but they seemed to be very smart. However, the crisis after World War II, no one had continued his research. Then, it disappeared until new generations of researcher recovered it. Symptoms and Diagno

Pre-K math and reading predict later success

Pre-K math and reading predict later success American Psychological Association January 2008, Vol 39, No. 1 Children who enter kindergarten with reading　and　math skills are the most likely to do well later in school, report Northwestern University's Greg J. Duncan,and Amy Claessens, in the Developmental Psychology　(November,Vol. 43, No. 6). "We talk a lot about early reading skills and reading to your child, but we don't talk about math," says Claessens. "Doing numbers and basic math skills are also really important." The researchers were surprised to find that behavioral problems, such as fighting with classmates or being sad or withdrawn, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance. They did, however, find that later academic achievement is yoked to attention skills such controlling hyperactive behavior and staying on task. In th

PDD (NOS)

PDD NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified)Thaweesak Siriratrekha, MD, Child and Adolescence Psychiatrist 　 　　　PDD NOS - Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified is the diagnosis of disease in the group of PDDs - Pervasive Developmental Disorders or previously called “Autistic Spectrum Disorders” which means one type of developmental abnormalities with language, social skills and communication or specifically limited activities and interests but no other diseases of PDD are diagnosed. 　　　　Using the　DSM-IV classification system, the American Association of Psychiatrists has divided PDDs into 5 groups 1. Autistic Disorder2. Asperger's Disorder 3. Rett's Disorder 4. CDD - Childhood Disintegrative Disorder 5. PDD-NOS - Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified &#1

Rett Syndrome

Rett's Syndrome Thaweesak Siriratrekha, MD, Child and Teenager Psychiatrist Rett's Syndrome is classified in a group of PDDs (PDDs - Pervasive Developmental Disorders). Most patients are woman. Approximately 1 patient is found in 10,000-15,000 first-born babies. Abnormalities cannot be examined during prenatal period. At first birth a head’s diameter is normal. Muscular and motive developments are also normal but after 5 months, some abnormalities are present. The growth of head is slow (often found during 5 months to 4 years of age), loss of hand skills, loss of purposeful hand movements (frequently found during 6-30 months), followed by repeated and irregular hand movements around the chest, for example, twisting hands back and forth or acting like washing hands, having gait ataxia and truncal ataxia/ apraxia, staggering and eventually getting unable to walk. There are disabil

Special Child...How Do We Know from Prenatal Period?

Special Child...How Do We Know from Prenatal Period?Thaweesak Siriratrekha, MD, Child and Adolescence Psychiatrist Nowadays, there are many problems regarding special children such as autism, Asperger’s, LD, attention deficit, cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, etc. This raises concerns over parents who are having a baby born with possibilities of becoming a special child. How can we foresee? And what method helps us know? How to forecast whether a child is a special child is relatively dependent upon his problem. Each form of problems is different, some type can be known before birth while some know when a baby is born. Some do not know even a child has been born. We have to wait until he grows up a bit.Prenatal forecast is chromosomal abnormalities, for example, Down syndrome is the abnormality of 21th chromosome causing a unique appearance with many physical and intellect

Number One Mom

Number One Mom Panpimol Wipulakorn, MD 　　　Nurturing a child is not a memorization of knowledge, that is to say, acquiring an excellent grade of 4 on the examination but it cannot be able to be flexibly applied to raising a child. As a result, a child cannot grow up as a robot anyway. 　　　 “My Sister’s Keeper” is encouraged for all parents to watch if a chance is allowed. It is a story of a mom with 2 daughters and 1 son. One of her daughters is sick of cancer. A mom is striving for taking care of her sick daughter to her full competence until she is reaching a teenager. Eventually, her last stage of life is coming. The plot is started when her younger daughter files a lawsuit again her mother requesting for medical protection when rejecting a request for kidney donation for her older sister who is suffering from a cancer. Her lawyer asks a

Building Wisdom Network for Special Child’s Development

Building Wisdom Network for Special Child’s Development Thaweesak Siriratrekha, MD, Child and Teenager Psychiatrist　　　　　　　　　 　Special Child means children who need a special care. This term has been later shortened and finally called “special child”. This term has broad definition covering all groups of children with disabilities or defects, gifted child or specific talented child including the poor or children with educational inferiority as well. Recently, when special child is mentioned, it is mainly regarded as a group of children with intellectual disabilities, learning deficit and autistic spectrum. Developing special child requires the collaboration of all parties involved as to drive caring process and to improve the quality of life. Special child issues are dependent upon not only individual responsibi

child development

Child Development Thaweesak Siriratrekha, MD., Child and Teenager Psychiatrist Child Development can be variedly divided into 4 main areas as follows: 1. Physical development consists of gross motor development and fine motor development 2. Cognitive development includes fine motor development and language development. 3. Emotional development 4. Social development contains social development and moral development. 　 Children in general will have close stages of development. If children have developmental delay of over 6 months, it is considered abnormal which will need urgent intervention and support. Normal Development of Each Age Range is shown in the table below. Gross Motor Development At birth Equally bend both sides of legs and arms. 1 month Turn face to left and right directions 2 months Raise neck 4 months Use hand

ADHD

ADHD

Intellectual Disabilities

Intellectual Disabilities / Mental Retardation The intellectual disability is the disorder with limited intellect, learning, and self adaptation. In present, the word “Intellectual Disability” is increasingly substituting “Mental Retardation” by many international organizations such as IASSID (International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities), WHO (World Health Organization), WPA (World Psychiatry Association), and especially AAMR (The American Association on Mental Retardation) which composes of worldwide inter-profession and has been founded for 130 years has renamed the association to be The American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) since January 1, 2007 in order for the disabilities to be better accepted by the community. Definition of the intellectual disability or mental retardation As per the cri

Down Syndrome

Down’s Syndrome Background Our human’s characteristics such as physical appearance, hair colour, skin colour, and sex are controlled by genetic material which is located on each chromosome. In human body contains millions of cells and in each cell, there are 46 chromosomes, or 23 pairs. These chromosomes are from mother and father equally 23 chromosomes. This is the genetic inheritance. From the drawing evidences it could be possible that Down’s syndrome has been known since the 16th century. The first lecture on Down’s syndrome was debuted in 1846 by Edouard Onesimus Sequin and in 1866 John Langdon Down gave the first description of a group of children with mental retardation. They look like Mongol and Down called this abnormality, Mongolism. The name was later disagreed to be used and to honor the discoverer the new name was given as Down’s syndrome. Or the Americ

Delayed Development

Delayed Development Definition Development means the change of function and maturity of organs including the person him/herself. In general, normal development can be divided into 4 aspects; 1. Physical development: The ability of stability and movement using gross motor and eye-hand coordination (fine motor-adaptive). 2. Cognitive development: the ability of learning self-surrounding relation, thinking, ration, and ability of problem solving. Language and fine motor are involved in cognitive development. 3. Emotional development: the ability of appropriateness of emotional expression and control including the self esteem development. 4. Social development: the ability of relationship development, self help in daily life (personal-social), spiritual development meaning knowing the value of life, morals, responsibility, and the ability to choose the way of life

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy Meaning Cerebral Palsy or C.P. does not refer to the specific disease but the collective word of permanent brain disability syndrome in children. The disability will be stable and will not extend. It will result in the faulty of muscular coordinating working which subsequently causes the unusual movement and poses, for example, the hardening of the legs, arms, body, face, tongue, stability, posing when sitting, standing, walking, or even cannot walk. Beside the unusual movement and posing there may be other brain abnormalities such as perception and learning impairment, mental retardation, and epilepsy, etc. Causes It might be caused from many factors however about 25% cannot be figured out its cause. Most of the cases occur during the brain development, i.e. in the womb to ages of 7-8 years old. There are 3 causal stages: 1. Prenatal period: f

Autistic Disorder

Autistic Disorder Meaning What is autistic? Autistic Disorder or Autism is one of the development disorders. The children cannot develop their social skill, linguistic skill, and communication skill in accordance with their ages. They have the behavior of repeating, non-flexible interest and activities. The problem starts at an early age and expressed before the age of 3. It is more than 60 years that the scholars have attempted to study the disease in detail, however, its causes are still unclear. The word “Autism” has its root from Greek: “Auto” meaning “Self”; it means that separation in the own world like a transparent wall or mirror that separate them for the community. Autistic is diagnosis as PDD or Pervasive Developmental Disorders. It was found that the number of autistic children is rising and it was found more in male than in female. Even though

Duskin leadership training in Japan called for trainees

Duskin leadership training in Japan called for trainees to participate in our 16th Duskin Leadership Training Program in Japan for 10 months (starting in September 2014 and ending in July 2015) The applicants must: (1) be a person with a disability living in Asia and the Pacific, (2) be between 18 and 25 years old as of October 31, 2013, (3) be determined to become a future leader in your community and to work for persons with disabilities, (4) be willing to accomplish a 10 month long training period in Japan and to adapt yourself to the Japanese lifestyle, (5) be able to communicate sufficiently either in Japanese (or Japanese sign language) or in English (or International Sign Language), (6) be able to carry out your everyday activities without assistance, (7) have a surety, who is a parent, a sibling of age, or someone who is next of kin, and (8) agree to participat