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You can’t say that!! It’s not politically correct.
Children are not difficult, they’re just ……… JUST WHAT?
While the book Raising Difficult Children was being typed the voice-activated program took the phrase Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and typed on the screen high productivity.
Perhaps the computer has its own wisdom! Many of our difficult children are just bursting with ideas and energy, waiting to be used productively in society.
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Copyright 2010 © Pastoral Counselling Institute
Please request permission from the Pastoral Counselling Institute to use this article.
RAISING DIFFICULT CHILDREN
You can’t say that: Children are not difficult
Some people can find the concept of ‘DIFFICULT CHILDREN’ politically incorrect and assume that the term means that the child is being seen as someone who can easily change their behavior if shown how. The concept of an emotional and temperamental child who is conflicted within themselves is often overlooked.
To accurately understand the word ‘difficult’ we must search the dictionary.
Cambridge; need skill or effort, not easy to deal with or behaving well
Oxford: Not easy; requiring great physical effort
Webster: Hard to manage or to please, not easy
In all three dictionaries the term ‘difficult child’ is used in the explanation
For many years in our work with children and their families, we noted that children experiencing difficulty with learning, behaviour and social skills, exhibited particular temperamental characteristics that made it almost impossible to cope with their environment.
We noted that if the school and families intervened with positive, affirming mentoring when the child was struggling to achieve educational and behavioural goals, positive results were obtained; however, when difficult behaviour was responded to with the same kinds of interventions when the child had more self-control, the behaviours became worse. This came as no surprise as it is an example of simple stimulus-response theory, where the child is rewarded by the attention given and then repeats the behaviour.
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