Question:
I have a 4 year old foster child who was recently placed in our home. I think she might have Reactive Attachment disorder. She tends to throw tantrums when she doesn't like the situation (not the game she wants to play or what she is asked to do) and will throw items (the computer monitor and toys), and will bite, urinate on the floor, and use profanities). I am worried that this is the issue, but can she be clinically diagnosed and if so by who?
Answer:
I know that most of us feel more comfortable when we can label a behavior, but in the end it doesn't help to understand behaviors nor does it help us know how to intervene. Your child needs help in regulating her emotions. All of her behaviors are coming from a place of stress and fear and her behaviors are communicating to you that she is stressed out and incapable of expressing her emotions in a socially acceptable way. It may be important, for insurance purposes, that she have a diagnosis and she can be diagnosed by a licensed mental health professional. I encourage you to seek help from a therapist who can perhaps provide guide you in helping your daughter regulate her emotional state when she is not in control of her emotions.
Elaine Spicer; MSW; LCSW; BCI Certified Instructor
About Me
- Elaine Spicer; LCSW
- I have been a social worker for 31 years. My work has been with families and children first in the area of Child Protective Services and then as a therapist working with the same population. I have worked with divorcing and divorced parents teaching co-parenting techniques, supervised therapists and have been a social worker for emotionally challenged children and adolescents in an inner city school system. About 7 years ago I was introduced to the work of Bryan Post and, as a friend and colleague said at the time...I went Post-al. All of my previous assumptions and indeed my work using behavioral interventions, got pushed aside. And along came the realization that none of the interventions, meant to change behaviors, had anything in common with helping children heal from the trauma they had experienced. My best work these days is as a coach/consultant for parents, other caregivers, and teachers. The services I provide are parent education, coaching, consulting and supervising. I am the mother of five adult children and grandmother to five. I am both a bio mom and an adoptive mom.