Get Fresh Tips Every Week! Don't Miss Any Emotional Tips. Subscribe to the Emotional Tip Newsletter.
	View Archive

Bookmark This Site Keep up with our Tips

Tip of the Day RSS Feed Fresh Emotional Tips Daily

Business Solutions
Our tips are powerful. Our writers are experts. Our results are guaranteed.

Listen to our Radio Show
Hot topics for both consumers and webmarketers on WebmasterRadio.FM Every Wednesday, 5PM Eastern.

Behavioral Health Treatment and Therapy Tips

	Psychoanalyst A psychoanalyst is someone who diagnoses and treats emotional and behavioral disorders through an analysis of the facts of the client´s mental health and life experiences.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Think Kanfer & Schefft (1988) suggest six thinking rules for therapists: 1. Think behavior (instead of problems) 2. Think solution (instead of causes) 3. Think in small steps (instead of long-term deficits) 4. Think flexible (instead of continuing to do the same thing) 5. Think positive (instead of focusing on deficits) 6. Think future (instead of past)
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Hypersensitivity Hypersensitivity is the result of the central nervous system becoming "over" stimulated when presented with sensory input. For example, a child who is hypersensitive to sound may become easily distracted, irritable, or hyperactive when in a situation where the auditory input is overwhelming. Many people are sensitive to sounds (or other sensory inputs) that the majority of people are not even aware of. For example, the flickering of flourescent lights can cause sensory overload in many people.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Standing At Desk One highly effective behavior management technique for children with ADHD in school is to simply place a firm hand to the child´s back when they are becoming fidgety. It helps the child to calm and refocus without calling attention to behavior.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Psychologist A psychologist can have a variety of background academic experience. Clinical psychologists have studied and trained in emotional and behavioral health issues. They are trained in evaluation and treatment of mental health disorders. Many psychologists have a doctorate in clinical psychology, but some do not have a college degree. It is important to check credentials. Psychologists also work in schools, specifically with behavior problems. They may administer intelligence tests, aptitude tests, and achievement tests to evaluate student progress, potential, or choice of career.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Transitions Warn the child in advance when transitioning to give plenty of time for the child to adapt. For example, instead of simply saying "Time to stop. Clean up.", you can say, "You have 5 minutes before we go to lunch." Then give a second warning, "You now have 2 minutes before we go to lunch. Start thinking about what you have left to do." Finally, "You now have 1 minute before lunch. Finish up what you are doing and stop." For more ideas on working with children with ADHD, visit ADHD.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Medication Did you know that medication used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder should not be used if the child is also suspected as having Bi-Polar Disorder? ADHD medication will actually aggravate Bi-Polar symptoms.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	ADD/ADHD and Classroom Assignments Children with ADD/ADHD often have difficulty keeping up with their peers on classwork and assignments. To help: 1. Allow extra time to complete projects, 2. Shorten assignment to level of child´s attention, and, 3. Modify assignments so child succeeds (less problems, partially done projects. CAUTION: Be aware of how much less the child is doing than others. Allowing a child to fall too far behind the rest of the children may cause the child to be retained and make the problem worse. Visit ADHD for a more detailed explaination of ADHD.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Behavior Plans Set up a behavior contract with the child with ADD/ADHD. Work on one behavior at a time. Have the child identify the behavior and assist the child in selecting an alternative, more appropriate behavior to replace the misbehavior with. All misbehaviors must be replaced with another behavior, not just simply taken away. Then, help the child reach the goal on the first try. Success breeds success. Failure breeds failure. Make sure the plan works! To learn more about writing behavioral plans in an online course, visit Behavior Management: Winning the Battle!
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Breaks Children with ADD/ADHD benefit from breaking their work into sections by providing a ´short break´ between activities. A good rule of thumb is 20 minutes of work time followed by a 5 minute "active" break. The 5 minute break time should be spent playing jump-rope, running in place, bouncing a ball, blowing bubbles, playing jacks, or some other active movement. It is ironic that most schools do will not allow this simple behavior management procedure since even the average adult´s attention span is only 20 minutes. A 5 minute break will increase learning and lessen misbehavior by ridding the body of stress and tension through the generation of blood! To learn more about working with ADHD, visit ADHD.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	ADD/ADHD Help To teach a child to cognitively restructure their ADD/ADHD behavior, first have them identify the task at hand (I am supposed to write my spelling words). Next, teach the child specific tasks related to the assignment (I need to read each word and sound it out carefully. I am to use my best handwriting and to write slow. When I am done, I need to recheck my work to be certain I haven´t missed anything.) Giving them cognitive structure for their tasks will help them complete their tasks in a more efficient and timely manner.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Holding Therapy Holding therapy is a technique that is sometimes used in the treatment of Attachment Disorders. The goal of holding therapy is to help the child develop inner control of emotions and to encourage ego development and trust. Holding therapy is never used as punishment. Is it effective? The judges are still out on the effectiveness of this treatment and recent publicity on Holding Therapy being improperly done resulting in the death of a child will probably keep the treatment in a bad light for awhile. As a therapist who has used holding therapy, I have found it to be extremely useful in the treatment of attachment disorders.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Behavior Intervention and Autism There are many differing behavioral treatments for Autism. For example, Lovass´ Behavioral Intervention uses ´Discreet Trial´ methodology to teach a child appropriate behavior, Gentle Teaching and TEACCH focus correcting a child´s behavior by following the child´s agenda and building on positive behaviors that are already there. No one behavioral intervention is superior to another, they simply all take a different approach. It is important, then, to research the various interventions before deciding on any given one.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Using a Timer with ADD/ADHD To help a child with ADD/ADHD organize their worktime better: 1) Use a timer for longer assignments, 2) Teach the child to pace him/herself according to the time left on the timer, 3) Break down large assignments into parts, and 4) Require fewer correct responses.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	ADD/ADHD and Completing Taks A child with ADD/ADHD needs to think through the consequences of his/her actions (If I do well on this assignment, I get an extra half hour of television tonight. If I do not do well on this assignment, I will have to do extra homework instead of watching television.) To assist the child, put the steps in pictures, or visual form for the child to check off one by one. For example, items on the check list might be: Check to see if my name is on the paper Check my spelling Check to make sure I answered all the questions.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Counselor A counselor is a general term used to describe a variety of individuals with very differing backgrounds. There are family counselors who may or may not be licensed, guidance counselors, which typically work in schools and have a bachelor or master´s degree, Christian counselors, that follow a religious oriented course of therapy, and indigenous counselors in a variety of roles.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	ADD/ADHD and Peer Help An effective strategy for helping a child with ADD/ADHD complete classroom tasks is to assign another student as a monitor/model. The pair can be called "Spelling Buddies" or something like that. It is important, however, that the child with ADD/ADHD not always be the one receiving the extra help. In other words, it is necessary to find a time when the child with ADD/ADHD is the "helping" student instead of the one always receiving the help. This helps foster self-esteem, personal responsibility, and social acceptance.
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Using a Timer Set a timer for a minute or two more than the child with ADD/ADHD is capable of attending and challenge child to attend until timer goes off. Reward the child lavishly if they attend until the timer goes off. Do not reprimend if the goal is not met, simply say something like, "Oh, that´s too bad. Let´s try again tomorrow!"
	Save Tip Comments Tip Rating

	Learning to Control Anger: Part 3 Using anger reducers can help us get in control of our anger. There are four basic types of anger reducers: 1) deep belly breaths, 2) counting to 10, 3) pleasant imagery, and/or 4) reviewing consequences (If I do ____, ____ will happen!).