11/7 THE IMPACT OF NEGLECT AND ABUSE ON CHILDREN'S LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Question 1

When do children most often experience child abuse?

Answer 1

between birth and 3 years of age

Question 2

Research

What does Sheehan, 2011-Stanford Child Neurology, say about baby abuse and survival rate?

Answer 2

• When babies are abused about 25% die

- Up to 50% survive with significant neurological deficits

Question 3

What is Neglect?

Answer 3

• The failure to provide for a child’s basic needs.

- It can be emotional, educational, or physical

Question 4

Why do children often experience physical neglect, and where may they be inappropriately left?

Answer 4

• because their parents are unable to provide what they need-they are poor.
• May be inappropriately left at home alone

Question 5

What are some characteristics of these physically neglected children?

Answer 5

• Often they have trouble doing well in school–basic needs are not met
• hungry, cold, lice
• difficulty concentrating

Question 6

Research

What do Recent National Statistics indicate in terms of perpetrators by relationship to the victim?

Answer 6

total of 85% are relatives

Question 7

What are some characteristics of children who have experienced severe emotional neglect?

Answer 7

• may be lethargic and apathetic
• may demonstrate learned helplessness
• may have cognitive problems, including difficulty with impulse control and problem-solving skills

Question 8

Research

According to (http://www.irvingstudies.com/child abuse survivor monument disabled.htm-2007) what do they say about physical and sexual abuse of individuals with disabilities?

Answer 8

• runs 3-4 times higher than abuse in the general population

- Disabled girls are especially vulnerable targets; often, family members abuse them

Question 9

If a disabled child reports abuse, why is she often not considered credible? and what is our job in this situation?

Answer 9

• can’t describe details clearly
• SLPs sometimes called to assist-especially if a case goes to court
• SLPs can ensure that interviews are conducted at child’s appropriate cognitive and linguistic levels

Question 10

Research

What does some research suggest about mothers attachment toward babies with craniofacial problems?

Answer 10

• may be less attached to and nurturing of their infants
• Decreased attachment increases the risk of abuse and neglect
• vulnerable to abuse

Question 11

Because of parents lack of attachment toward children with craniofacial anomalies, what should we do?

Answer 11

we need to provide medical care for these babies as early as possible

Question 12

What are the results on parents when they have children who have disabilities, and in turn how do they react?

Answer 12

• Children with disabilities put a lot more stress on their caregivers
• when caregivers are stressed and have no respite, they are more likely to neglect and abuse their children

Question 13

Special needs caregivers may…

Answer 13

• not see the light at the end of the tunnel like parents of typically developing children
• be stressed
• typical child experiences are not available
• parents of typically developing children are uncomfortable
• no invitations
• special needs parents & children are isolated

Question 14

What are behavioral and language characteristics of children who are abused and/or neglected?

Answer 14

• they are often very quiet
• Difficulties with expressive language
• they have lesser conversational skills than their peers
• They may be less likely than peers to discuss information or volunteer
• shorter, less complex utterances
• fewer decontextualized utterances; more talk about the here and now
• auditory and reading comprehension problem

Question 15

Why do neglected and/or abused children often do more poorly in school?

Answer 15

• they underperform academically

- They have more behavior problems

Question 16

What are some of the specific difficulties with pragmatics that children who are abused/neglected?

Answer 16

• Decreased descriptive utterances
• language used to get things done with little social affect
• poor conversational skills overall
• inability to discuss feelings
• shorter conversations

Question 17

Research

What does Nelson 2010 state about children who are abused/neglected?

Answer 17

• they lack ability to take perspective of a conversational partner
• Demonstrate alexithymia-absence of words for emotions

Question 18

What may mothers who neglect or abuse their babies do?

Answer 18

• may punish normal risk taking “adventurous” behavior
• may not interact
• may be unresponsive when babies initiate, so babies learn to be passive

Question 19

What must we stress to caregivers that they should NEVER do? and what can this cause?

Answer 19

• we must stress to caregivers that they should NEVER shake a baby
• this causes lifetime cognitive and linguistic damage

Question 20

Research

What does Sheehan, 2011 (stanford neurology) state about traumatic brain injury with shaken babies?

Answer 20

one problem: when the caregiver is done shaking, s/he usually slams the baby hard against a surface-wall, table..–>traumatic brain injury

Question 21

What are some implications for assessment and intervention for abused/neglected children?

Answer 21

• we need to work as part of a multidisciplinary team
• this team often includes a social worker and a psychologist
• we are mandated to document and report what we see and hear
• in the schools, we would tell the principal

Question 22

In assessment, what do we especially need to focus on evaluating with kids who are abused/neglected?

Answer 22

• overall expressive language skills
• pragmatic skills
• narrative skills
• vocabulary

Question 23

What should intervention include, for children who have been abused and neglected?

Answer 23

• Encourage verbal expression, especially description
• providing a warm, nurturing environment with clear rules and boundaries
• increase children’s ability to accurately describe emotions
• increase ability to appropriately express emotions (e.g., use your words, not hitting or kicking)

Question 24

What may intervention especially need to involve b/c abused/neglected kids don’t get to do this at home?

Answer 24

• Playing!
• we can provide appropriate dolls/action figures, art supplies, etc.
• As the child is playing or drawing, describe his actions or drawings

Question 25

Research

What does Paul & Norbury, 2012 state about abused and neglected children?

Answer 25

• Abused and Neglected children are more likely than peers to engage in behavior that elicits negative reactions from those around them
• Increase ability to communicate socially

Question 26

WE can work on self esteem by using ideas such as:

Answer 26

• star of the week
• me collage
• problem wall
• trip to the future

Question 27

What must we remember about culturally and linguistically diverse families in terms of abuse/neglect?

Answer 27

• culturally and linguistically diverse families may especially need instruction about american child abuse laws
• I think we should do this before we refer the family to CPS

Question 28

What must we keep in mind about refugee parents?

Answer 28

• they have experienced great trauma

- They have post-traumatic stress disorder, may neglect, abuse children

Question 29

What must we keep in mind about the social lives of caregivers?

Answer 29

• remember that in the U.S., most people do not have help and support from extended families like they do in other countries
• Frequently caregivers are isolated with their children, and they can become extremely stressed

Question 30

Research

What does Lorber, M.F. & Egeland, B. (2011) Parenting and Infant Difficulty. Child Development, 82

Answer 30

• 267 high-risk mother child dyads were studied
• conduct problems @ 5-6 years old were predicted by negative parenting
• angry, hostile mother-toddler interactions at 24-42 months there were very predictive of conduct problems in school

Question 31

What can be very stressful about babies and their crying habits?

Answer 31

it can be very stressful when a baby cries nonstop for hours and you are alone with no help-you can’t leave

Question 32

Research

What does Sheehan, 2011-stanford Neurology- say about help for caregivers?

Answer 32

-who can you call to relieve you

Question 33

What are the 7 ways that we can help stressed out parents to prevent them from abusing/neglecting their children?

Answer 33

1. Ask caregivers about their own needs, and attempt to help them meed these needs or guide them to professionals who can help them (e.g., parenting classes, food stamp programs)
2. Provide key information about overall child development. Research shows that some caregivers abuse their children b/c their caregivers expectations are too high.
3. Point out what caregivers are already doing right
4. Provide support groups of other caregivers whose children have similar challenges
5. Use DVDs that model good parenting skills
6. teach caregivers how to use language/words to discipline instead of using physical means such as slapping. For example, caregivers can be taught how to apply choices and consequences
7. model language stimulation strategies such as extension that caregivers can easily fit into their daily routines

Question 34

What is Alexithymia?

Answer 34

The absences of words for emotions