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of gear and the child's whole development may be endangered.
The child reacts to the situation of stress in one of two ways:
(1) He reacts actively, e.g. with persistent temper tantrums, aggressive
and destructive, or other forms of antisocial behaviour; with a
persistence of babyhood habits, thumb sucking, wetting, soiling,
etc.; with nervous symptoms such as tics, nail-biting or other
compulsive habits; with psychosomatic disturbances such as
asthma attacks, etc.,
or
(2) He react passively. He is timid and fearful of everything; he
reverts to babyishness and immaturity, feels he can do nothing
right so refuses to attempt anything; fails to learn at school
though hr is of normal intelligence; fails to adjust socially and
cannot make friends.
Many children present quite severe problems in their homes, yet
may function quite normally at school. Others may be outwardly
conforming at school but release the pent-up feelings relating to school
with increased intensity when they return home. Most teachers now
recognise the over-good child as a disturbed child who is afraid to
be natural.
Diagnostic Survey.
When children are brought to us, we need to know as much as
possible about them and the family set-up and background. We make
use of whatever records are available from the School Medical
Officer, Family Doctor, Health Visitor, and the schools he has
attended.
The parents first come (fathers as well if they can) and are seen
by the Psychiatric, c Social Worker who takes a full social history.
This includes the problem for which they attend, its onset, duration,
and also a full life history of the child's development, his personality
and his interests, his relationships to his parents and brothers and
sisters and their to him; the family background, housing and material
conditions and the varied anxieties and stresses through which the
family has passed. The parents' own history of their childhood is
important. The way they handle their children will depend very
largely on how they were treated themselves and what their relationships
were their families. It is their own past sufferings and
problems, rather than "the sins of the parents" which are visited
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