Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology by Wicks-Nelson & Israel 8th edition - BulletPoints

What is abnormal behaviour? - BulletPoints 1

• You can use many varying terms to describe abnormal behaviour. Consider, for example, ‘mental disorder’, ‘psychological disorder’, ‘psychopathology’ of ‘developmental disorder’. This is thus why guidelines have been developed to help identify abnormality. What does abnormal behaviour actually mean?
• Age can be considered as an index for the level of development and is important in assessing behaviour. Assessments of behaviour depend on developmental norms , which say something about the growth of motor skills, language, cognition and socio-emotional behaviour. These standards serve as a benchmark when looking at the (abnormal) development of a child. There are different ways to regard behaviour as deviating from the norm.
• Determining a disorder depends on, among other things, the definition of a disorder, the criteria for identifying a disorder, the method used to identify a disorder and the population being examined. Some people are concerned that social changes have led to an increased risk of youth disorders. However, there is no consensus regarding this upcoming ‘trend’ among young people. While some studies show that the prevalence of disorders is increasing, other studies have concluded that there is a decrease. Moreover, it is difficult to draw conclusions about such supposed increases. Perhaps it is possible that there are more kids with trouble focussing, simply because we are able to save more babies that have been born prematurely and these kids have an increased chance of concentration problems. It has been discovered that this increase in percentages was not due to doctor’s being quicker with diagnosing mental health problems or to higher percentages of parents with divorce. For example, the mother's emotional problems could contribute to behavioural problems or emotional problems.
• Behaviourism is Watson’s best-known theory. It states that most behaviour is explained by learning experiences. Watson strongly believed in classical conditioning; a concept introduced by Pavlov. This concept means that new things are learned by linking a new stimulus to an already known stimulus.
• The branch of psychology that deals with abnormal child and adolescent psychology is formed by various historical theories and movements. The objectives are to identify, describe and classify psychological disorders. It is also important to find out the causes of the problems and to prevent and treat disorders differently. Today there are six principles that are important for abnormal child and adolescent psychology.

What does the field of developmental psychopathology entail? - BulletPoints 2

• Kuhn, among others, has shown us that science is not entirely objective. To study phenomena, scientists all take a perspective from which they view it. If a perspective is shared by researchers, this is called a paradigm. It is a kind of cognitive frame of reference that includes assumptions and concepts. The advantage of such a (subjective) perspective is that it provides guidelines for the way in which a problem is approached, investigated and interpreted. A disadvantage is that researchers can limit themselves by assuming this perspective and are confined within the boundaries of it. They can limit themselves in the type of research questions or in the interpretation of research results. Despite these disadvantages, it is still smart to take a perspective.
• A theory is a formal, integrated set of principles that explains a phenomenon (or multiple phenomena). Scientific theories are supported by evidence. In addition, they offer formal assumptions that can be tested, which can lead to an increase in knowledge. A model provides a description of what is being studied. Models that show that many factors lead to psychopathology are especially interesting for psychology. Interactional models assume that several variables together lead to an outcome. An example of this is the vulnerability stress model. This model is based on multiple vulnerability factors and stress factors that together cause psychopathology. Vulnerability (diathesis) is often regarded as a biological factor and stress as an environmental factor. The biological vulnerability of a child to anxiety (meaning you’re more likely to get anxiety than others), for example, can lead to psychological problems in interaction with the stress of a divorce.
• The developmental psychopathology perspective integrates research into normal developmental processes with research into psychological disorders in young people. Central to developmental psychopathology is the origin and development of disturbed behaviour, and individual adaptation and competence. Developmental psychopathology is a framework for understanding disturbed behaviour in relation to normal development. It does not provide specific theoretical explanations but integrates different theories and approaches.
• Many attempts have been made to explain the aetiology of abnormal development in a relatively simple way. An example of this is the medical model , which states that disorders are the result of biological factors in the person themselves. However, we now know that psychological or behavioural disorders never arise from just one single cause.

What is the influence of genes and environment on behaviour? - BulletPoints 3

• The early development of the brain and nervous system is largely determined by biological factors, but the influence that experience has is also fairly large. The nervous system begins to develop shortly after conception, as the neural plate (a group of cells) thickens, folds in and forms the neural tube. The cells start to migrate to fixed locations. The brain contains millions of multifunctional cells, glial cells, and neurons. Neurons carry messages within the nervous system and to and from other body parts. The extensions of these neurons, called nerves, get a layer of myelin, a white substance that promotes the efficiency of communication in the brain. An excess of neurons and connections is produced both before and after birth to ensure the flexibility of the brain. Some parts of the brain develop faster than others. For example, the development of brain parts for vision and hearing is faster than the development of the frontal brain area, which is involved in complex thinking.
• A child's nervous system can be damaged as a result of heredity or early abnormalities in genetic processes. However, the nervous system can also be damaged by events during pregnancy (prenatal), during birth (perinatal) or after birth (postnatal).
• The basic genetic material is found in all body cells. It consists of chromosomes that contain DNA. DNA is another part of genes. Millions of chromosome combinations are possible for one individual. Chromosomes can exchange genes, disassemble them and attach them to each other. These are spontaneous changes to the DNA molecule. In some cases, early genetic processes result in structural defects in the chromosomes or a lack or excess of the 23 pairs of chromosomes that most people have. These 'errors' can be inherited, but usually arise spontaneously, and can lead to death or medical syndromes with physical, intellectual and psychological disorders.
• Mendel stated that certain properties are ones that are influenced by a single gene. He claimed that each parent has two heredity factors (genes), but only transfers one to their offspring. A gene can be dominant or recessive. A dominant gene is manifesting when at least one of the parents transfers this gene to the child. A recessive gene only manifests itself if both parents transfer this gene. Dominant and recessive genes are involved in inheriting many human traits and disorders.
• Gene-environment interaction refers to differences in sensitivity to certain experiences due to differences in genotype. For example, children with two recessive genes for PKU disease (phenylketonuria) tend to be intellectually impaired when they ingest certain foods.

What is the role of research in psychology? - BulletPoints 4

• The general purpose of science is to describe and explain phenomena. Scientific knowledge comes from a systematic formulation of a problem, observation and data collection and interpretation of research results. Theoretical assumptions and concepts are used to choose variables, procedures and research goals. Often hypotheses are tested that are derived from theories. Testing hypotheses is valuable because knowledge is then obtained in a systematic manner. When finished, a study does not prove that a hypothesis is true or false but it does offer evidence in favour or against the hypothesis. If a hypothesis is not supported, this can lead to an adjustment of the underlying theory.
• Researchers often try to make statements about their entire population of interest. Because it is not possible to examine everyone in a population, a representative sample is used. Representativeness can be achieved through random selection: every person from the population has an equal chance of being selected. Sometimes certain groups of people are systematically excluded from selection. But even though it’s handy, trying to get a true random sample is not always feasible because it is impossible to draw a random sample of, for example, all children with intellectual disabilities. However, there are ways to approach representativeness. The extent to which this is successful influences the interpretation of the research findings.
• A case study is a descriptive, non-experimental method to study psychological disorders. The researcher focuses on only one person and describes the background, past and present living conditions, the functioning and characteristics of this person. A case study provides information about the nature, course, correlating factors, outcomes and possible causes of psychological problems. A case study is often used to investigate rare disorders. In addition, case studies can be used to formulate hypotheses that can be tested using other research methods.
• Correlational studies are non-experimental and describe the relationships between two or more factors. The participants are not exposed to manipulation. These tests can be performed in the natural environment, but also in the laboratory. The question is whether there is a relationship between variable X and variable Y. Statistical procedures are used to investigate the strength and nature of the relationship. An example is that the relationship between self-confidence (X) and fear of failure (Y) is investigated. A score on X and a score on Y is collected for each participant. A correlation coefficient (Pearson's r) is then calculated. Pearson r varies from -1 to 1. The direction of the relationship is indicated by the sign of the coefficient. A positive sign (+) indicates a positive relationship between X and Y: high scores on X go together with high scores on Y. This means that a lot of confidence goes together with a lot of fear of failure. A negative sign (-) indicates a negative relationship between the two variables: a lot of self-confidence goes hand in hand with little fear of failure. A negative relationship is also called a reverse or indirect correlation.
• The individual rights of participants in scientific research must be protected. Governments and professional organizations have therefore developed ethical guidelines. There is a lot of overlap between the guidelines developed by different organizations. The guidelines of the 'Society for Research in Child Development' focus on research among young people.

How can psychological disorders be classified? - BulletPoints 5

• The terms classification, assessment and diagnosis are used to describe the process of description and grouping. Classification (or taxonomy) stands for creating large categories or dimensions of behavioural disorders. It is a system for describing phenomena. These systems are mostly for clinical or scientific purposes. A diagnosis is when a category or classification is considered applicable to an individual. Assessment refers to evaluating (young) people to facilitate classification and diagnosis and to make treatment plans.
• Classification systems try to systematically describe a phenomenon. For example, biologists have classification systems for organisms, such as cold and warm-blooded animals. There are also systems for classifying psychological problems. These systems describe categories or dimensions of problem behaviour, emotions and / or cognitions.
• In the US, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used most as a classification system. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is an alternative system that is also widely used. The Diagnostic Classification (DC) has been developed to classify the mental disorders of children between the ages of zero and three years old.
• The empirical approach is an alternative to the clinical approach of, for example, the DSM. This approach uses statistical techniques to identify coherent behavioural patterns. A parent or other respondent provides information about the presence or absence of certain behaviour in the child. Three coded numbers are used for this: 0 = the behaviour does not occur with the child, 1 = the behaviour occurs to some extent with the child, 2 = the behaviour clearly occurs with the child. This information is obtained for a large number of young people. Factor analysis identifies groups of items that often occur together. This leads to factors (also called clusters). The term syndrome describes behaviours that often occur together.
• The test-retest reliability for the empirical approach is very high (0.8 to 0.9). The inter-assessor reliability is also reasonably good if two informants assess the behaviour of a child in the same situation. However, the inter-assessor reliability is much lower if the child is observed in two different situations. This does not have to be the result of the empirical approach but may be the result of differences in behaviour at different times, in different situations and in the presence of different people.

What are anxiety disorders and what are their characteristics? - BulletPoints 6

• There is a difference between anxiety and fear. Anxiety is an emotion that is focused on the future. This emotion is characterized by the feeling that someone has no control over possible negative events. The events also seem to be unpredictable for the person in question. If someone is confronted with potentially dangerous events, there is immediately a lot of attention for the dreaded (or for the emotions that accompany it).
• Anxiety disorders are among the most common disorders of children and adolescents. Prevalence estimates from different studies vary considerably. Young children often meet the diagnostic criteria of multiple anxiety disorders. In addition, this disorder persists in a significant proportion of children throughout life. These children often also develop other problems. It is unclear whether there are differences between ethnic groups in the prevalence of anxiety disorders. However, there may be differences in the prevalence of specific anxiety disorders.
• A phobia is an excessive anxiety that cannot be controlled and it leads to avoidance and interferes with functioning. A specific phobia is a persistent, unusual and excessive fear of a specific object or situation. 
• The diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder (social phobia) are the same as for specific phobias. However, this concerns fear of social or assessment situations. The most important characteristic of a social phobia is therefore a persistent fear of doing something wrong or shameful in a social or assessment situation. For example, they are afraid of social activities such as talking or presenting. They are afraid to start or maintain conversations and to talk to authoritative figures. In addition, they try to avoid situations involving social interactions or assessments. This increases the chance of little or bad friendships and feelings of loneliness. Children with social phobia have a negative self-image and are inclined to incorrectly interpret other people's reactions as critical or disapproving. They also often experience somatic complaints such as nausea or tremors.
• In separation anxiety there is an excessive fear of being separated from an important attachment figure and or or from home. The diagnostic criteria state that there must be at least 4 weeks of three or more symptoms before the age of 18. In addition, there must be a significant limitation for social, school or other related functioning. Young children with separation anxiety are affectionate, may experience nightmares and may have somatic symptoms including nausea. Older children mainly have somatic complaints, think about possible illnesses or accidents that may happen to themselves or an important attachment figure if they were to be separated or become apathetic and depressed. Some children may threaten to harm themselves. This is usually a means to avoid separation.
• A generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive anxiety and concern about various events or activities. The child finds it difficult to control these fears or worries. The anxiety and worries are not limited to a specific type of situation. 
• A distinction is made between panic attacks and a panic disorder. A panic attack is a short period of intense fear or panic that suddenly starts and reaches a peak within approximately ten minutes. 
• A trauma is defined as an unusual experience, which in almost everyone would lead to stress. In the DSM-IV, PTSD belongs to the Trauma and Stressor-related disorders group. 
• OCD falls under the obsessive compulsive and related disorders group. Obsessions are unwanted, repeated and penetrating thoughts. Common obsessions are concerns regarding contamination (fear of germs) or symmetry, order and precision. Compulsions are repetitive, stereotypical behaviours that someone thinks should be performed to reduce anxiety or prevent a dreaded event. Common compulsions are washing things and repeating actions (for example, repeatedly turning the light switch on and off). An obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) includes obsessive thoughts and or or compulsions. The diagnostic criteria state that the person is aware that obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours are unreasonable. However, children do not have to meet this requirement to be diagnosed with OCD. Another criterion for diagnosing OCD is that obsessions and compulsions take a lot of time and interfere with daily life, academic functioning and social relationships. In children, compulsions are much more common than obsessions, while both are equally prevalent in adults. OCD is often only recognized in children if the symptoms are very serious. Sorting out the crayons in the right colours doesn’t seem very odd until the kid started to obsessively stress over doing the action or not having performed it.
• The general vulnerability to anxiety is probably also related to the temperament of a child. The temperament refers to biologically based, probably inherited, individual differences in emotionality, attention and behavioural style. Behavioural inhibition is one of the components of temperament. Retired children (children with a high level of behavioural inhibition) are very vigilant, especially in new or unknown situations. Behavioural inhibition can increase the risk of an anxiety disorder in the context of certain environmental influences, such as certain parenting styles. Gray introduced the gedragsinhibitiesysteem ( behavioural inhibition system, BIS) . The BIS system is related to emotions of fear and fear and causes a tendency not to act in new or scary situations.

What are mood disorders and what are they characterized by? - BulletPoints 7

• An important aspect of internalizing disorders are mood problems. Children and adolescents who have an unusually sad or euphoric mood, which  are extreme or persistent and interfere with functioning, can be diagnosed with a depressed or manic mood disorder. Nowadays there is increasing attention for mood disorders, for various reasons.
• The diagnostic categories for mania and depression in the DSM are the same for children and adults. In a unipolar depression , one mood is experienced (often it is about depression). In bipolar depression, both mania and depression are experienced. The DSM describes four types of mood episodes, these are categories that describe depression.
• Syndromes with depressive symptoms have also been established by empirical approaches. This finding is illustrated by the syndromes of the Achenbach instruments. The syndromes with depressive symptoms that often occur together also contain symptoms that are characteristic of anxiety and withdrawn behaviour. This study therefore finds no syndrome with only symptoms of depression.
• MDD is the most diagnosed mood disorder among children and adolescents. Of the children with unipolar disorder, 80% suffer from MDD, 10% with dysthymia and 10% with double depression. Compared with prevalences at a certain point in time, lifetime prevalences (the amount of people who have been depressed at some point in their lives) show that episodes of clinical depression are fairly common. In addition, the seriousness of the problem becomes even clearer when looking at young people who have depressive symptoms but do not meet the diagnostic criteria. These young people are not included in the prevalence estimates, but do experience limitations in their academic, social and cognitive functioning and have a higher risk of developing disorders.
• Many depressed children and adolescents also experience other problems. About 40-70% of young people with MDD also meet the criteria of another disorder, and about 20-50% have 2 or more other disorders. It often concerns anxiety disorders, behavioural disorders, eating disorders and drug abuse.
• Genetic influences probably play a role in depression in children and adolescents. For example, twin-, adoption- and family studies have shown that there is a heredity component to the disorder. The genetic contribution may be greater for depression in adolescence than for depression in prepubescent children. The heredity of depression also points to the importance of environmental influences and the complex interaction between genes and environment. For example, the genes that affect early anxiety increase exposure to environmental influences that contribute to depression.
• In bipolar disorder , there is both mania and depressive symptoms. Mania is described as a period of an abnormally euphoric or irritable mood. A euphoric mood occurs when someone is bursting with self-confidence, talks a lot, is very distractible and has exaggerated feelings of physical and mental well-being.

What are behavioural problems? - BulletPoints 8

• While anxiety and depression arise from internalizing problems, behavioural disorders are often the result of externalizing them. The term ‘behavioural problems’ refers to the general group of disruptive and antisocial behavioural problems. The terms behavioural disorder and disruptive behavioural disorder are used to refer to specific diagnostic groups. The term delinquency is mainly used in the legal system and refers to young people who exhibit antisocial behaviour or other behavioural problems. It refers to a minor who is caught performing an index crime (an act that is illegal for both adults and minors, such as theft) or a status crime (an act that is only illegal for minors, such as alcohol consumption).
• A certain degree of stubborn, disobedient and oppositional behaviour is part of normal development. Such behaviour is not always an indicator or predictor of clinical problems. To a certain extent, such behaviour is even conducive to the development of autonomy. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a behavioural disorder, in which there is an extreme pattern of an angry or irritated mood and negative, hostile and defiant behaviour. 
• The diagnosis conduct disorder (CD) is given when there is a more serious form of aggression and antisocial behaviour. The most important characteristic of CD is a repeated and persistent pattern of behaviour that violates the rights of others and important age-appropriate social norms.
• The empirical approach has found evidence for an externalizing syndrome. Achenbach and Rescorla have tried to distinguish between two groups within this syndrome: aggressive behaviour (for example disobedience, fighting and destruction) and boundary crossing behaviour (for example lying, stealing and truancy). According to many studies, this distinction appears to be valid. In addition, there appear to be development differences between the two syndromes. The average score on the two syndromes decreases between the ages of 4 and 10. After the age of 10 the scores for the aggressive syndrome continue to decrease, while the scores for the rule-breaking syndrome increase. In addition, the aggressive syndrome is more stable than the boundary crossing syndrome. These findings suggest that it is important to distinguish between different types of externalizing behaviour.
• Patterson developed the Oregon Model: an intervention for families with aggressive and antisocial children. This intervention is based on a social interaction learning perspective and emphasizes the social context. Patterson developed coercion theory to explain how a problematic behaviour pattern arises. He argues that aggressive behaviour in a child does not stand alone, but that the child behaves in this way to control its family members. This process is called coercion . If parents have little good parenting techniques, coercive family interactions increase, and this leads to openly antisocial behaviour. Negative reinforcement and the reinforcement trap play an important role in the process of coercion. An example is that a child has a tantrum in the supermarket because he or she wants her mother to buy  chocolate. The mother is ashamed of this behaviour being displayed so publicly and given is by buying chocolate (positive confirmation of the child's behaviour). The consequence of this in the short term is that the tantrum of the child has ended (negative confirmation of mother's behaviour). In the long term, however, the consequences for the mother are negative: the behaviour of the child is positively confirmed, which increases the chance that the child will continue to show the behaviour in the future. In addition, the behaviour of mother has been negatively confirmed, which increases the chance that she will also give in to the child in the future. So mother ran into the negative reinforcement trap.

What is ADHD? - BulletPoints 9

• ADHD is defined in many different ways. In the 1950s, the emphasis was on the hyperactivity characteristic of the disorder. Various terms were used at the time, such as hyperkinetic syndrome and hyperactive child syndrome . Over time, attention for hyperactivity and concentration problems decreased. In the DSM-III it was recognized that attention deficit disorder (ADD) could occur with and without hyperactivity. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was not included in the revised version of the DSM-III . This disorder is also recognized by dimensional classification systems.
• Adults see different signs of inattention in children with ADHD. An apparently special aspect of the disorder is the situational attention of children: the child can concentrate well if he or she is interested or motivated, while it has concentration problems when performing a boring, strenuous or repeated task. Research shows that children and adolescents with ADHD do indeed have more concentration problems than children with learning disabilities or normally developing children. Specific deficits have been identified, including a lack of selective attention: the ability to focus on relevant stimuli and not be distracted by irrelevant stimuli. Children with ADHD are more easily distracted if the task is boring or difficult or if irrelevant stimuli are new or striking. Children with ADHD also have deficits when it comes to attentional alerting (the ability to immediately focus on something important) and retained attention (staying focused on a task or stimulus for a longer period of time).
• There are several issues related to the different subtypes of ADHD in the DSM. For example, only a few children are diagnosed with ADHD-HI. ADHD-HI may be an early stage of ADHD-C instead of a separate subtype. In other cases, ADHD-HI seems to be better regarded as ODD.
• The prevalence of ADHD can be estimated to vary from 3% to 7%. When looking at prevalence, a distinction must be made between clinically diagnosed ADHD and reporting of symptoms by parents and teachers. In the latter type, the prevalence is often higher and can be as high as 20%. This is partly explained because no criteria apply, such as the age of the onset of symptoms and interference with functioning.
• In some cases ADHD has its origins in infancy, but the question is how ADHD is expressed so early. Behaviour can occur at preschool age that resembles ADHD symptoms, but little is known about this age group. ADHD may be the result of temperament tendencies, such as poor self-regulation and strongly approaching behaviour. Research is still being conducted into the distinction between early behaviours that are predictive of ADHD and normal misconduct by young children.
• Children with ADHD somehow always have a shortage of time, which is reflected in various tasks. In this way they underestimate how fast time goes. Processing time is important in controlling and adjusting behaviour and may be related to the problems that children with ADHD have with waiting and planning.

What disorders exist with language and learning? - BulletPoints 10

• From around 1800 on, there has been attention on language-related problems. During this time, a medical orientation was developed, with specific limitations associated with brain abnormalities. For example, Wernicke discovered brain abnormalities in patients who did not understand language well, but who had no language or cognitive impairment – which you might know because there is a brain area named after him. From 1920 on, there was also a psychological orientation. During this period, more emphasis was placed on gaining insight into the characteristics of people with language and learning difficulties and treating them. In 1963, Krik introduced the term 'learning disabilities'. This is considered a milestone in the emergence of the concept of learning disabilities. For example, teachers were no longer accused of causing such problems.
• According to the 'Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)', the definition of a learning disability is as follows: “a learning disability is a disorder in one or more psychological processes involved in the understanding or use of (spoken or written) language. The disorder can affect listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling or math. This does exclude children who have learning difficulties due to visual problems, hearing problems, a motor impairment, an intellectual disability, emotional problems or a cultural-economic disadvantage. There are no specific criteria for identifying disabilities. So there are different ways to identify learning disabilities. Differences in definitions have led to different prevalence estimates, incomparable research groups and different criteria for determining whether children are eligible for special education.
• There are two common ways to discover learning disabilities. First of all, we can look at the difference between someone's intellectual capacity (IQ) and specific performance level. It is assumed that if there is a specific disorder, the performance on general assets (IQ) is higher than the performance on tests that relate to the specific disability. Often a difference of two or more standard deviations between the scores on the intelligence test and the specific test is considered significant.
• A child with a phonological disorder is unable to make age-appropriate and dialect-appropriate speech sounds. Children with this disorder have problems articulating speech sounds. The development of speech production does not deviate from normal development, but it is delayed. Children with a phonological disorder make incorrect speech sounds, replace easy sounds with difficult sounds or just omit sounds all together. Because most children have some difficulty with articulation while acquiring the linguistic and motor skills required for language, developmental standards are crucial to this diagnosis.
• Learning disabilities refer to specific reading, writing, and math problems. These disorders are known under the denominator of dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia respectively. Shortages often occur in combinations. For example, a reading disorder is often accompanied by a calculation disorder.

What are intellectual disabilities? - BulletPoints 11

• An intellectual disability (ID, formerly also called mental retardation) is characterized by limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour. This is expressed in conceptual, social and practical skills. ID occurs before the eighteenth year of life.
• Initially, the AAIDD made a distinction between four levels of ID: light, moderate, serious and profound. The AAIDD, however, no longer uses this approach because it would not be appropriate for making decisions about the care of individuals with ID. Instead of the ID level, an assessment must be made for each individual of the level of support he or she needs. This approach recognizes that the need for support may be different in different areas of functioning and may change over time. In addition, it emphasizes the perspective in which an ID is seen as dynamically related to the social environment rather than as static quality of the individual.
• Binet's intelligence test is based on the psychometric approach. This approach focuses on individual differences and on the idea that underlying assets provide an explanation for differences in intellectual functioning. Intelligence is often regarded as a construct consisting of a general factor, called g , and a number of specific skills, such as verbal and motor skills. The intelligence is measured by testing both general and specific capabilities. According to critics, these tests mainly measure skills and not thinking processes.
• About 30 to 50% of children with ID also have another disorder. In most cases it is ADHD or ODD or CD. The type of problems that accompany an ID may differ for the level of the ID. A light ID, for example, is often accompanied by anxiety, depression and antisocial problems. Children with a moderate to severe ID also have problems such as autism, psychosis and auto-mutilation. Finally, specific ID syndromes are associated with specific problems, such as Lesch-Nyhan syndrome with auto mutilation.

What is autism and what is schizophrenia? - BulletPoints 12

• Kanner described autism as a disorder characterized by communication problems, atypical cognitive skills and behavioural problems such as obsessiveness, repetitive behaviour and unimaginative play. However, Kanner saw social inability as the biggest problem.
• Children with autism have problems with non-verbal communication, such as gestures and facial expressions. In addition, 30% of the children do not learn to talk. Children who do acquire language show a delayed and abnormal language development. Echolalia and the reversal of pronouns are common among children with autism. Of echolalia occurs when an autistic child always repeats what another has just said. This also occurs for example with language disorders, schizophrenia and blindness. When reversing pronouns (pronoun reversal) for example, the child says 'I' or 'me' to others (instead of 'you') and calls himself 'he', 'she' or 'you'. Autistic children have difficulty with syntax, understanding and other structural forms of language. Particularly striking are the problems with pragmatics: the social use of language. Children with autism randomly jump from one topic to the other, do not communicate back and forth (or cannot start a conversation at all) and provide irrelevant details about topics. However, it should be noted that some children can function at a higher level and are more socially skilled.
• Determining comorbidity in people with autism can be difficult due to communication problems. In addition, it is difficult to distinguish between some primary characteristics of autism and psychiatric disorders. Social phobia and OCD are examples of disorders that can resemble aspects of autism. The symptoms and disorders that are often associated with autism are anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and oppositional behaviour. The comorbidity of autism and anxiety may be the result of a hypersensitivity to stimuli. A social phobia could also arise if a child with autism is aware of his or her social deficits.
• Asperger's syndrome is characterized by problems in social interaction and restrictive, repetitive and stereotyped behaviours. According to the DSM, children with Asperger's syndrome, on the other hand, have no delay in language development, cognitive development, adaptive behaviour (except in the social field) and curiosity about the environment.
• The childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) is diagnosed when a child develops normally until the age of 2, but then loses much of the acquired skills. The symptoms must be present before the age of 10. Autism also sometimes shows a decline in development, but the loss of skills occurs at a later age with CDD than with autism. The CDD diagnostic criteria state that there must be a significant loss of skills in at least two of the following areas: language, social skills, toilet training, game behaviour and motor skills. In addition, there must be abnormal behaviour in two of the following areas: social interaction, communication or restrictive, repetitive and stereotyped behaviour.

Which disorders affect physical functioning? - BulletPoints 13

• Paediatric psychology is concerned with the investigation of (psychological) problems leading to disruption of physical function and health.
• Enuresis refers to a lack of control over the bladder, during the day and / or at night, that cannot be explained by a physical disorder. Often the diagnosis can only be made after the age of 5. The diagnostic criteria also state that there must be a certain frequency of the control deficiency and this frequency varies with the age of the child. It must be done at least twice a week and for three months or there must be a clinically significant disruption of daily functioning.
• Encopresis occurs when a child relieve themselves in their own pants or other places should not be used for relief. This disorder is not the result of a physical disorder. The diagnosis is made if the event occurs at least once a month for a child of 4 years or older and should be consistent for at least three months. There are two sub-types encopresis: encopresis with constipation and encopresis without constipation. The vast majority of children are chronically congested and are classified as congested with incontinence ('retentive encopresis').

What is the connection between psychology and physical health? - BulletPoints 14

• In the past, physical disorders that are influenced by psychological factors have been called psychosomatic disorders. In DSM-II this term had been replaced by psychophysiological disorders and in DSM-III this term had again been changed to psychological factors that influence physical conditions. In the DSM-IV this was transformed into psychological factors that influence medical conditions . Now in the DSM-V there is a new chapter called somatic symptoms and related disorders. This includes the psychological factors category that affect other medical conditions. These adjustments are the result of the discussion about the relationship between body (soma) and mind (psyche). During the 20th century, the interest in the effects of psychological processes on the body has resulted in the development of psychosomatic medicine. It became clear that many physical complaints are influenced by psychological factors. Researchers started with psychogenesis: the identification of the psychological cause of physical disorders. More attention is now being paid to multicausality: the idea that biological, social and psychological factors contribute to health. This perspective is holistic and assumes continuous interactions between influences. Pediatric psychology is the field that focuses on these processes in children and adolescents.
• In asthma there is a hypersensitivity of the airways to different stimuli. The airways become chronically inflamed and narrower. This causes breathing problems. Serious attacks (status asthmaticus) can be life threatening. The breathing problems and the danger of serious attacks can lead to anxiety for the patient and his family members.
• Chronic diseases have a negative influence on both the person suffering from the disease and the family of this person. Chronic diseases and related life experiences increase the risk of adjustment problems. The adaptation to a chronic disease is influenced by various variables. Examples of this are child characteristics (such as coping skills), family characteristics, disease characteristics (such as the severity of the disease and the functional independence of the child) and environmental characteristics (such as school characteristics and health care).
• Although therapy can be used to slow the progression of HIV, children infected with HIV have a greater risk of developmental and neurocognitive problems. If neurological problems occur at school age, this can lead to learning, language, concentration, social and emotional problems. These problems are probably not only the direct consequence of the disease but also of the medical treatments and the stress associated with adapting to a chronic disease.
• Some children are chronically ill and have a small chance of survival. A big question is how to prepare a child for death. Among other things, account must be taken of what the child knows about death. A child's ideas about death are influenced by experiences, family attitudes, and cultural factors. Cognitive development plays a major role in the changing ideas about death. For example, young children think that death is reversible. At the age of 5, children are aware that death is irreversible, but they think that dying can be avoided. Around the age of 9, children become aware of the mortality of people.
• The child's family should also be aware of the severity of the child's disease. They must have a healthy balance between hope for a cure and the acceptance of the (possible) death of the child. It is difficult to prepare parents for the death of their child, while they still have to support their child emotionally and guide them through the treatment. When it becomes clear that a child is about to die, the focus must be on making the best possible use of the remaining time. It is also important to continue supporting the child's family after the child's death.

What issues are currently affecting young people? - BulletPoints 15

• In recent decades, dramatic changes have taken place in families in the US due to an increased number of divorces, families with one parent and families with stepparents. Nowadays, with women having more and more jobs outside of the household, children are more often cared for by others than the mother, such as by relatives or at a day-care centre. The effect of this differs based on the quality of care, the amount of care and certain family characteristics. High quality care is positively related to the cognitive, social and language development of children who go to a day-care centre from an early age. The research findings regarding the effects of the amount of care are inconsistent. In general, the amount of care seems to be negatively related to the child's development. With regard to the interaction between childcare and family characteristics, it appears that children from low-income families benefit from care at a day-care. This means that care by others can serve as a protective factor for children from families with a low socio-economic status. It is also important that a good relationship between parents and child remains.
• The number of adoptions has risen sharply in recent decades. Adopted children have relatively more issues with psychological problems. This is especially the case if children have were adopted at an older age or because they have been exposed to negative conditions such as poor prenatal care, drug addiction or care in an orphanage.
• Sometimes a child's biological parents are unable to care for the child. The government can then choose to have the child grow up in a foster home, with the ultimate goal of having the child return to the biological family. Although this can have advantages, many children go from foster home to foster home. To improve this situation, the Adoption and Safe Family Act (ASFA) has been adopted in America. This law has attempted to bring about two improvements.