PSYC 645 Week 5 DB Forum 2 Example

Discussion Board Forum 2: Thread and Two Replies

PSYC 645 Developmental Psychopathology, Discussion Board Forum 2 (thread and two replies)

Thread by [Student Name]

The prompt, the child described and the classmates' posts are composites standing in for the course's own forum; Scripture, the textbook and the journal articles are real and described from their published sources; the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for PSYC 645.

Thread

Eli turned six one week before his district's September 1 enrollment cutoff, so he started first grade as the youngest child in his class, nearly a full year younger than some classmates. By October, his teacher reported that he could not sit through reading groups, blurted out answers and lost his worksheets. She suggested an evaluation for ADHD. His parents noticed that at home, with a younger sister and no rows of desks, he seemed like any other six-year-old.

Parritz and Troy (2018) emphasize that developmental psychopathology judges behavior against what is typical for a child's age. Attention, impulse control and organization all develop rapidly in early childhood, so a behavior that is concerning in a seven-year-old may be ordinary in a child who just turned six.

Morrow et al. (2012) examined this problem in nearly a million children aged 6 to 12 in British Columbia, where the school cutoff is December 31, and found that boys born in December, the youngest in their grade, were about 30% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than boys born the previous January, while girls born in December were about 70% more likely. The youngest children were also more likely to receive stimulant medication. Because the month of a child's birth should not cause a neurodevelopmental disorder, the pattern suggests that some younger children's normal immaturity is being interpreted as pathology.

That does not mean Eli lacks ADHD. It means an evaluation should compare him with children his own age rather than his grade, gather information from more than one setting and consider waiting to see how his attention develops over the year. Classroom supports can be offered in the meantime without a diagnosis, so waiting does not mean doing nothing.

Psalm 139:14 praises God because each person is fearfully and wonderfully made (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). Children develop on different timelines by design. A careful evaluation honors that truth by asking whether Eli is struggling or simply young, before attaching a label that may follow him for years.

How should school psychologists account for relative age when teachers refer the youngest children in a class?

Reply to Kendra

Kendra, you suggested that teachers simply need better training in child development, and I agree, though the problem reaches beyond teachers. Sroufe and Rutter (1984) defined developmental psychopathology as the study of the origins and course of individual patterns of behavioral maladaptation, insisting that disorder can only be understood against the background of normal development. That principle applies to everyone in the referral chain: teachers, parents, pediatricians and psychologists. A rating scale completed by a teacher naturally compares Eli with the class in front of her, which is exactly where the relative age effect enters, since the oldest children set the standard for everyone else. Psychologists can correct for this by using norms based on age rather than grade and by asking parents how Eli compares with neighborhood children of his own age. Proverbs 22:6 asks parents to shape a child along the path that suits him (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). Training implies attention to the individual child's development and pace. A diagnosis made without that attention risks training Eli to see himself as a problem, when he may simply need another year to grow into the expectations of first grade. Asking about the child's birthday should become a routine part of every school referral.

Reply to Jonah

Jonah, you asked what Eli's parents should do if he does meet criteria for ADHD after a careful evaluation. Weisz et al. (2017) analyzed five decades of randomized trials of youth psychotherapy and found that treatments produced meaningful benefits on average, though effects varied by problem area and were smaller for some conditions and for longer-term outcomes. Their analysis also found that effects had not grown much over time, which suggests that matching treatment to the individual child and family matters as much as the brand of therapy chosen. For a young child like Eli, behavioral parent training and classroom adjustments, such as a desk close to the teacher and brief, well-structured assignments, are reasonable first steps before medication is considered, and they also help if his difficulties turn out to reflect immaturity rather than a lasting disorder. Galatians 6:2 asks Christians to carry each other's loads (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). For Eli's family, that might mean a church community and school team working together, sharing the load so that his parents are not left to manage a difficult season alone. A family that feels supported is also more likely to follow through on parent training, which depends on consistent practice at home over many weeks.

References

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Morrow, R. L., Garland, E. J., Wright, J. M., Maclure, M., Taylor, S., & Dormuth, C. R. (2012). Influence of relative age on diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184(7), 755-762. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.111619

Parritz, R. H., & Troy, M. F. (2018). Disorders of childhood: Development and psychopathology (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning.

Sroufe, L. A., & Rutter, M. (1984). The domain of developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 55(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129832

Weisz, J. R., Kuppens, S., Ng, M. Y., Eckshtain, D., Ugueto, A. M., Vaughn-Coaxum, R., Jensen-Doss, A., Hawley, K. M., Krumholz Marchette, L. S., Chu, B. C., Weersing, V. R., & Fordwood, S. R. (2017). What five decades of research tells us about the effects of youth psychological therapy: A multilevel meta-analysis and implications for science and practice. American Psychologist, 72(2), 79-117. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040360