Not just a matter of leaving your child to cry

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 13

Not just a matter of leaving your child to cry

The techniques used by the Leslie Centre are similar to those used by the University of Canterbury in its sleep management projects, according to Karyn France, a clinical psychologist who worked on the projects as part of her Ph.D. The technique uses a reward system where possible to change behaviour, but methods such as star charts are not appropriate for children under the age of two, she explains. “Rewards for sleeping through the night can’t come until 12 hours later, and the child needs a certain level of language to understand a delayed reward.” The university programme also suggested that rewards on their own were not as effective as removing what reinforced the child’s habit of crying: the expectation of getting parents’ attention. Karyn France is insistent that it is not just a matter of “leaving the child to cry,” as if one were prescribing pills. “The whole principle has to be explained carefully so that people really understand what happens using that technique: — that be-

haviour gets worse before it gets better — and why children wake. “Research in the United States shows babies have different sleep patterns from adults, and people need to understand this,” she says. “It is also necessary to understand contingency management: what to do if your child does this, that, or the other. If there is a partner, it is important for you both to work out what you are going to do. “I think parents would need to read the book through from cover to cover, not just pull out the bit saying what to do.” The university projects are now in the final stages of writing up the data. But Karyn Field advises that if you need personal guidance on sleep problems you should approach the child and family guidance centre attached to your local hospital. In Christchurch, she suggests organisations such as the Presbyterian Social Services’ Campbell Centre can give information about helping agencies, and have a list of psychologists in private practice.