HABIT CLINICS.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16095, 19 September 1924, Page 6

HABIT CLINICS.

CHILDREN IMPROVED. ALL CLASSED? AS "PATIENTS." Children given. to displaying ill temper or other bad habits are classed as "patients" and their trouble diagnosed and treated on a scientific basis. So says a report just issued of the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Labour on "habit clinics" for young children. The "habit clinic" is described as the latest development in the field of child hygiene. Its object is to eliminate the cause of the habit'and help the child make a normal adjustment to his or her surroundings. Dr D. A. Thorn, of Boston, director of the habit clinics of the Community Health Association of that city, wrote the report. He states that .the first habit clinics; organised in 1921, were so. successful that there are now eight, three under the association and five under the Massachusetts Department of Mental Diseases. Habits treated in the clinics relate to feeding problems, ill temper, pugnacity and shyness, problems relating to sex. life, destructiveness, • delinquency and acute pergonal changes. The kind of children taken to the clinic include those who "just won't" eat the wholesome food they need; children who respond to every attempt at discipline - with- screaming, kicking, attacks of temper; children Who are either "too bossy" or too shy to mingle happily < with playmates, and children who without apparent reason begin to lie or to steal. 130 Cases Studied. During the year previous ;to Dr. Thorn's report 160 cases were registered at the clinics, of which 130 were thoroughly studied. In only 19 cases, he reports, were results discouraging and no : evidences of improvement shown. Of , these discouraging cases,' twelve came from families which gave no co-operation. Children going to the clinic first receive careful physical examination to .eliminate all organic causes. A medical background is absolutely necessary to clinics interested in mental health, Dr. Thorn contends, and the ideal arrangement is to have the habit clinic associated with a recognised, health or medical association. The child's home is visited £>y the social worker of the clinic, who reports on the background and home surroundings of the patient, and later helps the parent co-operate with the clinic in securing the desired results. :At the clinic itself a psychologist gives mental tests and makes careful observation of the child's attitudes and characteristics, and finally the psychiatrist, with all these observations at hand', consults with' the parents,' examines the child, diagnoses the case and plans a course, of treatment. . . A necessary first stop in the treatment of many cases, it is found, is education of the parents, for.often the child's' habits are caused by the attitude or actions of parents or family. "Lucky is the.child," Dr Thorn re : marks, "who does not have the dis-? cipline handed out by some emotionally unstable parent, often in an extremely erratic manner." Methods of the Clinic. As an illustration of the methods of the clinic, the following case is summarised by Dr. Thom\: "A. A., aged 3, of rather superior intellectual endowment, with fairly intelligent, co-operative parents, was brought to the clinic chiefly because of the feeding problem, the child being poorly nourished and under weight, extremely finicky about food, never wanting the food set before him at meal times, not caring for- milk, refusing vegetables, but extremely fond of meat. He was stubborn, rebelling at authority, and whining whenever thwarted. He was a restless sleeper, tossing, twisting, often crying out, in his sleep. "The treatment at first consisted in establishing good sleeping habits. The next step necessitated a detailed explanation to the mother of the methods children use at an early age to obtain their own way. It was pointed out that it was quite useless to try to get the child established on a he'alth diet so long as he was given apples and candy when he refused to take milk and vegetables; that just so long as stubbornness served as a means of obtaining what he desired, just so long would he utilise that method, and that it was extremely important for the child at this age to learn that whining and rebelling would not serve as a method to gain his own "A dietary was carefully prescribed and the mother was instructed to place before the child at each meal only moderate portions of food. She agreed that the food should be left before the child for a sufficient period to permit him to eat slowly, yet not long enough to permit him to play with it, and that then it was to be removed and the child given nothing between meals except the extra milk prescribed because he was under weight. The parents were not to concern themselves with what the child was eating. The whole plan was explained to the child, and a chart given on which success at any meal would be marked by a gold star. "At the end of six months, during which the outlook seemed at times very discouraging, the following report was made: 'The child is doing remarkably well, eats all including carrots, spinach, and string bVans, still has a strong dislike for milk, but takes one glass per day A Son h later the note states: 'Patien continues to take his food without improvement;- is much less negativ.sic is no longer shy, and takes great pride in telling the physician of his im & r r OVe Coni' , say S , in concluding his report: -There can be no question ns It the practical value of clmcs whose chief concern is the study of the men--21 leaUh of children. Childhood is not only the opportune time but, the only time to inaugurate a programme of mental health. Seeds 0 pugnacity. selfishness and feelings of inferiority ar sowed early. They may not bear frui until later— perhaps ™< h at »»'• hiit If one expects to reap the blessingsof an * adequate, well-rounded amf self-sufficient type of Personality n an offspring, the seeds must be planted during the earliest years and carefully nurtured.