1 / 50

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Infant and Toddler Fears and Coping Strategies

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Infant and Toddler Fears and Coping Strategies. Deb Smith, PhD Virginia Infant Toddler Specialist supported by ZERO TO THREE Virginia Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Office. How important are children’s fears ?.

len
Download Presentation

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Infant and Toddler Fears and Coping Strategies

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Things That Go Bump in the Night:Infant and Toddler Fears and Coping Strategies Deb Smith, PhD Virginia Infant Toddler Specialist supported by ZERO TO THREE Virginia Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Office

  2. How important are children’s fears? The psychological suffering of a fearful child is worthy of professional attention.

  3. What is your first memory???

  4. Fear is a: • normal, • developmental, • reaction, to a • real or • perceived • threat. Generally agreed upon definition in the Child Development literature.

  5. Normal Being afraidis a sign that she's gaining awareness of the world and trying to make sense of it.

  6. Normal “We have the only normal baby on the block.” -modified…Joe Ancis

  7. Developmental Most fears arrive at predictable stages

  8. Reaction

  9. Reaction

  10. Reaction

  11. Reaction

  12. Reaction

  13. Reaction

  14. Reaction

  15. Reaction

  16. Reaction

  17. Reaction

  18. Reaction

  19. Reaction

  20. Reaction

  21. Reaction

  22. Reaction

  23. Real Newborns fear real events; those things that happen in their near environment.

  24. Real A walking 1-year-old may have fears that happen in the new world they are now exploring.

  25. Perceived A toddling 2-year-old’s growing understanding of the world often causes her to misinterpret events; thereby becoming the source of some of her fears.

  26. Perceived The toddler’s new ability to pretend opens up many opportunities for perceived fears; those imaginary happenings that may cause lost sleep and tears.

  27. Threat The fear…. speedy Gonzales

  28. Your stories…

  29. Fear can be measured in terms of: • Number • Intensity • Emotional Susceptibility • Life Span Variability • Physical Reactions

  30. Number Are you afraid of one dog or many dogs?

  31. Intensity Are you afraidof a mean dog?

  32. Emotional Susceptibility

  33. Lifespan Variability F e a r Lifespan Peak @ 4 years Birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 25 35 45 55 60 65… A g e

  34. Physical Reactions • rapid heartbeat • irregular breathing • sweating • eye blinking

  35. Physical Reactions • random movements • oversensitivity / low startle threshold • cry / scream • fight or flight response

  36. Physical Reactions What other emotion(s) evoke the same physical reactions? …it’s our cognitive appraisal that “labels” our emotion…

  37. Are all children afraid? Arechildren in cities more afraidthan children in rural areas? Are boys less afraid than girls? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Are the same childhoodfearspresent in adulthood? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Are children’s fears observed more at home or classroom environments?

  38. Infant Fears include: • loud noises, • abrupt sounds, • falling, • sudden motion, and • unexpected approach...

  39. Toddler FearsInclude: • thunder and lightning, • loud noises, • animals, • doctors, • strangers …

  40. Toddler Perceived Fears Include • a bath, • toilet training, • separation, • the dark, • unnatural behavior of animals…

  41. Coping

  42. Coping There are both • predictable developmental and • individual differences in strategies that infants and toddlers use to cope with fear.

  43. Crying With Eyes Open Fussing Self Soothing, i.e. Non-nutritive sucking Support Seeking Gaze Avoidance Self Distraction Cognitive Appraisal Infant Toddler Predictable Developmental Coping Strategies

  44. Individual Differences in Coping Strategies • Temperament / emotional susceptibility • Trial and error learning / previous experience • Support from family / caregivers

  45. Helping Infants Cope with Fear • Parental / Maternal sensitivity and responsiveness • Transitional objects • Distraction • Progressive soothing strategies

  46. Helping Toddlers Cope with Fear All of the ways adults can help infants, plus: • Explanations • Demonstrations • Imaginary strategies to help a child deal with imaginary / perceived fears

  47. Taking it home What do we share with our program staff?

  48. Taking it home What do we share with our parents?

  49. …and with some insight, you can help a child navigate her fearsand walk more confidently through childhood.

More Related