Handling Your Child's Mental Health Issues
Diagnoses like bipolar, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and other psychiatric disorders are being applied to children more than ever before. Find help here for determining whether your child's special needs are mental-health related.
Your Child's Diagnosis: Mental-Health Issues
Use this alphabetical index to find information on ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD, and related diagnoses.
Escalator Phobia
If your child is afraid of riding the escalator, consider whether a phobia could be making the moving stairway seem terrifying. Lisa Fritshcer, About.com guide to Phobias, explains how escalator fear becomes overwhelming.
Disappointment: Containing the Spill and Moving On
Helping children deal with disappointment can be a challenge for parents. In her book "Freeing Your Child From Negative Thinking," child psychologist Tamar E. Chansky offers a script for leading your youngster out of despair.
How to Motivate Your Teen to Attend and Engage in Therapy
Just because your adolescent needs therapy doesn't mean he or she is going to be eager to get it. This excerpt from the book "The Bipolar Teen" offers some tips for moving your teen toward treatment.
10 Good Chances to Chat With Your Child
With kids getting busier by the year, it may seem hard to find a time to really sit and talk with your child about school, friends, feelings, and everyday issues. But if you put your mind to it, there are always opportunities to sneak in a chat. Here are 10 openings to look out for.
Teach Your Child to Control Anxiety
More and more kids in our overtested, overbooked society are having trouble with fears, anxiety, and uncontrollable worry. Teach your child to master those scary thoughts with the help of the book "Freeing Your Child from Anxiety."
Teach Your Child to Keep a Journal
Journaling can have many mental-health benefits for children with special needs, and also reinforces writing skills. Here's how to get your child in the journal habit.
Self-Mutilation: Releasing the Pain
Excerpt from the book "My Kind of Sad: What It's Like to Be Young and Depressed" by Kate Scowen focuses on cutting and other forms of self-mutilation in teens.
Guided Relaxation for Children with Special Needs
In an excerpt from "The Floppy Sleep Game Book," author Patti Teel describes a guided relaxation exercise that parents can use to relieve children's anxiety and sleeplessness.
Breathing Techniques to Relax Your Child
An excerpt from "The Floppy Sleep Game Book" tells how breathing techniques can reduce anxiety and improve behavior for children with special needs.
Top 5 Ways to Boost Your Child's Self-Esteem
Children with special needs can be bad at feeling good about themselves. Here are five ways to boost your child's self-esteem, and make yourself a more effective parent.
Sites of the Day: Mental Health Issues
Listing of sites on mental health issues that have been featured as an About Parenting Special Needs Site of the Day.
Children's and Adolescents' Mental Health
Guidelines on mental health issues affecting children and teens, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Facts for Families
From the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, informative fact sheets for parents on a wide range of mental health issues.
A-Z Disorder Guide
From AboutOurKids.org, a reference library on children's mental health.