Preventing social, behavioural and learning problems in children

If children are not made to go through essential experiences like touch and movements such as rolling and crawling, it is likely that they will face social, behavioural and learning problems.

Mrs Eva Baerner, senior speech-language pathologist from Austria, said this on Saturday evening while conducting a workshop on child development at The Circle: Caring For Children, a therapy centre for children suffering from autism, hearing & speech impairment and other learning disorders.

In her training techniques, Eva uses the linkage between sensory integration and stages in speech development. Eye contact, she said, is very important for a child. “Give the child information by touching them. That’s an important and obvious way we can reach their brain,” she said.

“You must rock the children while they’re in your arms and thus provide maximum opportunity for movement, which prepares the brain for higher cognitive functions such as learning to read and write. If the children are deprived of these experiences, they might face social, behavioural and learning problems as they grow.”

She emphasised the importance of the cerebellum, a part of the brain that plays a very important role in tactile and sensory motor development. Activating the tactile senses, she said, is imperative to nurturing positive behaviour.

She also highlighted the role of movement, as exercise is imperative to positive child development. She demonstrated exercises for children through a video of her work in Namibia. “When a child is crawling on the floor, it is important that they be allowed to do so rather than being picked up in the mother’s arms. Crawling is a very important exercise for eye and hand coordination,” she said. She highlighted breathing exercises that stimulate the brain, all to the benefit of the child.

She also recommended exercises of the tongue, and demonstrated exercises for children who breathe through their mouths rather than nasally. It is important to stimulate the nose, she said.

These exercises, she said, are very important to make the child aware of their environment. They are also very helpful for slow learners, as they bring about coordination of body parts. Moreover, she described exercises for the children who have conditions like Down syndrome.

Her 90-minute talk was followed by an animated question-answer session. All the questioners were therapists and parents facing problems of different kinds of deviations in their offspring’s behaviours.

Parents must watch out that they are patient with their children, and they should make an effort to understand their needs, said Mrs Eva Baerner.

“They should never, under any circumstances, administer corporal punishment to the child, as the element of fright is absolutely counter-productive to learning and can cause mal-development of the child’s personality, making them very slow learners.”

Referring to Pakistan, she said: “Here children are taught at a very early age to read and write. Actually, it would be far better if at the pre-nursery level, children are taught through games and play. At the pre-nursery level, their minds are too raw to effectively assimilate academic learning.”

She added: “We need an environment of awareness about child development. They should also be made to participate in household chores.” Asked about her impressions of Pakistan, she said she was very pleased with the hospitality she had been extended from all quarters.

She said it was too early to say much about the quality of care giving in Pakistan because she had as yet not visited too many therapy centres. But the facilities and professionalism she found at The Circle were excellent. She was all praise for its young and enthusiastic team.

Apart from her native Austria, Eva has travelled to Namibia and China as part of the German Senior Expert Services, teaching various therapies like neurofunctional reorganisation.