Mood: Mixed

Symptom: Raging / Cursing

Signs: increased whining, grunting or growling may escalate to a rage, a glazed over look may come into the child’s eyes, incoherent speech, cursing

Technique / treatment:

1. Ignore the cursing!

2. Talk in a low, calm voice.

3. Avoid using the child’s name.

4. Avoid talking at all if possible.

Mood: Mixed

Symptom: Oppositional behavior with high energy

Signs: the child refuses to comply with authority’s wishes, the child may become passive/aggressive by seeming to comply with wishes then destroying property or other form of sabotaging the situation

Technique / treatment:

1. Do not argue with the child. Do not force the child to comply with your wishes.

2. Do not threaten with ultimatums.

3. Calmly tell the child what you expect of her, then walk away. Give her time to process the information.

4. Later, come back and reiterate your wishes. She may have calmed down enough to comply. If not, offer a reward for completing the task.

5. Offer another task in lieu of the original task. Have her choose between the two.

6. Allow her to cool off in her room or another safe place until she can decide to comply

If the child cannot compromise, put the issue in basket C (explained at the end of this article) and let it go for now. Do not push the issue unless it has to do with the child’s safety.

Mood: Depressed

Symptom: Anger

Signs: irritability, anger, opposition to authority, anger may or may not have a direct cause

Technique / treatment:

1. Avoid talking with the child as much as possible.

2. Do not argue back.

3. Allow him to cool off in a safe, non-punitive place.

4. Remove / reduce all stimuli and stressors to avoid escalation to a rage.

Mood: Depressed

Symptom: Withdrawn / Anti-social behavior

Signs: the child prefers to be alone, may be irritable or angry or extremely sensitive, will not play or play well with others

Technique / treatment:

1. Encourage the child to talk about her feelings.

2. If the child won’t talk, ask her to draw what she is feeling.

3. Do not leave the child unattended if she has exhibited feelings of suicidality.

4. Try to facilitate 1:1 interaction with another child. Games where no talking is required may be best to begin with so the children can warm up to each other.