Communicating with vulnerable children: a guide for practitioners

✍ Scribed by David P. H. Jones

• Publisher: RCPsych Publications
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 206
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Communicating with Vulnerable Children provides a wealth of practical suggestions for all professionals who work with children and young people. It explains how best to communicate when the child has suffered adversity, such as experiences of harm and abuse, or witnessing violence or other distressing events. The focus is on helping children provide full and accurate accounts of their experiences without suggestion from an adult.Each chapter sets out the relevant policy and procedural context and reviews the available evidence, then gives recommendations and practical advice about how best to communicate with the child.This book is aimed at anyone who works with or spends time with children. This ranges from professionals whose specialist tasks include helping those who have been abused or neglected, such as social workers, child and adolescent mental health professionals or children's guardians within the Family Justice system, through to those who see children every day, such as teachers. It will be also be an invaluable guide for doctors, health visitors and all those advising concerned parents.Also AvailableAdvanced Family Work for Schizophrenia: An Evidence-Based Approach - ISBN 1904671276Depression in Children and Young People: Identification and Management in Primary, Community and Secondary Care (National Clinical Guideline) - ISBN 1854334247 RCPsych Publications is the publishing arm of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (based in London, United Kingdom), which has been promoting excellence in mental health care since 1841. Produced by the same editorial team who publish The British Journal of Psychiatry, they sell books for both psychiatrists and other mental health professionals; and also many written for the general public. Their popular series include the College Seminars Series, the NICE mental health guidelines and the Books Beyond Words series for people with intellectual disabilities. RCPsych publishes in all areas of psychiatry and mental health, including but not limited to: Clinical psychiatric practice Intellectual disability Mental health services for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly Psychopharmacology Psychotherapy Rehabilitation psychiatry Family mental health Service provision RCPsych Publications books can help with the following disorders: Addictions Affective disorders Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Bereavement Borderline personality disorder Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) Dementia Depression Eating disorders Perinatal psychiatric disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Psychosis Schizophrenia Sleep problems

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 7
Boxes, tables and figures......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Copying of material from this book......Page 14
Foreword......Page 15
Preface......Page 17
CHAPTER 1 Introduction and orientation......Page 19
Organisation and suggested use......Page 20
Part I The knowledge base......Page 25
CHAPTER 2 Developmental considerations......Page 27
Memory......Page 28
Suggestibility......Page 36
The consistency of children’s recall over time......Page 37
Language development......Page 40
Social and emotional development......Page 48
Conclusions......Page 49
Terminology......Page 51
Frequency of types of false positive errors......Page 52
Mechanisms leading to false positive cases of abuse......Page 54
The effects of adverse experiences on children......Page 56
Some special problems......Page 60
The effect of the child’s psychological condition on communication......Page 61
Race, culture and language......Page 67
Disabled children......Page 73
CHAPTER 6 Successful communication: core skills and basic principles......Page 82
Self-management......Page 85
Technique......Page 87
Summary......Page 89
Use and misuse of the term ‘disclosure’......Page 91
Developmental considerations......Page 93
Social and emotional factors......Page 94
Children at different stages in the child protection system......Page 95
Children’s presentations of sexual abuse allegations......Page 96
Adult recollections of childhood abuse......Page 97
Delay in disclosing adverse experiences......Page 98
Summary......Page 99
Part II Practice issues......Page 103
The policy and procedural context......Page 119
Summary......Page 130
Implications for practitioners......Page 125
Research findings......Page 121
The policy and procedural context......Page 131
A schema for undertaking in-depth interviews......Page 148
Research findings and practice implications......Page 134
Observation......Page 162
Summary......Page 173
Implications for practitioners......Page 169
Research findings......Page 167
Toys and drawings......Page 165
First concerns......Page 175
When uncertainty persists......Page 178
Advice during the process of assessment......Page 176
A framework for analysis......Page 180
Future directions for practice development......Page 189
Training......Page 187
CHAPTER 8 Practice issues: introduction......Page 105
CHAPTER 9 Talking with the child: first responses to children’s concerns......Page 109
Policy and procedural issues......Page 110
Research findings concerning first responses......Page 113
Implications for practitioners......Page 115
References......Page 191
Index......Page 201