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Child Behavior (Expert Forum)
2 1/2 year old girl
Answered by
Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D. - Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Family Therapy, Crisis Intervention
Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
This forum is for questions and support regarding child behavior issues such: Child Discipline (behavior management), Normal Child Development, Parent-Child Communications, Social Development
2 1/2 year old girl
by Tom Sorensen, Nov 20, 1999 12:00AM
My 2 1/2 year old daughter has a tantrum problem that is unusual. I have other kids and I'm quite familiar with normal tantrums. She has tantrums from nowhere... really bad ones. She will wake up in the dead of night, screaming, and beating her feet, head and hands on the floor. I have to take her upstairs to the playroom and keep her there for about an hour. She hurts herself, throws things, flopps around and screams until she is as white as a ghost and totaly out of energy. Tonight she clawed her face. We asked our doctor, but she seems to think its normal... it is not. She has not developed speech very well. Shes almost three and can only say a few words. Could there be some other thing (like a brain disorder or tumor or something) that could cause such outbreaks accompanied with speech impairment? I really need something to go on other than "Oh... Thats normal..." because we know its not.
Thank you for taking the time...
Tom
Thank you for taking the time...
Tom
Doctor's Answer
by Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D., Nov 20, 1999 12:00AM
, Nov 20, 1999 12:00AM
Dear Tom,
Since your daughter is as young as she is, the confusional arousals that you describe as part of her sleep pattern may actually be only an extreme version of normal - i.e., they may not represent any unusual problem to worry about.
However, her failure to acquire more speech at her age may indeed represent a problem. At the very least, she is at the delayed end of the spectrum. This can be a manifestation of some delay (not necessarily serious) in maturation of aspects of her central nervous system, which would also help understand the extreme version of her nighttime episodes.
It would be wise to seek a speech/language evaluation. This will help place her speech development in perspective. It might also be a good idea to have your daughter examined by a developmental pediatrician in order to review all pertinent aspects of her developmental progress.
Since your daughter is as young as she is, the confusional arousals that you describe as part of her sleep pattern may actually be only an extreme version of normal - i.e., they may not represent any unusual problem to worry about.
However, her failure to acquire more speech at her age may indeed represent a problem. At the very least, she is at the delayed end of the spectrum. This can be a manifestation of some delay (not necessarily serious) in maturation of aspects of her central nervous system, which would also help understand the extreme version of her nighttime episodes.
It would be wise to seek a speech/language evaluation. This will help place her speech development in perspective. It might also be a good idea to have your daughter examined by a developmental pediatrician in order to review all pertinent aspects of her developmental progress.
