How should the function of behavior affect a child's diagnosis?
A behavior can mean different things for different disorders, explains Jerry Bubrick, PhD, senior director, Anxiety and Mood Disorder Center, Child Mind Institute. He explains why it's important to look beyond the behavior.
Transcript
We can't necessarily diagnose things just on behavior. We have to look at what the function of that behavior is and understand that in the context of a child
and have that inform our diagnosis and our treatment. [MUSIC PLAYING]
If you look at kids who have autism spectrum disorders, that they may line something up in a certain way and they
may line their cars up in a certain way. And that's actually enjoyable for them. It's fun for them to line things up and have a certain order
to things. So if you pull that child away, they're going to be upset because you're taking them away from something that's fun.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Whereas, if I'm lining those things up because I have obsessions that if they're not straight
I'll get a bad grade or my father will die in a car accident and you pull me away from that, I'm going to be upset. But my reason for being upset is going
to be very different than the other child. [MUSIC PLAYING] So we can't just look at-- and this goes back
to the problem with misdiagnosing and over diagnosing is that we can't necessarily diagnose things just on behavior.
We have to look at what the function of that behavior is and understand that in the context of the child and have that inform our diagnosis and our treatment.
[MUSIC PLAYING] [WHOOSH] [HEARTBEAT]
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