As you have learned this week, diagnosing psychiatric disorders in children is a tricky business. Mental health professionals must consider many factors when diagnosing, not the least of which is what might happen if a child were to be misdiagnosed.
1. What effect might misdiagnosis have on children lives?
One recent hot controversy in the field of child psychiatry/psychology is over the prevalence of Bipolar disorder in young children and teens. Trust me when I tell you that there are competent professionals on both side of the fence who feel very strongly about this issue.

Please click on the link below and carefully read the articles:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/28/60minutes/main3308525.shtml

Obviously, something went wrong with the treatment of Rebecca Riley. Rather than focusing on this specific case, however, I’d like for us to discuss the larger issue related to the benefits and risks of diagnosing and treating young children with psychiatric disorders (e.g., ADHD, Conduct Disorder, Bipolar, Depression, etc…). Try to argue on both the “pro” and the “con” side.
2. Why should or should not we diagnose young children?
3. What age is “too young” to diagnose, or is there no age limit?
4. What are the cons of giving diagnoses too young to children?
5. What are the pros and cons of using psychiatric medication with young children?
Support your opinions with research, not just on “word of mouth” or personal experience.
300 Level Forum Grading Rubric

Possible points

Student points

Met initial post deadline (Wednesday)

1

Initial post is substantive

10

Initial post is at least 300 words

10

Initial post employs at least two citations; one can be text; other must be from an academic   source

10

LESSON READING

Introduction

In this lesson, we will look at how the great variations in children’s behaviors evolve. We will achieve this by looking at how morality develops, and the behavioral, cognitive and emotional aspects of morality. We will explore how prosocial and altruistic behaviors develop, and then how aggression develops in children, and how to alleviate it. Thereafter we will investigate developmental psychopathology. We will look at the three major categories of childhood disorders: undercontrolled disorders, overcontrolled disorders and pervasive developmental disorders.

Morality

Why do some children bully, lie and cheat, while others withdraw, and yet others excel and thrive? To understand why there is such a great variation in children’s behavior, we need to look at how children are socialized. Recall that the role of socialization is to impart desirable values onto children, which they internalize, so they can experience satisfaction when they abide by social rules, and discomfort when they do not. This personal standard of conduct can be referred to as morality.
Morality has three components that help us understand how aggression and altruism develop. The cognitive component of morality is the knowledge of what is good and bad, the emotional component is how individuals feel about situations and decisions they make, and the behavioral component of morality is how individuals behave.

Cognitive Aspects of Moral Development

Piaget and Kohlberg saw moral reasoning as a function of cognitive development.

Piaget (1932) proposed that children pass through three stage of moral development.

PREMORAL 

MORAL REALISM

MORAL RECIPROCITY

Kohlberg (1969, 1985) refined and expanded on Piaget’s theory, proposing that people go through six stages of moral development.

PRECONVENTIONAL MORALITY, STAGE 1

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