From the Mental Elf - "Psychological decentering: seeing the bigger picture"

Interesting Results re "Distancing" technique from Marc Bennett in Mental Elf last accessed 21-12-20

Link to full blog

From Blog - 

"Characterising distancing"

"Power and LaBar offered a framework that describes distancing. The central idea is that the psychological content of difficult thoughts and memories is housed in one’s mind. This could be, for example, a mental image of being embarrassed in a social context. This content can become closely associated with the mental image one has of their self. Distancing works by separating between these two mental images and this can be achieved in four ways:

• Distance could be introduced spatially. This is done by imagining that the difficult mental content is far away (“imagine the embarrassing scene but from a distance “).
• Distance could be introduced temporally. This is done by imagining that the difficult mental content is in the past or future (“imagine the embarrassing scene but as if 20 years have passed”).
• Distance could be introduced objectively. This is done by imagining the event from the point of view of a neutral person (“imagine the embarrassing scene but as if you are that really relaxed person that you admire”).
• Distance could be introduced hypothetically. This is done by imagining the event from the point of view of a neutral person (“imagine the embarrassing scene but accept that your mental representation may not be very precise”).

It was reasoned that generating these new perspectives creates opportunities for alternative, more adaptive emotional reactions."

Provisions to support transgender children in schools - UK Parliament

 "In England, Wales and Scotland, the Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination against transgender children in all schools. The UK Department for Education (DfE) guidance on the Act says protections apply to those who are undergoing, have undergone, or are proposing to undergo, a  process (or part of a process) of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes."

"In Northern Ireland, guidance issued by the Education Authority says the European Convention on Human Rights may offer some protections for transgender pupils."

"As schools policy is a devolved issue, this briefing focuses on the position in England, but some information is included on relevant policies and pupil experiences in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland."

"In 2014, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published guidance on the Equality Act 2010 and how it applies to schools in England and Scotland."

"The UK Government committed to publishing an update to its guidance for schools on how to apply the Equality Act 2010 in its 2018 LGBT action plan. The Government Equalities Office said in July 2019 that the EHRC was also developing guidance for schools on supporting transgender pupils."

"Across the UK, schools are subject to safeguarding duties to protect pupil wellbeing and are required to have anti-bullying policies. Decisions on uniform, provisions for shared sanitary and changing facilities and mixed sport are primarily made by schools themselves, within their respective statutory framework. Under guidance published following recent curriculum changes in England, all pupils should receive teaching on LGBT relationships during their school years."

"A 2017 survey by the charity Stonewall found that nearly two thirds (64%) of surveyed transgender pupils reported being bullied for being LGBT. It also found three in five transgender pupils reported speaking to a member of school staff about being transgender." 

"Several local authorities have published guidance for schools, but this has sometimes proved controversial. For example, in May 2020 Oxfordshire County Council said it had taken the decision to withdraw its Trans Inclusion Toolkit and that it would instead adopt expected EHRC guidance. At the same time, the council said it was withdrawing from the judicial review of the Toolkit, which was expected in Autumn 2020."

"In England in 2014, the DfE’s advice on The Equality Act 2010 and schools noted that “a partnership of bodies in Cornwall have produced a useful guidance document for schools and families.”"

"In 2017, the NASUWT Teachers’ Union published guides for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland."

Last accessed 14-12-20

Access to full report -

Press release - 90 children’s charities warn the UN that children’s rights have deteriorated in England

 From Children's Rights Alliance For England - last accessed 14-12-20

"In a new report released ahead of Human Rights Day (10 December), 90 children’s charities from across England warn that a number of critical children’s rights issues must be urgently addressed by the UK Government to prevent worsening impacts on the most vulnerable children."

"Today’s report marks the start of the UK’s examination under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Led by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), it sets out civil society’s top concerns for the UN to investigate and reveals that children’s rights have regressed in many areas since the UN’s last examination in 2016. It also highlights that the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has not prioritised children’s rights and their voices in vital policy and legislative decisions. "

"Although there has been some progress, the report concludes that children’s rights remain worryingly low on the political agenda in England. Scotland is soon to directly incorporate the CRC into domestic law, but the UK Government has refused to do so. It also outlines that children’s access to justice has been eroded since 2016 and, with the Human Rights Act now under threat, our domestic legal framework for protecting children’s human rights is at great risk." 

"The report also highlights that Black children have continued to suffer persistent discrimination across many aspects of their lives, including being disproportionately represented in school exclusions and in all parts of the criminal justice system. Despite numerous reviews, there is still no cross-government strategy for preventing and addressing systematic racism and race discrimination."

Link to further information -

"Should Santa have to quarantine? What children think about Christmas"

 From Children's Commissioner 1st December 2020

"National lockdown comes to an end this week, with new rules in place and some relaxation over Christmas, where we can meet with up to three other households over a period of five days.

We asked children through focus groups what they thought about Christmas this year, and many raised concerns and questions.

Lots of the children agreed that Christmas is likely to look very different for them this year, mainly because they wouldn’t be able to, or wouldn’t feel safe seeing their grandparents:

“I don’t think it’s going to be the same. My nan and grandad live in Spain, you can only see 3 families over a short period so they can’t come over which is sad.” – Girl, 11

“The problem with our family is that we have 7 people, and the restrictions would probably be 6 people; and then my grandma says all this stuff about you all meet up, I’ll stay, but then you don’t realise your grandparents have… a space in your Christmas tradition.” – Girl, 12

“Christmas this year will be a bit weird” – Girl, primary school

Children are very aware of how to stay ‘safe’ from Coronavirus so it’s not surprising that they asked how it was safe to meet up with other family members at Christmas when they couldn’t see them now.

“I like the idea of seeing my nan at Christmas… I really like the idea of doing that, but I don’t really understand how it’s going to be safe. If I can’t go and have a cup of tea with my nan now what difference does it make if it’s Christmas morning?” – Girl, 17

The key concern for children was the potential impact on the number of cases of Coronavirus and what that could mean for another lockdown.

“I feel like those 3 days could do so much to our like world that everything could go to pot again just because of those 3 days … cause, I feel like even if it’s not your own grandparents, you wouldn’t want anyone else in the world to feel what you could feel when it’s your grandparents. Cause those 3 days could mean another whole 6 months of lockdown again, you don’t know.” – Girl, 12

“What is [the prime minister] going to do about the obvious rise in cases? If you can socialise with three households that’s nice but is this not going to take us back to where we were at the start of the year, 25,000 cases a day again and make things a lot worse?” – Girl, 17

“I think the negative number of cases is going to outweigh the positives of spending a few days with their family” – Girl, 16

“If they are trying to stop the spread and stuff, it just goes back and everything that they’ve been trying to do, with 5 days with having restaurants and pubs open, […] and that might push the spread of the virus […] if they can go, and they give that to you, and then you give that to someone else […] it all depends if households are going and they are then staying a tiny bit apart and wear masks” Boy, 13

“My worry isn’t Christmas, my worry is the effect of Christmas…As someone who has their exams this year, if we come back from Christmas or New Years and there’s a spike in cases and I’m back in lockdown learning like I wouldn’t be able to do it, and I know a lot of people who wouldn’t either… People are like ‘Coronavirus will leave you alone because it’s festive’… I don’t mind people meeting with their friends, but I’m worried about having the social bubbles and then seeing the figures in the next few weeks go back up to where we were earlier this year to get us into lockdown in the first place or get us back into the place that got us into lockdown 2 and then the long reaching effects of that…” – Girl, 17

The issue of perceived discrimination against those from other faiths and religions came up in separate groups.

“It’s a little discriminatory against those… we are having these rules in place for our holiday which is a Christian holiday. Not every religion celebrates that and other religions like [the] Islamic religion they had to give up their celebration and no special rules were put in place for them to celebrate.” – Girl, 16

“I really don’t think Christmas should actually happen. Loads of other religions couldn’t have had their celebrations, like Diwali. So, they couldn’t really celebrate it, so I don’t think we should, why, what makes Christmas more important than everything else? I get that it’s a time for families to come together and we had someone saying oh, it might be someone’s last Christmas because they’re old, but it could be literally anyone’s last Christmas, you don’t know, you can’t decide…” – Teenage girl

Some children had already decided that they wouldn’t be visiting their extended family this year, and thought it was likely that other households would do the same.

“I am not a huge fan of Christmas, especially this year of all years. I get exactly what you are saying about going to see your families and that. I think especially this year […] but I said that I am not going to visit any of my family because I don’t want to put any of them at risk, so I will be joining virtually as well.” – Girl, 18

“I don’t think people will risk going to see their family for five days because it can cause a lot of problems for the future” – Girl, 16

Despite everything going on, there were still things to be excited about this year, even if it was going to look a bit different.

“I think it will be quite exciting this year as well because school has set some things that we are going to do for Christmas, so we are going to have a party in our class, so the teachers make it special for us as well” Girl, primary school"

Link

2020 Beacon House Advent Calendar! ...

Fantastic resource from Beacon House - Not to be missed - 24 days of resources!

Click here for link to resource

"Childline: Nobody is Normal Campaign"

 Source: NSPCC

Date: 09 November 2020

Childline has launched a new campaign - Nobody is Normal - which aims to help children understand that lacking confidence, feeling not good enough or that you don’t fit in, is a shared experience. Statistics show that Childline has delivered 42,953 counselling sessions to children about their mental and emotional health across the UK since lockdown was first put in place. Figures also show that the monthly average number of Childline counselling sessions about eating and body image disorders increased by 32% on the pre-lockdown average; and the monthly average number of sessions about sexuality and gender identity increased by 16% compared with the pre-lockdown average.

Watch: https://youtu.be/ZJbrtQgLdpk

From NSPCC: Protecting children from county lines Last updated: 22 Oct 2020

 "What are county lines?"

"County lines is a form of criminal exploitation where urban gangs persuade, coerce or force children and young people to store drugs and money and/or transport them to suburban areas, market towns and coastal towns (Home Office, 2018). It can happen in any part of the UK and is against the law and a form of child abuse.

Children and young people may be criminally exploited in multiple ways. Other forms of criminal exploitation include child sexual exploitation, trafficking, gang and knife crime.

County lines gangs are highly organised criminal networks that use sophisticated, frequently evolving techniques to groom young people and evade capture by the police.

Perpetrators use children and young people to maximise profits and distance themselves from the criminal act of physically dealing drugs (National Crime agency, 2018). Young people do the majority of the work and take the most risk.

Dedicated mobile phone lines or “deal lines” are used to help facilitate county lines drug deals. Phones are usually cheap, disposable and old fashioned, because they are changed frequently to avoid detection by the police.

Gangs use the phones to receive orders and contact young people to instruct them where to deliver drugs. This may be to a local dealer or drug user, or a dealer or drug user in another county."

Phrases that young people may use to refer to county lines include:

• ‘running a line’,
• ‘going OT/out there’
• ‘going country’
• ‘going cunch’.

These all refer to going out of town to deliver drugs or money (Thurrock Council, 2020).

"We’ve put together some information to help anyone who works or volunteers with children and young people to recognise the signs that a child might be being exploited by a county lines gang and understand what action to take to help keep children safe."

This includes:

• the risks associated with county lines
• recognising and responding to concerns about county lines
• how professionals can work to prevent county lines
• a summary of the relevant legislation and guidance"

Link to further information 

Taken From-

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3606121156078488&id=249222445101726

Lisa Terni Dion- September 22nd

"“Being calm” is one of the most misunderstood parts of regulation.  Being calm is not the point- learning how to stay mindfully connected to ourselves in the midst of the internal activation we experience is the the goal of learning how to regulate.  

When we put more value on being calm, we not only send a message that the other emotional states inside us are “not as good” setting ourselves up to feel guilt and shame when they arise or when being calm is a struggle, but we also set the stage to inadvertently bypass the most important part of the regulation experience- Learning how to mindfully “be with” all aspects of our human experience."  

NHS announces independent review into gender identity services for children and young people

22nd September 2020

"The NHS has today announced that Dr Hilary Cass OBE, former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, will lead an independent review into gender identity services for children and young people.

The review will be wide-ranging in scope looking into several aspects of gender identity services, with a focus on how care can be improved for children and young people including key aspects of care such as how and when they are referred to specialist services, and clinical decisions around how doctors and healthcare professionals support and care for patients with gender dysphoria.

It will also set out workforce recommendations for specialist healthcare professionals and examine the recent rise in the number of children seeking treatment.

The NHS has today announced that Dr Hilary Cass OBE, former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, will lead an independent review into gender identity services for children and young people.

The review will be wide-ranging in scope looking into several aspects of gender identity services, with a focus on how care can be improved for children and young people including key aspects of care such as how and when they are referred to specialist services, and clinical decisions around how doctors and healthcare professionals support and care for patients with gender dysphoria.

It will also set out workforce recommendations for specialist healthcare professionals and examine the recent rise in the number of children seeking treatment.

Dr Cass will then make clear recommendations for children and young people’s gender identity services reporting back next year.

The Gender Identity Development Service for Children and Adolescents is managed by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is due to carry out a focused inspection of The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Gender Identity Services for children and young people, during the autumn. The inspection will cover parts of the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions and will include feedback from people using the service, parents, relatives, carers, and staff. Separately, Dr Cass will also review the service’s clinical practice with the support of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and engagement of other professional bodies to provide multi-professional insight working closely with the CQC.

The review includes an examination of the issues surrounding children and young people who are prescribed puberty blocking and cross sex hormone drugs. "

Link to News report

"Leading experts appeal for an energetic and sustained response to childhood trauma during and beyond the pandemic"

 17th September 2020  |  By: Michelle Cunliffe

"Today, a new and independent expert body, the UK Trauma Council (UKTC), launches with an appeal for an energetic and sustained response to childhood trauma. Its launch is timely, in light of increasing evidence of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown on child mental health."

"The UKTC brings together 22 leading experts in research, policy and practice from all four nations of the UK, making it a unique multi-disciplinary group which will drive positive change in the care and support provided to children and young people who have been exposed to different forms of traumatic event – including single incidents, as well as abuse and neglect. It will empower professionals and local communities in supporting children and young people. It is hosted and supported by the Anna Freud Centre."

"In ‘Beyond the pandemic: Strategic priorities for responding to childhood trauma’, published today, the UKTC identifies three ways in which the pandemic is impacting on the experience of childhood trauma:

"It increases the risk that more children will be exposed to trauma, including through sudden bereavement or exposure to domestic violence; It increases the likelihood that those with prior experiences of trauma (for example, because of abuse) will experience significant difficulties; and it compromises the ability of adults and professional systems to identify a struggling child and mitigate the impact of trauma, including mental health problems."

"The UKTC explains that the consequences for those affected may be profound and lifelong, unless there are clear UK-wide responses which seek to support children and young people. Professor Eamon McCrory, Co-Director of the UKTC, says: “Across the UK, there exists enormous expertise about what support children need following experiences of trauma, but we do not always make best use of it. The UK Trauma Council will harness this expertise and help others learn from it. Perhaps never before has there been such a pressing need for collaboration across communities, professionals and services at national and local levels, in the interests of children and young people.”"

"David Trickey, Co-Director of the UKTC, adds: “None of us has escaped the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, but some have been more affected than others. For many children and young people, particularly those who have lived through previous trauma, the pandemic represents a series of potentially traumatic events. We should be in no doubt that this could have far-reaching consequences for their lives unless appropriate evidence based help is available. We are seeing an increased need for services, and there is a need for a new energy in supporting children if we are to successfully mitigate against the impact of the pandemic.”"

"The UKTC makes four recommendations in response to the pandemic, which it addresses to government departments, professional bodies, and those developing policy and practice. These are to:

 - Prioritise responding to trauma in national and local strategies;

 - Invest in specialist trauma provision for children and young people;

 - Equip all professionals who work with children and young people with the skills and capacity to support those who have experienced trauma;

 - Shift models of help towards prevention, through research, clinical innovation and training.

"Each recommendation is followed by suggested steps to be taken to achieve it, often focusing on the need for increased collaboration and the harnessing of existing expertise. With examples of specialist expertise and ground-breaking work emerging across the four nations, the UKTC will provide a platform for this to be more fully utilised than at present."

"A history of abuse increases the risk of suicide attempts in youth"

 "Researchers in Belgium and the USA have conducted one of the first investigations into whether a history of various forms of abuse and the presence of mood disorders and psychotic symptoms can predict suicide attempts in psychiatrically hospitalized children."

"In their retrospective approach, Baptiste Barbot and co-workers analyzed archival inpatient chart data from 101 hospitalized children and adolescents predominantly with bipolar disorder and other mood disorders with and without psychotic symptoms. They found that a history of sexual abuse associated with bipolar disorder, was indirectly related to a history of suicide attempts.  A history of emotional abuse was also indirectly related to suicide attempts in boys (mediated by mood disorders) and in girls (mediated by psychotic symptoms). “Put simply, a history of abuse increases the odds of suicide attempts in youth”, explains Barbot. “However, abuse history often has an indirect influence through the increased psychopathology commonly associated with abuse.”

"Barbot points out that uniquely, the data used in this study were retrieved and analyzed in the format that they were originally recorded in, in the hospital setting (i.e., not directly designed for research). As such, “real life” data might be valuable for similar research purposes."

"Overall, these study findings point to the importance of abuse and sexual harassment prevention programs in schools and the critical need for family support and intervention programs for at-risk, vulnerable children and families. The researchers hope that having access to empirically based studies on suicide risk, as well as detailed patient medical, developmental, biological family and trauma histories will help identify those at risk of engaging in suicidal behaviours and guide subsequent treatment planning."

Link to article

"BRAVE-ONLINE elicits a strong reduction in anxiety for most young people, irrespective of age, sex, type and severity of anxiety and parent mental health"

"In the wake of the current coronavirus pandemic, more practitioners are turning to online service delivery for children and adolescents in need of mental health support. The recent JCPP publication from Susan Spence and colleagues on internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) for anxious children is thus particularly timely."

“Certainly for now, delivering cognitive behaviour therapy using the internet rather than face-to-face offers a way of increasing access to treatment for many young people with mental health problems who would otherwise not receive the help they need”, says Spence. “With the COVID-19 virus not only impacting upon the mental wellbeing of young people, but also restricting the opportunities for receiving clinic-based treatment, the option of effective iCBT for youth mental health is more important than ever.”

Link to PDF

"Effectiveness of Telephone Counseling: A Field-Based Investigation"

Robert J. Reese

Abilene Christian University

Collie W. Conoley and Daniel F. Brossart

Texas A&M University

"The use of the telephone has become an increasingly popular mode for providing counseling. However, little is known about its effectiveness. This study is an initial effectiveness study on telephone counseling. Participants ( N 186) who had received counseling from a telephone counseling service rated the effectiveness of telephone counseling and the quality of their counseling relationship. 

Generally, respondents indicated that telephone counseling was helpful for both global and specific improvement and that they were satisfied with the counseling they received. Respondents also rated the counselling relationship and level of interpersonal influence similarly to face-to-face counseling studies measuring the same attributes. 

The telephone counseling results are given in the context of face-to-face counselling data from other studies"

Link to article 

"No child left behind: A public health informed approach to improving outcomes for vulnerable children"

"The report sets out how adopting a public health informed approach offers substantial

opportunities to reduce inequalities and improve health and wellbeing outcomes for the

most vulnerable children.

The approach advocates for action across organisations to reduce vulnerability and the

potential harm of adverse childhood experiences. The report sets out an approach

which encompasses preventing such occurrences, intervening early when problems

arise and creating an environment throughout the life course where negative impact is

mitigated. Action is required that considers:

• the individual level, where the approach emphasises that poorer circumstances

and adverse experiences in a person’s early life do not lead inevitably to poorer

opportunities and outcomes but places children at increased risk of

disadvantage

• family and other care settings which provide a safe and secure environment

are an essential protective factor so that, even when circumstances may mean

that a child is at greater risk of poorer outcomes, they are more resilient, thus

reducing the potentially harmful impact

• a place based public health approach to prevention emphasises the role of the

community in creating environments where the right conditions are in place to

support children to thrive"

"Studies also indicate that children and young people are being affected by the changes

the pandemic has brought to their lives, including to their education, time with family and

to their emotional health and wellbeing (2). More generally, the underlying wider

community and social conditions which can make children more vulnerable which

existed before the pandemic are likely to remain; these are the focus of this report."

Link to PDF 

"More support needed for children’s mental health in rural areas, says Centre for Mental Health report"

"Children living in remote rural and coastal communities in the UK are at risk of missing out on mental health support, says a report published today by Centre for Mental Health.

The space between us, by Louis Allwood, explores evidence about the mental health and wellbeing of children aged between 8 and 13 years living in isolated communities across the UK. Funded by BBC Children in Need, The space between us finds that children living in remote areas face isolation and struggle to get help for their mental health because of poor transport, a lack of safe spaces to meet in and poor digital connectivity.

Children living in poverty, disabled children, children from marginalised communities and children whose gender or sexual identity is different to most of their peers face especial disadvantages in remote and rural areas. Rural poverty is less visible than in urban areas but can leave children especially isolated and excluded.

The space between us also finds that rural areas are often poorly served by specialist mental health services, and years of austerity have eroded local services, such as early years and youth work, that help to boost children’s wellbeing and prevent later crises.

The report calls for action to boost children’s mental health in rural and coastal communities. This includes funding for local councils to improve wellbeing, investment in digital infrastructure in places that have been left behind, and developing promising approaches to supporting children’s wellbeing such as mobile support services, peer support networks and better use of existing community spaces."

Link to article

Self-harm in a time of isolation: What is the evidence to support mobile and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm?

"Summary

In this blog we summarise the findings and implications of a recent systematic review of studies evaluating the effectiveness and acceptability of mobile- and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm in adolescents and adults. The COVID-19 pandemic means that mental health services need to adapt quickly to the clinical need for remote care at a time when we anticipate an increase in the incidence and severity of depression and anxiety. There are already particular concerns about adolescents, who have had to adjust to major changes in their schooling or employment, their home environment and family dynamics, and in their social interactions at a critical stage of development. Their need for digital mental health interventions has never been greater. However, digital delivery of psychological interventions should not compromise effectiveness, acceptability, or equitable access.

Only six of the 22 papers included in this systematic review focused on young people aged 18 years and under, but given the paucity of studies (and systematic reviews) on this topic we felt it was important to appraise the evidence presented with a view to its application to adolescent mental health service delivery. This review found limited evidence to support the effectiveness of mobile- and internet-based interventions to address suicidal thoughts and behaviour in adolescents (and adults), and no indication that a particular modality (text messages, mobile apps, internet-based modules) was superior to others. One of the two studies using blended (therapist contact and remote therapy) interventions was found to reduce suicidal ideation to a greater degree over time than a waiting-list control although this was trialled in an adult population.

In this blog, we also consider how NHS mental health services might respond in terms of implementing findings from research on mobile- and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm in adolescents and adults, paying particular attention to equitable access to services."

Posted on 18 August 2020

Link to Blog

"360 degree safe, the award winning online safety self-review tool for schools."

The tool provides -

• Information that can influence the production or review of online safety policies and develop good practice.
• A process for identifying strengths and areas for development.
• Opportunities for commitment and involvement from the whole school.
• A continuum for schools to discuss how they might move from a basic level of provision for online safety to practice that is aspirational and innovative.

Link to further information

"Coronavirus: online safety"

 "Catch 22 has published findings from an online harms consultation carried out between June and July 2020. Responses from young people, frontline professionals, tech platforms and others show that: 32% of young people have seen harm occur offline because of something which happened online; 73% have seen content online that they’ve found concerning: only 27% feel safe online all the time and 40% said they report online harms to the platform they are using. 38% of frontline practitioners said they do not feel sufficiently trained to deal with online behaviour."

Link to blog

Coronavirus: Childline counselling and NSPCC helpline contacts

Source: NSPCC Learning

Date: 10 August 2020

NSPCC Learning has published a briefing using insight from Childline counselling sessions and NSPCC helpline contacts to highlight the impact of child sexual abuse on children and young people during the coronavirus pandemic. Key findings include: there has been a threefold increase in the number of Childline counselling sessions about child sexual abuse within the family, from an average of 8 sessions per week before the pandemic restrictions were imposed to an average of 23 per week since 23 March 2020; adults contacting the NSPCC helpline since lockdown began are more likely to be worried about sexual abuse that is happening in the child’s own home - this was a concern in 53% of contacts about sexual abuse before the pandemic restrictions were imposed, compared to 77% since 23 March 2020.

Link

Does Teletherapy Work?

From a blog by 
Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.

Director, International Center for Clinical Excellence

"So, what does the research indicate?
Drum roll please …
no difference in outcome for adults, adolescents and children being treated for the most common concerns addressed in psychotherapy (e.g., depression, anxiety, trauma, eating problems, substance abuse).  What’s more, online services are associated with greater utilization of and less dropout from mental health care.squeeze head

That said, challenges are evident.  For most clinicians and clients, teletherapy is an entirely new enterprise requiring a period of learning and adjustment.  Critically, the sensory input clinicians rely upon to make clinical judgments is also restricted — all the more reason to make “Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) a routine part of the services you provide.  Even if you’re regularly seeking feedback from clients using standardized measures like the Outcome and Session Rating Scales, doing so virtually will be new for most."

Link to blog

UKSIC partner with ITU to release new Child Online Protection guidelines

UKSIC partner with ITU to release new Child Online Protection guidelines: 

"UKSIC, along with industry partners SWGfL and IWF have helped to release the new ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Child Online Protection guidelines for 2020 to raise awareness of online safety across the world."

UKSIC Director David Wright, SWGfL, and the IWF have helped guide and inform some of these resources along with 80 other leading online safety and child protection organisations from across the world.  

The guidelines have been running since 2009, yet with the internet evolving so much through the years, the need for online safety awareness has become much more important. Children and young people have access to more resourceful things online than ever before. The internet plays a huge part in many young people’s lives and can provide many opportunities for education and fun. Socialising, sharing content and expressing opinions has never been more easy, yet challenges around online safety are still very much a part of the discussion.


Specially aimed at children, parents and educators, industry and policy-makers, the guidelines are meant to act as a framework, which can be adapted and used in a way that is consistent with national or local customs and laws.

Children

There are three different age groups available within the guidelines. Each helps young people learn how to manage risks online whilst showing how to engage with the internet effectively. Included is:

• Online with Sango – a storybook for children under 9 years’ old
• Work with Sango – a workbook for children age 9-12 and 
• The Net rules challenge – a social media campaign related to this website for young people age 13-18 years

Link

"In Conversation… Assistant Professor Dr. Dienke Bos on Neuroimaging"

14-07-20

"In this podcast Assistant Professor Dr. Dienke Bos discusses neuroscience, and in particular neuroimaging. The interview looks at the typical development of behavioural control and how this is represented naturally, magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain changes in relation to childhood development, and where the evidence is that early intervention can slow or reverse damage."

"Dr. Bos also talks about her research on longitudinal studies, how social emotional processing evolves from adolescence into early adulthood, and what’s in the pipeline for her work."

Link

" Diving into COVID survey data, part 1"

Excerpt from Blog by Adam Peel, Research and Learning Manager at the National Youth Agency. 

"What’s next?
The data shows a lot of uncertainty for young people, and that the uncertainty itself may have an impact on their mental health. For example:
How much will return to ‘normal’? What does ‘the new normal’ mean? 
How will schooling change and will grades and university places be affected?
Will graduation and employment be significantly impacted, and what will the financial impacts be?"

"As the route out of lockdown emerges, we should be better able to understand the longer-term changes in young people’s mental health, including against existing annual surveys, and to be able to attribute these to the different concerns via the numerous longitudinal surveys that are underway."

"However, the surveys already highlight some important insights in how to support children and young people’s mental wellbeing during the pandemic: 

• Taking an ‘age-sensitive’ path that responds to the needs and concerns of specific age groups
• Signposting children and young people to regular, trust-worthy and clear sources of news and  information
• Supporting children and young people to help out, support others and be involved in their local community efforts
• Promoting opportunities for children and young people to spend time outside 
• Reaching out to young people with self-reported or known mental health needs to offer them specific support 
• Celebrating and recognising where children and young people say they are coping and finding ways to manage stress and boredom"

Link to blog

"Remote mental health interventions work – but not as a replacement for face-to-face support"

9th July 2020

Crucial thoughts from Youth Access in light of a recent rapid review - The need for evidence and informed decision making is discussed.
The following excerpts identify the need for appropriate training and why this is important.

"It's crucial that practitioners traditionally trained in face-to-face work are supported to transition to remote working, in particular those who are newly qualified practitioners, were furloughed or have had limited to no experience of providing sessions remotely during lockdown. As we emerge out of crisis response and look to reflection and recovery, we must take the opportunity to ensure those providing remote support are able to take the time to receive training to continue their work safely and accessibly. Such training, at a minimum, should cover consent, risk management and safeguarding, privacy and confidentiality as they relate to remote interventions, as well as ethical and legal considerations required for this work. It should also cover the impact that remote work can have on communication and power dynamics between the young person and practitioner, and how to adapt to these new challenges."

"If not supported correctly, staff can become one of the main barriers to adoption of remote modes of support. Our research has found that staff often felt that remote support was not aligned with their professional values, role and responsibilities, and can require staff to re-think their ways of working and identity. In addition, there is some evidence that staff can remain resistant to providing remote support in services that had adopted it, even when it was working well and was popular amongst young people. In these cases, training around the strengths of remote support, and the experiences of young people may be helpful, as well as training around how to increase engagement among young people. This should also be included in undergraduate and entry-level training for mental health practitioners. "

"There is lots to do, but we mustn’t waste this key moment to learn from the lessons of lockdown, confront the challenges presented by remote working and capture the innovations necessitated by the crisis. This new period of transition presents a unique opportunity to build a mental health system that blends remote and face-to-face support, meets young people’s human rights, and is accessible to all. The research community must be at the forefront of this."

Link to full blog

"Remote mental health interventions for young people A rapid review of the evidence"

 - Dr Karen James, Youth Access July 2020

A valuable, "rapid review" from Youth Access supporting the value of access to online therapy for young people.
This review has limitations - acknowledged in the review itself- as it was carried out in response to COVID-19.

Aim - 
"Our aim was to summarise current evidence of the impact and implementation of remote interventions to support young people’s mental health. Remote interventions include any form of support that is not delivered in person (e.g. telephone or video calls, online chat messaging or forums, text messages or emails). To make sure we were generating knowledge that was most useful for our member organisations we only included remote support that was delivered by a counsellor, or other practitioner, meaning this review does not cover app-based or computerized interventions"

Conclusions - 
"There were very few robust evaluations of remote support,however those included in our review suggest it can lead to improvements in young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
There were examples of how these interventions can allow services to work flexibly and adapt their ways of communication to fit the needs of the young person. In this sense remote interventions, when offered alongside face to-face support, can help to build a service that is truly young person-centred.

However our findings suggest that using remote options as a replacement for face-to-face support (as was necessary during the Covid-19 pandemic) is problematic. Remote interventions were typically described as ‘brief’, meaning sessions were largely focused on providing space for the young person to tell their story and practitioners often did not have time to identify action plans or goals. 

It may be useful for services to consider how their approach could be adapted to provide the most impact over a small number of sessions. Some training around how practitioners can increase engagement might also be useful. Remote support requires staff to re-think their ways of working and identity. This may be less of an issue following the pandemic, however, could still be a challenge for newly qualified practitioners, or those who were furloughed. 

There was also evidence that staff can remain resistant to providing remote support in services that had adopted these approaches, even when they worked well and were popular amongst young people. In these cases training around the strengths of remote support, and the experiences of young people may be helpful. This should also be included in undergraduate and entry level training for mental health practitioners."

My personal thoughts on these conclusions is that these findings might have been different had these practitioners had training in working remotely to provide the information and experience required that allows for a trusting and safe online therapeutic relationship. 

Link to rapid review

"Suicide awareness materials: do they help people with suicidal ideation?"

"The ‘Werther effect’ suggests that a spike in deaths by suicide is often observed when a death by suicide (often that of a celebrity) is widely publicised (WHO, 2017). A report on Suicide Prevention by WHO (2017) proposed explanations including social learning and modelling, wherein the death is inadvertently glamorised through the photos of the deceased or the language used to describe the event alongside with the associated circumstances. It is suggested that vulnerable individuals may identify with the deceased and have an increase likelihood of engaging in a similar act. The capability to engage in suicidal behaviours is particularly increased when information about the method of suicide is reported.

On the other hand, a “Papageno effect” is also proposed wherein coverage of effective coping mechanisms highlighting alternative paths (e.g. stories of hope and recovery) may have a protective effect against death by suicide.

Niederkrotenthaler and Till (2019) develop a strong rationale for their research. Whilst the Werther effect has been more marked amongst those with prior suicidal thoughts and behaviours, the Papageno effect has only been studied across the general population, as opposed to focusing on those who are vulnerable. Individuals with suicidal ideation would be the primary focus for suicide prevention initiatives, therefore there is a need to examine the phenomenon within this group.

The authors also note the need to study possible effects of who the intervention is delivered by, e.g. a person with lived experience of suicidality vs. a mental health professional. They suggest that interventions delivered by individuals with lived experience may resonate more closely with these vulnerable individuals. This resonates with current evidence around the values of peer-assisted interventions for those with depression, with some suggesting that the involvement of professionals may compromise efficacy (APA, 2018, Bellamy, Schmutte & Davidson, 2017, Bryan & Arkowitz, 2015, Fuhr et al., 2014).

Overall, they conclude that this is the first study to assess whether these educative messages actually serve to reduce suicide risk among those who are already at risk for suicidal behaviour. Secondly, their research is the first to consider the potential influences dependant on who delivers the message."
Link to full article

From Contextual Safeguarding Network - "Beyond Referrals: levers for addressing harmful sexual behaviour in schools"

"Young people report that schools are locations where students can encounter sexual harm. This can involve a range of harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) from name-calling and sexual bullying to sexual assault. Schools are also places that can provide safety to young people and promote positive ideas about gender and relationships.

Research indicates that in order to create safer school environments, schools, multi-agency partnerships and inspectorates need to work together to offer solutions to HSB that move beyond referrals to social care of the individuals involved. Instead professionals need to provide a holistic response to HSB in schools which crosses both prevention and intervention. Key thematic findings from the Beyond Referrals 2 project, along with the recommendations that followed, can be found in our briefing: Harmful sexual behaviour in school: a briefing on the findings, implications and resources for schools and multi-agency partners.

The Contextual Safeguarding team, supported by a Research Advisory Group, have created a range of resources for schools, multi-agency partnerships and inspectorates for tackling harmful sexual behaviour in schools. This page provides all the resources for schools to assess their own response to harmful sexual behaviour. This includes guidance to the traffic-light tool for self-assessment; an example completed self-assessment; a range of resources to help schools complete their self-assessment; and finally, an online scorecard where you can enter your scores and print tailored reports."
Link to download

"Can we predict (complex) PTSD in young people in foster care?"

"Many children and adolescents removed from the family home have experienced some form of maltreatment and/or trauma in their lifetime. These adverse, early life experiences put young people at risk of developing psychological difficulties. Potential difficulties might include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or the newly proposed, complex PTSD. However, there is little evidence to explain the mechanisms that might drive either PTSD or complex PTSD in this unique group of affected young people.

To address this knowledge gap, Rachel Hiller and colleagues conducted a prospective study of 120 adolescents (aged 10-18 years old) who were in out-of-home care, and their primary carers. The participants completed questionnaires regarding trauma history, PTSD symptoms and complex features. These complex features were collected using a 12-item Child Complex PTSD Checklist that assesses the three additional symptoms beyond PTSD: negative self-concept, interpersonal difficulties and affect dysregulation. The affected young people also gave self-reports on three cognitive processes: trauma-related maladaptive appraisals, memory quality and coping.

Hiller et al. found that the severity of maltreatment did not robustly predict PTSD or complex PTSD. The three cognitive processes, however, did moderately-to-strongly correlate with baseline and 12-month PTSD symptoms and complex features. It thus seems that the existing cognitive models of PTSD are applicable to young people who have been exposed to complex trauma – in this case young people in the care system. “The same processes that we see driving the maintenance of PTSD symptoms in other groups of young people — maladaptive cognitions, memory qualities, coping — are also applicable to young people in care”, explains Hiller. “Negative or maladaptive cognitions about the meaning of their maltreatment seem to be particularly important”.

Hiller suggests that these cognitive processes constitute important treatment targets for young people in care with PTSD or complex PTSD. “These processes are already targeted in our established first-line treatment for PTSD – trauma focused CBT”, says Hiller. “It is now crucial that young people in care with PTSD are offered evidence-based treatments”."

Link to article

Referring to
Hiller, R.M., Meiser-Stedman, R., Elliott, E., Banting, R. & Halligan, S.L. (2020), A longitudinal study of cognitive predictors of (complex) post-traumatic stress in young people in out-of-home care. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatr. doi: 10.111/jcpp.13232.

Would delaying the school day prevent anxiety in adolescents?

"Stressful life events (SLEs) are common during adolescence and can leave some individuals vulnerable to developing internalizing symptoms. Despite the recognition of this association, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has investigated whether sleep duration and regularity might link SLEs to anxiety and depression symptoms. “Due to a series of puberty-driven changes in homeostatic and circadian systems, as well as socio-cultural factors that are part of typical development, adolescents tend to start going to bed later than they did as children”, explains lead author Constanza Vidal Bustamante. “However, their wake-up time remains fixed due to early school start times, leaving most adolescents sleep deprived”."

"Much research has investigated adolescent stress, sleep, and anxiety and depression symptoms via self-report over short periods. This approach can be prone to recall biases and fails to capture changes within individuals over time. To overcome this issue, the researchers followed a group of 30 girls (aged 15-17 years old) for a full year. They used Fitbits to track their sleep passively and continuously throughout the study period. The participants also completed a series of evaluations assessing SLEs and anxiety and depression symptoms once per month."
"
Vidal Bustamante et al. found that the participants slept less than the minimum 8 hours of sleep recommended for their age group. Although they tended to sleep longer on weekends, this was still not enough to recover the deficit. “Even if they slept longer on weekends relative to weekdays, an inconsistency in sleep duration was associated with heightened symptoms of anxiety, suggesting that changing how long they sleep from time to time is not good for adolescents’ mental health”, explains Vidal Bustamante. “Delaying school start times might help adolescents get longer and more consistent amounts of sleep, and potentially help mitigate some risk for stress-related psychopathology in adolescence”."

"The researchers also noted substantial variability in SLEs, sleep behaviour, and anxiety and depression symptoms within the participants over time. “This finding underscores the need for more intensive longitudinal studies that are able to capture these changes in adolescence, and that focus on assessing deviations in sleep behaviour and symptoms of psychopathology relative to what is typical for each individual”, explains Vidal Bustamante. “We believe that such an approach overcomes the limitation of using group averages that blur out potentially important individual differences, and allows for more personalized assessments of mental and physical health”."

Referring to
Vidal Bustamante, C.M., Rodman, A.M., Dennison, M.J., Flournoy, J.C., Mair, P. & McLaughlin, K.A. (2020), Within-person fluctuations in stressful life events, sleep, and anxiety and depression symptoms during adolescence: a multiwave prospective study. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatr. doi: 10.111/jcpp.13234.

Link to article

Coronavirus: effects on children online

Executive Summary

"Covid-19 has affected the lives of billions of people across the world, with unprecedented peacetime restrictions imposed. The reaction has been an extraordinary digital migration; a migration online to maintain some form of normality in terms of social, economic, entertainment and learning.

The increased use of digital infrastructure and services is clear to see right across the sector and resulted in a challenge for providers to meet the heighten demand and maintain access to their services. As Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s digital chief pointed out “we have had a full-scale crash test of everything digital”.

When it comes to online technology, children are usually early adopters and sadly face threats and harms online. As the global pandemic and associated digital migration intensified, organisations started to highlight the increased risk of harm to children.

The predictions of threats and harms have highlighted a broad range of impacts on children, spanning child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse material online through the impact of the restrictions and school closures on childrens health and wellbeing.


Whilst helpful to focus the mind and support preventative measures, appreciating the realisation of predictions is important. Whilst still a matter of weeks into the global pandemic, evidence of impact on children has started to emerge, published by organisations and youth groups as they share their experience and data. This is helpful in understanding the emerging impact on children online and compiled in this report"

Link to pdf

Kooth sees Significantly Higher Increases in Suicidal Thoughts, Anxiety and Depression among BAME Young People, Compared to White Counterparts

""XenZone, the UK’s largest digital mental health provider, has today released new data from its Kooth service showing the major mental health impacts of Covid-19 on children and young people (CYP) from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Suicidal thoughts, self harm and anxiety all saw significantly higher increases than were seen among white CYP.

For depression, the data shows a 9.2% increase for BAME CYP, contrasting sharply with a 16.2% fall among their white counterparts.

Suicidal thoughts among BAME CYP increased by 26.6% on the same period last year; self harm has seen a 29.5% increase; anxiety/stress is up by 11%. Among white CYP, increases in these presenting issues are being seen, but at significantly lower levels (18.1%, 24.9% and 3% respectively).

According to counsellor and therapeutic content writer at XenZone, Aisha Gordon-Hiles, it is vital that barriers to understanding are minimised to ensure that those from different backgrounds feel understood:

“Many BAME children and young people feel barriers to cultural understanding are reduced when speaking to a practitioner from their community. They also feel they can talk about issues of race and culture freely, without fears of judgement and or racism in response.

“In addition to this, having BAME role models in the field of mental health is particularly important for CYP from BAME communities. This is because disclosures of mental health and wellbeing issues are less culturally appropriate in a lot of these communities.”"

Link to article
Link to Infographic

"DigiSafe: your new step-by-step guide to digital safeguarding"

"Since April 2020 charities across the UK have been rushing to migrate their face-to-face services online. They've applied their safeguarding knowledge to a new context with enthusiasm and commitment. But best practice guidance has been dispersed and sometimes hard to find. Until now."

"Launched today, DigiSafe is a step-by-step digital safeguarding guide. It's written for charities designing new digital services or taking existing ones online."

“A guide that helps charities continue to deliver safe and effective services while breaking new ground in both content and style.” - Charné Tromp, DigiSafe Lead at CAST.

Link

SOCIAL ANXIETY | How I’m preventing lockdown triggering a relapse

Webinar: Supporting children, young people and their families during the...

Remote support toolkit Evidence-based practices for supporting young people's mental health and wellbeing remotely during Covid-19

The toolkit pulls together best practice learning on how to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing remotely in a safe and accessible way. It's been designed to make it easy for you to find the information you need to provide engaging online services at your organisation, whether you have a remote offer that you're looking to strengthen, or are embarking on offering remote support for the first time. Explore the toolkit by selecting a section below, or click here to get started.

Link

Supporting care-experienced children and young people during the Covid-19 crisis and its aftermath

02 June 2020

"This advice is intended for foster and kinship carers, adoptive parents, and professionals who work with care-experienced children in schools, residential care homes and other settings across the United Kingdom. Terminology is slightly different in the different nations of the UK, and where possible we have tried to reflect this. We have used the term ‘care-experienced’ for all looked after and adopted children and those in kinship or residential care. This guidance has a focus on thinking about care-experienced children and young people particularly in relation to education during the Covid-19 pandemic."


"The Covid-19 pandemic has made us all think about how we work together to support the most vulnerable children in our society. Care-experienced children and young people are some of the most vulnerable and are therefore very much at the forefront of our minds. This period of social isolation, partial school closure, and reduction in social care and therapeutic services has highlighted the vital role schools play in maintaining the health and wellbeing of children as well as providing them with an education. Some schools are closed to students, and only a handful of children are attending, and there is an additional burden on foster and kinship carers, adoptive parents and professionals who support care-experienced children in a range of settings. This paper outlines some of the key challenges care-experienced children, young people and those close to them may want to think about at this time, and then provides advice and resources that may help."


Link to Guidance

My sister’s learning disability and mental illness are not ‘a blessing’

Just what I used to hear from conversations with young siblings of children with disabilities / life limiting illnesses ... the frustration, anger and guilt. 
They deserved and needed particular understanding and to have the space and time to share their feelings. 

"The saddest thing is that she’s aware that she’s different. She knows I have a job, a boyfriend, a car (mainly to be able to drive her around — but that’s no consolation to her), and she doesn’t understand why she can’t have all those things too. We all compare ourselves to the success of our siblings, so imagine having such a large contrast in the opportunities that are presented to you. I have extreme survivor’s guilt — I feel like, by pure chance, I got to be the one who got to have a normal life. And I’ve said out loud a few times that if I could swap places with her, I would. My mum tells me thinking that way doesn’t help anyone — least of all my sister — but we don’t always experience constructive thoughts, do we? And I suppose this gives me a sort of control over my thoughts, and reduces the survivor’s guilt a little bit — knowing I’d be ready to step in at any time."

Link 

"On High Alert: Hyperarousal + ‘losing it’ over nothing"

A powerful read from "Teenage Whisperer" - (abstract)

" .... You can then talk about the stress flashpoint at an appropriate later moment, acknowledging that you noticed I was getting agitated. This is such powerful stuff. If you help me to stay calm, and then later let me know that you noticed this (and this it wasn’t a fluke that you got me to do something to distract me or made me laugh) I will be blown away. Someone that helped me stay calm. Hell, someone that noticed how I was feeling. It then doesn’t take much more to get me to a place where I’ll maybe talk about how I’m feeling and you can help me come up with strategies to help me stay calm and reduce my baseline arousal levels. If you help me meet my immediate basic need (to stay calm) then I will sense your care, and care makes us listen"

Link

"Parent survey reveals widespread concerns about mental health impact of COVID-19 on young people’s mental health"

Released Thursday 14th May 2020

"YoungMinds is calling for Government action to limit the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and young people’s mental health, as a new survey reveals widespread concerns among parents and carers."

"The charity YoungMinds has today published the results of a survey with more than 1,850 parents and carers, in which respondents expressed worries about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on their children’s mental health, and described the challenges they face in finding support. [1]"

"The results show that:

• 67% of respondents agreed that they are concerned about the long-term impact of the coronavirus on their child’s mental health. This rose to 77% among parents and carers whose children had required mental health support in the previous three months. [2]
• 29% of respondents disagreed that there was enough support (information, helplines and resources) available to help them and their child get through this time. 24% of respondents said that they would not know where to turn for advice and information on supporting their children’s mental health during this time.
• Among respondents whose children had received mental health support in the previous three months (through the NHS, private providers, school counsellors, charities and helplines) 25% said that their child was no longer able to access it, but still needed it.
• 66% of respondents said that the coronavirus had had a negative impact on their own mental health."

Link

Editorial: Demand avoidance — pathological, extreme or oppositional? Ann Ozsivadjian

"Since its inception in 1980, the term PDA has generated much debate, indeed, arguably few subjects have generated such controversy in the neurodevelopmental literature. However research in the area is moving into more practical arenas, including trying to understand why some children present with problematic demand avoidant behaviour, in order to provide practical support to families. In this special edition of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, data from two studies are presented which begin to look for underlying factors contributing to an anxious need for control. Commentaries then follow, highlighting inherent nosological and methodological difficulties in investigating PDA. In this lively debate, while the controversy continues, some headway is made in terms of understanding why some young people might present with such a rigid and maladaptive response to everyday demands, including an aversion to intolerance of uncertainty leading to controlling behaviour. It will be crucial for both health and education to develop a robust evidence base to understand the driving mechanisms for demand avoidant behaviour, and develop specific strategies for managing what can be very challenging behaviours."

Link to editorial

"Multi-disciplinary teams are needed to sensitively diagnose autism in Deaf children"

From the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health:

"An ethnographic study of NHS professionals, who diagnose autism in Deaf children, finds that recognizing the intersections between mental health and Deaf culture is essential for healthcare professionals to make sensitive diagnoses. The study, conducted by researchers in the UK and the Netherlands and published in the journal of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry was based on an analysis of the practices and perceptions of 16 health service professionals who have conducted autism assessments for Deaf children aged between 0 and 18 years.

Natassia Brenman and colleagues learnt that professionals working in specialist Deaf Services, or with experience working with the Deaf community, had an intersectional understanding of autism assessments. As such, these professionals used their knowledge of how cultural, linguistic, sensory, and social factors interact when making their diagnoses. Many professionals highlighted that Deaf language and culture can be markedly different from social communication observed in the hearing population. Consequently, a commonly vocalized frustration was the emphasis on using a diagnostic system that focuses on comparisons to ‘norms’ based on populations from a hearing culture.

Undertaking an autism assessment is more complex when the affected child is Deaf. Indeed, the primary issue raised by the professionals involved in this study was how to differentiate between the features or behaviours they should attribute to autism, and which to deafness. Going forward, Brenman and colleagues posit that multi-disciplinary diagnostic teams are necessary to help recognize the various dimensions of a Deaf child’s experience and abilities."

Link Here