When a child’s behaviour suddenly takes a change for the worse, first analyse the change as what it is, “sudden”. Look at what else in the child’s environment may have changed. This especially applies to children where the behaviour is not there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
It is now known that there are many forms of behavioural conditions in children. It has also been researched and acknowledged that there are many environmental factors that can cause this, some that once eliminated or controlled will result in a reversal of those behaviours and an improvement in the level of social and intellectual development.
I have seen many children in the clinic whose parents are at the point of utmost frustration as the child’s behaviour is either out of control, or, when there is a change in that they are not making the milestones in terms of physical or intellectual development such as speech.
Child to child, while the underlying cause is varied, the nature and the timing of onset of symptoms provides the key to understanding the cause and thereby the treatment for each individual child.
Before we look to give the child’s behaviour a name, I suggest that we bear in mind the famous words of Hippocrates … “let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”. When there is a change in brain function there has been a change in digestive function, the two are inextricably linked.
If the behaviour is “sudden” and “intense”, consider worms and parasites or a severe imbalance in the microbiome as a potential cause. If the behaviour is worse on some days than others then we need to look at environment and dietary choices. You may be following what you believe to be a healthy diet, however, person to person what the body is able to process and what it sees as the enemy can vary even with what would normally be considered to be a healthy food.
If you are at the point of not knowing what to do, which way to go, where to turn, I suggest that you journal the timeline leading up to the change and day to day, hour to hour if necessary, if the changes occur over the course of the day as this may highlight to you what is the underlying cause and if not, gives a great background and starting point for a health professional dealing in childrens behaviours to work from.
