First Steps for Parents

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If you are concerned about your child, where do you begin?

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• Talk with your child’s teacher. What is the child’s behavior like in school, daycare, or on the playground?

• Talk with your child’s pediatrician. Describe the behavior, and report what you have observed and learned from talking with others.

• Ask for a referral to a mental health professional who has experience and expertise dealing with children.

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Warning Signs

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Young children may benefit from an evaluation and treatment if they:

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•  Have frequent tantrums or are intensely irritable much of the time

•  Often talk about fears or worries

•  Complain about frequent stomachaches or headaches with no known medical cause

•  Are in constant motion and cannot sit quietly (except when they are watching videos or playing   videogames)

•  Sleep too much or too little, have frequent nightmares, or seem sleepy during the day

•  Are not interested in playing with other children or have difficulty making friends

•  Struggle academically or have experienced a recent decline in grades

•  Repeat actions or check things many times out of fear that something bad may happen.

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Older children and adolescents may benefit from an evaluation if they:

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•  Have lost interest in things that they used to enjoy

•  Have low energy

•  Sleep too much or too little, or seem sleepy throughout the day

•  Are spending more and more time alone, and avoid social activities with friends or family

•  Fear gaining weight, or diet or exercise excessively

•  Engage in self-harm behaviors (e.g., cutting or burning their skin)

•  Smoke, drink alcohol, or use drugs

•  Engage in risky or destructive behavior alone or with friends

•  Have thoughts of suicide

•  Have periods of highly elevated energy and activity, and require much less sleep than usual

•  Say that they think someone is trying to control their mind or that they hear things that other   people cannot hear.