Critical : Early Years Emotional Development - Literature review Example

www.allwriting.net Sumanta Sanyal Dated: 8/04/2006 Critical Review: Early Years Emotional Development\ Article Details: Sorin, Reesa, Validating Young Children’s Feelings and Experiences of Fear, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Vol. 4, Nov. 1, 2003. Abstract At the very onset of the critique the review states that Reesa Sorin is one of a kind. Though there are many researchers into the emotional development of children there are very few, at least the review has not been able to find any, that are involved exclusively in the resrach of fear in very young normally-developing children and adults’ responses to such fears. The fears are enumerated into six categories, as per one of Sorin’s previous articles, and the adult responses are primarily divided into two major groups – physical and verbal. The responses are generally, by effect, divided into two groups – those that partly or wholly invalidate children’s fears and those that validate them. The review finds the article to be comprehensive enough to leave nothing out on the subject. More effort has been spent on elucidating the invalidating responses as the subject is new and it is essential to find out what is being done wrong. The review finds the validating responses to be quite adequate in dealing with children’s fears and takes them to be guidelines that caregivers and parents of very young children can use in helping children under their care develop emotionally. The review admits that almost no other literature exists that deals exclusively with the subject. Some of Sorin’s previous articles have been consulted to induct better understanding of the subject. The review finds that primarily Sorin has suggested ways and manners in which very young children can be made to cope with their fears, not only fears in their present but also fears they may acquire later in life. This is an important aspect as ‘emotional literacy’ would then imply that the child acquires a disposition to cope with fears that serves him or her throughout life. Such assistance in early years would ensure that the child is assured of a steady learning trajectory as fears often interfere seriously with the learning and developmental processes by affecting the cognitive and physiological processes of the body. On an overall basis the review admits that the work has been fruitful. Introduction In her present article Reesa Sorin examines the fears of very young children and adults’ responses to them in a number of early years settings in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It involves 45 children in an age group of 3-5 years. The settings include a long day care center, a private pre-school, a pre-school attached to a public school and a multi-functional Aboriginal children’s service. The study for the article also involves surveys of parents, care-givers and children and includes weekly observations and on-going informal interviews with care-givers and children. Care-givers and parents were asked to describe their responses to children’s fears and were then asked to state their opinion of the effectiveness of such responses. Children’s Fears Reesa Sorin initially acknowledges in her article that fear is a basic human emotion and children are certainly not exempted from it. She emphasizes that, as such, fear should be strongly acknowledged in children and responses to it should be attuned in such a manner that it is validated (Robinson and Potter, 2006) and alleviated without negating any part of children’s learning and development in the long-term perspective. The review first posits Reesa’s excellent deposition on children’s fears in one of her previous articles. She categorizes their fears in the following manner. Fear of separation from attachment figure – Such fears may be fear of pre-school or school away from parents. Fear of the unknown – Fears of strange people, places and things. Fear of being harmed – Fears of heights, deep waters, fires, etc. Fear of failure, criticism and embarrassment – Fears of getting into fights, of making mistakes, of being teased and of adults arguing. Fear of insects and animals. Fear of the intangible – Fears of ghosts, nightmares, bad dreams, etc. (Sorin, Reesa, 2000) The above list of possible fears that children experience seems quite exhaustive and encompasses all that is possible. Thus it serves as a very legitimate starting point into the review of the present article. Most researchers into the subject are reluctant to precisely define the various components of fear though the general opinion is that it is made up of three components – psychological, biological and behavioral (Sorin, Reesa, 2000). Clinically, fear is defined as a sympathetic response of the body to danger readying it and preparing it for action against such impendent danger (Craig, J. Karrie, et al, 2000). Clinically, there are two responses possible to fear in an affected individual – fight or flight (Craig, J. Karrie, et al, 2000). The entire physiological mechanism of the affected body participates in these responses and, as shall be seen later, this physiological involvement of the body detracts much from the cognitive processes of the individual in such a manner that learning and development both in the short and long term are seriously affected. The general patterns of the physiological responses are affected by the nature of the stimulus to fear, the intensity of the fear, previous experience and genetic factors (Craig, J. Karrie, et al, 2000). All these factors are to be considered in responding to children’s fears. The human brain has two broad basis of functioning – the impulsive, primitive or atavistic lower parts and the mediating and modulating lower part. Fear, as a basic emotion, arouses the lower part and, if it is not subjected to some control, the upper part of the brain is unable to function properly (Perry, Bruce D., 2005). This has serious implications as the upper part is responsible for learning and development. If a young child’s propensities to unreasonable fears are not dealt with effectively the child will acquire serious impairments to certain or all areas of learning and development both in the present and in the future. The purpose of the review studying clinical literature on the subject is to build a firm base for establishing the legitimacy of critically acclaiming Sorin’s excellent article. As an additional tool the review also notes that Sorin has been using the ‘learning perspective’ (Kelvens, Carissa, 1997) of fear to alleviate it in small children. Small children with yet to be developed cognitive functioning can be induced to get rid of some of their fears by conditioned exposure to the feared objects provided that such objects, in the general sense, are really not fearful. Responses to Children’s Fears Sorin finds that most often parents and care-givers do acknowledge children’s fears and respond primarily in two ways. Verbal response – Reassuring the child and explaining the cause of the fear. Physical response – Cuddling and staying in close proximity to the child, offering the child safety, modeling non-fearful behavior, taking the child to the feared object and redirecting the child. She asserts that though these may superficially seem legitimate responses many of them were unsuccessful in making the child understand the true nature of the emotion. They tended to invalidate or escalate the fear or to increase the circumstances in which the child was afraid. On this basis she has categorized responses into two distinct categories – those that validate the fears and those that invalidate them. Invalidating Responses Very young children are in a formative stage and the emotion of fear is no exception. It is still at a formative stage in such children and it is necessary to make each child ‘emotionally literate’ (Sorin, Reesa, 2000) so that he or she can learn to express his or her fears in a socially appropriate manner. It is not necessary or even appropriate that all fears be mitigated altogether as this is most often than not entirely impossible. There is also the necessity of some fears remaining as part of the defense mechanism of the child. Nevertheless, it is necessary for those in charge of very small children to understand the mechanism of each child’s specific fear and deal with it in the most appropriate manner such that either it is totally mitigated, if possible, or it is transformed into a socially accepted mode (Robinson and Potter, 2006). Wrong Messaging: Sorin finds in her present article that certain responses to children’s fears tend to transform them into other modes that are socially constricting. As an example she quotes the case of Sally, Wade’s mother. Wade is aged five and afraid of something. Sally initially responds to his fear by urging him to ignore it and encourages him to feel safe with her. The result was that though Wade tends to feel safe with her his fear persists in her absence. This is a unique case of how simple and almost universally accepted responses can lead to complicated situations where the child’s emotional development is adversely affected and it strongly demonstrates a need to be very careful and circumspect in dealing with children’s emotions, in this instance fear. Reassurance without Proper Reasoning: Another pertinent point Sorin raises in relation to the above case and reinforces with other examples is that it is not effective when children are simply told not to be afraid. Sally tells Wade not to be afraid. Though she reassures him as comfort for his fear she does not properly investigate the cause of his fear that may be quite legitimate. By simply telling children not to be afraid in this manner is the same as not validating their feeling of fear. This leads either to persistence of the fear or its unhealthy suppression. Intentional Instillation: Sorin also points out through another case where Laura, Kevin’s mother, develops a fear of cars in him to prevent him from running out into traffic. This may be healthy in the traditional sense but it is certainly retroactive in the sense that it develops an unhealthy fear of traffic in Kevin. This may later affect him adversely. Sorin includes this practice within the purview of wrong messaging. Control through Fear: Together with this example Sorin cites the case of Karen, caregiver and mother, who works with aboriginal children. The children are controlled through the fear of ‘Gunje’ – a ‘hairy spirit’ character of aboriginal culture. Sorin strongly cautions against this practice of scaring children into good behavior as this too is retroactive and develops unhealthy fears in children that are entirely unavoidable. This is also a practice that uses strong reinforcement and is frowned upon by modern learning theorists who propose positive inducements as more effective teaching tools, especially with children. Redirection: In this instance Sorin cites the case of Melissa, a caregiver, and four-year old Kyle, who is in her charge. Melissa redirects Kyle’s fear of his parents’ absence by trying to involve him in supposedly interesting activity. Fears treated in this manner may be suppressed and internalized. A more effective method would be to allow Kyle to understand his fear of his parents’ absence so that he can tolerate it and then become amenable to other diverting activities. Usage of Metaphors: Sorin uses the example of Christa, mother of Keiran (aged five) and Toby (aged three) mitigating her children’s fear of thunder by explaining to them that – “God’s playing ten-pin bowling’. A more effective approach to the children’s fears, as some literatures suggest, would be to give them some scientific explanation that is very near the truth and that is both plausible and understandable at their age. This may still not entirely mitigate the fear that may persist, but it would certainly pave the way for better understanding and mitigation later in life. Validating some Emotions while Invalidating Others: Sorin cites the case of caregiver Ida who contrives to influence a sad child with the happiness of another. She tries to make the first child happy by inducing it to copy the other’s achievement of happiness. Sorin states that though this may seem altruistic it does ignore the child’s reason for unhappiness and thus invalidates it. At the end of this section Sorin cautions that all manners of invalidation of children’s emotions, particularly fear in this instance, with temporary distraction or mitigation without properly investigating the cause may lead to persistence of the negative emotion and its recurrence with attendant emotional problems in later life. Validating Responses: While the previous section of Sorin’s excellent article has dealt with the negativity apparent in adults’ responses to children’s fears this section deals with how adult responses can positively affect scared children. In citing the examples Sorin has used to demonstrate negative responses this review has already utilized some of the mitigating responses Sorin has recommended as means to dealing effectively with children’s fears. Now the review looks exclusively into some of these positive responses. Empathy and Acknowledgement: Sorin recommends that adults put themselves in the child’s place and understand the cause of his or her fear. No matter how imaginary or improbable a child’s fear is it is real to him or her and acknowledging it enables trust in the adult. The adult must also take care to make the child understand that adults themselves are not above being afraid and this lends maturity into the child’s insight of his or her emotions. Also, in this instance the adult becomes an external resource the child can call upon to alleviate fears whereas when the child uses his or her own coping capabilities, either acquired or innate, he or she is using internal resources (Nicholson and Pearson, 2003). Explanation and Discussion: Adults who first understand a child’s fear and then explain the reason for it through discussions are helping the child to acknowledge its own fear mechanisms. Though this may not allow the child to assess and deal with its own emotionality independently sometimes, as Sorin points out, this is very helpful as young children learn through guidance. This is another way to develop ‘emotional literacy’ in children. Exploration and Expression: Sorin suggests that adults not only explain children’s fears to them but also allow them to explore ways and means by which they can effectively deal with it. Most significantly, Sorin cites Kuebli (1994) who suggests, in turn, that children be allowed to express their fears through media like drawing, painting and sculpture or through movements like dance, music and drama. This is a very effective technique as, more often than not, the fears are partly or wholly mitigated through the expression. The child also learns that fears are a part of life and a part of the mechanism of harm avoidance that he or she may need incorporated within him or her so that, later in life, he or she learns to utilize necessary caution against harmful objects and situations (Colder, Craig R., et al, 2002). Another novel method that may be a part of using creative endeavors to alleviate fears is bibliotheraphy (Nicholson and Pearson, 2003) where the child is supplied with literature (story-books, pictures, etc) that acquaints the child with feared objects and situations. The child becomes aware of the fear in external perspective and may even learn ways of coping with it from the literature. The concept is new but many researchers are involved in it and Sorin, though not mentioning it in name, has in effect used it in many instances within her work examples. Taking Action against Fear: The last response Sorin recommends is taking action against fear. She cites the example of a mother who allows her four-year-old son who is afraid of the dark to enter the room after putting the lights on. Next she allows him to explore the room on his own and discover that the room is empty and harmless. This may be taken as conditioning and is a part of the ‘learning perspective’ of fear (Kelvens, Carissa, 1997). Conclusion Fear is a very important defense mechanism and it is also often an important basis for social integration such as collective action against a common threat (Sorin, Reesa, 2000). As such, in very young children such as the above, it is very important that adults learn to deal correctly with their fears so that they can successfully acquire what Sorin so effectively calls ‘emotional literacy’. It is very important, as the article reveals, that the child is not only enabled to surmount his or her fears, if possible, but also to understand their nature and to live successfully with them, if necessary, without allowing them to overcome his or her successful voyage through life. This also ensures that each child is assured of a positive long-term learning trajectory (Claxton and Carr, 2004) as he or she learns to live with and utilize fears that are essentially defensive while he or she also learns to cope with unreasonable fears that interfere negatively with the learning and developmental processes. Sorin’s article uses very little technical terminology but does the work brilliantly through everyday words and concepts that are easily understood. Reference Claxton, Guy, and Carr, Margaret, 2004, A framework for teaching learning: the dynamics of disposition, Early Years, Vol. 24, No. 1. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://www.guyclaxton.com/documents/New/A%20Framework%20for%20Teaching%20Learning.pdf#search='Claxton%20and%20Carr%20Learning%20Dispositions' Colder, Craig R., et al, 2002, The interactive effects of infant activity level and fear on growth trajectories of early childhood behavior problems, Development and Psychopathology, p. 1-23. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://cfc.uoregon.edu/papers/interactive_effects.pdf#search='Fear%20in%20Early%20Childhood' Craig, Karrie J., et al, 2000, Environmental factors in the Etiology of Anxiety. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: www.acnp.org/g4/GN401000127/CH125.html Kelvens, Carissa, 1997, Fear and Anxiety. Extarcted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/students/fear.htm Nicholson, Janice I., and Pearson, Quinn M., 2003, Helping children cope with fears: using children’s literature in classroom guidance. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KOC/is_1_7/ai_110962186 Robinson, Edward H, and Rotter, Joseph C., 2006, Children: Coping with Fears and Stress. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://www.myparentime.com/articles/05/articleS501.shtml Sorin, Reesa, 2000, Investigating Practice in Responding to Fear in early Childhood Contexts. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://www.aare.edu.au/00pap/sor00251.htm Bibliography Gardner, Jerome R., 1997, Fear, Anxiety and Attachment. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: http://www.cognitivebehavior.com/theory/fear.html Gutterman, Karen Ciesluk, and Baker, Howard, 2003, Supporting Children who live with Fear: How love and hate are important emotions for educators to manage effectively and incorporate into their curriculum. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: brandeis.edu/lemberg/.../pdf & pages/presentation1108.pdf Human Development, Chapter 8 – Early Childhood: Personality and Sociocultural Development, Undated. Extracted on 8th April, 2006, from: http://internet.cybermesa.com/~bjackson/Papers/HumanDevelChapter08.pdf#search='Early%20years%20Strategies%20for%20coping%20with%20fear' Perry, Bruce D., 2001, The Neurodevelopmental Impact of Violence in Childhood. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: www.childtrauma.org/ctamaterials/Viol_APA_webversion.pdf Sorin, Reesa, Undated, “Who’s afraid of the fire alarm or of going to preschool? – A comparative study of early childhood fears and caregivers’ responses to fears in Australia and in Canada. Extracted on 6th April, 2006, from: www.aare.edu.au/04pap/sor04018.pdf Read More

The settings include a long day care center, a private pre-school, a pre-school attached to a public school and a multi-functional Aboriginal children’s service. The study for the article also involves surveys of parents, care-givers and children and includes weekly observations and on-going informal interviews with care-givers and children. Care-givers and parents were asked to describe their responses to children’s fears and were then asked to state their opinion of the effectiveness of such responses.

Children’s Fears Reesa Sorin initially acknowledges in her article that fear is a basic human emotion and children are certainly not exempted from it. She emphasizes that, as such, fear should be strongly acknowledged in children and responses to it should be attuned in such a manner that it is validated (Robinson and Potter, 2006) and alleviated without negating any part of children’s learning and development in the long-term perspective.

The review first posits Reesa’s excellent deposition on children’s fears in one of her previous articles. She categorizes their fears in the following manner. Fear of separation from attachment figure – Such fears may be fear of pre-school or school away from parents. Fear of the unknown – Fears of strange people, places and things. Fear of being harmed – Fears of heights, deep waters, fires, etc. Fear of failure, criticism and embarrassment – Fears of getting into fights, of making mistakes, of being teased and of adults arguing.

Fear of insects and animals. Fear of the intangible – Fears of ghosts, nightmares, bad dreams, etc. (Sorin, Reesa, 2000) The above list of possible fears that children experience seems quite exhaustive and encompasses all that is possible. Thus it serves as a very legitimate starting point into the review of the present article. Most researchers into the subject are reluctant to precisely define the various components of fear though the general opinion is that it is made up of three components – psychological, biological and behavioral (Sorin, Reesa, 2000).

Clinically, fear is defined as a sympathetic response of the body to danger readying it and preparing it for action against such impendent danger (Craig, J. Karrie, et al, 2000). Clinically, there are two responses possible to fear in an affected individual – fight or flight (Craig, J. Karrie, et al, 2000). The entire physiological mechanism of the affected body participates in these responses and, as shall be seen later, this physiological involvement of the body detracts much from the cognitive processes of the individual in such a manner that learning and development both in the short and long term are seriously affected.

The general patterns of the physiological responses are affected by the nature of the stimulus to fear, the intensity of the fear, previous experience and genetic factors (Craig, J. Karrie, et al, 2000). All these factors are to be considered in responding to children’s fears. The human brain has two broad basis of functioning – the impulsive, primitive or atavistic lower parts and the mediating and modulating lower part. Fear, as a basic emotion, arouses the lower part and, if it is not subjected to some control, the upper part of the brain is unable to function properly (Perry, Bruce D., 2005). This has serious implications as the upper part is responsible for learning and development.

If a young child’s propensities to unreasonable fears are not dealt with effectively the child will acquire serious impairments to certain or all areas of learning and development both in the present and in the future. The purpose of the review studying clinical literature on the subject is to build a firm base for establishing the legitimacy of critically acclaiming Sorin’s excellent article. As an additional tool the review also notes that Sorin has been using the ‘learning perspective’ (Kelvens, Carissa, 1997) of fear to alleviate it in small children.

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