When To Best Consider Behavioral Interventions

behavioral intervention

If you're receiving notes from your child's school about his or her behavior, then you should consider behavioral interventions. An initial assessment will help you, your child and school personnel to understand what causes the misbehavior in the child, what triggers set him or her off and what solutions can be taken to help the child prosper. Sometimes the school environment is perceived as being "too oppressive," while other times the traditional learning modes aren't structured for visual-spatial learners or auditory learners. Kids may feel frustrated if they have trouble concentrating or learning in school. Sometimes, underlying emotions manifest themselves as a behavioral problem and a behavioral intervention is the best way to figure out what's truly going on.

Often, children who need a behavioral intervention suffer from ADHD, autism, dyslexia or another pervasive developmental disorder. An early intervention program is the key to helping the child overcome natural difficulties and find studying techniques that work. The public school system generally only focuses on one particular learning mode, which leaves many students feeling "stupid" or frustrated.

By teaching the student more about their learning needs and focusing on self-empowerment, as well as skill development, the students will begin to learn their way at their own pace and will develop a renewed interest in school. A behavioral intervention can do more than just prevent anger or hyperactive outbursts in school. It can pave the way for your child's future and instill a sense of pride and accomplishment.

However, a behavioral intervention can also help stop more serious patterns of behavior by attacking the mental framework that drives the individual to act out. For example, behavioral interventions may be used to reduce sexually transmitted diseases in teens. A recent intervention study showed that teens benefited from interventions aimed at reducing the risk of STDs. "In a previous randomized controlled trial, we found that the 'Sexual Awareness For Everyone' behavioral intervention significantly reduced the rate of recurrent gonorrhea and chlamydia infections among reproductive-age Mexican-American and African-American women," wrote Andrea Ries Thurman, MD, from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio. The five modifiable behaviors the group focused on were: unprotected sex with untreated partners, lack of monogamy, sex without condoms, partner turnover more than once every three months and douching after intercourse.

Evidence suggests that pre-natal behavioral interventions can be extremely helpful for pregnant women who smoke, drink, suffer from depression, or are victims of intimate partner violence. These risks can cause developmental disorders with your baby and may also lead to post-partum depression for the mothers. These intervention programs are ultimately very successful, with 90% of participants reporting a significant difference in their situation, according to one 2008 intervention study.