As a specialist for children, I want my students to have the skills to make children cooperative with them while they are doing a physical examination on a child.
There are a few techniques that they should know.
1. Toys
Toys used wisely can be really helpful. I see students give the toy often too early. During history taking there is no need for toys. That is the time for building rapport with the mother and the child. If we give the toys too early to a child, the child will get bored with the toy and throw it on the ground. The mother gets upset because the child throws the toy on the ground and the child may start to cry, something we really do not want. The wise use of toys in a doctor-child encounter is to reserve it for when the child becomes uncooperative and even if the child takes only a few seconds to stop crying while looking at the toy, these seconds will be the time we fully use to get some important findings.
2. Examination on the lap of the mother.
Most things can be done on the lap of the mother, including general examination, auscultation testing of reflexes and many more. A child feels comfortable and somehow protected when he is that close to the mother.
3. Build that rapport with the child.
A giant truth is that if we are friends with the mother, it is likely that we will be friends with the child too. It is very important to involve the child from very early during the history taking. NOT to ask questions to the child, which may scare them but by simply talking to them. When I ask my students how they talk to a 1 year old, the answer is simple: they don't.
And that is a big mistake. Children love to be talked to but only in certain ways. They do not like questions. Even simple ones. They do like to hear the name they are called at home.
They do like to hear praise. At home, gandma and grandpa are giving praise relentlessly to the children. If we manage to talk like them, it really works in our favor. To be able to really talk like them, first we have to feel like them. We have to love the child genuinely. If we manage to do so, it will be easy to find things we like. We voice them out, et voila, we praise them like the grandparents do.
Even at a young age the children will recognize praise as praise even if they do not grasp the full meaning of it.
A second very positive effect of praise to children is that the mother will be instantly your best friend. She will transmit these feelings to her child and the chances that child likes you and cooperates increase exponentially.
The whole thing about praise, is that it has to be genuine. Simple flattery does not work. We have to put ourselves in such a loving mood, that it becomes easy to love certain things about the child. Then voice them out. Perhaps the voicing out of something we like about other persons is something so difficult for all of us.
We don't have the habit of praising. We like to criticize, point out mistakes, and criticize again. If we want to work with children we need to learn how to praise.
There are a few techniques that they should know.
1. Toys
Toys used wisely can be really helpful. I see students give the toy often too early. During history taking there is no need for toys. That is the time for building rapport with the mother and the child. If we give the toys too early to a child, the child will get bored with the toy and throw it on the ground. The mother gets upset because the child throws the toy on the ground and the child may start to cry, something we really do not want. The wise use of toys in a doctor-child encounter is to reserve it for when the child becomes uncooperative and even if the child takes only a few seconds to stop crying while looking at the toy, these seconds will be the time we fully use to get some important findings.
2. Examination on the lap of the mother.
Most things can be done on the lap of the mother, including general examination, auscultation testing of reflexes and many more. A child feels comfortable and somehow protected when he is that close to the mother.
3. Build that rapport with the child.
A giant truth is that if we are friends with the mother, it is likely that we will be friends with the child too. It is very important to involve the child from very early during the history taking. NOT to ask questions to the child, which may scare them but by simply talking to them. When I ask my students how they talk to a 1 year old, the answer is simple: they don't.
And that is a big mistake. Children love to be talked to but only in certain ways. They do not like questions. Even simple ones. They do like to hear the name they are called at home.
They do like to hear praise. At home, gandma and grandpa are giving praise relentlessly to the children. If we manage to talk like them, it really works in our favor. To be able to really talk like them, first we have to feel like them. We have to love the child genuinely. If we manage to do so, it will be easy to find things we like. We voice them out, et voila, we praise them like the grandparents do.
Even at a young age the children will recognize praise as praise even if they do not grasp the full meaning of it.
A second very positive effect of praise to children is that the mother will be instantly your best friend. She will transmit these feelings to her child and the chances that child likes you and cooperates increase exponentially.
The whole thing about praise, is that it has to be genuine. Simple flattery does not work. We have to put ourselves in such a loving mood, that it becomes easy to love certain things about the child. Then voice them out. Perhaps the voicing out of something we like about other persons is something so difficult for all of us.
We don't have the habit of praising. We like to criticize, point out mistakes, and criticize again. If we want to work with children we need to learn how to praise.
No 3...I think it should be build a rapport with the child. Great article otherwise. Tq
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DeleteNo 3...I think it should be build a rapport with the child. Great article otherwise. Tq
ReplyDelete