Education-Child of Rage

Education-Child of Rage

Beth’s behavior is highly disturbing.

She comes off as one with no emotions, conscience, or guilt as she narrates how she hurts her brother and intends to kill him and his parents. Beth shows no remorse for hurting her brother and killing the birds. She seems to have no sense of right or wrong. Furthermore, she masturbates regularly and hurts her brother’s private parts. She also claims to have the desire to hurt other boys as well. The abuse that she experienced as a child came in as nightmares, causing her to be scared and angry. Generally, her behavior illustrates the damage caused by childhood neglect and abuse and cannot be considered normal behavior.

I do not think that Beth was born bad.

Whereas nature plays a key role in the development and behavior of individuals, nurture has an equally and arguably more important role. The environment in which Beth was raised played a major role in the psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems that she exhibits. Her symptoms are befitting of a reactive attachment disorder. Lehmann et al. argue that attachment disorder associates early maltreatment with psychopathology later in life (749). Consequently, Beth’s behavior can be traced to her childhood experiences. These experiences played a key role in shaping her behaviors. The emotional numbing observed in Beth is linked to childhood trauma.

Beth’s biological parents created more issues and stress that exacerbated Beth’s behavior.

The trauma that Beth experienced, as evidenced in the sexual abuse, lack of food, poor hygiene, and lack of attachment and emotional care, caused serious attachment and other behavioral problems. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, child neglect and abuse can severely impact a child’s psychological health (3). This could result in isolation, distrust, and fear, which translate into long-term psychological consequences manifested in depression, low self-esteem, and trouble maintaining and forming relationships. All these are symptoms manifested by Beth. Child neglect and abuse can also cause post-traumatic stress, poor emotional and mental health, social and attachment difficulties, and reduced cognitive skills and executive functioning. Behaviorally, the child can exhibit unhealthy sexual practices, future maltreatment perpetration, and the use of alcohol and related drugs (Child Welfare Information Gateway 4). Beth demonstrated the tendency to harm others without remorse and unhealthy sexual practices toward herself and her brother. These can be traced to the abuse experienced by her biological father. Her mother’s death at an early age caused her to lack the attachment and love that is needed to form healthy relationships, bonds, and trust in others at an early age.

It was good for Beth to be placed in a home with other children with attachment disorders.

Individuals who work in such institutions are normally highly trained and experienced in dealing with such children. Beth had become unmanageable and would have caused harm to her family. It was important to try to alter her behaviors before reintroducing her back to society. Therefore, I believe that the therapist made a good decision. Beth’s case was extreme, and therefore, being in a normal environment would have been detrimental to her and others. She needed thorough counseling and guidance to develop a sense of trust, higher self-esteem, and trust in herself and others, and have a sense of right and wrong. Since this was successful in Beth’s case, I would say that the therapist made a good decision.

If I had Beth in my class, I would have sought out counseling to aid in altering her behavior.

Beth’s trauma had severe consequences; therefore, intensive counseling would have been needed. I would also recommend parenting education. According to Gibbons, while caring for children with challenging behaviors, a history of neglect, and ill-treatment, it might not be enough to apply the usual parenting skills (3). Such children often lack attachment and trust and cannot be motivated by their parent’s approval and wishes. Such children also believe they are deficient and could get distressed when getting positive parenting. Therefore, I would recommend carer training to help the parents focus on Beth’s specific needs and ways of addressing the behaviors that are considered abnormal. Beth portrays behaviors that prove complex trauma in childhood. There is the probability that daily stressors might become triggers or reminders of the trauma, causing her to experience the trauma again. It would be important for a teacher to understand re-enactments to avoid labeling the child unmotivated, antisocial, and oppositional. Therefore, getting Beth the necessary help would require a multi-faceted solution that involves Beth, the teachers, a counselor, and her parents.

Works Cited

Child Welfare Information Gateway. Long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau. 2019.

Gibbons, Naomi, Alison M. Bacon, and Lisa Lloyd. “Is Nurturing Attachments training effective in improving self-efficacy in foster carers and reducing manifestations of Reactive Attachment Disorder in looked after children?.” Adoption & Fostering, vol. 43, no. 4, 2019, pp. 413-428.

Lehmann, Stine, et al. “Development and examination of the reactive attachment disorder and disinhibited social engagement disorder assessment interview.” Assessment, vol. 27, no.4, 2020, pp.749-765.

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Experts are seeing an alarming increase in severe emotional and behavioral disorders among young children, characterized by abusive language, physical threats, and violent tantrums. Let’s watch the “Child of Rage – The Beth Thomas Story” documentary to investigate the frightening world of children with severe anger control problems, focusing on how to identify a child at risk and the vital importance of early intervention. Some language may be objectionable. Please click the link below:

Education-Child of Rage

What do you think after viewing this documentary and reading Chapter 4 this week? Are bad children born or created? Are children truly “bad,” or are they damaged in some way?
For your assignment, after viewing the video (the first 26:33 minutes) answer the following questions in complete sentences; please write at least 1 paragraph (8-10 sentences) for each response, and number your responses:
What do you think about Beth’s behavior – is it she exhibiting what you would consider normal behavior?
Do you think that Beth was born bad? Explain your response.
Did the biological parents add to the situation that creating more stress and issues that aggravated Beth’s behavior?
How did you feel about Beth being placed in the special home for children with attachment disorders? Do you think that was a good decision by the therapist?
If you had Beth in your classroom, what would have you have done to get her help?