Ingleburn Public School in Sydney’s southwest is home to a purpose-built playroom facilitating a treatment founded by Professor Eva Kimonis called ‘Parent-Child Interaction Therapy’.
In this first-of-a-kind clinic, parents of children who display “callous-unemotional traits” are coached through each interaction with their child by a trained therapist. The therapist is concealed behind a one-sided mirror and delivers the coaching via a wireless earpiece.
Callous-unemotional traits are a set of characteristics that can be an early warning sign for psychopathy and the clinic is giving parents the skills to bond with these misunderstood children.
Defining characteristics of children with callous-unemotional traits include remorselessness and a lack of empathy alongside verbal and physical aggression and a tendency to lie, steal and destroy belongings.
“Not every child who has these traits will grow up to be a psychopath,” Professor Eva Kimonis at UNSW’s School of Psychology told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“This is the first trial that takes this group of kids and says, ‘we can make things better for them and keep them off that pathway down the track’.”
Clinical psychologist, Dr Georgette Fleming, who is working and studying the results of Kimonis’ therapy, spoke of the need for the clinic.
“Their parents are exhausted, they’re at their wit’s end. They have tried so many things that haven’t worked,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“It’s a matter of the system failing these kids and these families, rather than there being something innately wrong or bad about them.”
Kimonis said that children as young as two can show early signs of callous-unemotional traits, which can influence the way their parents interact with them. She explained that as infants they are less likely to look at their parents’ faces, which can lead to a colder parenting style.
When Fleming coaches parents at the clinic, she emphasises the need for affection.
“Things like sitting closer to their child during play, putting the ‘smile’ into their voice … doing things to make the child laugh,” she said.
Kimonis and Fleming hope the therapy is available to those in areas that have little access to child psychological support.
Assistant Principal of Ingleburn Public, Rebecca Dao has praised the program, saying: “We wanted to be part of this trial because we saw there was a need, particularly in the south-west area, where there is a lack of child psychology services.”
“To have this free service within the school breaks down the barriers that stop these families from getting help,” she said.
SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald
