App offers lifeline when kids need help
Project targets gaps in mental health care. By Hannah Martin.
Parents of preschoolers will soon be able to assess their children’s mental health with a new app being developed by psychologists.
University of Auckland Professor Sally Merry is leading the development of ‘‘Super kids’’, an app which aims to be a mental health ’’Fitbit’’ for young children.
The project aims to reduce New Zealand’s high youth suicide rates 13 children between 10 and 14 took their own lives last year, according to figures released by the chief coroner.
Merry, head of psychological medicine at the university, said infant mental health intervention could have life-changing effects.
An app like this might have made things easier for Aucklander Saraid Black, who struggled to get support and diagnosis for her young son.
When George was around 18 months old, Black noticed he was wired differently to other toddlers. He was sensitive and volatile and could spiral into huge tantrums, becoming inconsolable, she said.
Black and husband Paul, who have an older daughter and two younger sons, sought advice early on but struggled to get anything consistent. They tried GPs, paediatricians, parenting experts – nothing helped.
Things became worse still when George started school. Teachers attributed his behaviour to simple naughtiness.
‘‘We faced lots of judgement from our families and his school about not being tough enough on him,’’ Black said.
‘‘It became really difficult – on us, on our marriage – because we were doing our very best, but we were caught in a ‘no man’s land’. We didn’t know where to turn.’’
When George was five, educational psychologists flagged him having strong dyslexic tendencies. His parents forced a referral to a paediatric mental health service,
We were doing our very best, but we were caught in a 'no man's land'. Saraid Black
but by the time it came through George was too old to take part in its early intervention programme.
He was finally diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiance disorder (ODD) dyslexia and anxiety at age seven.
This is where Merry hopes Super kids can make a difference.
Many children first exhibited emotional and behavioural difficulties before the age of five, she said.
Merry believed parents should be able to access advice and treatment themselves before matters reach crisis point. Super kids will give parents of pre-school age children reliable, evidence-based therapeutic advice and resources.
‘‘If you can help parents help their children become emotionally and socially wellregulated, you set a good trajectory that will help them settle into school and reduce the risk of mental health crises down the track.’’
Now 11, George is medication free, but his brushes with mental illness have been ‘‘relentless’’, Black said.
Fifty per cent of mental health conditions start before the age of 12 – without the work of researchers like Merry, ‘‘parents are going it alone’’, she added.
Black, who works for Cure Kids as a communications adviser, said she saw struggling children who were told they were brave and inspirational, but in cases of mental health conditions ‘‘the parents feel like failures and the kids feel stigmatised and embarrassed’’.
‘‘Being able to empower parents, teaching them that there is something they can do for their children, is critical.’’
September is the Cure Kids appeal month, culminating on Red Nose Day on the 29th. It hopes to raise $1 million for child health research.