Abstract:

This is a qualitative research study focused on the issue of children with behavioural problems in the Czech Republic. It represents a collection of complete opinions of experts from various professions on the manifestations, causes and possibilities of diagnostic and, in particular, intervention methods in these children. The goal of the study was to define the time-proven approaches, methods and forms of work that could be generalized and recommended as examples of good practise for working with the given target group under the conditions of schools and school consulting facilities. We can also notice a non-uniform terminology used in this sphere – medical, psychological, special education; however, all these divisions are justified and make sense. With regard to the importance of an interdisciplinary approach and the indisputable requirement for not only diagnostic but also therapeutic approaches to children with problematic behaviour being complex, we stem from the division of behavioural disorders in the classification system according to the International Classification of Diseases. The noticeable behaviour, behavioural problems, behavioural disorders, and disordered emotions constitute a semantically non-uniform context which, on the one hand, causes professional, contextual and formal fragmentation, but, on the other, shows that it is not possible to determine and recommend methodological procedures, methods and programmes resulting in a positive change in the child’s behaviour if applied to a child with a behavioural problem. We tried to formulate four spheres in which we defined the causes and manifestations of problematic behaviour, the period when a problem arises, the bearer of the problem, how the problem is exhibited in the child’s behaviour, how it is manifested, and the child’s emotional experience relevant to the problem. We focused on the evaluation, diagnosis, programmes and methods that work, and on the possible examples of good practise duly recommended by the respondents.

Keywords:

Behavioural problems, behavioural disorders, a child with a behavioural problem, manifestations of hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and aggression.