Impulsive Behavior
Dinelia RosaImpulsive behavior is a quick reaction to a situation, typically without going through a thinking process prior to the reaction. People exhibiting impulsive behavior show an inability to analyze the consequences of an act before its execution, thus they tend to act without thinking first. Subsequently, some of the reactions can lead to reckless or irresponsible behaviors. Impulsive behavior is related to a poor regulation and inhibition of behavior, and difficulty in using cognitive and analytical skills.
During preschool, children’s impulsive behaviors are mostly age-appropriate.
Children will show difficulty following a classroom routine requiring delay of
gratification, waiting
for a turn, sharing with peers, and following basic commands. Preschool children
also lack the cognitive
skills and the analytical processing skills to think and process before
responding to a situation.
Preschoolers who are impulsive but curious may experience physical
injuries.
Early education years help children to develop
age-appropriate self-control and delay of gratification. They also learn to develop
limited but useful
cognitive and processing skills that will equip them to respond less impulsively. These
skills are very concrete
and dependent on immediate gratification and rewards for the behavior achieved. As
preschoolers move
forward in school and develop more sophisticated cognitive skills, they are expected to
show less impulsive
behavior and more self-regulated responses.
When children do not develop their ability to regulate their
impulsive behavior in the classroom, problems may arise. Children who
display impulsive behavior have difficulty internalizing rules and expectations
that they
can later translate into thoughtful behaviors, thus affecting self-control and
self-regulation. This interferes with their ability to pay attention, withhold
responses, delay
gratification, understand cause and effect, and consequently respond
appropriately to classroom expectations. Their academic performance may lag and
academic achievement may
be compromised.
Impulsive behavior is typical in children with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder, and some Anxiety Disorders. However,
it can also exist as an isolated symptom. In adolescents, alcohol and substance
abuse can increase impulsive behavior. Also in adolescents, activities
associated with risk-taking can lead to accidental and unexpected consequences led by
impulsive reactions. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia also
have a component of
impulsivity that contributes to these disorders. Impulsiveness is also a component of
many other behavioral
problems such as aggression, suicide, and homicide. Other behaviors with an
impulsive component that can develop during adolescence and can continue throughout
adulthood are obsessive behaviors such as gambling and compulsive shopping.
Early assessment of impulsive behavior can help provide the individual with
early interventions to address the impulsivity.
Since it can be a symptom of disorders mentioned earlier, a psychological
evaluation is
recommended. It is important to include an assessment of the child’s family
history around impulsive behaviors, but also to incorporate cultural issues
that may be significant
in understanding the child’s difficulty to regulate his or her behavior. Very
often, children
with difficulty in this area have lacked the necessary exposure to develop
this skill prior to coming to school for the first time. Many times
professional help outside the school is necessary.
Interventions to help impulsive children may range from small changes in
classroom routines to medication management. The intervention depends on the
level of severity in the
impulsivity, and whether the symptom is isolated of part of a constellation of
symptoms, at which point the symptom is treated as part of a disorder. Children
exhibiting impulsive behavior may require a significant amount of one-to-one
attention from teachers and/or paraprofessionals. Classroom modifications may
be necessary to help an impulsive student learn to regulate his or her
behavior. Teamwork
and collaborations between teacher and parent to establish consistency in the child’s
behavior are
also part of an effective treatment strategy.
References
C.
S. Clauss-Ehlers (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School
Psychology, DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9, Springer
Science+Business Media LLC 2010
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