Children's mental health identifying mental health concerns

Sometimes it's hard to know what is normal development for a child and when behavior becomes something to be concerned about. Fortunately, there are ways to learning what could be happening and how to help.

Diagnostic assessment

If a child shows possible symptoms of a mental health problem, a diagnostic assessment may be in order.
A mental health professional interviews the child or family to gather information, such as:

Effects of symptoms on functioning in home, school and community
Onset, frequency, duration and severity of current symptoms
History of current mental health problem (developmental incidents, strengths, stressors, etc.)
Relevant family and social history

The diagnostic assessment is usually the first step in deciding whether and what treatment is necessary.

Screening

A mental health or developmental screening can help to identify early potential mental health problems. This usually results in referrals to a mental health professional for further evaluation.

There are a many types of screenings that target certain ages or circumstances related to the mental health of children and youth. These include:

Child and Teen Checkups (C&TC)

Child & Teen Checkups provide periodic health checkups to children, age birth to 21, enrolled in Minnesota's Medicaid or MinnesotaCare program. These screenings ask questions about common issues in children's and teens' lives and can discover mental health concerns that then allow them to access services. Earlier identification means earlier intervention to treat depression or other conditions, preventing problems from becoming more severe and saving lives.
Child welfare

DHS works with county child welfare systems to ensure all children and youth (3 months to 18 years) with substantiated abuse receive mental health screening and appropriate assessments and treatments. This helps to identify and respond sooner to mental health problems and decrease the need for child welfare services.
Early childhood screening

Early childhood screening is a short, simple procedure to identify potential social-emotional problems in infants and young children. Screenings usually occur in places that are accessible and appropriate to the needs of children - such as primary health care, home visiting, Head Start and early childhood education. The process also provides families with information about early childhood development and appropriate services and supports.
Head Start

Head Start programs are expected to develop systems for screening, identifying and treating children with emotional difficulties. A federal mandate also requires Head Start to contract with mental health professionals to offer consultation services for students with social or emotional problems.
Juvenile justice

Seventy percent of youth involved with juvenile corrections have mental health disorders. DHS partners with other state and local agencies to improve outcomes for these youth, ages 10 to 18 years. The Minnesota Juvenile Code requires mental health screening for juvenile justice populations.
Maternal depression

As early as one month old, an infant can sense whether or not a parent is depressed or angry and is affected by the parent's mood. Children of depressed mothers are more likely than other children to have behavior, cognitive, socio-emotional and health problems. Untreated maternal depression can have major, lasting negative effects for the mother and her child.

Early detection and treatment of maternal depression can greatly reduce adverse consequences. There is an effort to make screening for maternal depression available as part of pediatric visits since a pediatric provider may be the only health provider a mother sees during the first year after delivery. Pediatric providers have the opportunity to identify symptoms of depression and refer mothers through routine screening at children's Child and Teen Checkups or other pediatric visits.
Schools

Public schools and Head Start programs require that children receive early childhood screening, including social-emotional screening, before enrollment. The intent is to identify early any factors that might interfere with a child's readiness to learn and grow.

Minnesota mandates public school districts to offer early childhood screening to young children, ages 3 to 4 years, before entering kindergarten. The screening is a quick, simple check of how children are doing and detects possible learning or health concerns so that children can get needed help before starting school.