Most likely, this behavior is the norm for your child. Demonstrating children's spontaneity, he spontaneously reacts to any external stimulus that interests him either in his form, or in color, or in a combination of several qualities. If a boy or girl is under the age of 3 years, this can be attributed to the lack of formation of the volitional sphere. However, over time, parents or close people notice that the baby’s behavior does not lend itself to control: his reactions continue to remain impulsive, despite all the ongoing educational and awareness-raising work. It is possible that during this period the phrase “field behavior” will sound in the family.
Spontaneous impulse
Of course, their child is always dear to parents, and if something is wrong with him, this is always an occasion not only to think, but to begin to take some action. And the first thing to do is to observe the behavior of the child in the context of the collected information about the limits of the norm and taking into account data on field behavior. To begin with, we turn to terminology and symptomatology and begin with a definition.
The child’s field behavior is his reactions, caused not by personal conscious desires and motivation, but by environmental stimuli. It should take into account the weakness or complete absence of internal motives, suppressed by the surrounding situation.
A competent psychologist or psychiatrist, as well as an observant parent, can most likely suggest the direction of activity of a child with pronounced field behavior, given the location of objects in the room.
Such a child will consistently react first to external stimuli in the immediate vicinity, and then, as he moves forward, he will pay attention to more distant objects.
A child’s field behavior is one of the signs of disturbed emotional connections and an unformed volitional sphere in which he has difficulty or completely lacks independent control of his actions.
What caused
So, the child shows unusual behavior, and parents noticed this. We will deal with possible causes and consequences. In some cases, field behavior is the result of brain damage, that is, we can talk about organic disorders. This can happen as a result of injuries received by the fetus during pregnancy, or may be the result of trauma to the baby after his birth.
But most often, the reasons associated with mental deviations are recorded, i.e., the inorganic origin of field behavior, entailing problems in the intellectual sphere, which is reflected in rational thinking.
If corrective work is not started in time, the further consequences are disappointing: difficulties in social contacts, which will affect, firstly, the process of playing with peers, and secondly, the results of schooling.
Operating principle
For the first time, the American psychologist Kurt Levin spoke about the concept of field behavior. He conducted a series of experiments that clearly demonstrated the effect of the subject field on the subject. The scientist found that in a young child, field behavior is the norm. However, after three years, there is a transition from impulsive behavior to a more conscious one, in which the volitional beginning prevails. But traces of an early behavioral pattern remain recorded in the subconscious memory.
Therefore, at that moment when the adult’s brain is not engaged in any kind of constructive activity and is in a state of “unconscious wandering”, impulsive reactions begin to prevail over the conscious. And the experiments of K. Levin convincingly prove this.
Observations through Gisela Glass
The American psychologist undertook a series of experiments, the algorithm of which was as follows:
- according to an announcement in the newspaper, those wishing to take part in psychological experiments were invited;
- those who expressed such a desire and came to the laboratory were left in the waiting room for a while;
- various objects, such as a bell, writing utensils, handicrafts from beads, etc., were randomly located in the room;
- the researcher observed behind those left in the waiting room through the glass of Gisel, so that the test subjects did not see the observer.
Result: each subject, regardless of the level of his intellectual development, including the faculty of the Institute of Psychology in Berlin, unconsciously manipulated the things located in the room: rearranging them from place to place, browsing, leafing through books and always calling bell.
The question is: for what reason did the subjects act in a completely irrational way?
K. Levin came to the conclusion that during forced inaction, when the brain starts "free swimming", environmental factors influence human behavior, and this was called field behavior in psychology.
Item Properties
Consider the mechanism of the impact of objects on the perception of the child. Each thing that is in the field of vision of the baby is either attractive or not for him. It goes without saying that attractive objects have a certain "force of attraction", which the child cannot and does not want to resist. Thus, its behavior and motion vector are controlled by the force of attractiveness of the subject. Suppose, a candy came into view of a baby: it is on a table, attracts it and holds its attention. And while she is in the focus of his attention, the child rushes to the desired subject. However, if the candy disappeared from view, then in this case the direction of movement changes, as a result of which the desired achievement is impossible.
For clarity, the American psychologist illustrated the same behavior with another example. The child sees a stone and wants to sit on it. To do this, you need to get to the stone, climb and, finally, sit on it. The first action was successfully completed, but to sit on a stone is possible only if you turn your back to it. However, at the same time, the stone disappears from view, that is, the child ceases to see it. Accordingly, the movement stops, since the direction is lost. To restore the picture, the child is forced to turn to the stone, but at the same time he again cannot sit on it. Then the option “B” is turned on: you just have to lie on the stone and wrap it around your hands. What the child does.
Levin noted that the proximity of the object and the desire to receive it are in the child in direct proportion.
Interaction with society
Time passes, and with it an understanding of the role of society appears. In infancy, for the child, there were no intermediaries between him and the object of attraction: he held out his hand to the desired object or stubbornly followed him along the shortest route, perceiving the emerging obstacles as genuine grief.
Over time, the style of behavior changes: the child understands that the object can be approached through a higher and stronger adult, who can get something that the child himself can not do.
After some time, the child shows the ability to limit himself in his desires, realizing that not all of them are achievable in a primitive way. And here you can see that there is a distinction between field and volitional behavior.
Let us return to the theory of K. Levin, in which the difference between the positive and negative valency of objects is indicated: the positive are attractive to the subject, and he avoids the negative. On the basis of this, the child receives the very empirical experience that forms a conscious attitude to the world or volitional behavior. Understanding what is possible and what is not possible, a person controls his attitude to the valency of objects, going beyond their power.
In field behavior, a person remains under the influence of the field. We can say that boredom is an excellent “breeding ground" for the manifestation of such behavior. Each parent noticed that when a child has nothing to do, he literally “attracts” to objects, resembling harming them.
Organized space
The question arises: what to do if the child shows signs of field behavior? Firstly, if the baby has not reached the age of 3 years, parents need to take responsibility for his behavior.
Secondly, if we are talking about children from 3 years old, then corrective behavior measures are already needed here:
- the formation of a space within the boundaries of which a child can touch things attractive to him, and beyond it are objects of "taboo";
- a list of things that can not be taken without permission and without adult supervision: iron, computer, telephone, etc.
The beginning of schoolwork is also an object of observation and conclusions for parents: if, when completing a task, a child uses school supplies for other purposes (he builds a house from felt-tip pens), he may be in the grip of boredom.
In this case, take care of structuring your child’s time and making the lessons really interesting for him. And it will be useful to teach him to leave on the desktop only objects related to the lesson.
Indigo children
It is enough for ordinary children to systematically pay attention, control their free time, provide assistance in choosing hobbies, and then their development meets the criteria of the norm. The situation is different with field behavior in children with autism. Despite the fact that statistics inexorably records an increase in the number of such children, they prefer not to notice it at the state level.
For comparison, it can be noted that in the United States, children under one year of age are examined using special tests for signs of autistic behavior. If such signs are found, within a month the state services prepare a document that indicates: the place of correctional classes with the child, the time the doctor is attending, the training program is prescribed. This document is presented to parents and the rehabilitation program begins.
And here it should be noted that field behavior is a symptom, and quite important in the list of signs of autism. And, accordingly, the sooner attention is paid to the characteristic signs of the disease, the more effective will be the corrective exercises.
First signs
A competent pediatrician can detect signs of autism in a child at the age of three months. The problem is that there are only a few such specialists in Russia. This is despite the fact that, according to the UN, each of the 50 boys has autism, the situation is better among girls, but one out of 250 also has signs of this disease. And it should be noted that the data was provided not by the World Health Organization, but by the United Nations, which indicates that the problem has acquired a global level.
So, in Russia, parents should rely only on themselves in terms of primary diagnosis. And therefore below - the first signs of autism, which are detected during daily contact and monitoring the behavior of the baby from the side, as a rule. mothers. Up to a year is:
- poverty of facial expressions and gestures in a child;
- lack of a reciprocal smile;
- recognition of the mother and other carers does not occur.
After a year:
- speech develops slowly or there are no significant changes at all;
- after a certain point, a regression of speech skills may occur;
- “age of questions” does not occur or does not manifest itself;
- there is no opportunity for dialogue;
- there is no normal response to requests;
- no desire to participate in collective games;
- fear of close contact with peers, avoidance;
- does not formulate requests;
- for a long time there is echolalia and neologisms in speech;
- using 2nd and 3rd person to identify yourself.
National diagnostic features
Let's face it: currently, studies aimed at identifying the causes of autism and ways to effectively overcome it are underway in many countries. However, the result is disappointing: there is no answer to the question “Why?”. And, accordingly, there is no "magic pill".
And if you live in Russia, then you will also find a lack of qualified assistance, since pediatricians in our country do not examine children under one year of age using special tests to diagnose signs of autism. As a rule, even if the parents observe some of the deviations mentioned above with their child, they may be “qualified” advised to “wait until they outgrow” in the district clinic.
However, this is not the case when you have the right to wait: you do not have time. Therefore, if you have not received help in the nearest clinic, and the features of your child’s development clearly do not fit into the normal range, then find the nearest center on the Internet where these children are involved, sign up for a consultation with a specialist and start collecting information.
You need to collect information on the basis of scrupulous observations of the behavior of your child, including: when he spoke, when he began to recognize you and to distinguish loved ones from strangers, how he reacts to an unfamiliar environment, etc.
Long road
So, we examined the features of children's behavior, due to the attractiveness of the object.
It should be noted that with autism, field behavior has significant differences from age-related manifestations. The most obvious signs cannot be overlooked:
- these children do not form selectivity when interacting with people and objects of the surrounding world;
- they demonstrate a complete detachment from reality;
- mimic or verbal reactions to the situation are practically absent;
- they do not give a reaction to the state of obvious physical discomfort (cold, rumble, burn);
- over time, they develop peripheral vision, which allows them to navigate perfectly in space;
- they may be interested in something, but will not be involved in active interaction;
- self-service skills in such children are formed with great difficulty.
This is not a complete list of abnormalities present in autistic people. And, yes, there is a classification of this disease, according to which people with signs of autistic disabilities are delimited by the prevailing patterns of behavior.
In our country, a huge role in the correctional work with autists is assigned to parents precisely because classes with a child should last at least five hours. And therefore, mom or dad should master, under the guidance of a specialist, a set of corrective exercises and purposefully deal with the child. As practice shows, this gives good results.