Children in violence
Sings for Identifying Children and Adolescents in a Situation of Violence
• BACKWARDNESS IN PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOMOTOR DEVELOPMENT - they look as if they are younger, but not at their real age, with low weight and small size (usually at preschool age, these signs are indicative of negligence). At an early age - poor health and sleep, loud prolonged crying (negligence);
• IF THERE HAD BEEN SEVERE BLOWS ON THE HEAD, DEFECTS in the central nervous system are possible, as well as cognitive and communicative disturbances or backward development of the functions concerning attention (volume, concentration, allocation, switching over), memory, intellect, language difficulties (reproduction, apprehension of speech, making a connection between a word and an image, stammering);
• SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL - inadequacy of countenance ("frozen expressionless face"), reticence and unsociability, avoiding contacts, inability of making friends, fear of adults )of a certain person - this happens in the cases of sexual violence), child's frequent hospitalization )due to frequent traumas), pseudo-maturity, hyperactive, impulsive and chaotic or just the contrary - depressed and reticent, facing difficulties in education (at primary school and junior high school age), acts of destructiveness, aggressiveness towards others, acts of self-wounding, disturbances in sleep, nightmares, wetting the victim's bed;
• SCARS, CAUSED BY INJURING - bruises, black and blue marks around the eyes, fractures with different prescriptions (visible when using X-rays), spiral fractures (due to twisting and flexing of limbs), marks, caused by buffets, holding tight (sometimes it is the only physical indicator of sexual abuse), injuries in the region of the genitals, pregnancy or venereal diseases (in cases of sexual violence), torn mucous membrane (at an early age - caused by a direct blow or an object, pushing the bottle of food into the child's mouth by force), bites (a doctor can tell if they are caused by an adult), scalding and burning unusual parts of the body or in definite forms (deep burnings are more likely to have been deliberately caused), poisoning - internal burnings, caused by bleaching solution or other substances (if the child has uttered "dirty words"), signs of taking in alcohol and medicines so that the victim could fall asleep.
• PSYCHOSOMATIC COMPLAINTS - a disease, caused by concealed fear or anxiety (they are most frequent at the preschool and primary school age);
• DURING PUBERTY AND ADOLESCENCE - non-adaptable behaviour - drawing in forced relations, gangs and sects, alcohol and drug abuse (to escape from reality), disturbances in sleep, feeding - anorexia, bulimia, withdrawing into himself/herself, facing problems in education and communication with coevals, running away from home and cutting classes, depression, attempted suicide, acts of aggressiveness and deviant behaviour.