心理健康从娃娃抓起（双语）

Like all children, Perry Cunningham, age 4, wants friends. But until recently, he lacked the social skills to reach out to other kids.
与所有孩子一样，4岁的佩里•坎宁安(Perry Cunningham)也想交朋友。但是一直到最近，他还缺乏与其他孩子进行接触的社交技巧。

When Perry tried to make a friend at his New Haven, Conn., preschool this year, he mimicked a move he had seen his 15-year-old brother make with his buddies -- he gave another, much bigger child a playful shove. The big guy"s response: A punch in the face, leaving Perry with a bloody nose.
今年，当佩里试图在康涅狄格州纽海文的学龄前学校交朋友的时候，他模仿了自己15岁的哥哥向他的伙伴做过的一个动作──他顽皮地推了一下另外一个个头比他大得多的小朋友。那个大个头小朋友的反应是：给了佩里一拳，让他流了鼻血。

In many classrooms, Perry might simply have been regarded as a troublemaker. But Barbara Giangreco, a mental-health therapist who works in child-care centers and preschools, understood that he was just trying to be friendly, and worked with his mother and teacher on helping him use words to reach out to other kids. All the adults involved agree that Perry"s social skills have improved significantly. He is making friends, and while he still has conflicts with other kids sometimes, he knows how to apologize and make peace.
在很多课堂上，佩里可能都被认为是个捣蛋鬼。不过，在育儿中心和学龄前学校工作的心理健康理疗专家芭芭拉•奇安格列柯(Barbara Giangreco)认为佩里只是想表示友好，她与佩里的母亲和老师一起帮助他运用语言与其他孩子进行接触。所有参与的大人都同意佩里的社交技巧已经得到了明显的改善。佩里开始交上朋友，虽然他有时仍会与其他小朋友发生冲突，但是他知道如何道歉讲和。

The idea of assigning mental-health workers to child-care centers and preschools is jarring; I was skeptical when I first heard the idea. Children so small shouldn"t need mental-health help, it seems, and having therapists or counselors working in classrooms seems to risk stigmatizing them with labels, or simply interfering with the innocence of childhood.
对于安排心理健康工作者到育儿中心和学龄前学校工作的观点不绝于耳；我第一次听到这个想法的时候很是怀疑。这么小的孩子似乎不应需要心理健康治疗，而让治疗专家或者顾问出现在课堂上似乎有给某些孩子打上烙印，或者干脆就是妨碍孩童纯真心理的风险。   更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

However, a growing body of research shows that the programs are benefiting entire classrooms of children by reducing behavior problems and supporting overburdened teachers. The specialists" purpose isn"t to diagnose or treat mental illness in individual children. Instead, they provide targeted, expert help to teachers, and sometimes to parents, on ways to interact with children and reorganize classrooms that improve behavior and the emotional climate. In the process, many researchers believe, the specialists may be helping prevent bigger social problems in kids in the future, such as delinquency.
然而，越来越多的研究显示，此类安排能够减少行为问题，为负担过重的老师提供支持，从而使整个课堂上的孩子们受益。这些专家的目的并非诊断或者治疗个别孩子的心理疾病。相反，他们为老师，有时候还为父母提供有针对性的专业帮助，开导他们如何与孩子进行互动，如何重新组织课堂改善行为和感性氛围。许多研究人员认为，在整个过程中，这些专家可能会有助于避免未来发生更大的社会问题，如青少年犯罪等。