In the context of interviewing molested children, what are some of the important principles that people working with young children should be aware of?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Those who work with young children should be aware of the following principles:

1. Children think in concrete terms.
2. Children do not organize their thoughts logically. They often include extraneous information, and they have trouble generalizing to new situations.
3. Children have limited understanding of space, distance, and time. A child may not be able to say at "what time" or in "what month" something occurred but may be able to say whether it was before or after school, what was on television, or whether there was snow on the ground.
4. Children have a complex understanding of truth and lying.
5. Children see the world egocentrically. Because they believe that adults are omniscient, they may expect to be understood even when they have answered questions only partially.
6. Children have a limited attention span.
7. Children may have varying degrees of comfort with strangers.
These kinds of cognitive limitations are common among young children. Older children tend to exhibit different, yet equally challenging, developmental patterns. For example, although preadolescents have fairly sophisticated language capabilities, they may use words or phrases they do not fully understand. The emergence of sexuality and concern with sexual identities during preadolescence make these youngsters particularly vulnerable to disruption when they are sexually abused. As they enter adolescence, they tend to become very self-centered and have strong needs for privacy and secrecy. It is common for preteens and teenagers to express their feelings through the arts or physical activity or by acting out in inappropriate or socially unacceptable ways.