home

  our products & books
  behavior articles
  behavior disorders
  child development
  our online classes
  educator's corner
  parent's corner
  therapist's corner
  rad center
  helpful links
  sign guest book
 
  contact us
 

Childhood Developmental Disorder Assessments

online class autism

Online Class on Autism!

Working with Autism

 

ONLINE COUNSELING

 

Other Online Classes

  • CEU credit

  • Certification

  • Work at your own pace

  • Access the expertise of the instructor who has over 25 years experience working with families of young children

Behavior Management

When Time-Out & Stickers Don't Work

Attachment Disorders

ADHD: Gift? Or, Disorder?

Prepare for MFT Licensing Exam

 

 banner

  temperament styles

Each of us is born with individual patterns of temperaments. Most experts believe that these styles of temperament are fairly stable at birth, or at least within the first few months of life, and that they remain stable throughout life. In other words, an infant who is quick to anger or slow to warm socially, will most likely carry these traits into childhood and adolescence.

Common temperament traits are shown in the following chart:

Temperament Styles

Activity level

(HIGH) Walks rapidly. Eats eagerly. Climbs into everything.

(LOW) Finishes bottle slowly. Goes to sleep easily.

Rhythmicity

(REGULAR) Regular naps after lunch each day. Always drinks a bottle of mild.

(IRREGULAR) Will not fall asleep for an hour or more. Moves bowels at different times each day.

Distractibility

(DISTRACTIBLE) Cries when face is washed unless it is made into a game.

(NOT DISTRACTIBLE) Cries when toy is taken away and rejects substitute.

Approach

(POSITIVE) Approaches strangers readily. Sleeps well in new surroundings.

(NEGATIVE) Stiffens when placed on object. Will not sleep in strange places.

Adaptability

(ADAPTIVE) Is afraid of toy animals at first but then plays with them happily.

(NOT ADAPTIVE) Continues to reject new foods each time they are offered.

Attention Span

(LONG) Plays by self in playpen for more than one hour.

(SHORT) Loses interest in a toy after a few minutes.

Intensity

(INTENSE) Laughs hard when father plays roughly.

(MILD) Does not fuss when clothing pulled off head.

Threshold

(LOW) Spits out food s/he does not like. Giggles when tickled.

(HIGH) Eats food he likes even if mixed with disliked food. Can be easily left with strangers.

Quality of Mood

(POSITIVE) Likes bottle, reaches for it and smiles. Laughs loudly.

(NEGATIVE) Cries when strangers come into room. Cries when left alone.

Adapted from Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1970). Definitions of Temperamental Qualities at Three Age Levels.
disclaimer  copyright

tell friend

Tell a friend

printer version

Printer version

link to us

Link to us

Newsletter

Articles

Back to top

Tell a friend:

               When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in 7 years.    - Mark Twain

Revised: 10/11/2007.