Young Asian children with learning and behaviour problems: A family therapy approach

The paper describes work with five Asian families. The children were failing and showing signs of behavioural disturbance at infant or junior school, and it was felt that this could be due to family psychopathology. Communication with the adults presented some difficulty to the therapist, and there was the additional problem of distinguishing between those patterns of behaviour which were pathological and those which were merely unfamiliar. The approach used was pragmatic and based on the assumption that there is sufficient 'psychic unity' between people of different cultural backgrounds to be used therapeutically, even when communication is difficult.