Parenting the Sexually Abused Child, Page 2

Physical Signs

*Scratches, bruises, itching, rashes, cuts or injuries, especially in the genital area
*Venereal disease
*Pregnancy in (young) adolescents
*Blood or discharge in bedding or clothes, especially underwear

Behavioral Signs

*Aggressive behavior towards younger children
*Advanced sexual knowledge for the child's age
*Seductive or "sexy" behavior towards adults or peers
*Pseudo-mature behavior (for instance, a girl who is eight and dresses like a 16 year-old, wears makeup and generally acts "too old for her age," or a young boy who attempts to be his mother's "man" in every sense of the word)
*Regressed behavior (for example, the child who has been toilet trained starts wetting the bed)
*Excessive masturbation, masturbation in public places, difficulty with being re-focused to another behavior
*Poor relationships with peers
*Fear of a particular person, place or thing (for example, if the abuse occurred in the bathroom, the child may show fear in that room)
*Sudden or extreme changes in behavior (for instance, a previously good student starts having trouble with school work, a child who was not sad before starts crying frequently or acting sad, or a formerly cooperative child acts defiantly or is uncooperative or unusually overly cooperative)
*Eating disorders (overeats, undereats)

Additional Behavioral Signs in Pre-teens and Adolescents

*Self-mutilation (the child may repeatedly pick at scabs, cut him/herself with a razor blade, bite his/her finger or arm, burn him/herself with a cigarette)
*Threatening or attempting suicide
*Using drugs or alcohol
*Becoming promiscuous (a child is sexually active without discrimination, or just has that reputation)
*Being prudish (the child avoids any sexuality, does not see him/herself as a sexual being in any way)
*Prostitution
*Fire-setting
*Lying, stealing
*Running away
*Isolating self or dropping friends
*Pre-occupation with death (the child may write poems about death, may ask a lot of questions about death, such as "What does it feel like and where do people go?")

Some Additional Behavioral Signs in Children Who Have Been Ritualistically/Satanically Abused

*Bizarre nightmares
*Sadistic play (for example, mutilation of dolls or small animals)
*Self-mutilation
*Pre-occupation with death
*Increased agitation on certain dates which represent satanic high holy days
*A constant fear of harm and extreme fear of being alone

© Rosemary Narimanian and Julie Marks

Credits: Child Welfare Information Gateway (http://www.childwelfare.gov)