Child Psychologist Reviews Disturbing Daycare Videos
By: Lauren Trager, KARK 4 News
Updated: August 7, 2012
A three-year-old boy is at the center of a serious investigation, after KARK's story Monday revealed disturbing videos taken of him at a Little Rock daycare.
Monday, we first showed the disturbing video, posted to a public Twitter account.
In one video, the boy is forced to pick used paper and feces out of a toilet.
In another, he's running around half-dressed.
The woman believed to be behind the camera, Leigh Miller, was fired immediately after we showed the videos to the owner of Ms. Carrie's Day School.
A police and Department of Human Services investigation is underway.
"As someone who loves and works with kids, you think, how can that happen?" said Dr. Jayne Bellando, a child psychologist.
Dr. Bellando hasn't treated the little boy but we showed her our story.
"Taking feces out of a toilet is not appropriate discipline for anyone, much less a three year old," she said.
Dr. Bellando says to measure if any lasting emotional trauma was done to this child relies on three factors: how intense the event was, how much the child trusted his caretaker, and how often it actually occurred.
But the age of this child here, Dr. Bellando says, is significant.
"They aren't able to take the perspective of someone else and say 'maybe Ms. So and So was having a bad day and they shouldn't do that.' There is going to be that internalizing that's I'm a bad boy, I'm a bad girl, this is all about me," Dr. Bellando.
Three-year-olds, she says, may also have a hard time putting into words what happened, but parents must help them try.
"Even if you didn't follow the rules, you didn't deserve this," she said, instructing parents on how to phrase it.
The incident, she says, is a wake-up call for us all
"Parents have to be more careful, unfortunately," she said.
Dr. Bellando says in this day and age, we have to teach our kids that in certain circumstances it's not okay if someone takes video or pictures of them.
We spoke with the child's parents. They are doing all they can to make sure he's healthy and happy after this.
Police tell us they are continuing to investigate Leigh Miller for child endangerment.
There has been no warrant or arrest at this time and the case is still open.
