- A brief summary of your client (young child), including presenting issues, family dynamics, and the young childs attachment to primary caregiver(s).
- Identify at least one significant development-related issue for the young child, and explain why this is an issue.
- Describe an intervention you might employ to enhance the young childs development, including why you think it would be appropriate.
- Justify your response with references to this weeks Learning Resources and 1-2 peer-reviewed articles from the past 5 years.
- My client is
Name:
Christina Martinez (F, 8 years)
Presenting Issues:
Christina was recently adopted by Jeannette (F, 45 years) and Miguel (M, 43 years) Martinez; she is the biological daughter of Jeannettes cousin, who passed away from a drug overdose. Jeannette states that Christina was severely neglected and often abused by her mother. Jeannette does not have all of the specifics regarding the traumas Christina experienced; however, she states that the young girl often spent a great deal of time alone. Jeannette states that Christina is showing some significant behavioral problemsincluding explosive acting-out behaviors and avoidance of any physical contact. Christina also refuses to share mealtimes with the family and has been verbally aggressive toward Tommy (M, 2 years), who has Down syndrome.During the initial session, Christina remained quiet as Jeannette and Miguel discussed their concerns about her behavior. She appeared hypervigilant and moderately anxious, and responded to questions asked of her with a shrug. Jeannette reached out to hug Christina at one point, to which she reacted by forcibly pulling away.Jeannette and Miguel want to help Christina and give her a stable home, but do not know what to do. Christinas adoption caseworker shared that previous evaluations of Christina revealed significant attachment dysfunction, including possible Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Cultural Profile:
The family is Latinx. They are Seventh-Day Adventists who are very involved in their church, including holding leadership positions. Christina was raised without significant involvement in the church.
Family History:
Christinas mother had regained custody of Christina about two years ago. Before then, Christina was in the foster care system and had five different placements in as many years. After Christinas mother regained custody, the family became aware that she was not properly caring for the child, but they were unsuccessful at intervening. When Christinas mother was around, she frequently humiliated the child, was physically abusive, and rarely showed affection toward Christina. Additional family members in the Martinez home include Gabby (F, 15) and Tommy (M, 2 years).
- As you develop your response to the discussion prompt, please be sure to address all objectives, and to do so from a developmental perspective. For example, the prompt for this discussion asks you to identify at least one significant development-related issue for your young client. In addition to identifying the behaviors or conditions that exist, you should also support the significance of this with citations to resource(s). Also, you are asked to explain an intervention you might employ to enhance the young childs development, and why this would be appropriate. This intervention should be specific and developmentally-focused. Answers such as client(s) should attend counseling or CBT-focused counseling would help the parents better deal with (issue) is not sufficient. Remember that these are already your counseling clients. Think about what specific types of interventions might support healthy development and why and remember to support your statements with resources.Also, I strongly recommend that you consider using outlines to assist in your development of main discussion posts (and applications). Outlines help you ensure that you meet each objective thoroughly, as well as help you identify ways to improve coherence and support in your assignment before submitting. There are some very good resources in the Walden writing center on this topic. I also highly recommend these two websites:http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/outline.htmhttps://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/03/You might also want to check out this site, which not only includes information on developing outlines, but also prewriting steps:http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/writingresources/prewriting_outlining.cfm Speaking of outlines … here is my suggestion for organizing your Main Post this week:
- Introduction (no heading here!)In this section, provide a brief client conceptualization. Begin with a general statement of key presenting issue, followed by a few sentences describing what is happening with client individually, within the family system, and any significant developmental issues of which you are aware. Remember this is an introduction, so great detail is not needed this is an introduction only. Also remember to include the relative attachment of the child, as this is part of the dynamics discussed this week.
- Significant Developmental Issue
- In this section, provide more in-depth detail of the presenting concerns; focus on both the developmental issue itself and why it is an issue (this section is usually two well-developed paragraphs). It is important that you show your understanding of this issue and its significance and support your work with ties to peer-reviewed resources.
- Interventions to Enhance Development
- Remember that the family is already in counseling and you are the counselor. Therefore, avoid recommending counseling as one of your interventions. Please describe an intervention that is directed toward the issues you have already identified. This way, you are developing a data-driven treatment plan. You should also support your work with citations to the text and/or the articles you have selected from the Walden Library. Additional articles provide you with diverse perspectives and add depth to your post.
- Conclusion
- Review key points from presenting issues, developmental concerns, and recommended interventions.
- References
- List references cited in body of essay using APA format. The Broderick and Blewitt (2020) text should be included and at least 1-2 selected peer-reviewed articles from the Walden Library.Lastly, please be sure to include the name of your family in the heading of your main post (subject line) so your classmates can easily identify your family.
