World of the Child

The World of the Child

“The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
Albert Einstein

“Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time,…”
Carl Sandburg

“To him that watches, everything is revealed.”
Italian proverb

“The individual needs to have a sense of his relationship with the whole.”
A former University of Utah President

Step Back Again…Take a Wider View Through the Following Four Contexts of the Child’s World.

• The Child’s Context
• The Family Context
• The School Context
• The Community Context

The with-in look at the child can encompass building upon existing capacities rather than over-focusing on remediation. Building upon what skills are all ready in-place can have a multiplying effect. In addition Best Practices suggest we need to examine the world surrounding the child.

1. THE CHILD’S CONTEXT

• Secure Basic Needs of a Child, as food, shelter, safety and love.
• Behavioral struggles – If a child has behavioral problems you may sort them out into several areas of a spectrum.
• Basic Bodily Functions, as sleeping, eating and toileting.
• Crisis Management—Is a Safety Plan needed for high risks from accidents, aggression, destructiveness or running away? If so, refer to Family Support Center, Youth Services or other Human Services programs. (See also Favorite Links.)
• Stress Control — What will soothe the child? Consider food, music, recreation, relaxation, exercise, drawing, massage, yoga and breathing work. (See Part IV section A – Promoting a Sense of Protection, Safety and Well-being.)
• Increase the NurturanceA child requires praise and success experiences as well as structure, and discipline with a ratio of 5 times the amount of nurturance over restricting/negative behavioral consequences. A child needs 5 “yes’s” to 1 “no.” to foster esteem and success.
• Re-focus Perception of Behavioral Problems, consider alternative perceptions of problem behavior, stemming from relational and stress sources, rather than “a bad child’s immorality. Can you think of what the child is communicating through the behavior? What is the purpose or function of the behavior? Focus on the strengths of the emotional bond between the parent or teacher and the child to look at the behavior in a different light. The Basis for Functional Behavior Assessment found in the paragraph following the “Introduction” can be viewed at http://www.behavioradvisor.com/FBA.html and the reasons for expressed behaviors can be viewed on Section II: Analysis of Function. http://www.polyxo.com/resources/pdf/functional_behavior_assessment.pdf
• Counseling Referral may include referring the child to your local mental health center (found in the telephone directory under country services) if the child has medicaid, or to a private practitioner (listed under counselors). Clear indicators of emotional disorders indicate such a referral (depression, anxiety, suicide, attachment disorders, non-compliance).
• Temperament characteristics within the person, visceral instinct; personal disposition may not fit with the caretakers’ temperament. Goodness of fit relates to the positive matching of styles: Somatic and Sensory-Motor Experiences.

• Assess Strengths and Interests may develop into talent building. “The Arts” are an avenue to provide enrichment, stimulation and growth for social/emotional development. Other activities which can lead to hobbies and talent building are dance, movement, theater, job sampling/shadowing, mentoring, planned activity programs and camps.

To discover more about your child’s interests consider:

• Ask the child to draw a picture of a desired experience or best memory of the family or friend doing something fun together, act it out dramatically or journal it or write a story about it. Taking a photograph may be used to stimulate ideas and conversation. Go to Medical Home under Recreation Services.

• Fill out a checklist with your child to help in assessing interests: See also Reinforcement Survey Ages 2- 6, Reinforcement Survey Ages 6 – 13, Reinforcement Survey Ages 13 – 18, and Strengths Checklist.
• Have your child complete A Daily Strength Scale with each of the ten items rated by the child as Great, Sort of and Not Great can be used as a starting point and repeated as needed to show some change
• Art Modalities as another avenue to the child are needed. Have the child draw a picture of his best memory of family doing something fun together. Also check out Daily Strength Scale, with each of the ten items being rated as either Great, Sort of, or Not Great.

• Safety —assuring there are no drugs, sexual abuse, violence, verbal abuse, exploitation and do what is possible to minimize depression or other mental or physical illnesses.
• Family Organizationand Cohesiveness Need Enhancing by assuring predictability, consistency, routines and parental authority appropriate to the children’s age and functioning. A wise speaker. (See Part IV section A – Promoting a Sense of Protection, Safety and Well-being.)
• Enact Family Special Times, see Enhance Family Functioning and also using other ideas under Part III Forms and Handouts.
• Basic Family Needs, such as income, food, housing, telephone and transportation need to be in place. See General Information under Favorite Links.
  
• From the Family Support and Natural Ecology Chart, contact those preferred resources rated in the higher numbers, as 4 and 5, to activate support.
• For a Crisis Back up Resource for other family members, a Crisis Plan is needed. Review the Stress Thermometer as an option.
• Parents’ Personal Needs, strengths, respite resources, hopes and dreams need to be identified.
• Cultural Strengths, spiritual beliefs, religious traditions, heritage, and resilience resources need to be mobilized. See Part I – Section D, E, F. Also Part II – Multi-culturalism.
  
• Comforting Resources and Ideas, can be checked in the Soul Loss website. For other favorite websites, see Mental Health under Favorite Links.
  
• For Model Family Meetings to improve family communication, see A Model for Home Meetings.
• Family Counseling is often helpful where family interactions delay or do not facilitate good functioning of the child and where the family strength need exploration for assisting the growth of the child (See the phone book listings under counselors).

3. THE SCHOOL CONTEXT

• Assess school successes as a source of child and parents’ esteem.
• Screen for target conditions —use free public domain checklists and screeners at http://www.schoolpsychology.net/
• Click here to ask about Bullying and School Fears. See Other Resources and Utah State Office of Education.
• Increase Teacher-child and Parent-teacher Communication by phone calls and e-mailing “little home notes”. (See Part IV – subsection D. Validating, Acknowledging and Recognition.)
• Stabilize Attendance and Behavior: See Strategies to encourage attendance.
• For Accommodation for Achievement—504, IEP, Health Plan, SEOP (See About Us Slide Show).
  
• Increase Opportunities for Peer Interactions through friendship groups, mentoring, peer tutoring, cooperative groups and service projects.
• To Work for Strengths and Resilience, see Resiliency as well as the National Association of School Psychologists Resiliency.

• Access other agencies for partnerships, e.g. Mental Health, DSPD, Work Force Services, DCFS, Volunteers. Check out Topical Resource Manual under Other Resources, or dial 211 for Info Bank. Also, see Our Practices – Part III.
• Reduce Barriers by Advocate-Joint Projects and cross communication.
• Care Coordination is likely needed for regular multi-agency meetings.
• Specify Cultural and Ethnic Links. See Cultural Competence under Favorite Links for separate listings for Asian Association, Indian Walk-In Center, Pacific Center, La Raza or NAACP.
• For Recreation, Part-time Jobs, Job-Shadowing Opportunities or Mentoring, see General Information under Favorite Links.
• Consider Spiritual Resources under Faith Groups.
• Safety Plan , need for public safety/court additions.
• For Parent Support, see Utah Parent Center, Allies or Favorite Links.

Transition Statement to Next Topic

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So many options and ideas have been drawn forth by using an expanded view of the problem in its relation to other resources and strengths, and in utilizing these contexts. Though a “couple” may find these answers sufficient, many times in the eyes of the parent, opening the concerns and sharing this valuable information to a group of esteemed helpers will bring forth still a higher level of enlightenment. Conferencing, even one or two times using all of the above previous information, while enabling participation at the family, school or community levels, is usually very helpful in constructing successful outcomes.

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