Question

Braden is a seven-year-old male referred to this agency for ongoing disruptive and aggressive behaviors in school and at the community shelter. He came to the shelter with his mother and two younger siblings when they were no longer welcome to stay at his grandmother’s home due to her concerns for personal safety. The estranged father of the children had made several unwelcomed visits and Braden’s mother had started spending too much time away from the children. Her mother, facing her own health concerns, could not keep up with parental demands.

Braden lived with both parents in a small trailer until the age of one. Neither parent had ties to the church, though both claim to be Christian. His father worked in concrete and his mother stayed home to care for him. His father, who had prior arrests for methamphetamine, physically abused his mother on more than one occasion and was eventually sent to jail. When they could no longer afford to live in the trailer, Braden and his mom went to live with Grandma.

Once his father was released from jail and had worked long enough to get another trailer, Braden and his mom moved back in with him when Braden was two years old. The physical abuse continued, but once his mom found out she was pregnant (with twins), she arranged to stay in a protective women’s shelter until her twins were born.

His mother and father have not cohabitated since that time (Braden was 3 years old), though they still have frequent and unpleasant interactions regarding parenting styles and informal custody arrangements. Until recently the children stayed mostly at Grandmother’s house, and occasionally with their father. At either location, the children had very few rules and were often in the company of adults that are drinking or doing drugs. This is true even when they were with their grandma.

The father is still working and attending court-ordered classes for anger management. The mother has started working at the shelter where her toddler twins can be cared for and is also working on a G.E.D. to improve her employability. She’s also attending AA meetings while struggling to comply with the shelter’s strict drinking policies.

Braden has been involved in several incidents at the shelter that involved striking other children, usually over the possession of toys. A recent incident resulted in another child requiring stitches when he refused to give Braden a firetruck that he was playing with. Braden snatched the rather heavy toy and hit the other child over the head with it.

Braden is in the first grade at the nearby elementary school. He’s quite a bit larger than most of his classmates and his teacher has expressed concern that he intimidates or bullies some of them. In the classroom, his teacher reports that he has trouble following directions and doesn’t complete his assignments. There have been no overt incidents of violence, but Braden’s teacher suggests that’s because of consistent monitoring, and fears what might happen if she becomes distracted.

Braden presents as somewhat shy around other children but animates to the point of showing off when he has the attention of adults. He’s not especially concerned with or protective of his younger siblings and seems dismissive of his mother. His favorite person is his uncle, his mom’s brother, who shows him how to work on cars. This uncle also struggles with alcoholism and has legal issues stemming from domestic violence toward a girlfriend.

I have to reply to the discussion above based on the guidelines below. I am struggling quite a bit.

Use 1 theory from Chapter 1 (Freud, Erikson, Piaget, learning theory, bioecological theory, or nature vs. nurture). Demonstrate how the theory can help explain the presenting issue in the case.

From Chapters 2 and 3, identify 1 element of brain development, stress response, or cognitive development that is relevant to the case and explain why.

From Chapter 4, discuss the influence of parenting style or attachment in your classmates’ case.

Conclude by suggesting 1 environmental modification that would be useful as an intervention to this case.

The book required for this is The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals 4th Edition Patricia C. Broderick

Answer 1

According to Erik Erikson's Stages of Psyho Social Development, every individual might undergo psycho social conflicts in each stage on development which might either lead to positive or negative outcomes. The stages are:

Trust vs Mistrust, Autonomy vs Shame, Initiative vs Guilt, Industry vs Inferiority, Identity vs Role confusion, Intimacy vs Isolation, Generativity vs Stagnation, Ego integrity vs Despair.

It could be clearly seen from the above case that the child has a very disturbing childhood period. During the first stage, Trust vs Mistrust (0 - 1 and a half years), neither the mother nor the father has provided the child with love, care and affection because they themselves had problems in their interpersonal relationships and did not care much for the chid, which made him to develop mistrust towards his parents.

During the second stage, Autonomy vs Shame (1 and a half to 3 years), where the child's father was in jail and his mother was pregnant, they might not have spent much time caring for the child and eventually the child might not had anyone who would encourage him to be indepent and to explore new things around. This might have developed feelings of shame and low self esteem in the child.

During the third stage, Initiative vs Guilt (3 to 5 years), the child is not yet guided properly by his parents to behave properly at school and in playing with other children. The surrounding in which he was brought up was not very disciplined. The child had inappropiate behaviours at school, like beating up other children, bullying others, being violent and not completing assingments which might have made him to feel guilty and also lose self control.

At present in the Industrious vs Inferiority stage (5 to 12 years), the child has to be directed properly in his academics, to explore his talents, focus on extra curricular activities like sports, music so that he might feel himself to be competent or it might lead to feelings of inferiority.

Cognitive Development:

During this period of the child, his cognitive development enables him to think rationally and logically, where he could reason the causes of things that is happening around him, and would be able to effectively act on it. So, during this period he must be guided properly so that he would understand the things that is happening in his family and among his parents only then he would be able to effectively deal with it.

Parenting Style:

The 4 types of parenting styles are:

Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive and Uninvolved parenting styles

In this case, the child's parents are more likely to exhibit uninvolved parenting, where neither the father nor the mother is much concerned about the development of the child and are negligible about their responsibilities. Though the child lives with his mother, even she does not spend much time with him as she is working to financially support the family.

INTERVENTION:

The first and foremost thing to be worked on is with the child's parents. The child's mother has to be counselled regarding the parenting style and must be asked to support and guide his behaviours. She must teach him what are the do's and dont's and also educate him how to behave in school and among his peers. She must be a Authoritative parent who would communicate with the child often, explain him about disciplinary rules and must encourage him to be independent. The child's father must also get in frequent contact with the child, and it would be the most effective parenting if both the father and mother are together with the child.

Modifying the child's physical environment would also help him to overcome his problems. Since he lives in a place surrounded by alcohol and drug users, the chances are high that the child might get in to these activities too. So the child's locality must be changed.

All these will automatically lead to reduction in the inappropriate behaviours that are displayed by the child. Even in the school, the teacher must also be told to motivate the child in his academics and to encourage him in other extra curricular activities.

Such modifications in the parenting styles, physical environment, and increase in the support provided in the school, might improve the child's condition and also promote his mental well being.