ChildhoodCase Study

ProjectBy: Rachel Seifert, Kady Duggan, and An

Deiss Savage

Meet Cody…Cody Barbosa is a 2 yr. old Hispanic-American

boy. He was premature at birth and it was suggested by developmental pediatricians

that he has some developmental delays and should begin early intervention services.

Meet Cody’s Family

Cody lives with his mother and father, in a poor, two parent household, in a run-down area of a major

metropolitan city. Cody and his family do not have an outside family support network, but rely on

neighbors as a network of support in times of need.

Cody’s Intake Information

• Both parents are out of work, but Cody receives health care from DSHS.

• He was referred to a developmental pediatrician by his family doctor.

• The family gets by, at this time, on unemployment benefits, food stamps, WIC and TANF.

• They rent their small apartment, and take city buses for their transportation needs.

What We Know• Cody and his family are legal citizens. Cody has

access to health care, but little financial resources. Cody shows signs of developmental delays, as noted by his family doctor and developmental pediatrician.

What We Don’t Know…

• What are the nature of the delays that Cody faces?

• When they are defined, what are the methods, interventions, and programs that will best suit Cody’s needs?

• Will his family be able to provide those needs given their limited resources?

• Will the family embrace those services culturally or intellectually?

How do we address Cody’s issues and problems solve? • There are three perspectives to

keep in mind: o The systems he is embedded ino Theories on how Cody is Developingo A strength-based perspective in

addressing his needs

Systems Cody is Embedded In

An-Deiss Savage

Systems That Protect Cody

“Educate America Act of 1994, the Government Performance and Results

Act of 1993, amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1997, the No Child Left Behind

(NCLB) Act of 2001, Good Start, Grow Smart (White House 2002), and

reauthorization of the IDEA in 2004” (Regional Educational Laboratory

Northwest, 2009, pg. 1).

These acts will protect Cody against unfair treatment because of his

developmental delays.

Organizational Systems

Cody must now have a number of screenings done to assure that there is signs of developmental delays. The

child has already been referred by his regular pediatrician and now is seeing a developmental

pediatrician who will do the following:1. Developmental Screening2. Developmental Evaluations

to determine eligibility3. Developmental Assessment

to determine appropriate services4. Service Coordination

Individualized Family Service Plan, IFSP5. Financial Support

insurance, state funding, scholarships

Helping Systems Early intervention from the helping systems

“provides supports and services toinfants/toddlers and young childrenwith disabilities and their families/

caregivers so that they may help thechild grow and develop” (Pennsylvania

department of education, 2010).

Family Systems Supported by the Helping Systems

• “Supports families’ involvement in program planning, decision-making, and service delivery

• Supports families in their natural care-giving and decision-making roles

• Provides services in accordance with family values and priorities

• Supports diverse and changing family needs

• Supports parent-professional partnerships.” o (Pennsylvania Department of Education,2010)

Family Systems Cody has a mother and father both in the household but has no other family

to support him or, his mother and father.

They rely on support from their community.

Community Systems

Cody’s family lives in a small run down community, where everyone is struggling. The family is close with their neighbors and they

to have a little boy who suffers from a developmental disability. Together they share

resources and support one another emotionally.

Developmental Theories

Social DevelopmentAttachment

Motor DevelopmentEmotional Development

Personality DevelopmentTemperament

By Kady Duggan

Social Development

o One aspect of this process is often overlooked; and that is the idea that socialization is bi-directional. (Richters & Waters, 1991)

o Just as parents influence their children's behavior, children also influence their parent's behavior. This is called reciprocal socialization. (Richters & Waters, 1991)

A major portion of an infant's social world is his/her interaction with Mom and Dad. Parents and other family members play an important role in socializing children.

Although Cody and his family are poor, they have a great relationship and

spend a lot of time with Cody.

Attachment

o According to Mary Ainsworth (1978) there are different levels of attachment.• Type A (anxious-avoidant): The

infant is insecurely attached. Infants with Type A attachment may avoid or ignore their mothers.

• Type B (secure): The infant is securely attached. These children feel secure enough to leave Mom's side and do some exploring.

• Type C (anxious-resistant): The infant is insecurely attached. These children are found clinging to their mothers, not wanting to leave her presence.

(Richters & Waters, 1991)

Attachment seems to intensify at about the 6th or 7th month of life. Attachment is that close emotional bond between a

baby and his/her caregiver. (Richters & Waters, 1991)

Cody gets to spend a lot of time with his parents, but also spends time with

neighbors and other children, making him securely attached.

Motor Developmento Investigators find that motor skills

develop in a certain sequence during the first two years of life. There are two definite patterns of motor development. • The first is called Cephalocaudal which involves

growth in a head-to-foot direction. This suggest that the head, neck, and upper extremities grow more before the legs and feet.

• At the same time Proximodistal growth, which involves center-outward growth, is advancing. This suggests that the trunk and shoulders grow before the hand and fingers.

(Preisser, 1997)

Cody is below in motor development skills, so he

see’s a Occupational Therapist through Early Intervention Services.

Motor Development

(Ramkumar, 2010)Cody is 2 years old, but is at a 1 year old

motor developmental level. He can scribble on paper, and but is not eating without help

from his parents.

Emotional Development

What are emotions like for an infant? Are they the feeling of sadness when a parent leaves the room, the feeling of anger when a bottle is

empty, or the feeling of happiness at the site of a new toy?

o There are many ways you can classify different emotions. o Positive affectivity (PA) refers to the

range of positive emotions form high energy, enthusiasm, and excitement to calm, quiet, and withdrawn. Joy, happieness and laughter involve positive affectivity.

o Negative afftectivity (NA) refers to emotions that are negatively toned, such as anxiety, anger, guilt and sadness.

o Affect in parent-infant relationships Emotions are the first forms of communications between parents and their infants before the infant is able to speak. Infants react to their parents facial expressions and the tones of their voices, while parents communicate to the infant by responding to their actions.

(Preisser, 1997)

Cody often uses Positive Affectivity to show his emotions. He often has a hard

time expressing negative feelings without getting overwhelmed.

Personality Development

When psychologists discuss personality among infants the three central characteristics they use are trust, self and independence.

o Trust is what Erik Erikson emphasizes in the first year of life. In his eight stages of personality development, trust verses mistrust is the first stage. Erikson states that trust in the infant years sets the stage for a lifelong expectation of what the world will be.

o Self is something that infants develop at about 18 months. In two different tests that were done on infants in the second half of their second year of life, they recognized their own image in a mirror and coordinated with the actions of touching their own body.

o Independence also surfaces in the second year of life according to psychologists Margaret Mahler and Erik Erikson. Autonomy builds on the infant's development of mental and motor abilities. This stage has important implications for the development of independence and identity during adolescence.

(Honrig, 1996)

Cody engages in others due to his

strength with trust, he has great traits of self, and is beginning

to develop independent skills.

TemperamentSome infants are very loud, while others are quiet. Some are very happy, while others can be hard to please. Psychiatrists Alexander Chase and Stella Thomas have developed three

classifications of temperament in children.

o The easy child: The easy child has a very positive attitude and is very adaptable to change.

o The difficult child: The difficult child tends to react more negatively and is not very adaptable to changes.

o The slow-to-warm-up child: A child with this temperament reacts negatively to change, but after awhile, he or she will adapt.

(Honrig, 1996)

Cody has a very laid back temperament but sometimes has a hard

time reacting to change because of his lifestyle.

He is considered the slow-to-warm-up child.

A Strengths-Based Perspective: Cody Barbosa

By: Rachel Seifert

What is the Strengths-Based Perspective?

• Focusing on strengths can provide a sound basis for empowerment.

• This orientation focuses on client resources, capabilities, knowledge, abilities, motivations, experience, intelligence, and other positive qualities.

• Can be put to use to solve problems and pursue positive changes.o (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2010, p. 12)

Struggle or Opportunity?o The strengths-based perspective looks at

illnesses, trauma, or struggle as possible sources of challenge and opportunity.

o Cody and his family can look at his developmental delays as an opportunity to invest in his early childhood education, starting him on the track of early intervention services that he might not ordinarily have been exposed to.

The Family System as a Resource

• The Barbosa family can find much inspiration and strength within their family unit to recover from adversity or hardship.

• Families of children who face challenges can embrace their ethnicity, family culture, and belief system, as a resource to support them as they learn to cope with developmental issues such as Cody faces.

• Strength-based therapy can help parents develop positive parenting strategies and increase family resiliency.

The Community Environment as a

Resource• The strengths-based approach can be used to

enhance interactions with community systems, including:

• Education: Strength-based approach can be used when creating the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP), to address Cody’s needs (Sexton, et al., 1991).

• Health Care: Strength-based approach can be integrated into physical, rehabilitation, and mental health care strategies.

No Limits!• As a helping professional, assume that you do not

know the upper limit of the child and family unit to grow and change.

• Take individual, group and community aspirations seriously.

• The Strengths-Based Approach believes in building on previous successes, rather than defining children by their disabilities or delays.

References Honrig, A. (1996). Infant temperament and personality (ED404019). Retrieved

from US Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement website: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED404019.pdf

Nave, G., Nishioka, V., Burke, A., & Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest, (2009). Analysis of the Developmental Functioning of Early

Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Populations in Oregon. Issues & Answers. REL 2009-078. Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest

Pennsylvania Department of Education, O. (2010). A Family's Introduction to Early Intervention in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Office Of Child Development And Early Learning

Preisser, A. (1997, September). Theories and research. Retrieved from http://www.mesacc.edu/dept/d46/psy/dev/Fall98/Theories/theories.html

Ramkumar , A. (2010, November 08). How to develop fine motor skills in toddlers [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://gomestic.com/family/how-to-develop-fine-motor-skills-in-toddlers/

ReferencesRichters, J. & Waters, E. (1991). Attachment and socialization: The

positive side of social influence. In Lewis, M. & Feinman, S. (Eds), Social influences and socialization in infancy. (pp. 185-214). NY: Plenum Press.

Sexton, D., Snyder, P., Rheams, T., & Barron-Sharp, B. (1991). Considerations in using written surveys to identify family strengths and needs during the IFSP process. Topics In Early Childhood Special Education, 11(3), 81-91. doi:10.1177/027112149101100308

Sharry, J. (2004). Counseling children, adolescents and families: A strength based approach. London, UK. Sage Publications Ltd.

Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K.K. (2010). Understanding human

behavior and the social environment (8th Ed.). Thomson Brooks/Cole.