Case Study: Families With Children Having Psychological Challenges
Families that have children with psychological challenges are often helped by the use of a support group. The adults find other parents who can relate to the issues they deal with, the non affected children can find friends who understand the challenges of dealing with an affected sibling and the affected child can discover that he or she is not alone in the psychological challenge world and make friends with others who have problems even if they are different issues all together. In this case studies two families are linked because they each have a child with psychological challenges and they each have children who do not have psychological issues. The families met in a support group and the case study illustrates how belonging to a support group can benefit everyone involved. The first family of this case study is a family of five with the affected child living part time with this family and part time with his mother across town. The family consists of a mother, a father, two boys and a girl. The girl is 7 years old and is an honor student at her local public elementary school. The younger boy is six years old and he is reported to be a "delight" in class and at home however, the parents do report
He reported that his marriage broke up when David was two and they initially received the diagnosis of autism. Research has shown that support groups can offer a safe haven for parents of affected children while also providing the resources for the parents to turn to when they have questions about their child. Since joining the group Sara reports that her stress level has been significantly reduced because she and some of the other mothers in the group have been holding regularly scheduled play dates for both the affected children and the non affected children(Lytle, 2001). The two families have almost nothing in common other than their shared support group and the fact that they each have a child who has a psychological disorder and has been diagnosed as such. "The parents and the non affected children all report that Harry can be a handful but that they also like his "quirky" sense of humor and his willingness to be spontaneous in many ways. David is in a public school setting where he is provided an IEP and is mainstreamed for several of his classes each day while remaining in the resource room for others(Huefner, 1997). Alicia is also gifted however, and the psychologist has suggested waiting to see if placing Alicia in the gifted program will help smooth things out for her once she is intellectually challenged. Joy reports that the friendships she has within the support group have proved invaluable several times when David was spending the weekend and she needed to work and Jon was on a business trip. The first family has a wife who is a registered nurse and works in a children's practice while the second family has a wife who chooses to stay home full time. The parents report that they are close to the boy's mother, and that the entire family works together with regard to David's autism. Two of the children are unaffected, while one of the children has been diagnosed with ADD for three years. Jon reports that he likes being able to talk to other fathers with "less than perfect children" and know that they understand his frustration does not mean lack of love for David. He has never been violent toward the children, the parents report but the children are sometimes frightened by what they think might happen. It used two families that had little in common other than the fact that they each had a child who is impacted by a psychological issue. Family TwoThe second family consists of a mother, a father and three children.
Common topics in this essay:
ADD Sara,
Introduction Families,
David Joy,
Jon Joy,
Jon David's,
ADD Joe,
Autism OCD,
affected children,
parents report,
children affected,
affected child,
add diagnosis,
marriage family,
report children,
child psychological,
jon reports,
child psychological disorder,
psychological issues,
consists mother father,
family consists mother,
affected children affected,
parents report children,
|
Acceptance Essays
