The Family Context in Development of Emotion Regulation, Essay Example

What symptoms were present throughout the student’s childhood?

Although it may have been a huge factor that his father was not around as he was growing up; or that if he was, he was not actually being supportive of his growth nor is he contributing to the positive growth of the child. Being a source of pressure and tension in the house, the father was not able to do much especially for the sake of aiding the positive growth of the child.

As he was growing older, his lack of interest to stay in school and spend hours in class to study his lessons could have been an onset of the symptoms pointing out to the idea that he does have developed ADHD through his pattern of maturity. Along with this, feeling no remorse for the bad things he does or the troubles he gets into points out on how ADHD has altered his supposed attitude towards guilt and the desire to make things right.

What factors contributed to his current level of functioning (environmental, familial, social, etc.)?

The changes in his life; primarily the change of environment due to his immigration to the US made the current situation even worse. The adjustments he had to make through immigration involve getting used to a new life. Leaving Guatemala under the protection of his grandmother is a hard factor of change that he needs to contend with especially that he has to deal with a new family now with new members he has not been used to living with as he grew older.

What would an intervention plan look like for this child (provide recommendations for school, home, and community)?

Full family involvement is necessary. Instead of making him go through the process alone, letting him know that he does have someone beside him, to support him all throughout does create a better essence of how he is supposed to accept the changes happening and how he is supposed to deal with them in a much positive approach. Helping him understand the changes and why he needs to go through them could help him realize that unlike before, he is not alone anymore and that his family, especially his mother, is willing to provide him the time and effort he needs in order for him to go through the situation and develop a better being out of himself.

In school, the possible intervention would be after-school assistance especially on subjects he may seem to be losing focus on. The approach to teaching used for these instances should be fashioned according to what the child actually needs depending on his individual learning needs.

Do you feel the diagnosis is appropriate? If not, why? 

While it is indeed directive, especially basing from a DSM-IV case perspective, it could be observed how the supposed effect of his father’s behavior towards him and his mother during his early childhood stages have been quite neglected in the process of diagnosis. Perhaps considering that he was still too young then to recognize what was happening, the effect of his father in his being was set aside’; nevertheless, it was during these formative years that the perception of a child with regards good and bad, right and wrong develops accordingly and should be carried into consideration during the full span of diagnosing the situation of the child.

Discuss if there are other disorders that you would consider?

Psychological Trauma: perhaps the emergence of trauma in the subconscious mind of the child could be considered. While he may not be fully conscious about the situation then, bits and pieces of memories about his father and his mother leaving him behind [and the remorse he feels for such experience] should be considered accordingly. Masking these feelings and emotional dilemmas could cause a child at his age to behave differently especially that he does not understand the situation fully yet.

As a school psychologist or mental health provider, how would you address the child’s needs?

First and foremost, the interview process should take a repetitive set of sessions that would allow the child to open up more. Getting him used to the system of talk-therapy could help him understand the meaning of self-expression; something that he was not able to practice as he was growing older. With such approach, intervening some of his behavioral imbalances along the way could be taken into full account. This is what direct intervention is about and involving the family in the process is direct source of competence on the part of applying the system into such operation.

Reference

Amanda Morris et al. (2009) National Institute of Health. “The Role of the Family Context in Development of Emotion Regulation.” pp 1-36. http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PSYCH305-11.2.pdf. (Retrieved on March 23, 2015).