Taking the role of a practitioner, you are given the case below. You are analyzing the family structure and then seeking ways to help the family.
The family lives in a middle-class neighborhood. The mother is a 44 year-old nurse. The father is a 48 year-old police officer. The mother tends to be authoritarian and the father tends to be authoritative. They have two children: a 23 year-old daughter and an adopted 5 year-old son. The daughter moved out at 18 and lived with her boyfriend and his parents. They partied heavily; drinking mainly but the boyfriend was known to use illegit drugs from his early teens. (Please consider the use of alcohol by the mother and the drugs used by the father at conception and at birth. in your analysis, take in account the child’s three domains: physical, social and cognitive domain.) The girlfriend became pregnant, had the baby boy and, after 6 months, the couple allowed her parents to adopt the boy. The daughter and boyfriend broke up soon after the little boy was born. The child was born prematurely at 30 weeks. (In the Womb may be helpful here.) The daughter now lives with her maternal grandparents nearby. She visits the child and would be considered permissive. The biological father is not present in the child’s life. The 5 year-old son is in special programs at the public preschool. He suffers from mild mental and physical challenges. He challenges include a short attention span, some hyperactivity, poor impulse control, extreme nervousness and some anxiety. The son has recently been diagnosed with Autism.
1. Discuss the parents’ role (developmentally) in raising the daughter and, now, the son. Include defining social supports and 2 other developmental terms important to understanding the case study.
2. Discuss how the parenting styles (define all and then apply the ones fitting our case study) might have influenced and continue to influence the daughter’s choices.
3. Discuss the three domains (define each and then apply) in relationship to both children’s challenges.
4. Describe each family member in terms of Eric Erikson’s psychosocial stages. Define each stage fitting the family with proper in-text citations.
5. Discuss intervention options to help (give at least 3 options with research to support each intervention). Be specific and explain why, developmentally speaking, each is important.
