Hi readers
As part of a therapeutic play module at University I have conducted a child observation. The aim was to observe the child (male age 7 years) interacting in his own home with his mother, siblings and other children.
Background
Single parent family, father left the family home when child was six months old and has had no contact with family since leaving. Mother suffers from anxiety. Ethnic origin, of child, mixed heritage Scottish and white British and black British. He is the youngest of five children (all other siblings are female).
Child has previously become violent and verbally abusive towards mother and siblings; struggles to stay engaged in school and will often be removed from the class for disruptive behaviour.
He is currently being assessed for ADHD, by CAHMS East/ North East Child And Adolescent Mental Health Team.
Observation
During the observation he became violent and aggressive because he wanted to play on the games console when his older sister (age 12) was playing with it. With no verbal communication he pushed and hit his sister to enable him to play the game. His mother did not interact at all during the observation. Due to the potential safe guarding issue I felt it necessary to intervene therefore I went from being a non participant to a participant. When being reprimanded he became avoidant and aggressive. When this behaviour was ignored he then self regulated by putting himself on the ‘naughty step’, a technique that has been used by me in all previous interactions with the child.
I feel that this child would benefit from Becks CBT approach to help him with ‘Stop,Act & Think’, to help encourage self regulation and establish and maintain boundaries. However perhaps a joined up approach may be also beneficial such as Rogers Client Centred Therapy. This would provide him with the core conditions which he is potentially not receiving at home.
I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on my observations, any feedback would be warmly accepted.
Many thanks
Melvena
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