bmc.SOWK.B565.001.4W2.S24
Section outline
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Clinical Social Work Practice with
Children and Adolescents
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of clinical social work practice with children and adolescents. In an effort to provide both a rigorous conceptual foundation for clinical social work practice in this area, and an overview of the dimensions of practice with this population, this course will be organized around three units of focus: assessment, commonly encountered clinical issues, and clinical interventions. Additionally students will be exposed to the cognitive, developmental, ecological, and cultural dimensions of practice that make practice with this population so challenging and rewarding; these dimensions will be the “lenses” through which we view the three units. The first unit will focus on assessment issues, starting with the developmental, cultural, and ecological issues that are necessary to frame the clinician’s assessment. We will explore issues of history taking, and initial clinical interviews with younger children, school aged children, and adolescents, as well as with parents and entire families. We will also discuss issues pertaining to psychological assessments, diagnosis, and intervention planning. The second unit will explore four clinical domains frequently encountered in work with children and adolescents: childhood trauma and abuse, and the concept of resilience; internalizing disorders with an emphasis on anxiety and depression; externalizing disorders; learning disabilities and school difficulties. We will explore common intervention strategies with each diagnostic cluster, with an emphasis on individual work, as well as medication issues. The third unit will focus on the three major modalities of clinical intervention other than working with individuals: family therapy, group therapy, and ecological interventions with natural systems, larger groups, and institutional programs. Each week will introduce an overview of some of the technical issues encountered in each of these modalities, as well as present practical information on the “ways and whys” of clinical work with children and adolescents.
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rev. 6/17/2023
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Students mustMark as done
This is a voluntary activity get participants thinking about this course.
The video documentary "Teenage". This video activity is offered as a voluntary activity so set the tone for the course and to let people get into the mode of learning remotely. Watch this only if interested. It is quite good.
"Teenagers didn't always exist. They had to be invented. As the cultural landscape around the world was thrown into turmoil during the industrial revolution, and with a chasm erupting between adults and youth, the concept of a new generation took shape. Whether in America, England, or Germany, whether party-crazed Flappers or hip Swing Kids, zealous Nazi Youth or frenzied Sub-Debs, it didn't matter - this was a new idea of how people come of age. They were all "Teenagers."
A hypnotic rumination on the genesis of youth culture from the end of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th, TEENAGE is a living collage of rare archival material, filmed portraits, and diary entries read by Jena Malone, Ben Whishaw, and others. Set to a a shimmering contemporary score by Bradford Cox (Deerhunter / Atlas Sound), TEENAGE is a mesmerizing trip into the past and a riveting look at the very idea of "coming-of-age."
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This course will meet for 150 minutes each session, rather than 180 due to the difficulties inherent in a class time that lengthy (on selected days we may end earlier still for the same reasons). This time will be made up through the asynchronous activities that are expected to be done, but at a time that works best for participants. Please note that most of these activities precede the related discussion topic so are best done in the order prescribed.
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Course Objectives:
In this course students will:
1) Develop a framework for clinical practice with children and adolescents that is informed by cognitive, developmental, cultural, and ecological perspectives.
2) Learn about and develop skills in assessment approaches, including history taking, structured and unstructured clinical assessments, family assessments, diagnostic nomenclature, and psychological testing.
3) Develop a working understanding of the four major clinical intervention modalities for this population: individual therapy, family therapy, group therapy, and ecological interventions.
4) Begin to develop an understanding of the technical issues encountered within the four major intervention modalities, and the indications for and limits of each modality.
5) Develop an awareness of the cognitive, emotional, and cultural factors behind school failure and learning disabilities, and some intervention approaches specific to this population.
6) Examine the various types of trauma encountered by children and its developmental impact.
7) Develop a working familiarity with the concept of resiliency and how this concept can inform clinical practice with children and adolescents. .
8) Critically analyze prevailing assessment and intervention approaches used in clinical work with children and adolescents in terms of their relevance to minority and economically disadvantaged populations.
9) Explore the issues of sexuality, drug and alcohol experimentation and abuse, and
violence, frequently encountered in clinical work with adolescents.
10) Develop an understanding of depression and melancholia, and anxiety, and how they manifest in
children and adolescents, along with differential diagnostic issues. -
Required Texts:
Bromfield, R. (2007) Doing Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy. Jason Aronson, Inc. (available through Tripod)
Perry, B., and Szavalitz, M., (2007) The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing. Basic Books.
Webb, N. B. (2019) Social Work Practice with Children, 4th Edition. The Guilford Press. (Third Edition, 2011, is available through Tripod- most chapters are the same).
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I am requesting each participant to write a short biographical introduction in order to expedite the first class. Please include your name, why you are taking this course, particular areas of interest relative to working with youth, relevant background, last year's field placement/this year's field placement, and any personal information you care to share in order to promote an atmosphere of sharing and relative informality.
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Assignment #1. In order to facilitate discussion of the assigned readings, participants are expected to upload to the Moodle discussion board one question and/or comment/reaction directly related to the readings (ideally these questions should be uploaded by 10 am the day of the class). These could be a specific clarifying question arising from confusion regarding something read, a general question expanding on an aspect of the reading, an argument or disagreement with something the author said, a statement of agreement emphasizing a particular point, etc. The posted responses will be read in advance of each class and will be used to guide part of the subsequent discussion for that evening. Additionally participants are expected to upload to the Moodle discussion board one question or reaction from that week’s asynchronous learning activity.
Please upload your questions/comments/reactions onto this Forum so that we can all benefit from your thoughts and queries. Participants are encouraged to respond to each others comments on this forum.
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Please upload reactions/questions/comments for Sessions #3 and #4, and the Asynchronous Learning Activity #2 (three videos on ACE's and Childhood Trauma) onto this forum. There will be a different forum for each week of the class- 5 forums total.
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Please upload reactions/questions/comments for Sessions #5 and #6, and the Asynchronous Learning Activity #3 (Suicide Assessment) onto this forum. There will be a different forum for each week of the class- 5 forums total.
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Please upload reactions/questions/comments for Sessions #7 and #8, and the Asynchronous Learning Activity #4 (Far From the Tree) onto this forum. There will be a different forum for each week of the class- 5 forums total.
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Please upload reactions/questions/comments for Sessions #9 and #10, and the Asynchronous Learning Activity #5 (videos on ecologically oriented interventions) onto this forum. There will be a different forum for each week of the class- 5 forums total.
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Opened: Monday, July 1, 2024, 6:01 PMDue: Monday, July 8, 2024, 6:01 PM
Each class participant is expected to submit by Session #5 one of two possible written assignments- student choice:
a) An annotated bibliography containing at least three references. Each reference should be at least two paragraphs in length. The first paragraph should be a brief summary of the reference, describing the issues addressed and the thrust of the author’s position. The second paragraph should discuss the relevance of this reference to the course as a whole, as well as pertinent clinical issues, questions raised or answered for you personally, applicability to practice, etc. Additional paragraphs may be needed to adequately review the article.
The references should be directly related to clinical social work with children and adolescents, and should be articles from professional journals, or chapters of books at least 8 pages in length, or one of the recommended therapy videos on Kanopy (see list below in the addendum https://brynmawr.kanopy.com/category/389). One of the references should relate directly to issues around working with specific ethnic or social minorities. The other two references should be of your choosing, on a topic of interest to you. I would be happy to recommend suggestions or point people in particular directions if you would like. One of them can be from the recommended reading list above.
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b) View one of the popular movies on contemporary adolescents and children (listed in the addendum) and write a review. The review should be 3-4 pages long, including a brief plot overview/summary and a discussion of its relevance (or lack thereof) to this course. Particular focus should be on issues surrounding how this film might reflect upon clinical social work interventions with youth populations.
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Students mustMark as done
Here is a list- some of the first are really not truly contemporary although I deem them still worthy of viewing. I suggest that you watch and review a film that you have not viewed before.
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Videos on Kanopy and Youtube- links included.
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Opened: Monday, July 1, 2024, 11:00 PMDue: Thursday, July 18, 2024, 11:00 PM
Each class participant is expected to write an academic research paper (6 – 10 pages) on a topic related to clinical social work with children and adolescents using at least three references (one of which may also be from the annotated bibliography).
The paper must be completed by Session #8, and written according to article publication guidelines. The possible topics are quite varied, although I suggest some aspect of clinical work with children and adolescents that has not been covered elsewhere in the course, such as treatment of specific anxiety disorders of childhood, issues around medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy around specific diagnoses, effects of divorce and blended families, a review of diagnostic categories or populations not discussed, GLBTQ adolescents, substance abuse issues with adolescents, counter-transference issues, etc. Hopefully it will be a topic of interest to you. Again I am available to help people think of topic areas. Due to the paper being submitted late in the semester, and that there are 18 taking the class, it is very possible that the responses to the paper will be given to you by email after the end of the class.
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Three research brief summaries from the Center on Media and Child Health of Boston's Children's Hospital
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Three research brief summaries from the Center on Media and Child Health of Boston's Children's Hospital
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Three research brief summaries from the Center on Media and Child Health of Boston's Children's Hospital
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The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) is a research study conducted by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Participants were recruited to the study between 1995 and 1997 and have been in long-term follow up for health outcomes. The study has demonstrated an association of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs or childhood trauma) with health and social problems across the lifespan.
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Students mustMark as done
All- please fill out this evaluation before Thursday August 5th at 10 pm.
Thanks,
Tom
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revised June 3, 2024
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