My client is struggling with many issues at home and in school. My client is absent one day out of the week since school started in September. She explained the reason for her being absent once a week is because she stays home whenever she feels to tried to go to school. Another issue she is struggling with is her relationship with her mother. She is at the development stage where her relationships with her peers are important. She lies to her mother about her whereabouts so she can spend time with her best friend. She also is having a difficult time accepting responsibility for her action in school and at home. My client has the responsibility of taking care of her mother due to an illness and this causes conflicts between them.One of the behaviors I will be helping my client to change will be to decrease the amount of classes she cuts in a day. I will be using a weekly behavior log to monitor that behavior.
Currently she is lacking the amount credits she needs to get her promoted to the 11th grade. My client is willing to work on changing her behavior. She has accepted the contact to improve her class attendance. During our session we discussed the amount of credits she needs to obtain so that she will be a 11th grade student in September. She explained that she didn't realize how close she is to graduating from high school. She explained that she really needs focus on obtaing the credits she needs because June is getting closer.
I explained the process of the evaluation and research purpose to her. She said she feels important to know that she will be having so much of my attention, she also said she was willing to do whatever it takes for her to make the changes.
It sounds as if this client is a challenging, but interesting case. It appears as if telling her about this project is a great start to your intervention - she feels important - and this could help cement your relationship!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know more about this client. For instance, it seems like she skips school to take care of mom, but what reasons does the client give for cutting class on the days she comes to school?
I know you mentioned weekly behavior logs, but do you know, specifically, how you are going to measure her progress? One way to think about this is simply to count days attended per week or periods attended per week (which is probably better if she is cutting class on days she comes to school).
I am curious what intervention(s) you will be using with this student. You may want to think about involving mom since it seems like your client's absences have a lot to do with her staying home to help her mother. If you are just going to focus on cutting classes for now, you will have to think about intervening in a different way.
I am anxious to read your future entries because this seems like a very interesting client!