Transcript Assessment and Evaluation

Family
Systems
Adjusting to Change
A family
• A sociologist’s definition,
‘is a small, interdependent
social system within which
may be found smaller
subsystems.
• When an event affects one
member of the group it
generally alters the
behavior of all members.
• .
Six assumptions of family
systems theory
1. There is a definite structure to the family.
2. The individual responds to change in the family
system.
3. The family system resists change.
4. The individual will change more readily if the
family changes.
5. Family interactions play a role in maintaining
equilibrium in the system.
6. Identified problems and problem individuals
can be understood as a part of the family
system.
Roles and Functions
Inherent within families are the roles of its
members.
– generally defined by age, status, gender,
and lineage (grandparents, parents,
children).
Functions –that a family and family members
perform are:
1. assistance and support (financial,
physical, rest & recovery)
2. socialization
3. self-definition and affect development
4. vocational and educational guidance
A family resists change, because a
change for any one member of the
family requires a change in response by
all members.
Educational Implications
Teachers need to keep in mind
that:
1. changes in the child will affect the family
system.
– The child's symptoms serve an important
function or role in maintaining a balance
in familial relationships even if primarily
dysfunctional.
– As the child improves, the sibling's
behavior and adjustment may
deteriorate.
A family system may resist changes
in a child.
This makes communication and
collaboration with family members
crucial for progress at school.
As the family changes and faces new
challenges (marriage, death,
divorce, or birth), the child will
be affected.
Unfreezing of existing patterns produces a
decrease in stability of family patterns. This
occurs when:
1.old approaches no longer work - - mother
goes to work
2. approaches become subject to scrutiny or
public criticism – grandmother, friends,
come to stay
– 3. a family member receives discrepant
information – feedback from school
– 4. a family is confronted with an
ambiguous or new situation – disabled
child.
• This unfreezing produces
the possibility of change
and the acquisition of new
attitudes and behaviors.
• After this change, a
refreezing of patterns
occurs.
In Reaction to Family Stress
Disorders and Roles:
1. Roles DEVELOP in response to
stress &
2. SERVE a significant protective or
regulatory function for maintaining a
balance or homeostasis of family
relationships.
WORKING
WITH
FAMILIES
• Grossman reported that family's definition
of the problem most directly affected
ability of family member to adjust to the
disability
• Important to remember that families of
disordered children are essentially no
different from any other family - only
different (or greater number of )
stressors.
• However the response to stress is
intensified by the fact that the disability
is a constant concern in the everyday life
of each member of the family.
Environmental Stressors
that require change
• Marital relations
• Social networks
• Decreased economic conditions
Stages of Child Changes
Expectations at prebirth
Dreams and fantasies of an ideal child.
The child represents a
–
–
love union of both parents.
parents own unmet needs, (e.g., this child will be a
baseball player).
–
bring parents closer together - - sometimes even to
save a marriage.
• It is against these expectations and hopes that a
mother goes into labor.
Traumas at birth
• Frequently her labor is prolonged and
painful and her recovery may be slower
• Initial response of parents depends on
how told-- concerned about the
immediate needs of the infant/or they
are looking at long term plans (e.g.,
persuade the mother to consider
institutionalization of the infant, social
workers).
• The child frequently needs additional
corrective surgery which they must
understand and give consent for.
• The father is expected to be
supportive of the mother, but also to
attend to his responsibilities at work as
if nothing has happened.
Stresses of Disability
and Family Changes
•
•
•
•
•
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Shock and disbelief
Guilt
Denial
Grief and depression
Jealousy and self/pity
Withdrawal
Effects on BONDING?
• more difficult when the child is disabled.
– need more burping, change of clothes, and
more trips to the doctor and to specialists
– seldom passed from mother to mother or
to friends and acquaintances. People are
uncomfortable holding a baby --can’t get
babysitters
– avoided by physicians and other medical
personnel because they do not have good
news.
– physicians and other medical personnel less
often supportive-- they have a subdued
“wait and see” attitude or at the other
extreme they may respond with
exaggerated hopes and unrealistic success
stories.
Effects on Parenting Style
Too Much behavior and
Upper limit controls
1. Ignore
2. Restrictive commands
3. Negative affect
4. Physical discipline
Too Little Behavior and
Lower limit controls
1. Drawing children’s
attention to activities
2. Coaxing, questioning,
encouraging
3. Provocative commands
4. Physical guidance
How Parents’ Style
Contributes
PATH 1-- the Authoritarian Parent
• And the
contribution to
aggression:
(a) severity of punishment
(b) extent of disagreement
(c) punitive/rejecting or
inconsistent
PATH 2: The Disengaged
Parent
PATH 3: The Jellyfish Parent
PATH 4: The Authoritative Parent
Parents who were strict or
authoritative were less
likely to:
• (a) use punitive and physical
punishment,
• (b) withdraw love, or
• (c) have children who had
low self-esteem.
SUMMARY
Family System = roles and functions
and resistance to change:
1.Natural changes (moving) resisted
due to -- change to 1 = change to
all
2. ‘Unnatural changes’ due to disability
a. depend on prior expectations
b. Stages of grief
c. bonding & degree of social support
d. parental style and its dependence
on too much too little behavior of
child