Transcript Working with Families

Working with Families
Influences
Define Family
• Take a minute and write your definition of
family
Family
A family is a group of two
people or more (one of whom is
the householder) related by
birth, marriage, or adoption and
residing together; all such
people (including related
subfamily members) are
considered as members of one
family.
Census 20000
Family
The family is a group of individuals
with a continuing legal, genetic and/or
emotional relationship. Society relies
on the family group to provide for the
economic and protective needs of
individuals, especially children and
the elderly. (1984) (2003)
American Academy of Family
Physicians
Family
A family is a social group
organized or governed by a
repeatable set of rules.
Jackson (1965) Family rules: Marital
grid pro quo. Archives of General
Psychiatry. 12: 589-594.
Family
“A family is people who live
together who help and love each
other.”
A second grade student. In Fuller and
Olsen. 1998. Home-School Relations.
Allyn and Bacon.
Circle of Courage
During this slide presentation,
think of these four characteristics
in families and children:
1.Belonging
2.Independence
3.Generosity
4.Mastery
Census: U.S. Families
Percent of Children in Household
Most children spend the majority of their childhood living with two
parents; however, significant proportions of children have more
diverse living arrangements. Information about the presence of parents
and other adults in the family, such as the parent's unmarried partner,
grandparents, and other relatives, is important for understanding
children's social, economic, and developmental well-being.
Children in Household Type
Children in the U.S.
The number of children determines the demand for schools, health care, and
other services and facilities that serve children and their families.
U.S. Population
• In 1999, there were 70.2 million children in the United States, 0.3 million
more than in 1998. This number is projected to increase to 77.2 million in
2020.
• The number of children under 18 has grown during the last half-century,
increasing about half again in size since 1950.
• During the "baby boom" (1946 to 1964), the number of children grew rapidly.
• During the 1970s and 1980s, the number of children declined and then grew
slowly.
• Beginning in 1990, the rate of growth in the number of children increased,
although not as rapidly as during the baby boom.
• In 1999, there were approximately equal numbers of children--between 23
and 24 million--in each age group 0 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 17 years of age.
Children vs. Adults 65 and Older
In contrast, senior citizens (adults ages 65 and older) have
increased as a percentage of the total population since 1950, from
8 to 13 percent. By 2020, they are projected to make up 17
percent of the population.
U.S. Children by Race
Increases in the percentages of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific
Islander children are due to both fertility and immigration.
Much of the growth in the percentage of Hispanic children is
due to the relatively high fertility of Hispanic women.
Speak Another Language at Home
The percentage of children who speak English with difficulty
varies by region of the country, from 2 percent of children in
the Midwest to 11 percent of children in the West.
Births to Unwed Mothers
Increases in births to unmarried women are among the many
changes in American society that have affected family structure and
the economic security of children. Children of unmarried mothers
are at higher risk of having adverse birth outcomes, such as low
birthweight and infant mortality, and are more likely to live in
poverty than children of married mothers.
Births to Unwed Mothers
In 1998, 33 percent of all births in the U.S. were to
unmarried women.
National Ambient Air Quality
In 1998, 24 percent of children lived in areas that did not meet at
least one of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards,
down from 31 percent in 1990. The Clean Air Act established
Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards which are
designed to establish limits to protect public health, including the
health of sensitive populations such as asthmatics and children.
Type of Care Arrangement
The type of child care received is related to the age of the child. Children from
birth through age 2 were more likely to be in home-based care, either with a
relative or nonrelative, than to be in center-based care. Forty-two percent were
in home-based care (about 25 percent with a relative and 17 percent with a
nonrelative), and about 16 percent were in center-based care in 1999.
Family Education
• According to Burton L. White,
expert on early childhood and
Project Director of Harvard
University's Pre-School Project:
" . . . the informal education that
families provide for their children
makes more of an impact on a
child's total educational
development than the formal
educational system."
First Classroom
Home is the first
classroom. Parents
are the first and most
essential teachers
(Boyer, 1991, p 33)
Brain Development
• MAKING
CONNECTIONS
• A child is born with
over 100 billion
neurons or brain cells.
• These neurons form
connections, called
synapses, which make
up the wiring of the
brain.
Brain Development
• EARLY EXPERIENCES At
age eight months an infant may
have 1,000 trillion synapses.
• By age 10 the number of
synapses decrease to about 500
trillion.
• The final number of synapses is
largely determined by a child's
early experiences, which can
increase or decrease the number
of synapses by as much as 25
percent.
Brain Development
• "USE IT OR LOSE IT!" The
brain operates on a "use it or lose
it" principle: only those
connections and pathways that are
frequently activated are retained.
• Other connections that are not
consistently used will be pruned
or discarded so the active
connections can become stronger.
Brain Development
• DEFINING LANGUAGE SKILLS
When an infant is three months old, his
brain can distinguish several hundred
different spoken sounds.
• Over the next several months, his brain
will organize itself more efficiently so
that it only recognizes those sounds that
are part of the language he regularly
hears.
• During early childhood, the brain
retains the ability to relearn sounds it
has discarded, so young children
typically learn new languages easily and
without an accent.
Brain Development
• THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD
The power of early adult-child interactions is
remarkable.
• Researchers found that when mothers
frequently spoke to their infants, their
children learned almost 300 more words by
age two than did their peers whose mothers
rarely spoke to them.
• However, mere exposure to language
through television or adult conversation
provided little benefit.
• Infants need to interact directly with others.
• Children need to hear people talk to them
about what they are seeing and experiencing,
in order for their brains to fully develop
language skills.
Brain Development
• THE LOVING TOUCH Warm, responsive
caregiving not only meets an infant's basic,
day-to-day needs for nourishment and
warmth, but also responds to their
preferences, moods and rhythms.
• Recent research suggests that this kind of
consistent caregiving is not only comforting
for an infant, it plays a vital role in healthy
development.
• The way that parents, families and other
caregivers relate and respond to their young
children, and the way they respond to their
children's contact with the environment,
directly affect the formation of the brain's
neural pathways.
Brain Development
• CREATING ONE STABLE
BOND
• Researchers who examine the
life histories of children who
have succeeded despite many
challenges, have consistently
found that these children have
had at least one stable,
supportive relationship with an
adult early in life.
Breast-feeding
• Breast-feeding is good for a baby -- and most experts say they
believe it's also good for a baby's developing brain. Those who had
been breast-fed for seven to nine months scored higher on IQ tests
than those breast-fed for one month or less, according to a study in
the Journal of the American Medical Association in May.
• A recent study by the University of Kentucky finds that breast-fed
babies have an IQ three to five points higher than that of formulafed babies. "Infants deprived of breast milk are likely to have lower IQ,
lower educational achievement, and poorer social adjustment than
breast-fed infants."
• Numerous studies show marked increases in various illnesses in
children who are not breast-fed, including increases in otitis media,
gastroenteritis, and upper respiratory track infections. Bottle-fed
babies in the U.S. are much more likely to have to be hospitalized
and suffer a death rate double that of breast-fed infants even after
controlling for other variables. Allergies and asthma are also much
more common in individuals who were bottle-fed.
Abuse and Neglect on Brain Development
• At the CIVITAS Child Trauma Programs at Baylor College
of Medicine, Bruce Perry and co-workers have studied the
impact of neglect and trauma on the neurobiology of over
1,000 abused and neglected children.
• In one study, 20 children who had been raised in globally
under-stimulating environments- children who were rarely
touched or spoken to and who had little opportunity to
explore and experiment with toys- were examined with
sophisticated new brain-imaging techniques and other
measures of brain growth.
• The children were found to have brains that were
physically 20 to 30 percent smaller than most children their
age and, in over half the cases, parts of the children's
brains appeared to have literally wasted away.
Nutrition and Brain Development
• PROPER PRENATAL CARE
Many studies have shown the
devastating effects on intelligence
and brain development from a lack
of basic nutrients at the prenatal
stage, in infancy and early
childhood.
• Educational and outreach campaigns
to alert women to the importance of
nutrition during pregnancy would
also be helpful in preventing
problems that can arise in this
critical period when brain cells
begin to form.
Dendrites
• Dendrites are thin,
branching fibers lined with
receptors at which the
dendrite receives
information from other
neurons. The greater the
surface area, the greater the
amount of information.
Some dendrites are covered
with spines which greatly
increase its surface area.
Nicotine and Brain Development
• Observable effects included significantly reduced
thickness of the cerebral cortex, smaller cerebral
cortex neurons, and reduced brain weight.
• Also noted was an overall decrease in "dendritic
branching" (connections to other brain cells), as
seen in the camera lucida drawings at right.
• The present study also shows that the greater the
dose of nicotine, the greater the biological effects
upon the offspring.
• This research provides an excellent biological
model to support the many other studies linking
increased hyperactivity, attention deficits, lower
IQ, and learning disabilities in children with
parents who smoked during pregnancy.
Cigarettes and Pregnancy
About nine million children 5 and under in the United States are
exposed to tobacco smoke
Cigarette smoking during pregnancy can result in low birth weight
babies.
It has been associated with infertility, miscarriages, tubule pregnancies,
infant mortality and childhood morbidity.
Cigarette smoking may cause long-term learning disabilities.
A Johns Hopkins University Study found that children of mothers who
smoke were more likely to have cleft palates than children of
nonsmokers.
Mothers who smoke only 10 cigarettes a day cause their children under
5 to have positive blood tests for nicotine and cancer-causing
compounds.
Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of asthma in
children.
Smoking during pregnancy has been linked as a risk factor for a severe
anti-social behavior in children, called "conduct disorder."
Second Hand Smoke and Cognition
• More than 33 million
children in the United
States are exposed to levels
of second hand smoke
consistent with the adverse
effects seen in this study.
• Forty-three percent of
American children are
exposed to environmental
tobacco smoke in their
own homes.
• Eighty-five percent of
children have detectable
levels of cotinine in their
blood.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition, both before and during the first few years after birth,
has been shown to result in stunted brain growth and slower
passage of electrical signals in the brain (Pollitt & Gorman, 1994;
Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). These effects on the brain are linked to
cognitive, social, and behavioral deficits with possible long-term
consequences (Karr-Morse & Wiley, 1997).
For example, iron deficiency (the most common form of
malnutrition in the United States) can result in cognitive and motor
delays, anxiety, depression, social problems, and problems with
attention (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Protein deficiency can result
in motor and cognitive delays and impulsive behavior (Pollitt &
Gorman, 1994). The social and behavioral impairments may be
more difficult to "repair" than the cognitive impairments, even if the
nutritional problems are corrected (Karr-Morse & Wiley, 1997).
Neglect
"These images illustrate the negative impact of neglect on the
developing brain. In the CT scan on the left is an image from a
healthy three year old with an average head size. The image on the
right is from a three year old child suffering from severe sensorydeprivation neglect. This child's brain is significantly smaller than
average and has abnormal development of cortex." These images
are from studies conducted by a team of researchers from the Child
Trauma Academy (www.ChildTrauma.org) led by Bruce D. Perry,
M.D., Ph.D.
Alcohol and Brain Development
According to a study by the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse:
• Alcohol is the leading drug abused by U.S.
teens.
• Underage drinkers account for 19.7 percent of
alcohol consumed in U.S.
• 78 percent of high school students have tried
alcohol.
• 30 percent of them admit to binge drinking at
least once a month.
• Average age of first drink among 12-to-20-yearolds is 14.
FAS & the Brain
• Children with FAS
often suffer lifelong
consequences from
"in utero alcohol
exposure," such as
mental retardation,
learning disabilities,
and serious
behavioral problems.
Premature Births
• Increasing since 1980
• Approximately 1 in 20 births are born before they
are due. A premature birth is one which occurs
before 37 weeks of pregnancy. A normal
pregnancy is 40 weeks long.
• The brain: Very small babies are prone to bleeding
in the brain. This is especially true with babies
weighing less than 1 kg.
Obesity & Schools
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According to 2002 stats, more than 10 PERCENT
of America's children between ages 2-5 are
overweight, increasing by at least one-third over
the past decade. By the numbers, more than 9
million kids ages 6-19 (a majority between ages
12-19) were overweight or obese.
New evidence on the relationship between
childhood overweight and academic performance
using a nationally representative data set of
kindergartners in the United States.
Significant differences in test scores in relation to
overweight status at the beginning of kindergarten
and the end of first grade can be explained by
other individual characteristics, including parental
education and the home environment.
However, overweight is more easily observable in
relation to other students compared with
socioeconomic characteristics, and its significant
association with worse academic performance can
contribute to the stigma of overweight as early as
the first years of elementary school.
Attachment
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Skeels
Spitz
Bowlby
Tizard and Hodges
Rutter
Ainsworth
Brazelton and Yogman
Skeels
Skeels and Dye, for example, removed children aged 7-30
months from a very depriving orphanage to a mental
retardation colony, where as the only young children present
they received a great deal of attention. At the time of transfer
the children were very retarded - the thirty month old child,
for example, could not stand alone. Over the next 18 months
the children made rapid progress. Most were then adopted,
and their outcome as adults was entirely normal. The
methodology of this research has been severely criticized, but
the case studies undoubtedly provide evidence of the
potentially powerful effect of a changed environment on
development.
Renee Spitz
In 1946-48 Renee Spitz did a remarkable study on infants born to felon
mothers. At the time it was believed if they removed an infant from a felon
mother and placed the child in a foundling home which would give the infant
the best of professional care the infant would thrive. Whereas if they left the
infant with the felon mother, it was believed the infant would not flourish as
well and would learn to become a felon itself. But instead by 1 year of age 25%
of the infants in the foundling home died, compared to zero infants that
remained with their mothers. At two years of age an astounding 37% of the
infants in the foundling home died, compared to zero infants that remained with
their mothers! At age 1, on the average infants in the foundling home had an IQ
of 72 vs 105 of those who remained with their mothers. At 2 years of age all of
the infants that remained with their mothers were gusty, running, playing, and
many fed themselves with a spoon. In the foundling home 5 of 21 walked
unassisted, 9 of 21 ate w/spoon, 1 of 21 spoke 12 words, 3 of 21 were of
normal weight.
John Bowlby
Tizard and Hodges
• The age 0-2 is a sensitive period for children in their development.
• Children need to form stable attachments with someone, usually an adult during
this period.
• Partially in support of Bowlby’s findings, this research indicates that the effects
last several years – up to the age of 16.
• The research suggest that maternal deprivation or a failure to form attachments
cause social problems:
1. an inability to form relationships with peers
2. an inability to form relationships with siblings
3. bullying behavior
4. Being quarrelsome at school
5. Difficulty in forming relationships with their parents (with the exception of
the adopted group) or careworkers.
Rutter
•Rutter, et al. (2000) studied the development of
children adopted from Romanian orphanages. When
each child was 6 years old, the researchers assessed
what proportion of the adopted children were
functioning "normally." They found that 69 percent
of the children adopted before the age of 6 months
were functioning normally, 43 percent of the
children adopted between the ages of 7 months and
2 years, and 22 percent of the children adopted
between the ages of 2 years and 3½ years.
Mary Ainsworth
Ainsworth finds 15 mother-infant pairs and studies their behavior from birth by visiting
them at home every three weeks for four hours. The observer notes any attachment
behaviors, especially in situations where they are likely to happen, and the mothers
response. After one year, the babies are put in 20 minute laboratory "strange situations."
Results show that mothers who responded right away to infant crying had minimum
crying, securely attached babies who responded well to being picked up as well as being
put down. They greeted the mother with joy upon her return and protested her departure
only when put in an unfamiliar situation. On the other hand, the insecure baby cried a lot,
but treated the mother's absence with indifference often ignoring her upon her return as a
defense mechanism. The strange situations showed the difference between the secure,
avoidant, and ambivalent-resistant babies.
Brazelton and Yogman
•Analyzed the process of early attachment
and studies
•Looked specifically at the interaction
between infant and parent, even covering
the effects of experiences in-utero.
•Found that child appears to be born with
responses, including the ability to develop
a reciprocal relationship with the
caregiver.
Factors Preventing Attachment
•No support system due to isolation
and insecurity
•Never having models of good
parenting
•Being reared in abusive homes
•Having busy and absent parents
Lev Vygotsky
Jean Piaget
Hunt
• Children are not born with fixed
intelligence.
• If IQs were fixed, intellectual growth
could not be affected.
• Parental role changed from one of passive
observation to one of facilitation.
My Family
Where I Came From
• 25 years of identifying all descendants of
Bernard and Catharine Hanavan who left
Ireland and came to America about 1835
with their infant daughter Katie.
• They initially lived in Buffalo, NY
• About 1845 they came by wagon and oxen
to Bosworth, Missouri
What Do You Think?
Identified to date:
• 726 descendants
• 992 marriages
Can one person
make a difference?
Family Systems Theory
Basic premise of FST:
• What affects one family member
affects all family members (Minuchin,
1974)
• Includes siblings and extended family
• Family members are interdependent
• Teacher/Professional roles include
attention focused on empowering all
family members
• Family is an integrated system with
unique characteristics, strengths, and
needs, thus
• Have more direct control of successful
student/patient outcomes and their own
professional effectiveness
Family Systems Concept
1.
2.
3.
4.
Family resources
Family interactions
Family functions
Family life cycle
Family Systems Conceptual Framework
Family Characteristics
characteristics of the family
characteristics of individuals
special challenges
Inputs
Family
Interaction
Parental
Siblings
Family Life Cycle
developmental stages &
transitions
change in characteristics
change in functions
Cohesion
Adaptability
Extended
Family
Marital
Process
Family Functions
economics
daily care
self-definition
recreation
affection
socialization
education/vocational
Outputs
FTS: Family Resources
Characteristics of family
• Family membership, size, etc
• Cultural/ethnic factors
• Socioeconomic status
• Geographic location
• Nature of exceptionality
• Family health
• Coping styles
FTS: Family Interaction
Family Subsystems
• Marital: husband & wife
• Parental: parent & child
• Siblings: child & child
• Extrafamilial: extended family, friends, professionals
• Boundaries
• Input/output
• Rules of interaction (cohesion and adaptability)
Family Interactions: Boundaries
Family boundaries are the
physical and emotional
barriers that distinguish
individuals and families and
regulate the amount of
contact occurring among
family members.
– Favorite chair (physical
barrier)
– Room designations (physical
barrier)
– Closeness/distance/openness
(emotional barrier)
F M
C
F M
C
F M
C
Rigid
Clear
Diffuse
Boundary Boundary Boundary
• Rigid boundaries restrict adaptation and
change
• Clear boundaries are physical, mental or
emotional barriers that allow for adaptation
and change
•Diffuse boundaries allow for too much
change and adaptation
Family Interactions: Hierarchy
• Families have an organized
structure within which
their members assume
roles and carry out
responsibilities.
• From a FS perspective,
normal families are viewed
as being organized
hierarchically, regulated by
the generations.
Authoritative
healthy family
F M
C
C M
F
Authoritarian
parents
Laissez-faire
parents
F M
C
F M
C
Reversal
Child-centered
C
F M
Diffuse
Open
Closed
FTS: Family Functions
Family Products (outputs) of family interactions
• Affection (intimacy, nurturing)
• Self-identity (belonging, strengths/weaknesses)
• Economic (conditions, income sources)
• Daily care (health, food preparation, transportation)
• Socialization (social skill development)
• Recreation (hobbies, individual and family)
• Educational/vocational (career, work ethic, homework)
FTS: Family Life Cycle
• Beginning family
• Childbearing family
• Families with preschool
children
• Families with school age
children
• Families with adolesents
• Launching
• The middle years
• Aging families
Family Systems Conceptual Framework
Family Characteristics
characteristics of the family
characteristics of individuals
special challenges
Inputs
Family
Interaction
Parental
Siblings
Family Life Cycle
developmental stages &
transitions
change in characteristics
change in functions
Cohesion
Adaptability
Extended
Family
Marital
Process
Family Functions
economics
daily care
self-definition
recreation
affection
socialization
education/vocational
Outputs
Ecocultural Theory
• Ecocultural theory states that a
universal task for all families is
to organize a sustainable daily
routine (Weisner, 1984).
• The theory assumes that family
adaptation involves balancing
ecology (resources, constraints),
culture (beliefs, values, and
schemata), and the needs and
abilities of family members in
the organization of daily
routines (Gallimore, Weisner,
Kaufman, & Bernheimer, 1989).
Ecocultural Theory
• A family's daily routine is dynamic and
changes according to its needs.
• How the family addresses these needs is
filtered by perceptions of resources and
constraints, and the actual resources and
constraints of the environment.
• This involves negotiating options and
balancing competing demands.
• For example, household management
involves attending to domestic chores like
cooking and cleaning as well as supervising
children's school work.
• A working parent may decide to forego a
scheduled laundry chore in order to help a
child who is struggling with homework.
• In this example the family ecology (e.g.,
limited time, no accessible after school
program) and sociocultural values (e.g.,
child's education) are linked to changes in the
family's routine.