I. Background Introduction
Little C (pseudonym), male, is a junior high school student who was diagnosed with autism as a child. His parents divorced and he lived with his mother.
Little C took the initiative to ask for help from the social worker, emotionally agitated, crying and the social worker expressed that when he told his mother about he and Uncle Da, his mother did not understand him and did not stand in his point of view, making him feel wronged.
The social worker observed that Little C's mother's emotional reaction and expression to Little C at that time would initially be a kind of preaching, then ignoring, and then as Little C's emotions escalated, Little C's mother began to loudly accuse the client.
2. Case analysis
(1) The client has emotional comfort needs, is emotionally agitated, and is not good at controlling emotions. Usually communicate with the mother or others, emotional agitation, easy to contradict; when the needs are not met or not accepted, the speech is more extreme, there will be crying, loud talk, slapping the table and other behaviors to express emotions, lack of reasonable methods of venting emotions.
(2) Interpersonal communication lacks a sense of boundaries and rules, is prone to conflicting behaviors in interpersonal communication, and has insufficient understanding of language behavior. The client reported that there was only one good friend, and the classmates did not like to be friends with him, and they hoped to make friends. Lack of understanding of some interpersonal etiquette, etc., will make students dislike some of their own behaviors.
Such as: desertion in class, impoliteness to talk to classmates, close distance and other phenomena. In the process of getting along with others, when there is a conflict between the two parties, the client will have some "rude words" and "pointing at the noses of others to scold people" in expression. The same question is often asked repeatedly, and sometimes the same question is continued in response.
(3) The client's mother will have a situation of accusatory education, emotional neglect and emotional anxiety in the education of the child, and the parent-child relationship is more tense; the client's mother will say: "You are not as good as others", you are useless.... In life, there are often some verbal disputes with his mother, and he will feel that his mother does not love him. The client mother also reported that sometimes communication with the child was also unpleasant.
(4) Insufficient support network. The client lacks friends, the client's mother is also an only daughter, the grandmother lives in other districts, and her body also has some diseases. The client's father was less involved in his care and education. When the client's mother is busy with work, the client will go to the grandparents' house to eat and receive temporary care. The client had a better relationship with his grandparents and a poorer relationship with his uncle and had some unpleasant experiences.
3. Service Plan
(i) Theoretical analysis
1. Family System Theory:
Family system theory sees the family as a system, family members are the constituent components of the system, and each member interacts with each other. Individual behaviors, emotions, cognitions, etc. can also have an impact on family members.
In this case, the client's behavior and emotions also affected the mother, and the mother's communication style also had an impact on the client. Family members interact with each other. The problems of the client are related to the family, and it is necessary to start from the family to better assist the client to grow.
2. Social learning theory
Social learning theory emphasizes the role of observational learning in the acquisition of human behavior. It is believed that most human behavior is learned by observing the actions of others and the results of their actions. Relying on observational learning can quickly grasp a large number of behavioral patterns.
In this case, the client has some deviations in interpersonal communication, and the social worker can guide the client to understand his own behavior through scenario simulation, examples, etc., and assist the client to learn the etiquette of interpersonal communication, adjust the deviation behavior, so as to help the client better integrate into the collective.
Through experience sharing, book learning recommendation and other ways to help the client mother learn parent-child education and communication skills, relieve stress and improve parent-child relationship.
(ii) Service objectives
1. Assist the client to soothe his emotions and learn the method of reasonable catharsis;
2. Assist clients to adjust their deviant behavior, learn interpersonal skills, and establish a sense of rules;
3. Assist the client's mother to soothe her emotions, be aware of the problems existing in parent-child communication, understand the methods of parent-child communication, reduce the verbal violence against the client, etc., and improve the parent-child relationship;
4. Expand the family support network and link relevant resources to support.
(3) Service strategy and implementation process
1. Service Policy
Personal level: First, the social worker has a good professional relationship with the client through listening, acceptance, and non-critical skills to soothe the client's emotions. Secondly, through encouragement, heuristic questioning, examples, scenario simulations, etc., to assist the client to think about his emotions and behaviors, assist the client to reasonably vent his emotions, learn interpersonal skills, and establish a sense of rules.
Family level: Assist the client's mother to sort out the communication style and emotional loss of control with the child, help him release stress; assist him to realize the impact of accusatory communication on the client (emotional anxiety, self-esteem injury, deterioration of parent-child relationship, etc.), learn effective methods of discipline, give him support, and improve the parent-child relationship. At the same time, it assists them in exploring their own resources and capabilities to enhance their sense of effectiveness.
Social support level: When the family encounters an emergency, the social worker links the resources to give it support, taps the potential of the client's mother, and further assists the client's family in handling the emergency; links the resources to realize the micro-wishes; builds opportunities for parent-child communication and interaction, invites to participate in parent-child outing activities, further enhances parent-child relationship, increases peer interaction, and expands the circle of communication.
2. Service implementation process
(1) Establish a relationship with the client, listen to the client's voice and give companionship, and assist the client to vent his emotions reasonably. During the interview, the social worker patiently listens to the client's voice and expression of emotions; the same sadness that the client hopes for a response that is not achieved (e.g., repeatedly asking the mother the same question, hoping to get a reply, but after the reply is a preachy way), after relieving the emotions.
The social worker discusses with the client through specific situations, and gradually helps the client realize that some of his behaviors (slapping the table, cursing words) are not the performance that others like, and the client also realizes that this way of venting is impolite and will bring discomfort to others.
The client began to become conscious and changed, and was willing to reduce these behaviors by trying to breathe deeply and count. There was improvement in emotional control, fewer agitation tantrums, and fewer slapping tables and pointing fingers at people. The social worker also promptly affirmed the client's progress and encouraged him to continue.
(2) Assist the client to learn interpersonal skills and establish a sense of rules; the social worker uses the client's daily behavior and the situation described by him to discuss and guide, and assist the client to learn the method of interpersonal communication.
Example 1: The client misses the teacher, wants to see the teacher, goes to the teacher's house without the teacher's knowledge, and enters the teacher's house without knocking on the door. The teacher is not at home, and the feedback is unfamiliar to the family, which is a bit scary for the child.
The social worker affirms that the client cares about the teacher's intentions, and through heuristic questions, guides the client to think about the "visit" and also has some details to learn, and sorts out the process and the appropriate way together: telephone or meeting appointment - explain the intention - whether it is convenient - agree on the time.
Example 2: The client lacks understanding of the appropriate distance to get along with people, gets closer to the opposite sex, and sometimes pulls the hand of the staff. The social worker learned that the client was expressing it to the people he liked and wanted to be friends with them. There are many ways for social workers to discuss their preferences with their clients, and the right distance can be comfortable.
At the same time, the social worker gradually assists the client to establish a sense of rules through the details of the daily interview (knocking on the door, language expression, appropriate distance, emotional management, etc.) and more affirmation and encouragement.
Through intervention, the client learned about the appropriate distance, the importance of polite language, etc. for making friends, the frequency of repeatedly asking the same question for repeated responses was reduced, and the frequency of close physical contact behavior was reduced, and at the same time, in communication, he gradually understood others from the perspective of others.
(3) Assist the client's mother to soothe her emotions, be aware of the problems in parent-child communication, understand the parent-child communication method, reduce the language violence against the client, etc., and improve the parent-child relationship; the social worker patiently listens to the client's mother's confession, and empathizes with the hardships of her own care and raising of the child.
Instead of combing the sources of emotions and stress, guiding them to see the child's advantages (independence, strong athletic ability, etc.), while understanding the behavioral characteristics of autism (stereotyped), understanding the child's behavior and emotions, and paying attention to the child's emotions; secondly, assisting in the influence of his conscious accusatory communication method on the child, sharing the child's discipline, communication knowledge and books, and encouraging him to change.
The client's mother's emotions have been soothed and negative language has been reduced in parent-child education communication, and the sense of efficacy has been improved to a certain extent.
(4) Expand the family support network. In the service, the client's family had many emergencies, and the social worker actively linked resources for his family and expanded the support network. After the emergency is handled, the social worker also affirms the client's mother's ability to solve the problem, and also guides the client's mother to see her potential and the way to deal with this kind of thing in the future.
At the same time, social workers also build opportunities for parent-child communication and interaction, inviting participants in parent-child activities to relieve the care pressure of the client's mother, enhance parent-child relationship, and increase peer interaction.
On the other hand, the social worker actively encourages the client to explore the resources around him, and in terms of children's education, the client's mother also actively discusses methods with friends and colleagues, and also discovers her own shortcomings. In the care of the client, the social worker encouraged the client's mother to communicate with the client's father and play a supportive role in the client's father.
During the epidemic period, the client's grandmother was ill, the client's mother had to take care of the grandmother, in the case of bus suspension, the client's mother communicated with the client's father, the client's father drove an electric car to the school in the morning.
IV. Case Evaluation
(i) Achievement of individual case objectives
After the intervention of the social worker, a good professional relationship was established with the client, and under the patient accompaniment and guidance of the social worker, he assisted the client to soothe his emotions, learned to use deep breathing, counting and other reasonable catharsis, reduced the cathartic way of patting the table and loudly accusing people; at the same time, he gradually understood the etiquette of interpersonal communication, and learned the appropriate distance and polite language.
The client's mother's mood was also eased, negative language was reduced in parent-child education communication, and the sense of efficacy was improved to a certain extent. With the encouragement and support of social workers, the client mother has gradually developed her potential, discovered and used the resources around her, and the family's support network has been improved to a certain extent. It can be seen that the goal of the individual case has been basically achieved.
(ii) Changes in the client
1. Through observation and interviews, it was learned that the client's management of emotions had become aware and changed, emotional control had improved, the number of agitated tantrums had decreased, and the behavior of slapping the table and pointing at people was reduced. And willing to reduce these behaviors by trying to breathe deeply and count.
2. Through observation and interviews, it was found that the client had an understanding and thinking about some of his impolite behaviors, understood the importance of appropriate distance, polite language, etc. for making friends; the frequency of repeatedly asking the same question to get a repeated response was reduced, and the frequency of close physical contact behavior was reduced.
3. Understand through interviews that the relationship between the client and the mother has improved, and be willing to try to communicate with the mother.
V. Professional Reflection
1.In the counseling process, the social worker's acceptance, empathy, and non-critical skills can help the social worker to establish a good relationship with the client. For children with "autism", social workers need more patience, understanding of "characteristics", and understanding their behavior.
2. In the counseling process, social workers can use encouragement, heuristic questions, examples, scenario simulations, etc. to help clients think about their emotions and behaviors, avoid didactic methods, and also help to establish a good interview atmosphere with clients.
The formation of good behavior habits requires a period of effort, and some behaviors are more difficult to change effectively in a short period of time.
3. Focus on the linking of resources to expand the support network and provide support for the client's family. The client's family support network is still relatively weak and still needs to be strengthened. Later, if you can establish a relationship with the client's father, you can enhance the client's growth support, behavioral influence, and relieve the pressure on the client's mother.
Author: Tang Peilin
Source: "Meet Social Worker" WeChat public account
!["Mom, I always use a pen to prick me at the back table": The child is wronged, and the mother's approach is textbook[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)