The purpose of this research was to determine family patterns which limit the optimal functioning of the child in middle childhood with Bipolar Disorder and Cerebral Palsy. To achieve this goal a thorough literature study was performed with regard to the child with Bipolar Disorder and Cerebral Palsy. The nature, causes and state of these two conditions in the family were investigated. Cresswell's combined model of research namely the "dominant-less-dominant" model of investigation was used. The less dominant part of the research was quantitative where the "Hudson scale: Index of Parental Attitudes" was used. This is a standardised questionnaire that aims to measure the attitudes of parents. The qualitative part of the research produced more information regarding the above-mentioned aspects. Unstructured interviews with the family, as well as the multi-disciplinary team currently involved with the family were conducted. The "One shot case study" was used to determine the significance of negative family patterns. This is an in-depth study of a single unit and required that the researcher become part of the family and family activities for a specific period of time. From this specific family, patterns were identified which limit the child with Bipolar Disorder and Cerebral Palsy to optimal functioning. From the results it was clear that significant family patterns exist in this family which limit the child. The research question could therefore be answered and certain themes could be identified. With regard to dimensions of family functioning, significant patterns around affection, behaviour control, value transmission, structure, communication and external systems were identified which limit the child to optimal functioning. Through this the researcher comes to the conclusion that family functioning has a significant influence on the optimal functioning of the child with an affective disorder and disability. With these results in mind, it is important that families are guided in the handling of children with affective disorders and disabilities, so that these children too, can reach optimal functioning. / Thesis (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This study’s contribution to knowledge is the contextualizing of emotional awareness as a prerequisite for becoming emotionally intelligent, and developing a program to educate emotional awareness, as a developmental ability, within the educational system. Emotional intelligence is a familiar and widely recognized term, but is in fundamental nature more of a broad and overreaching outcome, rather than an ability. This research focused on children in the middle childhood developmental phase and how emotional awareness can be taught to them. An Emotional Awareness Program (EA Program) was developed and implemented within the classroom context and its effectiveness was evaluated to determine whether the EA Program did have an influence on emotional vocabulary, emotional expression and the general level of emotional awareness displayed by the learners. Being emotionally aware, benefits children on different levels of their functioning. Various authors, as cited in this study, conclude that relationships, self-esteem, academic performance, independent functioning and self expression all benefit from the development of emotional awareness. Entering the school setting is often the child’s first move into relationships with peers and adults other than family members. Learners spend most of their waking lives, during their middle childhood, in school. Many aspects necessary for emotional education may be found within the school environment. These consist of peer relationships, empathy for others, problem-solving, developing a regard for the feelings of others and coping with difficult situations or emotions. A child suffering physical and emotional abuse, neglect, trauma or insufficient stimulation presents neurological deterioration in neurons (the “building blocks” of the brain). Diminished brain functioning may result in anger, emotional episodes and disruptive behaviour as methods of emotional expression in some learners. Neurological damage, suffered in this manner, can be reversed via the intervention of a caring adult. This interaction stimulates healthy neurons, and causes them to migrate to the area that suffered damage, thus illustrating the immense role educators are required to play in the future development and restoration of neurological health of some learners. The educational system is ideally positioned to deal with children from a holistic perspective by addressing not only their cognitive and physical needs, but also their emotional and subsequent social needs. Furthermore, the development of the emotional awareness of educators will equip them with the necessary insight into the emotional needs of learners. It is anticipated that emotional awareness will benefit learners in general and have a positive ripple effect on schools and communities as a whole. The study found that the Gestalt approach is best suited for the research study, as it presupposes that the child is “a whole and complex being”; and considers, as a backdrop, the child’s development regarding awareness and the influence that this has on their progress. It was noted from the study that this viewpoint is not always the point of departure of the current school set-up. This investigation was executed using a quantitative research approach, with a structured method of inquiry. This consisted of the formulation of a specific and constant hypothesis, a predetermined research process and a standardized questionnaire. The researcher wanted to measure the effectiveness of an EA program on specific variables such as the learners’ ability to: <ul> <li> be in contact with their emotions; </li><li> discriminate between different emotions; </li><li> verbalize and take ownership of their emotions; </li></ul> This study resorted within the description of applied research, as it was undertaken to acquire new knowledge and was primarily directed towards practical objectives. It focused on a practical problem; the need for an EA Program for children in middle childhood that was scientifically tested within the South African Education System. Within the context of applied research, intervention research was applicable to this study as it aimed to develop technology, useful to the educational profession. The design and development sub-type of intervention research best encompassed the researcher’s intent to design and develop technology, namely the EA Program, to implement the program (intervention) and to evaluate the effectiveness thereof for further implementation within the education system. A quasi-experimental design namely the comparison group pre-test – post-test design was utilized. A standardized questionnaire entitled Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS-C), developed by Dr. Jane Bajgar and Dr. Richard Lane (2003), was used as the measuring instrument. This questionnaire was developed specifically so that its use of language, the length and content of the form would be child appropriate. The study focused on children in the middle childhood developmental phase, which proved to be the phase where emotional awareness begins to play an important role. Children in this phase are particularly susceptible to new knowledge as they have already obtained the basic cognitive abilities (reading, writing and reasoning) necessary to comprehend the content of the EA program. The following conclusions were derived from the execution of this research study: Emotional awareness seemed to be a relatively unfamiliar term in comparison with the widely recognized and renowned term, emotional intelligence. This study positioned emotional awareness as a prerequisite for emotional intelligence; as it is a practical awareness of cognitively obtainable knowledge regarding the emotions of self and others. Emotional intelligence on the other hand is achieved through constructive and optimal emotional awareness abilities. Based on the research findings, and as suggested earlier, it appears that the education system is particularly well positioned to address the emotional development of a large percentage of the school going population. It is assumed that emotional awareness can be cognitively educated and educators are equipped with the necessary educational skills. The education system is thus further favourably equipped to educate emotional content due to the fact that cognitive development is their field of expertise. The research findings indicated that the EA Program succeeded to a great extent in developing emotional vocabulary, higher level emotional responses and the accompanying ability of emotional expression within the experimental group. This measured increase was derived from a seven week exposure to the EA program, which may be indicative of the results that could be achieved with daily exposure to emotional learning, and a healthy emotional setting within the school environment. Obtaining higher level emotional vocabulary is evidently accompanied by emotional expression as the appropriate vocabulary, which is necessary to express the emotional experience accurately. Emotional expression abilities were addressed in particular by the EA Program, and the empirical results suggest that the emotional vocabulary of respondents did expand. A caring educator, well equipped with insight into emotional awareness, may in many instances prove to be a safety net for many learners. This may well serve as a catalyst for reprogramming the brain of the emotionally scarred learner to trust, and risk getting back in the circle of life again, a better alternative than having the learner only surviving by adopting “fight‟ or “flight‟ strategies. Educators must become equipped with the knowledge to comprehend the possibly diminished brain development of the rebellious, aggressive, emotional or introverted learner. This will ensure that their response to such learners has emotional development at heart rather than further emotional harm. Educators should therefore be in touch with their own emotional awareness as well. Indeed, it may prove interesting to determine the value that would be added to the quality of education in South Africa through emotional awareness training to educators. The education system as a whole possesses a responsibility and accountability regarding the educational wellbeing of their learners, as emotional health pre-determines the learners’ ability to thrive. This study made a valuable contribution to the field of both social work and education in their collective aim to develop and empower children. It is recommended that the common grounds where these two professions may meet should be further explored to determine where such a partnership can add further value to the South African educational setting. Providing an emotionally safe and secure classroom atmosphere requires further exploration, as it is an additional factor relating to the ability of learners to excel in class. Existing literature suggests that peer relationships and self-esteem will also benefit from emotional awareness, but the development of these two variables was not tested in this study, and may be a topic for further research. It would be significant to repeat this study on a national level to determine the current emotional level of primary school learners. Comparative studies to determine the differences in emotional awareness of learners in urban and rural areas, or within different ethnic backgrounds may also be of value. This will assist in determining the South African situation regarding emotional awareness and to develop the means to enhance it within the South African education system. This study demonstrated that emotional awareness is an easily comprehendible term which can be easily educated but presents vast benefits. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

The researcher aimed in this study to answer the research question: how is frustration expressed by the child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in middle childhood within the classroom setting? The goal of the study was therefore to explore the expression of frustration in the child with ADHD in middle childhood within the classroom setting. The research population consisted of all children in middle childhood years who had been diagnosed with ADHD and were attending either Arthur Matthews or Montrose Primary Schools. The sampling method was purposive as subjects with these specific attributes were utilized. The extent of the investigation was limited to the observations of 20 children. The exploratory design was used in order to complete the empirical study. A checklist was used for the purpose of gathering data. This data was quantitative information on frustration expressed by children with ADHD in middle childhood, as observed by the researcher. Research results indicate that frustration plays a large role in the school life of a child diagnosed with ADHD. The findings also show that the child with ADHD directs much of his/her frustration towards him/herself. The research findings indicate that frustration that is not dealt with at an early stage will develop into aggression. In order to assist a child in dealing with his/her frustration, it is recommended that the child be taught coping mechanisms which assist him/her in ventilating frustration in a socially acceptable way. Further research into the effective implementation of teaching coping mechanisms to children in middle childhood with ADHD within the classroom setting is recommended. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

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No description available.

Despite evidence suggesting considerable overlap between the neurobiology underlying sleep regulation and the neurobehavioral systems regulating attention control and emotional arousal, sleep remains an understudied domain in the quest to improve children's regulation of behavior, emotions, and cognition in support of school competence during middle childhood. Using a large, normative sample (n = 1,057) from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Childcare and Youth (NICHD-SECCYD), I tested a conceptual model of sleep, school competence, and children's adjustment to address important gaps in our understanding of the direction of effects and interrelations among sleep problems, attention problems, and academic and social competence across middle childhood. I examined the domains for their combined effects and pathways of influence on children's adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms and feelings about school) at the end of middle childhood--a period just prior to the impending biological and contextual changes associated with adolescence. Using structural equation modeling and repeated measurement at 54 months-of-age, Grade 1, Grade 3, and Grade 5, findings indicated that maternal-reported sleep problems in preschool directly predicted teacher-reported attention problems when children were in third and fifth grade. Findings lend support for models of sleep and neural development that posit adverse early effects of sleep problems on prefrontal cortex (PFC) maturation that aids in the development of attention control. Maternal-reported sleep problems did not predict standardized assessments of reading and math at any time across the assessment period. In contrast, sleep problems predicted teacher reports of children's ability to effectively cooperate and execute positive response strategies with peers. Effective language and cognitive skills are important and necessary for positive peer interactions and problem solving, and sleep problems have been associated with slower growth in language development and memory processes. Both maternal-reported sleep problems and teacher-reported peer relations uniquely predicted children's self-reported depressive symptoms, perceived competence, and motivation and social support in school at the end of middle childhood. Findings lend support for an emotion information processing model of sleep and competency-based models of depression. Academic achievement and attention problems and attention problems and peer relations were reciprocally related at all assessment periods. In support of the academic underachievement hypothesis, academic achievement consistently exerted stronger effects on attention problems compared to inverse relations. Attention problems and academic achievement had no direct effects on children's depressive symptoms or motivation for school, but exerted indirect effects through their effects on peer relations. Despite expected relations, no domain in the present study predicted children's sleep problems. Even though results are somewhat surprising given theoretical perspectives and limited empirical work investigating associations between sleep problems, attention problems, and academic and social competence, this study was novel in its design for simultaneously evaluating effects of these domains together across time. Findings from the present study may fail to align with prior research because multiple domains were allowed to compete with one another in a single model, and shared rater variance as well as prior and concurrent levels of each domain were controlled across the study period. Alternatively, variables not measured in the present study but associated with children's sleep problems, such as child temperament or parenting practices, may be stronger predictors of children's sleep. In sum, results point to the unique associations between children's sleep problems, attention problems, and academic and social competence across middle childhood, and the importance of considering their combined influence on children's feelings of adjustment as they enter the challenging period of adolescence. / Educational Psychology

The focus of this qualitative study is the way siblings of children with autism experience their nuclear family. Five participants in their middle childhood (6 to 12 years), with a younger sibling with autism, participated in the study. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted with all participants to describe their experience of their family. The interviews were, with the consent of the parents and children, video-recorded and transcribed. Eight recurring themes were identified in the transcriptions and studied relative to the existing literature. True to the qualitative nature of this study, the aim was not to generalize the findings, but to give each of the participants the opportunity to tell his/her story. The result of this study is the detailed description of how siblings of children with autism experience their nuclear family. / Social Work / M.Diac.(Play Therapy)

This study was aimed at exploring and describing the role of music as a medium in the Gestalt play therapy process with children who experience emotional distress and therefore suffer loss of healthy contact. The case study method was used as research strategy. A literature study of the Gestalt approach and Gestalt play therapy was carried out as well as a study of the child in middle childhood, the child experiencing emotional distress in the form of loss, and music as a medium. In implementing of this research study three case studies were described. The sampling method was based on a non-probability purposive sampling technique. The criteria for inclusion in this study were children who experience emotional distress in the form of loss and who, subsequently, do not make effective contact. Between seven and eight therapeutic sessions per child were conducted. The role of music was evident in all three cases. / SOCIAL WORK / MDIAC (PLAY THERAPY)

The research was directed at developing guidelines for counsellors who work with retained middle childhood learners. The supposition of the study was that retained middle childhood learners require support in accepting the retention. For the purpose of this study a qualitative research approach with an exploratory and descriptive nature was used. The intervention research model of Rothman and Thomas (1994) was applied. A combination of Gestalt philosophical principles, existing literature and semi-structured interviews with educators, educational psychologists and middle childhood learners with experience of grade retention were used to develop guidelines. The researcher concluded that retained middle childhood learners require support in the process of accepting the grade retention. Counsellors who work with retained middle childhood learners lack knowledge on how to support the retained child. Guidelines for counsellors who work with retained middle childhood learners were developed to successfully address the lack of knowledge in the field. / Social Work / (M.Diac.(Play Therapy))

This qualitative study aimed to explore how to handle aggression in therapy from a Gestalt perspective. In order to reach the aim of this study a conceptual framework was done exploring terms central to this project including aggression and Gestalt Play therapy. Unstructured, telephonic interviews were then conducted with seven Gestalt Play therapists working with children in the Western Cape exploring ways to handle and treat aggression in therapy. The data collected during these interviews were then analyzed and several themes were identified and explored by conducting a literature control. Guidelines were then formulated and written on how to handle aggression in therapy from a Gestalt perspective as part of the concluding chapter of this research report. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)