The purpose of this study was to introduce positive life skills to a family with special needs. A qualitative single case study was used to discover whether positive life skills would be advantageous as tools or resources for one family with special needs. Mental skills activities, such as Orlick's Feeling Great program for children, were adapted and presented through audio tape and activities to the family, at their home on a weekly basis. Information was gained through observations, conversations, interviews and interactions. Weekly notes were gathered and reported. Two interviews were taped mid-way through the program and at the end of the program. The interviews were transcribed; the objective was to see if the positive life skills were useful as tools or resources for the family. A detailed description of the responses of the child, the parents and the researcher are given. Through the span of this study the family was equipped with a common language and action for dealing effectively with stressful situations. Of immeasurable value was the family's discovery that despite their many demands, there was time to spend together which could re-energize each of them. The coping of this family was improved and they viewed themselves as functioning at a much greater level than before this program began. This project presents one family's journey of interacting with each other while discovering that mental skills can help them all to face the special demands and stress of their unique family. Future research could examine the collaborative efforts of education or health professions in supporting children with disability and their families, with respect to the usefulness of mental skills as a means of coping with unique demands.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/9062 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Klingenberg, Melissa. |
| Contributors | Orlick, Terry, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 109 p. |
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