While each drawing is individually configured and unique in meaning, common pictorial symbols and metaphors of human figures and animals, place and weather, and toys and games usually convey fairly general meanings-albeit at times with wide variance from one culture to another (Oster and Gould, 1987). For example, alligators and other big mouth animals may be used to reflect nurturant needs or oral aggression; dogs and other cuddly animals, companionship and transitional objects; or birds, flight and freedom. Caves may hide and protect or, conversely, trap. Mountains may be attainments, obstacles, or something else entirely. Rain may reflect crying or be cleansing. Snow seems cold, the sun warm. How then, with these and the myriads of other possible meanings, does the clinical social worker figure out what a particular child has in mind? In part, the answer lies in asking the child directly (Timberlake, 1978a; Webb, 1991). In addition, the representational ways in which individual children condense multiple metaphors, details, and memories into one picture and their action style in doing so provide indirect clues to the more individualized meaning in their drawings. To make educated decisions about which of these polar opposite or nuanced generic meanings most accurately represents a nonverbal child’s intended meaning, clinicians draw on their understanding of this child gained during psychosocial assessment and other interviews, comment on the observable, and await the child’s own nonverbal or verbal confirmation that the observation is accurate or not.

To continue reading go to Play Therapy Course

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# 1 – Violent Language & Presumption of Innocence
One of the first factors that may have prevented children from coming forward is the frequency of violent language and the subsequent presumption of innocence. As you know, violent language, especially among teens, is commonplace, and usually casual.  Sports teams, for example, will refer to a victory as “killing the other team.” There are two aspects of this which are applicable to the shootings we have so far discussed.

The first aspect is summed up by Stacey Hunt, a classmate of Mitchell Johnson. Stacey indicated that she had heard Mitchell referring to violent acts before the event. Stacey stated that Mitchell had talked about having a list, and that, “everybody was going to pay.  But he didn’t say that he was going to go and pull the fire alarm, get everyone outside and shoot them, you know? He was going around bragging like any other kid would when they were mad.” Clearly Stacey, like her classmates, attributed nothing out of the ordinary to such violent threats, rather normalizing them as a common expression of frustration and anger.

A second aspect is that students like Michael and Mitchell were widely known as pranksters, bullies, and prone to acting out. Many attributed these threats to the same behaviors, assuming that the shooters were merely looking for attention. In some cases, shooters may have made so many warnings beforehand that their classmates become convinced that nothing will actually happen. Even instances of a shooter bringing a gun to school may have been interpreted as this bluffing, show-off behavior.

For #2  and #3 Factors of Preventions and 3 Frames School Children Use for Identifying a Threat as Serious go to School Shootings Course

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How might you have responded to Brad and Pamela’s problem? Would you agree that Chelsea may have simply been receiving too much attention from her parents?

To describe the initial progression of behavioral sleep therapy for children, I stated, “The idea is to desensitize Chelsea to the fear of being alone in her own bed by using a tapered separation schedule.” Pamela asked, “What type of separation schedule?”  I responded, “For example, on the first day wait five minutes before going into Chelsea’s bedroom if she is crying and cannot sleep.  Comfort Chelsea for two to three minutes and then leave. If more visits are necessary due to continued crying, wait an additional five minutes for each of the next two visits before going into the room. After the third visit, wait at this level, fifteen minutes, before entering for each later visit until Chelsea falls asleep alone.”

Brad stated, “Ok, but Chelsea wakes frequently during the night.  What do we do then?”  How might you have responded to Brad?  I stated, “If the child wakes during the night, begin again at the original level for the night, five minutes, and continue increasing time in five minute increments as before.” What other information could your clients use to implement the initial progression of behavioral sleep therapy for children?  Perhaps sleeping tips as discussed on the rest of this course may benefit your client.

For Part #2: Subsequent progression go to Sleep Disorders Course

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Not all bullies are the same, and it is not possible to say that one solution will end all harassments. The key is to determine what type of bully one is facing. Some bullies redirect their own feelings of insecurity by victimizing others that they perceive to be outcasts, but not all bullies feel this way. Some bullies are self-assured and commit acts of harassment for vindictive or malicious reasons. It is important to identify which type of bully one may be facing as their reactions to actions like avoidance or walking away will be very different depending on their personal motives.

For small children, the advice for dealing with bullies should always be to tell an adult. Small children are extremely formative and easily influenced by their emotions and situations. By always encouraging them to tell an adult, parents are ensuring that an opportunity to correct the situation through consultation for both the bully and the victim can occur. For older children, the tell-an-adult solution is less reasonable and may actually worsen some situations although it must be stressed in any case where physical violence is involved. For tweens and teens, it is vitally important that parents give good advice for handling harassment situations in a non-escalating manner.

Parents and children should remember that movies and popular media fictitiously portray manners for dealing with bullying that can actually have disastrous results if applied to actual situations. Humiliating or physically harming a bully is never an appropriate recourse. Instead, victims must take away the psychological reward associated with harassment for the bully.

There is a target reaction that the bully wants, and they will continue to return to the victim as long as the victim continues to supply that reaction.
Teaching children that the power to overcome the torments of a bully is in controlling one’s reaction is important. Deflecting a bully’s comments can be done with simple non-emotional responses that question the integrity of the comment. The object is to diffuse the power of the harassment and not to attack the bully or to engage in physical violence.

Related course:
http://www.onlineceucredit.com/ceus-online/ttt-bullying/continuing-education.html

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