[SOLVED] Ecological Theory

Greetings Dr. Matthew’s and Class, As Sam’s social worker I would be concerned about the top three things Sam is experiencing while at school (his limitations). Sam has a difficult time remembering to go to the bathroom when he has too. According to Sam’s parents, he has no trouble with toileting at home. Also, Sam is having a tough time learning, and demonstrating that he has learned new things, while at school. No changes in learning abilities at home, say the parents. Sam seems to also have issues with interacting with the other school children, even though according to his parents he plays quite a lot with the neighbor kids. As the social worker, I may use a bit of both the Biopsychosocial perspective and the Ecological theory, when trying to assess Sam’s situation. Although, the Ecological theory makes more sense to me, because of the interaction of the person within their environment. And the ability of the person to make decisions on their own and have a hand in reaching their full potential, both cognitively, physically, and socially. With the Biopsychosocial perspective it is based on the individual or the individual and their environment, and their focus, assumptions, strengths, and limitations. And with the Biopsychosocial perspective, the assumption is that people are passive agents in their development and within one of the perspectives is the Cognitive theory. A strength of the Cognitive theory is that a behavior can be predicted based on the stage of the biological aspects of cognitive development. A limitation of the Cognitive theory is that explanation stops at adolescence. Whereas with the Learning theory people are passive agents while learning and would be active agents in a group setting while learning. A strength of the Learning theory would include concepts that are useful and easy to apply. A limitation of the Learning theory would be not giving credit to people and their roles in learning. Also, in the Biopsychosocial viewpoint are additional perspectives which include the medical model, psychosocial and psychosexual development, along with the Humanistic perspective (Rogers, 2019). Ecological theory explains human development by describing aspects of the individual, the environment, and the interaction between the two. Ecological theory argues that people are actively involved in their environments and their own development (versus some developmental theories that argue that people are passive—they do not play an active role in their development) and that both development and environments are always changing. People are born with both negative and positive tendencies, and they are influenced equally by nature and nurture. Development, then, is influenced by the actions of the individual, occurrences within the individual’s environment, and the interactions between the two. A strength of the Ecological theory would be how people adapt to their environments and cope with their problems. A limitation of the Ecological theory maybe not paying attention to the biological aspects of the person (Rogers, 2019). Children at play are their own change agents integrating experiences, creating their own learning opportunities, and generating new and recurrent meanings (Brown, p.81, 2019). Classmates – Do you think Sam is super nervous being at school, and that is why he wets his pants? Or do you think Sam is cognitively delayed enough so he is unable to make it to the restroom on time? In the past, I have known children, and worked with children, where it was a common occurrence for them to wet their pants at school. And I always felt so bad for the child, because it was very embarrassing for them. Donna   References: Rogers, A. T. (2019). Human behavior in the social environment: Perspectives on development and the life course (5th ed.). Routledge. Early childhood care and education, edited by Christopher P. Brown, et al., John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/chamberlain-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5649341. Created from chamberlain-ebooks on 2020-08-05 18:42:32. classmate two: The three temperament styles identified and described by Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas are: Easy, Slow-to-warm, and Difficult. The three styles are used to describe babies in the throes of infancy as a means for understanding how they relate and react to their environments and caregivers. “Easy” babies are those tend to adjust readily to new situations and caretakers, routines are manageable to establish and alter, and they tend to be generally cheerful and adaptable. “Slow-to-warm” babies tend to require additional time to adapt to new situations and caregivers, and are reluctantly engaged until they feel adequately at ease with changes to their routine or environment. “Difficult” babies (as a parent, I bristle at the characterization of babies as “difficult” because I believe that it carries a negative connotation that follows sensitive babies into childhood), according to Chess and Thomas, are challenging to soothe, likely to react with intensity to new and unfamiliar surroundings and people and are erratic in their routine sleep patterns. Each style is further divided into nine subcategories which more acutely describe temperament styles by identifying the role of environment, activity level, distractibility, attention span, persistence, threshold of reaction and other factors. (www.mentalhealthnote.com  (Links to an external site.) ).  In order to adequately work with children in each classification, it is important first to never reveal the characterization (easy, difficult or slow-to-warm) to the child or his/her parent. Doing so may tarnish the professional rapport and may marginalize the client and his/her family. Further, it is important to recognize that characterizing children with rigidity is subjective and at times, unfair. Each of us possesses qualities that would place us within each of the temperament types described by Chess and Thomas depending on the circumstance. Children are dynamic and subject to the nuances in their environments and the temperament of their caregivers. A child who senses that their caregiver is uninterested or hostile will likely behave in a manner that is disinterested and avoidant. This can be regarded as “difficult,” but perhaps that same child with a more attentive, engaging caregiver is social and gregarious? The approach in working with children categorized by the preceding types must be consistent. Each approach should be child-centered and patient.  With “easy” children, a social worker’s approach should be child-led and communicative. With “slow-to-warm” children, a patient, child-led approach is likely best, with prompts and social work jargon kept to a minimum until the child is comfortable initiating conversation. “Difficult” children should be approached in a manner that is calm, patient and empowering to the child. These children must be assured of their own power to be able to determine the course of their communication, and the intensity of their emotions should be met with reassurance of their safety and normalcy. Overreaction is not an option or an effective use of therapeutic time with children who are considered “difficult. Infancy Emotional/Social Development: Temperament. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2020, from https://www.mentalhelp.net/infancy/emotional-social-development-temperament/  (Links to an external site.) The Origin of Personality. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2020, from http://www.acamedia.info/sciences/sciliterature/origin_of_personality.htm classmate three: Joseph, After watching the Ted talk there are a couple of things that come to mind. First was the idea of sustainability and how the over hunting of the buffalo led to many of the issues people are currently facing today. Second was the elders statements during their meeting telling the youth to step up and take responsibility for their society and the rebuilding process that needs to take place. Likewise, the steps that they made in returning to their roots sets an example that people in other situations can follow. In the talk, they showed the definition for resilience on the screen and defined it as recovering or fighting back against an illness, and it is this definition that social workers can employ when attempting to assist in the recovery. One way that social workers can work to improve social conditions for the Native Americans  is by practicing cultural awareness and utilizing the resources that are in the community. When working with groups that have deeply rooted traditions, what works for one group may not work for the other and being aware of this fact will allow the social worker to be more effective. Similarly, the social worker can advocate for funding programs to bring Native Americans back to an elevated place as well as locating funding to create programs and services within the community. classmate four: Jerry, In Washington state race population percentages; 76.03% population is white, Asian 8.33%, two or more 5.71%, other race 4.27%, black or African American 3.70%, native American 1.30%, native Hawaiian or pacific islander 0.66%. (Washington Population 2020.)  The poverty levels for Washington state is; for native Americans is 24.44%, black is 21.53%, “other” 20.96%, Hispanics, 19.55%, “multiple” 14.36%, Asian 10.14%, white 9.26%.(Washington Population 2020. ND.)  If we were to look at schooling obtained; the white total is 36.72%  vs the black at 24.52% vs the native American by 13.55% with bachelor degrees and when we look at poverty just based on education level less then high school degrees is 21.79% vs a bachelor or greater is 4.21%, just graduating high school you go from 21% to 12.19% poverty. It seems more education means a better chance of being out of poverty no matter your creed, race, or family background. There is a major gap, but I don’t believe its due to racism or discriminating practices, in Washington state. I think it’s more due to job skill requirements and degree inflation, My girlfriend who is white did not get a job even though she had 10 years of experience and only her A.S. was denied a job because they got someone with a B.S. and no experience. I being a white man was sought after for a pest inspector job only because I have a bachelor’s degree, my supervisor was a black male about 5 years old then me, I asked him why did he pick me out of everyone he said “its because of your degree it means you know your stuff and that your willing to work harder than others.” It was never based on my color of being white just that I had a degree which is silly when it comes to a pest inspector job while my degree was in criminal justice. Now school is the issue where the minorities many face family hardships due to economic hardships causing a hindrance to the child who is just trying to get by and learn, Like in Samantha’s case in our studies book Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education. She is a hard worker and is smart but due to her mother working 4 jobs she has to pick up the slack which means she is unable to work on her own self, this affects her schooling and gives her a bad grade… This I feel is something that should be addressed not just based on color but the individual and their struggles they face when it comes to schooling. We should be able to see the cycle and adjust it to the needs of students so they feel supported, I think if we start at the microlevel we could get policy to change for individuals who are struggling with school due to family problems and helping the family in a way that is not illegal. School policies should be changed and based on what we know not what the state standard is because it is failing our most venerable populations, our children and those who live in poverty.       Washington Population 2020. (nd) from https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/washington-population Pothini, P.C.G.S. G. (2018). Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education.

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