Social Learning Theory Propose Scwk 131 Sjsu Huma

CASE – THE SMITHS

John and Jill Smith have been divorced for the past four months. They have a son, Steve, who is fifteen years old. John is in his late thirties, while Jill is in the mid-thirties. They had been living separately for a year, and shared custody of Steve who moved back and forth between the two parents. Steve started having problems in school such as poor grades, and would get into trouble over minor incidents at school. The school counselor (i.e. you) decides to have a talk with Steve’s parents to find out more about their situation. You talk to each of the parents and to Steve separately. In the course of the interview with Mr. Smith, you find out that he is still attached to his former wife; he is lonely and wants to get back together. Mrs. Smith, however, will have none of this and tells you that she wants to start a new life. She is afraid however, to start out completely on her own and feels a little insecure. Mr. and Mrs. Smith spend a great deal of time arguing about what to do with Steve. Mr. Smith also likes to offer his opinions on Mrs. Smith’s future plans – he really hopes that they will eventually get back together. Jill Smith tends to feel guilty, and offers her husband advice on what he must do to move on with his life. The communication between the ex-spouses seems to be laden with conflict. Mrs. Smith indicates that she wants her ex-husband to help out with managing Steve and Mr. Smith willingly gets involved in her life, telling her what she should do. However, Mrs. Smith then resents this advice as it confirms her fears about her inability to cope.Steve tells you that he feels angry with his parents. You also gather that his father usually tries to get Steve to talk about his mother and her activities every time he visits, and his mother asks him the same every time he returns home.From talking to the parents, you are also able to piece together, that every time Mrs. Smith decides to move on to a new life, for example, registering for graduate school classes, or putting up the house for sale, Steve has some kind of trouble at school. You also gather that Steve is now spending a lot more time with his friends and many of them have been in trouble at school. In fact, his parents don’t know this, but two of his friends have just been suspended from school for smoking marijuana in the school parking lot. Steve tells you he has not done any drugs yet.

1)Using ALL the material on family systems, explain what’s going on with the Smiths and describe the structure, roles, and communication between the family members.

2) Also, using ALL the material on adolescent development, family life cycle development, describe the developmental issues and tasks facing members of this family

.3)Finally, based on your assessment and using an ecological approach, family systems theories, and social learning theory propose a care plan for this family.