Need help please
 

Hi my name is Chrissy and I am an undergraduate Social Work student in my last year of classes. I hope to graduate in May 2005 with my BSW in Social Work with a Minor in Sociology. I currently hold a 2 year degree in Human Services. I am now working with MR clients at a local vocational rehabilitational center. I am working with my first real client and am running into some problems. The client I am working with has difficulty expressing feelings verbally. I need to incorporate Behavioral Modification in my 6 week long interventions with the client. I know some information about Behavior Modification but not enough to practice it effectively. I also was thinking about using Art therapy but i am not sure how to go about setting up interventions and an action plan for this. This is my first time working with "a real client" and have never worked with Mental Retardation or individuals who have it. I am hoping you can please help to point me in the right direction or offer any suggestions! It would be greatly appreciated! I am hoping to meet with the client and a family member early this week! Thanks again for your help

~Chrissy

Re: Need help please
 

Hi Chrissy,

You observed that your client has ... 'has difficulty expressing feelings verbally.'

That goes for most of us. Most people express most of what they mean through body language. So try to become very intuitive. Use your sixth sense.

Last year a client came to see me with his wife & announced that "the doctor says there is nothing wrong with me. The psychologist said there is nothing wrong with me, but there is something wrong with me." So that didn't give us much to go on.

He had driven about 5 hours to get to me & said that he seldom came to town. About a fortnight after our session his wife brought her friend & neighbour to see me. I asked after her husband & she said he was fine.

I asked if he was 'doing the homework' & she said "yes, everyday he goes into the spare room & looks at the wall like you taught him."

When I asked, "what happened?" She replied, "well, he got angry at work once. He told them why he was angry & he didn't bring it home."

I said, "so we were dealing with anger then." She said yes, "his whole family shout at each other all the time. He doesn't do that anymore."

The neighbour said, "he's a different person since he came here."

Re: Need help please
 

Hi. My name is Lizandra and I need the biography of M.J Mahoney; the complete biography. I need websites, journals , books where there's information about him. My e-mail is lizandrasanchez@hotmail.com

Re: Need help please
 

Did you ask google?

Re: Need help please
 

So the moral of that story was..what? Tell people to look at a wall and they will be cured? Or not talking about feelings? I am lost. Anyone here with a candle and a match?

Anna

Re: Need help please
 

Chrissy,

Much of behavior modification is based on education. In essence we educate our clients in alternatives to current behaviors. I have found that when dealing with MR, some of the problems encountered are due to the client not having the language for verbal expression or knowledge of helpful methods of physical expression. There are many ways to teach these skills. Many use emotion cards; duscuss each face, when the client felt that way, what they did when they felt that way, give them a word to describe it, then practice alternatives for expressing it. This is where I might begin with a tough case. Hope this helps.