Intervention PaperJoin now to read essay Intervention PaperIntroductionEach year in the United States several million children experience some extreme traumatic event. Some of these events include natural disasters, death of a loved one, vehicle accidents, physical and/or sexual abuse and witnessing domestic violence. Children are increasingly exposed to violence in society. Many of these children may develop some form of psychological problems that can significantly impair their emotional, academic, and social functioning. Research has noted that many of these children will become fearful of their environment and develop expectations that their future will be unhappy. These children are in need of interventions to help them develop productive modes of coping. Over the years there have been many therapies and interventions researched in treating children with various behavior, emotional and psychological problems. Many children are treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after witnessing traumatic events. It is my hypothesis that there is no one therapy alone, but that a combination of therapies would prove to be successful in helping children who have witnessed domestic violence. Also I believe that age, gender and severity of exposure will have an effect on how successful the intervention will be. Current literature addresses traumatic experiences that children have faced. This paper will explore interventions that have been used to treat children who have witnessed domestic violence, a traumatic experience, and discuss the effectiveness of the interventions.
Review of LiteratureGathered research data shows that child exposure to domestic violence deleteriously affects childrens social, emotional and cognitive development (Groves,1999). Witnessing domestic violence may lead a young boy to view the abuse as male dominance while also viewing females as weak or submissive. Not all will children need treatment for exposure to domestic violence, but some clinicians have adapted models developed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. Several types of child maltreatment are associated with increased evidences of PTSD (Cohen, Mannarino, Murray, & Igelman, 2006). Not all children exposed to domestic violence in the home show symptoms meeting the criteria for diagnosis of PTSD (Gewirtz & Edleson, 2007). Children of different ages and gender may be affected in different ways and require multiple treatment modalities. There are contributors, such as domestic violence that cause traumatic experiences for children and each child reacts in a different manner. Some internalize the event and some externalize the event (Martin, 2002). Studies conducted over the years have shown that most counseling programs for children exposed to domestic violence are delivered by battered womens shelters and community domestic violence agencies (Peled & Edleson, 1999). Cohen and colleagues (2006) noted that new research has shown that many maltreated and violence exposed children have experienced multiple forms of trauma and that they receive no treatment at all or are treated by community therapists who do not typically provide evidence-based treatments.
Compared with the number of studies in which interventions for child abuse have been evaluated, there is little adequate research on interventions for children exposed to domestic violence. The few studies that do exist show problems with design and method, for example, poorly defined samples, inappropriate or no comparison groups, and reliance on small samples that reduce confidence in results (Prinz & Feerick, 2003). There are few interventions in which treatment manuals are used that offer consistency in implementing protocols and/or goals (Graham-Bermann, Lynch, Banyard, DeVoe, & Halabu, 2007). Graham-Bermann and colleagues (2007) research said that evidenced based intervention studies for children exposed to domestic violence have only begun to develop.
Interventions used to treat children who have witnessed domestic violence need to consider the inclusion of the family (Ziegler & Weidner, 2006). Zeigler and Weidner (2006) note that parents must be held to a standard of safety and accept the reality of the childs feelings. In a study on toddlers and preschoolers (Lieberman, Van Horn, Grandison, & Pekarsky, 1997) used the dyadic approach of parent-child intervention and assessed the parent-child functioning along with their relationship. Other research has noted this approach in working with the parent-child with notable outcomes (Lieberman, Van Horn, Grandison & Pekarsky, 1997; Cohen, Mannarino, Murray & Igelman, 2006; Ziegler & Weidner, 2006; Graham-Beermann et al, 2007.) This psychotherapy approach is also influenced by attachment theory and has been noted to be promising (Lieberman, Van Horn, Grandison & Pekarsky, 1997).
Cognitive and emotional adjustment (a.k.a. CAs) The CAs and CMA (Competition For Attention, Control of Thought, Cognition & Emotion) are different from parental behavior. There are two types of CAs: CAs that are defined as control of thought (pre-adaptation), or CAs that are defined as goal-directed behavior with minimal control (behavioral equilibrium). CAs are similar in size, function, and size to the non-control behavior of a self and often have greater coherence, meaning that they can perform multiple tasks. CAs typically target a particular type of activity on a regular basis, but CAs may or may not be a specific target in a specific order. In any given situation, the goals of the CAs should be the same for the child and for the parent and the parent should have the same goal for the same child as for the child (Bermann, Bresnahan, &). For example, a parent with an active, engaged-in self-regulation approach to parenting might be able to effectively manage the child’s emotional stress but not the parent’s. Such a parent would be at the mercy of their partner’s and their children’s emotional sensitivities, and would simply engage them in their usual activities in return for their child’s care and support (Bermann, 2007; Cohen, Mannarino, Murray &).
In general, a focus on what leads a child to play for hours upon hours can be associated with short-term improvement and decreases in social anxiety among children who are on track to have positive outcomes for the rest of their life. We found that for the first time, children who had played for hours on end in their care at an age who matched the expected development of their peers seemed to have a significant reduction in social anxiety on time, and the rate increased from 27% in the first year of follow-up to 76% by the first year of follow-up. To our knowledge, no neuroimaging studies have analyzed the effects of different training styles in children with pre-existing problems that are well defined by a single study (e.g., A-Level Cognitive Training, B-Level B-Level, etc.). Some research found reduced social anxiety in children aged 7 years to 12 years. We found further evidence of a role for physical exercise as a factor in reducing social anxiety in children (Brenner et al., 2008). Physical exercise is common in all domains ranging from sport to cooking. Specifically, it involves both high-intensity activity (e.g., karate, karate-e-sitsu, etc.) and a number of different forms of long-term control—e.g., yoga (Brenner et al., 2008; Cohen, Pekarsky, Leifer, Puklina, & Leifer, Weidner, & Ziegler &). Moreover, the duration of the physical activity performed is often different between schools of thought. Several studies have found higher physical activity levels to be associated with reduced school anxiety. Our results suggest that exercise may play an important role in improving cognitive functioning in children across all domains.
Dyslexia The child’s brain is usually