Blog 10

Blog 10: Senior Project Update

(1) What are you currently doing in your independent component? 

• For my independent component I am currently volunteering at the YMCA daycare in Pomona. 

(2) What is a recent piece of research (article, interview, or audio-visual) that have you reviewed you would say was significant in helping you understand where to go next in your senior project?  The piece of research should be something you reviewed in November.  Please explain what you learned and where are you going next because of this piece of research.

• I have been researching tests used to diagnose children and individuals that not only help me answer my EQ for my senior project but also helps me better my science fair component by being able to use the best diagnostic test I can making my science fair component more accurate.

(3) Provide evidence from your independent component or the piece of research as something you recently did.  For example, a photo of something you working on for your independent component or your notes from the video you watched. 

• I just did an update on my independent component which is a quick log of what Brittany and I did at the YMCA on our first day there. You can view this if you click here.

Additional Post: Independent Component

Hour Log and Description (Independent Component)

Contact: Adrian or Martha (909) 623-6433

Date	Hours	What I did	Total Hours
November 28, 2012	4 hours	Today at the YMCA daycare Brittany and I came in and immediately began to work. We introduced ourselves to the 4 children who were already there and as soon as we were finished we began to play with the children and interact with them as much as we could.	4 hours
December 5, 2012	4 hours	This week at the day care Brittany and I started by hanging ornaments from the ceiling as instructed. Later on when children began to arrive we decided to take out more games for the children and before we knew it the day came to an end.	8 Hours

Science Fair Proposal

1. What is your topic?

· Child Play Therapy

2. What is the driving problem behind your experiment and the quote by an expert to support that problem? (Expert citation must be MLA format.)

· Although children need care many do not get treated.

The most recent U.S. Surgeon General’s report on mental health described the shortage of
appropriate services for children as a major health crisis and estimated that, although at least
1 in 10 of all children suffer from emotional and behavioral problems severe enough to impair
normal functioning, less than half receive any treatment (U.S. Public Health Service, 2000). The
report emphasized that “growing numbers of children are suffering needlessly” (p. 3) and it
stressed the importance of early intervention and family involvement. Thus, identifying proven
interventions that are responsive to the distinct needs of children and their families is critical,
not only to diminish unnecessary suffering but to prevent the development of more serious
impairment across the life span and the resulting cost to society.

Jones, Leslie. "The Efficacy of Play Therapy With Children: A Meta-Analytic Review of Treatment
Outcomes." American Psychological Association, 2005. Web. 24 Oct. 2012

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~cfc/classes/CPSY_642/Readings/Class%209/The%20efficacy%20of%20play%20therapy%20with%20children.pdf

3. What is your hypothesis? (Must be in If-Then form.)

· If a child is receives a high score on the Brief SDQ Test then they are likely to be emotionally or behaviorally unstable.

4. Write a paragraph summary of how you will perform the experiment. Include the tools you plan on using.

·This experiment will be performed by following the Brief SDQ test instructions. I will ask a child's parent the questions either in person or through e-mail. once I receive the answers to the questions I will add up the scores and say weather or not the child is emotionally/ behaviorally unstable according to the Brief SDQ Test.

5. Select one of the following Project Categories for your experiment:

· Behavioral/Social Science

Blog 9: Working EQ and Possible Answers

Content: You just completed the presentation on the foundation. Please review your working EQ and respond to the following:

(1) What was the working EQ you used during your presentation?

• What is the best method to use during a child's first Play therapy session?

(2) Did you decide to revise your working EQ after your presentation? If so, write your revised EQ here.  If not simple write "I am not going to revise my EQ at this time".

• How to give a good Play Therapy session?

(3) What are possible answers to your current working EQ? 

• As of now my answer to my new EQ is to really observe the patient and understand the patient and the way he/she feels at the moment.

Blog 8: Rough Draft of Presentation 1

Rough Draft of Presentation 1

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

CONTENT:

(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.

• At the moment I am volunteering at the Samaritan counseling center. There I am able to have conversations with the therapists in the center and I am also able to go into the therapy rooms and see the setting where all kinds of sessions take place. For my independent study component I plan to visit a YMCA, an elementary school, or a day care like I was suggested to do in one of my interviews. By volunteering in these places I will be able to be around children a lot more and be able to interact with them. 

(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.

• My plan will meet the requirements because even though schools are only open during the week day cares and the YMCA are open everyday of the week making it very easy for me to be able to get my hours done. I will also make sure to calculate how many hours a week I need to have done in order to have all my hours done by the due date.

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your working EQ? 

• My working EQ at the moment is “What is the best environment to successfully treat a child?” My independent study component relates to my EQ because I will be able to see children interact with each other and be able to see how they react to different circumstances, for example if a child doesn’t share a certain toy how will each child react? I will also be able to learn and understand how to approach the problem in the correct manner. 

Second Interview Questions

Content:

The purpose of the second interview is justify your mentor as an expert in the field. Thus, you will be asking at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

• What made you want to become a Family Therapist?
• What courses did you take to become a Family Therapist?
• How long have you been a Family Therapist?
• Is their a specific reason why you choose to work in the Samaritan Counseling Center?
• How has Samaritan helped different families and individuals?
• What are the measurable criteria you use to assess how well treatment is working? Can you give me a few examples?
• What kind of medical information do you need? Will a medical evaluation be needed before my child begins treatment?
• When treating a child do you work with their school and teachers? How often do you communicate with them?

Blog 4: Working EQ

The Pentagon: 
(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?

• One positive thing that has happened is that I have found my mentor shortly after changing my topic from photography to child play therapy. 

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?

• My interview with Stacy Maggard was really helpful because she told me where else I can go to receive my hours, what other people I can  interview, and what books I can read in order to get more information on my topic 

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?

• Things have been working out for me very well. I have found my mentor, different people to interview, and I am also able to complete my mentorship hours in different places. 

(4) What hasn't worked so far?  

• One thing that has not worked out for me is that I had to find someone to interview in a two day notice because the person I originally intended to interview cancelled on me last minute on the day that the interview was suppose to be on. 

(5) Finding Value:  Based on your experience so far,

•  What possible question or questions come to mind regarding what you would like to study this year (don't list questions about the instructions relating to the senior project)?
• What is the best way to approach a child?
• What play therapy games gives the best results?
• How big of a difference is their when a child's family is present during therapy (family therapy) than when they are alone in therapy?
•  What is your end goal this year with your senior project (don't say get a good grade or gain knowledge, put specific things you want to accomplish in your senior project this year) 
• I wish to find out wether my topic is really a job career I wish to peruse in my life. 
• Who would you like to talk to you next? Why?   
• I would like to talk to another child play therapist next and see what they can tell me about play therapy and see why they like it and why they chose to peruse this career choice. 

Problem Statement

Child Play Therapy 

1.  There are children who need therapy but do not receive it because parents do not realize the symptoms of a troubled child. This can be solved by raising awareness on children who have been traumatized or who have been effected by problems at home or their surroundings.

2. Even after a child has taken all of his or her play therapy sessions and is diagnosed to be healthy problems continue at home and/or their surroundings and cause the child to go back to square one. This can be solved by in cooperating the whole family into the child's play and working out the problems they have at home, this method of family therapy has been proven to have faster results. 

Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? why?

-  I plan to interview Stacy Maggard from the Behavior Education and Management Services (BEAMS) because she is a child play therapist who was recommended to me by 2012 alumni who had the same topic as mine.


2. You have to ask 5 question.What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions. what are open-ended questions?
Apart from the questions given I would also like to ask other questions like: 

• How do you decide which approach is best for a specific child? Do you ever use more than one approach? 
• What precautions do you take if a child gets upset during his/hers play session? Do you advise the Guardians?
• Generally how effective can child play therapy be?

These are questions that I believe are important to know but also they are the most frequently asked by children's parents when thinking about having their kids take this form of therapy. 

Topic Choice

A. What is your topic and why?

Child play therapy is the topic I have chosen for my senior project. Child play therapy is something that I am interested in because it is a different way of being able to see what is going on through a child’s head without bombarding them with questions or emotionally and mentally damaging them even more than they may already be. Although it may not always work for every child it is still something that helps children relax and clear their minds while they are doing something every child loves to do, play.

 

B. What do you hope to accomplish this year with this topic?

This year I hope to learn more about child play therapy and to be able to help children with this form of therapy. I wish to learn how child therapy works, how it benefits a child, who else can or may benefit from it, and why people should turn to this therapy.

• As an iPoly citizen, I plan to be more patient with people and sit down and actually listen to what the person speaking to me has to say. By doing so I would show improvement by helping people with their problems and making sure they know that they have someone to talk to helping them feel more at peace with themselves and less stressed.
• As an effective communicator, I plan to be more involved. By doing this I can be able to see things differently and take things slower and actually know what exactly what is going on rather than just assuming and making blind statements or blind actions as well.
• As an effective learner, I plan to get as involved with my topic as much as I possibly can. This will help me not only learn more about my topic but also end up having personal stories about my topic. By doing this I will learn more and enjoy my topic even more.
• As an effective user of technology, I plan to use the internet as much as I need. I will use the internet to find new places where I can go to visit to learn more about my topic and meet new people who may have some stories to share with me.

Blog 1: Summer Mentorship Component

Literal: Hour Log and Description

Contact: Jack Bohlka (909) 228-4824

Date	Hours	What I did	Total Hours
August 28, 2012	7 hours	Today I volunteered in Jack Bohlka’s studio.  After jack showed me around the studio I began to prepare order forms for iPoly’s yearbook pictures.  As the day progressed I continued preparing the endless amount of order forms (there was roughly about 550 of them) until it was closing time.	7 hours
August 29, 2012	3:30 hours	The next day I finished preparing the last 100 order forms, after I finished I began to make labels for Claremont High School’s football team photographs. Once I finished making the labels for all varsity, JV, and freshman football players I began to organize other order forms from a dance studio in alphabetical order writing down the date of when the photos were delivered to them.	10.5 Hours

Literal:

 What questions were raised because of the 10 hour experience? List them.

• How long after should you keep order forms from when they were delivered?
• What time of the year is it busiest for photography?
• What other things do photographers have to do before and after an event?
• How can you make your customers happier with your service?
• What can you do if your customer is not happy with your service?

        

Interpreted:

What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

While working with Jack I realized that in photography you’re not always out taking pictures or editing but you’re also stuck in an office doing paperwork. One of the things I gained from this is that now I have a better understanding on what being a photographer really is. Having to organize and prepare order forms is very important so you know exactly what your customer wants and the date you delivered the pictures to them incase anything happens. By your customer seeing you are organized it helps them trust you to have everything done on time and in the end to be happy with their pictures and with the great service you provided them with. 

Applied:

How did what you did help you choose a topic? Please explain.

From the start I was indecisive about what I wanted to pick as my topic. I was thinking of doing photography to CSI to Child Play Therapy. As if now I am still unsure about my topic even though if I go with photography I will have no problem getting any of my hours because Jack has asked me to be his TA. Photography is something I enjoy doing and don’t get tired of but I also wanted to do something with the profession I wish to peruse in my future. As if now I really enjoyed my mentorship because it showed me that photography isn’t only about taking pictures and making them look pretty on photoshop but you also have to make sure your customer is happy with the pictures and that you have given the best possible service.