3-4 pages

Part 1

11-year-old son has been suspended from school numerous times for fighting. He just can't seem to get along with other children.

Dear Journal,

I have been told that my 11-year-old son got suspended from his school for not getting along with other students. I’m concern about his well being, and I want him to build his confidence before he breaks down and lose control. What we work on before got him suspended did not work. I will like to have him go to another school and remove himself from the previous environment to a new environment. To let him know it is okay to start over again, have a fresh start, and make new friends and a new beginning. Let him know that we are not running away from the bullies and me as the parents I’m doing everything in my power to make this work. I love him, and I’m willing to do everything for him to start a new chapter in his life.

I will like to help him in so many ways but do not know where to start. So, I and my wife have looked up a few websites where they can help us together to guide him in the right directions. My first choice is to remove him from the old school and transfer him to a new school (Facebook). Secondly, keep him occupied such learning a new skill or trade like mixed martial arts, swimming or anything he likes to learn and such as a chess club or boy scouts. Third, have him counsel by a psychologist to see if there any mental problems I should be concern about, if so what can we as the parents can do to help him excel in his life. Fourth, have more bonding relationship with him such as road trips, vacation, and watch movies with his new friends or watch a Broadway play together. Finally, continue the religious belief to love his God, and most of all love yourself first.

I hope and pray everything will work out fine with us a family. I willing to do anything for him to succeed, most of all encourage him, motivated him and build self-confidence and self-discipline to my little champ.

Part 2

Suspension of Son from School

Scenario: 11-year-old son has been suspended from school numerous times for fighting. He just can't seem to get along with other children.

Suspension of Son from School

A suspension from school implies that a youngster is briefly prohibited from going to school for a timeframe, enduring somewhere in the range of one day to a week or more, as a discipline for poor/awful conduct and improper behavior. Some of the time a suspension is issued for the infraction; different circumstances, it is rendered after proceeded with troublesome or resistant behavior when different strategies for train have fizzled (Iselin, 2010).

The student’s performance is a reflection of the parents. High expectations conducts are vital in helping youngsters to feel safe and learn well, and the guardians and parents have a key impact on this.

The legislature encourages schools to concentrate on advancing optimistic conduct, building self-restraint and empowering regard for others. Be that as it may, schools additionally require authorizations to dissuade understudies from getting into mischief.

Schools should survey their positive conduct approaches frequently and announce them to guardians, staff, and students. The exact substance of a school's strategy is an issue for each school to choose in a conference with the parents.

Teach positive approaches ought to incorporate a set of principles for students. Principles can apply prior and then afterward school, and additionally amid the school day. They can set desires for how the students will act in halls, in transport lines, and at lunch and break times and moreover in the classroom.

Key Issues from Scenario

Key issues in the above scenario are described as follow:

a) Lack of discipline

Lack of discipline is one of the problems in the situation. The act of the child fighting with other children can be associated with indiscipline. If it were just a psychological issue, the child would have opted to alienate himself from others instead of fighting.

b) Psychological problems

Fighting all the time and have a rough time when it comes to accommodating others cannot be explained by other words other than psychological issues. The problem might be suffering from related mental disorders (Selph, 2013). In the scenario, the parent has stated that he has tried to look for counseling guidance. A person is only counseled when he or she is going through a psychological problem that can quickly solve.

c) Lack of proper ways to deal with the problem

The best way to deal with any given challenge is to make sure that the issue is dealt with head-on. The parent runs away from the problem rather than facing the problem (Shechtman & Sarig, 2016). Transferring the boy to another school is not tackling the problem but moving the problem from one institution to another.

d) Institutional problems

Institutions have the responsibility of taking care of the children. When it gets to a point where an institution cannot contain the situation of a child, there are questions which need to be asked (Lin & Bratton, 2015). Continuous fights are issues which should be handled long before they escalate.

e) Hindering the problem

The parent has stated that he or she is willing to help the child. However, he talks about transferring the child to another school and also talks about spiritual interventions (Gray et al. 2017).

f) Problem-solving mechanisms

Instead of facing the child and confronting the issue, the parent shifts the blame to the environment (Murphy, 2015). School environment and the peers escalate the problems. I firm believer if you cannot beat them do not join them at all. Both adversaries are both correct and wrong at the same time if they cannot conclude then it opportunities to move on. As a young adolescence, you must voice your opinion and tell your concerns to the teachers if not they will not have any idea how to help my son. My son has to open up to the teachers, coaches, and guidance counselor or principal, so they can relay the message to me like the parents and take head-on approaches immediately.

Causes of the Issues

By looking at the behaviors of the child, the parents have neglected the condition of the child and the school seems not to be doing enough. First, the parents have the mandate to make sure that when the outbursts take place, the child is dealt with immediately (Carnes‐Holt & Bratton, 2014). Blaming others or the environment instead of dealing with an issue is exposing the child to more risks. Second, the institution ought to have dealt with the issue of the child earlier. The parents decided to transfer the child when the issue escalated, that shows that there was reluctance from the side of the parents. If we can talk immediately to the school’s Principal for a second chance for him to stay in school and battle this together as a team to make him a better student. If he was suspended entirely with no my intervention, then the best solution is to transfer my son to an institution or another public school.

Impacts of the Issues

The issues have effects on all members of the community. The fellow students were the victims of the fights, and that exposes them to physical harm. The parents are also likely to be affected psychologically and financially (Nystul, 2015). The psychological aspect is associated with the fact that no parent is ever at peace when his or her child is going through a problem. The parent might be overprotective, but deep inside he or she suffers more than any other person. The school suffers because it can lose students who were victims of the fight or alienate who might have had the interest to bring their children to the school with good intention.

Recommendations

The only suitable solution, in this case, is a psychological intervention. The child needs to be taken to a child counselor (Kottman & Stiles, 2013). Doing so will make sure that the problem is identified and at the same time, the most suitable solution is provided. The child has depicted that there is an issue which is not healthy and therefore professional interventions ought to be employed. Two types we can do first is guidance counselor within the suspension school or removal from the school for external aids.

References

Iselin, A. M. (2010). Research on School Suspension. Retrieved from https://childandfamilypolicy.duke.edu/pdfs/familyimpact/2010/Suspension_Research_Brief_2010-04-27.pdf

Carnes‐Holt, K., & Bratton, S. C. (2014). The efficacy of child-parent relationship therapy for adopted children with attachment disruptions. Journal of Counseling & Development, 92(3), 328-337.

Gray, S. W., Courtney, J. A., & Nolan, R. D. (2017). 16 Core Competencies and Recommendations Supporting the Ethics of Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy. Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy: An Ethical and Clinical Guide, 217.

Kottman, T., & Stiles, K. (2013). The mutual storytelling technique: An Adlerian application in child therapy. Techniques In Adlerian Psychology, 46(2), 338.

Lin, Y. W., & Bratton, S. C. (2015). A meta‐analytic review of child‐centered play therapy approaches. Journal of Counseling & Development, 93(1), 45-58.

Murphy, J. J. (2015). Solution-focused counseling in schools. John Wiley & Sons.

Nystul, M. S. (2015). Introduction to counseling: An art and science perspective. SAGE Publications.Selph, S. S., Bougatsos, C., Blazina, I., & Nelson, H. D. (2013). Behavioral interventions and counseling to prevent child abuse and neglect: a systematic review to update the US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation. Annals of internal medicine, 158(3), 179-190.

Shechtman, Z., & Sarig, O. (2016). The Effect of Client Progress Feedback on Child/Adolescent’s Group-Counseling Outcomes. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 41(4), 334-349.