The Intervention Strategy for Student with Emotional Disorders - Case Study Example

Biography of StudentThe child being studied for this research project is named Paul Alexander Higgins, male, born on August 8, 2000, and now aged 12 years old and in the 7th grade. According to his parents, he was born prematurely at 7 months of gestation and was placed in an incubator for approximately 3 months before being released from the nursery and brought home. He suffers from frequent infections such as coughs and colds due to a weak immune system, has a poor appetite and is mildly underweight for his age group.

He has difficulty breathing as an infant due to a hyaline membrane lung disease (now called as a respiratory distress syndrome or RDS) and as a result, was placed on a ventilator for several weeks during the period he was still in the hospital nursery. Paul spoke his first words at 11 months and had his first walk attempts at approximately 14 months. He mostly avoids any of the physical activities as a toddler and as a young kid, preferring more sedentary activities like looking at books or watching cartoon shows on television for some hours on end.

He was enrolled in a nursery school at age 5 and had shown great promise during his kindergarten years, as observed by his teacher and reported to his parents. He then showed the first signs of depression and withdrawal from his peers. Outline of Selected StrategyThe intervention strategy selected for Paul is cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) as it is shown to be effective in a good number of similar cases. CBT combines behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy; it focuses on the aetiology of depressive disorders such as low self-esteem and feelings of being overwhelmed due to over-sensitivity on trivial matters, in turn usually caused by emotional maladjustments and dysfunction behaviors (Lehmann & Coady, 2001, p. 176).How Strategy was UsedPaul is entering adolescence which is a period of great changes, both physiologically and emotionally.

CBT is focused on his dysfunctional thinking patterns which caused his low self-esteem, brought about by over-simplification (generalization) and magnification (stress on the negatives and ignoring the positives) where everything seems to be extremely very important, urgent or necessary. Results of the InterventionPaul now has a more balanced view of his life. His depression has gradually disappeared and he now engages with mates more enthusiastically. Moreover, he was asked to forget his negative childhood experiences through positive thoughts and positive reinforcement, to do away with negative schemas (treating each event as emergency or threatening when in fact, these are not) and focus on the long-term objectives in his life.

This happy development is manifested in his improved cognition of certain events in his life, that not all his perceptions and interpretations are necessarily valid or correct (the actual process of cognition) and just ignore criticisms and gossips. His grades are now markedly improved too.