Suggestions for a paper?

[Janet]

That's a good and tricky one Tink. I'm sure Angie could make a really good argument with that topic.

My previous idea was also emotional abuse, like only in the home. So many children are treated so poorly in their own home, but you'd never believe it the way their parents make over them in public.

[DianaB]

What about the effects of lack of discipline in children? We have a lot of undisciplined kids in our society. My daughter works at the middle school and they have had a big ordeal with a child that is undisciplined and his parents.

[AngieDoogles]

Wow, you guys have so many good ideas! Now I have a new problem--how to choose between all of these great topics!!! I think I like this problem better than not having a topic at all.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for all of your input! I really appreciate it!

[Mandy]

Originally Posted by Janet

That's a good and tricky one Tink. I'm sure Angie could make a really good argument with that topic.

My previous idea was also emotional abuse, like only in the home. So many children are treated so poorly in their own home, but you'd never believe it the way their parents make over them in public.

VERY true Janet, we dont expect it, but it sure happens.

[goofywife]

How about one with teens, who think they are being abused.

[katepoet]

I've just worked on a few with a student tied to criminal justice. How about the way mandatory minimum sentencing is taking a lot of our young men and women and putting them in jail - creating permanent records - for possession of half a joint of marijuana? It's creating a new culture. Now children visit their parents in jail. The parents get screwed up by the jail culture and have to re-integrate when they come out. It's pretty tough.

Also, how does living in a women's shelter hidden from an abusive father affect children's emotional development?

If you search with google, use their google scholar search tool to get papers you can cite from - http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en

[AngieDoogles]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'm well into researching and just beginning to write my paper now. I chose to write it on emotional abuse. I'm still waiting for a few articles to be delivered to our campus library before I'll know what treatment method I'm focusing on, but they will be here within three days. I've already found great sources for specifically defining the problem and describing the effects of the abuse on the child and family. I think the treatment methodology I'll be focusing on will be play therapy which is focused on increasing resilience. I just need a few good sources to back it up.

Thanks for the advice about Google Kate, but I don't usually use Google for scholarly journals because most of the links just give you an abstract and you have to pay for access to the full article. I use our online library from our campus website which breaks down into categories, one which is only journals concerning child welfare. I use a different one for my other courses which only contains social work journals. It makes the research process much faster and provides more reliable information.

Anyway, that's probably more than anyone wanted to know, but almost every bit of my spare time recently has been spent working on this, so it's a pretty big deal to me and I wanted to keep you updated since everyone had such great suggestions.

[katepoet]

I usually find enough that are free through that search but even finding jstor and other paying sites leads me to which ones my students should look for in the library.

[AngieDoogles]

Originally Posted by katepoet

I usually find enough that are free through that search but even finding jstor and other paying sites leads me to which ones my students should look for in the library.

JSTOR is one of the ones I can get through my school website. It's pretty helpful, but I like the layout and search features for the one I've been using. You know what they say, people hate change...

[highlans]

I have just been watching nannie 911 on tv, mum step dad and three rude and unruley kids, step dad was good with them but mum would not cuddle or give them any kinda love so they were all craveing for affection hence became rude to gain her attention be it shouting and teaseing her kids. Even at the end of the program mum did not think she was doing wrong, the children were rude to nannie at the begining but once she showed them love they came round to her and treated her with respect. Nannie told the mum that if she did not treat them with love and affection then it would become a cycle for them to treat there children with out love.

[katepoet]

I do find the nanny shows interesting. I see people I have known in the habits of these dysfunctional families. It is great that it makes people stop, take the time and do the work to change. It's funny - some of the dysfunctional friends watch and exclaim, but never see themselves in it.

(Of course, I never see myself, either! I am, after all, so perfect! lol)

[judy]

That's a very interesting topic Angie. My mother was emotionally abusive. It certainly leaves scars! It did make me very compassionate towards my students though.
Every cloud has a silver lining.

I teach a course on how to write a research paper at a nearby community college.
My students usually don't go into looking for references to the point you are.
I'm happy when they use the CUNY library database instead of Google. Many are very hard-working though, but haven't been taught that kind of work ethic. I'm not paid enough to start teaching them once they're already in college!

I have a lot of immigrants, adults returning to school, and NYC educated young people. I have to be lenient - they just haven't been taught the skills when they should have been.

Your paper will be wonderful, I'm sure.

[katepoet]

Very cool work, Judy! If there is ever anything your students are tracking that you are stuck on, I'd be glad to pitch in. What kind of institution do you teach for?

[AngieDoogles]

Originally Posted by judy

That's a very interesting topic Angie. My mother was emotionally abusive. It certainly leaves scars! It did make me very compassionate towards my students though.
Every cloud has a silver lining.

I teach a course on how to write a research paper at a nearby community college.
My students usually don't go into looking for references to the point you are.
I'm happy when they use the CUNY library database instead of Google. Many are very hard-working though, but haven't been taught that kind of work ethic. I'm not paid enough to start teaching them once they're already in college!

I have a lot of immigrants, adults returning to school, and NYC educated young people. I have to be lenient - they just haven't been taught the skills when they should have been.

Your paper will be wonderful, I'm sure.

Wow Judy! It's sad that some of your students made it all the way to college without knowing how to properly research a paper. I guess that just proves how much our education system is lacking in certain areas. At least they are hard-working and willing to learn. Good luck with your class!!

As an update on my paper for those who have been following my progress, I found a really awesome treatment method called Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT). It is similar to play therapy, but both the parent and the child are involved. Sometimes the parent leads the interaction and sometimes the child does. This is facilitated by a licensed professional who guides the interaction, reinforcing positive behaviors and helping to eliminate the negative behaviors which are emotionally abusive. It is guided by the attachment theory (children need a secure, loving, and supportive parental figure in order to develop properly) and the social learning theory (children learn best by being social, interacting, and watching others). It's focus is on children 2-7 because this is when the parent-child attachment is most impressionable and when children "model" the behaviors of others (You're all familiar with this...when they play house or "cook food" with play dough or try to do everything that mommy and daddy do, they are modeling). Very interesting method, I think!