Courses Part 3: Development

A class we also commonly decided to attend is Developmental Psycho-pathology which is designed to review a wide range of disorders of childhood and adolescence. It also covers possible etiologies from a number of theoretical perspectives and by the end of this course, students should be able to describe and differentiate the major disorders of childhood and adolescence, have knowledge of major etiologic theories pertinent to those disorders, and be able to apply that knowledge to clinical samples. We are all very glad to have the possibility to attend this class as a wide array of different deviations from the normal developmental course of children is discussed and as the tools of American childhood and early intervention are constituted for every single disorder (e.g. Autism, ADHD, Conduct Disorder, Childhood Depression and Childhood Schizophrenia). Therefore we get an overview of many different childhood problems and possible interventions.

Another course we attend at the UNC Department of Psychology is The Study of Adolescent Issues and Development. It provides an analysis of psychological factors related to transitional development from childhood to adolescence and adulthood including the emergence of the teenage years, puberty, reproduction, identity and self-concept issues and youth adulthood. In the context of this course we acquire knowledge within theoretical perspectives that address adolescence including biological theories, organismic theories, learning theories, sociological theories, historical and anthropological approaches. Moreover, every session a group of students presents a current newspaper article on the topic. As both students and instructor often share their personal experiences from childhood and adolescence, this course enables us to delve into the American society and the everyday life of youths in the US.

Besides that we attend a course that is intended to make us familiar with the perspective of DSM-IV-TR and, even more important to us, with the forthcoming DSM-V, classical notions of psychopathology, and alternative perspectives (e.g., historical, economic, professional) on unusual behavior. We read important papers for the major psychological disorders in order to develop our own critical perspective on the field of abnormal psychology. The aim of the class is to familiarize us with certain important disorders in enough depth so that we are able to make an informed analysis and critique. This course helps us a lot to compare the German discipline related point of view with the American perspective and by this is enriching our ways of thinking and recessing our diagnostic abilities. We hope that this class will help us to correctly identify and distinguish different mental disabilities that might occur in children, adolescents and adults.

Of great value to us is also an extracurricular proseminar arranged by the Center for Developmental Science.  The consortium series is titled Exploring the relation between parent psychopathology and the development of children’s emotion regulation. The focus of this series is to explore whether and how parental psychopathology is associated with children’s emotion regulation. The course started with an overview of the development of emotion regulation in early and middle childhood. A range of forms of parent psychopathology (e.g., alcoholism, depression, borderline personality disorder) and their impact on children’s emotion regulation are discussed.  In examining the questions of causes and correlates, the course`s goal is to consider mechanisms of vulnerability and protection that move across a range of levels of analysis, particularly including genetics and biology, family and individual characteristics, and even larger societal contexts, such as neighborhoods and poverty. The very up to date research results presented there are of inestimable value to us, as they set the basis for developing new specific intervention strategies and practices.

To sum it all up we are very happy and grateful for this experience and we really feel that we learn lot things that are of irreplaceable value to us.

Courses Part 2: Social Work

We really appreciate the opportunity to attend several graduate courses provided by the School of Social Work. The UNC School of Social Work is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation and offers a variety of outstanding seminars concerning child and adolescent development as well as the work with families.

The course Child Mental Health: Theory & Practice presents knowledge and theories from various disciplines to understand mental health and well-being in children and their families with an emphasis on gaining practice skills. In the course of the seminar we review and discuss key diagnostic, treatment, and prevention issues associated with the mental health care needs of children and their families, also based on the personal experience of the participating graduate students. It is demonstrated how diversity issues such as race/ethnicity, culture, poverty, education, sexual orientation, and geography affect children and their families, and their relevance for assessment, treatment, and case supervision and management. Furthermore we examine the American child mental health service network (including child welfare) as well as the legal framework in which children and their parents/caregivers seek treatment in the US. We highly value the active learning environment in the course and the variety of teaching methods applied by the instructor. Personally we benefit a lot from the practical experience shared by the course participants. 

A great addition to the Child Mental Health course described above is the seminar Adolescent Mental Health: Theory and Practice. It covers mental health problems both in childhood and adolescence and also addresses the biological and pharmaceutical point of view. At the beginning of the seminar we read and discussed two fascinating books with contrasting approaches on the treatment of child abuse, neglect and trauma. We were especially touched by Perry’s (2006) “The boy who was raised as a dog” as the author writes about his own patients and his personal experience in a deeply impressive way. At the moment we acquire knowledge about the main mental health disorders from childhood to adolescence. Every session we also discuss current events concerning childhood and adolescence from the media. We are also looking forward to the second part of the course where we are going to cover social issues of modern adolescence in America. The high personal engagement of our instructor and the creative approaches he uses to give his students a proper understand of the topic are truly inspiring.

Another very interesting course we attend at the School of Social Work is Antisocial, Aggressive Behavior in Childhood and Early Adolescence: Theory and Practice. This course explores theories and methods related to practice with children whose behavior is disruptive, oppositional, aggressive, or otherwise antisocial. Emphasis is placed on using protective and risk factors to design ecologically, culturally and developmentally appropriate interventions. The course is designed to strengthen the understanding of the social (individual, peer, family, school, and community), economic (local, regional, and national marketplaces), and political (including the politics of hate and fear related to disability, gender, race. sexual orientation, and other issues of difference) forces that define and shape conduct problems in childhood and that, if viewed from an ecological-developmental perspective, inform practice with children and families. Very impressive for us is getting to know different intervention programs that exist in North Carolina and especially in Orange County.

In the course Families: Theory & Practice we get to know the development and role of explanatory and practice theory in family-centered social work practice and also concepts, selected theory, and research concerning family functioning and interaction. We learn a lot about family systems in the context of race, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, culture and history and apply models of family functioning and interaction to frame social interventions with couples and families. Furthermore we gain awareness of the field of family life education and review specific programs focused on promoting strong families and effective parenting. In addition, major clinical and community intervention strategies for working with couples and families experiencing relationship problems or facing adversity and positive challenges are reviewed. Moreover we examine family-centered social work practice in a variety of direct practice settings, including health, mental health, schools, the U.S. military, and settings particularly focused on child welfare. The course participants practice to recognize ethical dilemmas and employ decision-making skills for ethical practice with families. We are acquiring these skills by first reading and discussing the underlying theories and then applying them in practical settings by role-playing different situations. As this is a small course, the learning experience is even more intensive and enriching. We really appreciate the personal and professional exchange with the American fellow students and the instructor. Her practical wealth of experience is a great benefit for us. 

Courses Part 1: The American Classroom

During several weeks of studying at UNC we broadened our knowledge and got to know different perspectives and styles of working or solving problems with children and families. All of us chose different classes according to our individual interests, which also overlap in some fields. Generally we noticed that the American classroom is in some ways similar to the German one but in other ways completely different. We appreciate that there is less distance between instructors and students in America, so that instructors seem to be very approachable and supportive to each of their students. In addition we noticed that students ask a lot of questions and openly share their personal opinion and experiences with the whole class. We like this more interactive and active teaching style which involves students a lot and encourages them to participate in class which enriches learning and incorporates more different opinions and points of view.

For getting to know and understand the American culture and classroom better, all of us chose to attend the class, which has been recommended to us by Monica and Susanna (the two Portuguese GEDS students, who visited the UNC in spring 2010). The course Communicating in the American University Classroom aims at preparing international Teaching Assistants for being an instructor at UNC. The focus of the course lies on enhancing cross-cultural communication and understanding, English pronunciation, basic teaching skills (mimic, tone of voice, body-language; cultural differences in those) and topics necessary for effective interaction in the American classroom.  In the course of fulfilling the assignments of this class all of us were able to learn more about our personal teaching abilities and present deficits that we still display and need to work on. Each of us gave a short microteaching presentation in which she defined and explained a discipline-related term to an American undergraduate class. The aim was not only to provide an understanding but also to actively evolve the students and help them comprehend and apply the term. The students gave each of us a feedback and made suggestions for how to improve our teaching. Furthermore, the sessions were videotaped so that we could watch ourselves teaching and could notice mistakes we made. We all considered this experience as being extremely important to us and expect to improve our active and interactive teaching skills a lot by attending this class. 

Celebrating 125 years of the School of Education

In the end of September the School of Education celebrated its 125th anniversary (1885 -2010).

Lots of alumni gathered to discuss the future of teaching. The School held the anniversary with a daylong celebration, offering different panel discussions around the theme “Stories That Changed the Face of Public Education”. Besides that, the Alumni Achievement Awards were presented and school reform leader Phil Schlechty gave a  keynote address in the Carolina Inn Hotel. Of special interest to us was the panel discussion of “Leading the Way for Children with Special Needs”. The panel members discussed the most influential issues/ moments in the field of special education in the past 125 years and what  the School of Education needs to do in the years ahead to support leadership for exceptional children. Several speakers stated that in the future, teaching styles will have to change to accommodate the wide variety of students and their learning styles and they stressed the need of creativity in teaching.

Happy anniversary!