Applied Social Psychology: Case Study #2
Jamie is an undergraduate at a small liberal arts college. She is very verbal and loves books. As a freshman, she signed up as a Comparative Literature major. However, for Jamie, college has not come easy, having spent many years of her middle and high school education in special education programs. Wanting to give back, she has started taking courses in the Clinical Psychology concentration. With a double major, she can pursue the study of language and literature, her true love, and work towards a clinical career where she can help others. Jamie has never labeled her condition, but some of her professors guess that Jamie is on the autistic spectrum. She appears to be on the high-functioning end of the spectrum, but also may have a deficit in pragmatic skills. Jamie demonstrates severe difficulty reading the little cues that many use to navigate social relationships. In addition, she is hyper-verbal, verbose both in her writing and speaking, another aspect of the syndrome. Hard-working, intelligent, and highly motivated, Jamie aces all her classes. On tests, she is repetitive and wordy, but gets the answers right. In class, she is a bit too enthusiastic and dominating in conversations for some teachers, but they learn to either put her off, let her talk, or discuss the issues with her in office hours. Her professors never as a group discuss Jamie or share their experiences about her. Some professors display more patience than others, but none ever directly tells Jamie that she is disruptive in class. Nor does anyone suggest writing help for her verbose style and overly long papers. Jamie has been assigned an advisor, with whom she has a good relationship. Her advisor is a professor whose specialty is experimental design and who is not directly involved in the senior year clinical requirement for students. All in all, to the advisor, Jamie is an unusual, but excellent student. Now Jamie is in her final year of the Clinical Psych program and she must complete the senior practicum. Her book, test, paper, and classroom skills do not prepare her for face-to-face encounters with clients at the schools clinic. She completes all of her coursework and paperwork, but her people-skills and ability to adapt her plans on the spot to suit the client are very weak. Her clinical supervisor, Dr. Jones, assigns Jamie her lowest grade in a college course (she earns a D). Her hopes are shattered as her dreams of graduate school and a clinical career disappear. Jamie can repeat the course, but then she would have to wait another year and explain to her family why she is not graduating as expected. Her other option is to pursue graduate study in Comparative Literature, but she feels she has failed by not training towards a position that would allow her to give back to the community. She is distraught. Graduation day, the day she longed for, is a let-down.
After graduation, Jamie approaches her teachers in the Clinical Psych program. She expresses a good deal of frustration and an ensuing emotional low following her clinical experience. Nonetheless, she is adamant that she wants to be a clinician and informs the teachers that, on the basis of a recommendation letter from a Comp Lit professor and an interview at a local graduate school, she has registered for a Ph.D. level course in Clinical Psych, starting as a nonmatriculated student. She also asks her professors for letters of recommendation as she plans to apply to the program as a Ph.D. student. Most of her professors know she can do graduate level work; however, some in the Clinical Psychology Department are hesitant to encourage these plans. Her clinical professor, Dr. Jones, is an excellent counselor herself and has determined that Jamie does not have, nor can she acquire, the clinical acumen to pursue such a career. Meanwhile, Jamie begins the course as a non-degree student and is immediately overwhelmed. Her depression grows; she withdraws from friends and cannot focus in class.
During Jamies clinical year (Senior Year), Dr. Jones as her supervisor had a dual burden: to teach and guide Jamie as a student clinician, but also to bear in mind the needs of the clients assigned to Jamie. Dr. Jones sought out information to help Jamie in this clinical year. At the start of their work together, Dr. Jones had asked Jamie if she had ever been identified as a special needs student and whether Jamie wanted to pursue such a diagnosis, since this would have led to course modifications in terms of workload and time allotted. Jamie had reported only limited details about her condition and had refused to pursue any special accommodations at the college. Dr. Jones consulted senior faculty and Jamies advisor. Jamies advisor emphasized the students good grades and high motivation and the only indication of any academic concern was a C+ grade Jamie had received in a pre-clinical course taught by an adjunct instructor. A C+, however, was a passing grade and allowed Jamie to move forward, & the advisor had looked upon the C+ as an anomaly in Jamies record. Dr. Jones found no record of any counseling or disability support for Jamie.
Dr. Joness position was difficultfor herself, for her fragile student clinician, and for the many clients who were expecting to begin services. Dr. Jones could see that the behavior pattern of Jamie was evident to these other students who had taken classes with Jamie. It undermined the confidence Jamie had in herself. Dr. Jones made the clients aware of the newness of the student clinic experience, and they helped by being willing to accept the situation as a dual-learning project. It was clear that Jamies anxiety increased her tendency for dysfluent behavior. Disruptive children (clients) became more disruptive. Distracted children could not be sustained. Frequently, parents had to be called in to monitor behaviors that Jamie could not cope with alone, even after substantial supervisory input. The result was that there were few if any independently delivered pediatric contacts. More complex cases were not assigned to Jamie, and the clinic caseload size had to be curtailed for the semester. Both Jamie and Dr. Jones were relieved when the required hours component of the course were completed. While Jamie was capable of writing essentially timely notes; final reports however were rambling and not targeted enough for even pre-professional work. Dr. Jones took all of Jamies work into consideration and determined that a D grade best reflected the skills Jamie had gained during the clinical experience.
This case study is a modified case study originally presented by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Marymount Manhattan College.
Questions To Consider:
Note: Chapter 10 discusses interpersonal processes. Also interventions are covered in chapter 4 and also you may use what you learned about education and social psychology, and/or any assigned material about neurodiversity/autism, and/or developmental disabilities. You may use outside sources, but you do not need to.
1. What does this case study reveal to us about interpersonal processes? (20 points)
2. What are the most important issues to be considered? Which elements of the case are most troubling, urgent, complex, unclear, or discomforting? (10 points)
3. Was Dr. Jones justified in giving Jamie a D in the course? Why or Why Not? (5 points)
4. How could student performance have been improved in this case study? (5 points)
5. Conventions-spelling and grammar etc. (10 points)
Rubric:
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Interpersonal Processes (20pts)
What does this case study reveal to us about interpersonal processes? (20 points)
20 pts
Full Marks
0 pts
No Marks
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeMost important issues- opinion (10 pts)
What are the most important issues to be considered? Which elements of the case are most troubling, urgent, complex, unclear, or discomforting? ( (10 points)
10 pts
Full Marks
0 pts
No Marks
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeGrade justified? Opinion (5pts)
Was Dr. Jones justified in giving Jamie a D in the course? Why or Why Not? (5 points)
5 pts
Full Marks
0 pts
No Marks
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeStudent Performance Improvement (5pts)
How could student performance have been improved in our provided case study? (5 points)
5 pts
Full Marks
0 pts
No Marks
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeConventions (10 pts)
Conventions-spelling and grammar etc. (10 points). Make sure to state each question before you answer.
10 pts
Full Marks
0 pts
No Marks
10 pts
Total Points: 50
