Author: admin

reply to each post with 100 words as if you are me and reply hello (person name)
no generic replies. Each reply should have seprate references 
post 1
Justin Pahl posted Jun 10, 2024 8:11 PM
Hello Dr. C and classmates,
Advocates for separating professional and social relationships raise valid concerns about the potential risks involved in blending these spheres. They emphasize the importance of clear boundaries to preserve the therapeutic relationship’s integrity and protect clients from harm. While some social interaction can enhance rapport and trust, excessive personal involvement or dual relationships can blur boundaries, undermine objectivity, and create conflicts of interest. Certain professions, like military service, naturally blend camaraderie with professional duties, while strict boundaries are crucial in fields like psychiatry and counseling to maintain objectivity and confidentiality and avoid potential pitfalls from blurred lines between personal and professional connections.
Dr. Irvin Yalom’s seminal work, “The Gift of Therapy,” delves deeply into the intricacies of mixing personal and professional relationships. He stresses the significance of maintaining firm professional boundaries, emphasizing that these boundaries serve to safeguard the therapeutic relationship’s integrity (Yalom, 2002). By maintaining clear boundaries, therapists can uphold their objectivity, thus ensuring that their decisions and interventions remain focused on the client’s best interests. When boundaries are blurred, there’s a risk of compromising objectivity, potentially harming the client, and undermining the effectiveness of the therapeutic process as a whole.
Social relationships, regardless of their nature, have the potential to interfere with professional relationships, particularly within therapeutic contexts. While occasional social interactions may strengthen and deepen the relationship, benefiting the professional relationship, ongoing or intimate relationships can create dependencies and hinder the client’s autonomy and growth (Adames et al., 2023). Therefore, therapists must exercise caution in navigating social interactions to ensure that they remain conducive to the therapeutic process and do not overshadow the client’s needs or compromise confidentiality.
Ethically, social relationships with current clients become problematic when they encroach upon the integrity of the therapeutic relationship. For example, if a therapist becomes romantically involved with a client, it not only violates ethical guidelines but also undermines the trust and rapport essential for effective therapy. Similarly, disclosing personal information or engaging in social activities that detract from therapy’s focus can exploit the client’s vulnerability and compromise their welfare. Through the maintenance of professional boundaries by understanding and prioritizing ethical principles, therapists can uphold the integrity of the therapeutic process and safeguard their clients’ wellbeing (Adames et al., 2023).
When considering personal or social relationships with former clients, therapists must navigate with caution and sensitivity. While maintaining contact or forming friendships may be acceptable in some cases, therapists must carefully consider factors such as the nature of the therapeutic relationship, the client’s vulnerability, and the potential for harm or exploitation. By adhering to ethical guidelines and prioritizing the client’s wellbeing, therapists can ensure that their interactions with former clients remain respectful, appropriate, and conducive to their ongoing growth and healing.
Concluding the discussion with an evocative quote from our reading material (Adames et al., 2023), which eloquently illustrates both the advantages and the inherent dangers of boundary crossing:
“Crossing a boundary can be profoundly healing and therapeutic. It can reshape how the patient views the therapist. It can strengthen and deepen the working relationship. It can heal rifts, speed growth, and break through an impasse. It can make a patient feel less alone, less hopeless, more understood, and at times less suicidal. Like many powerful resources, crossing a boundary involves risks. Done in the wrong situation, at the wrong time, or with the wrong person, it can knock the therapy off track; sabotage the treatment plan; and offend, exploit, or harm the patient (Pope et al., 2021, pp. 357–358).”
Thank you for reading!
Respectfully,
Justin
References:
Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., Vasquez, M. J. T., & Pope, K. S. (2023). Navigating boundaries. Succeeding as a therapist: How to create a thriving practice in a changing world (pp. 161-168, 341 Pages). American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000321-024
Pope, K. S., Vasquez, M. J. T., & Lindsey, M. A. (2021). Ethics in psychotherapy and counseling: A practical guide (6th ed.). Wiley. pp. 357–358.
Yalom, I. D. (2002). The gift of therapy: An open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients. Harper Perennial.
Post 2
Janelle Garcia posted Jun 11, 2024 12:05 AM
Professor and classmates,
Mixing professional and social relationships will be dependent on the perspective of the individual. Speaking for myself, I believe that it is okay to mix professional and social relationships, as long as there is a line between privacy and respect. For example, I have family and/or friends who are lawyers, nurses, or hold professional job titles, but speaking about work or personal information about others’ or myself is not something that is mentioned around other individuals.
Potential problems that can result from mixing professional and social relationships include boundary violations. It is possible for professionals or the client to get too comfortable outside of the work setting and begin to overshare or violate the client’s personal information, which leads to a violation of the professional and client relationship. Social relationships inferred from professional relationships may depend on the individual’s capability of separating the professional from the social. Although it may sound simple to say that professional and social relationships will not interfere, it is not realistic. There may be times when the relationships will interfere, which can lead to potential problems and violations within the relationship.
Social relationships with current clients become unethical when boundaries are crossed, creating a violation in the relationship. Although not all boundaries that are crossed are considered to be violations, it displays the loss of professionalism between the professional and the client. For example, if I have a social and professional relationship with someone who is a doctor, it becomes unethical when that person uses their personal judgment to disclose personal information about me to others. So, by disclosing personal information to others, that person is jeopardizing the relationship and the roles that were expected.
When professionals consider creating personal or social relationships with former clients, I believe they have the liberty to create the relationship. There may have been times when professionals and clients met under unusual circumstances, so if they choose to create personal or social relationships when they are no longer the “client” or the “professional,”  it should be allowed. Although individuals should have the freedom to create relationships, there should still be boundaries that create a line of respect among the individuals. If ethical guidelines from a current and/or former client standpoint are taken into consideration, it will benefit the interaction between the individuals. 
post 3
Annette Yoder posted Jun 11, 2024 5:54 PM
Blending relationships should certainly be navigated carefully but both the social as well as the professional relationship can benefit if approached and handled correctly. I think it depends a lot on context, the dynamic between people, and the establishment of mutual trust. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach and each situation is different and should be handled appropriately. Ultimately, it comes down to whether it is in the client’s best interest and whether it might affect the therapist’s effectiveness.
Potential problems could include conflicts of interest and in a worse-case scenario, boundary violations in which a client is harmed in some way, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. The risk of harm should always be considered carefully. If it benefits one relationship (e.g. social) but the other (e.g. professional) suffers, this is a potential problem. I don’t think social relationships necessarily interfere with professional relationships but again, it could depend on various factors such as motive, boundaries, or the dynamic between people.
Obviously, sexual or romantic relationships with a client are unethical. This can affect emotional reasoning and both parties’ ability to be objective. Other situations where social relationships with current clients are unethical could include: Borrowing money from a client, going out for drinks with a client, or hiring a client for a service.
After a therapeutic or professional relationship has ended, it should be fine to pursue a personal or social connection, while keeping appropriate boundaries in case the person decides to seek professional help again. Or, if they do wish to return as a client, appropriate boundaries could simply be re-established as each person steps back into their role of client and professional.

reply to each post with 100 words as if you are me and reply hello (person name)
no generic replies. Each reply should have seprate references 
post 1
victoria davenport posted Jun 6, 2024 7:25 PM
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Key indicators or early signs that educators should look for to identify students at risk of neurodevelopmental disorders may include:
Social Communication Deficits:
This includes hence problems in eye contact, little participation in social relations, obstacles in comprehending and employing nonverbal communication signs (for instance, facial expressions and body movements), and trouble in starting or keeping conversations.
Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors:
Stereotypic or repetitive motor movements (e.g., hand flapping, rocking), insistence on sameness or routines, highly circumscribed interests (interests that are limited narrowly to specific subjects or topics), and resistance or protest to change (Rodriguez, et al., 2021).
Learning and Academic Challenges:
Some of the common manifestations of LD include poor ability to learn new skills or poor ability to retain what has been learned, information processing problems, which results in poor completion of academic tasks despite having an average or above average intellect, variation in performance from one area of learning to another, or inability to follow instructions or complete assignments as may be required.
Sensory Sensitivities:
As an example, it may be indicated by over or under-responsiveness to sensory stimuli such as sound, light, or texture, having problems in excluding unnecessary sensory information, or showing very profound reactions to the input received through the sensory organs.
The Response to Intervention (RtI) model can be tailored to address the unique needs of students with neurodevelopmental disorders by:
Early Screening and Assessment:
Perpetrating regulated check mechanisms in a bid to recognize students who might have neurodevelopmental disorder predispositions. It can also include administering and scoring of various standardized instruments that screen and evaluate different areas of development including communication, play and social interaction, learning/cognitive, and sensory (Morris-Rosendahl & Crocq, 2020).
Tiered Support System:
Allowing for more extensive services to be offered if the student needs them but offering minimal services if the student just needs basic accommodations. This may entail instructional practices earmarked to individual or small groups of learners for directly observed skill gains that may have been evaluated to be lacking.
Collaborative Approach:
By having educators, developmental psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists as well as parents form a team in order to formulate and supervise intervention programs for each child. Coordination makes certain that intensive interference aims and impacts all facets of the problem within and across diverse contexts (for example school and home).
Data-Driven Decision Making:
Employing progress reviews on a continuous basis to assess the efficiency of interventions and make decisions on whether it is necessary to increase the level or intensity of services. This entails frequent assessment of students’ progress and reviewing the findings to assess and change the interventions undertaken.
Measures
Measures that could help inform the observations that educators may notice include:
Gilliam Autism Rating Scale–Third Edition (GARS-3):
This screening instrument may help to identify the need for further assessment of behaviours characteristic of ASDs and to estimate how severe they are. That can assist teachers in recognizing students who may need to be assessed and recommended to a developmental pediatrician or neuropsychologist in social communication and/or repetitive behaviors (Isbell, 2022).
Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2):
The SRS-2 measures different aspects of social interaction and communication-related to ASD diagnosis. It gives an understanding of learning situations and difficulties that students face and can assist in handling the clients’ specific social skill deficits by modifying the programs (Channell, 2020).
Child Sensory Profile 2:
This caregiver questionnaire evaluates children’s characters concerning sensory processing and brings out the sensitivities or issues they have. Other than the results, there is so much that educators could gain from the Child Sensory Profile 2; with that information, they can design sensory-friendly environments and come up with strategies for children with Sensory Processing Disorders.
Integrated Visual & Auditory 2 Continuous Performance Test (IVA-2):
This computerized test taps into working memory and response inhibition which are two faculties that are affected in AD/HD. This is helpful in providing more objective information as to attentional functioning and can assist in planning special instruction in attentional activities which might be problematic for the student (NIMH, 2023).
Such measures have been known to have reliability in diagnosing neurodevelopmental disorders and may help serve the purpose of providing useful data by which educators can then formulate academic and social learning support mechanisms for the students in need.
References
Channell, M., 2020. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) in school-age children with Down syndrome at low risk for autism spectrum disorder. Autism & developmental language impairments.
Isbell, N., 2022. Factor Analyses and Clinical Discriminant Validity of the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale–3 rd Edition (GARS-3) Using Special Education Staff Ratings in Samples with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities. Michigan : Michigan State University.
Morris-Rosendahl, D. & Crocq, M., 2020. Neurodevelopmental disorders—the history and future of a diagnostic concept. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, pp. 65-72.
NIMH, 2023. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd
Rodriguez, C. et al., 2021. Neurodevelopmental disorders: An innovative perspective via the response to intervention model. World Journal of Psychiatry, pp. 1017-1026.
Post 2
Haley Rankin posted Jun 11, 2024 7:55 AM
Good Afternoon Professor and Class, 
Some key indicators educators should keep an eye out for include delays in reaching development milestones, challenges with social interactions, relationship-building, or communication skills, sensory sensitivities, difficulties getting and maintaining attention, and impulse control. Each of these tendencies alone or combined with each other can illude to a possible neurodevelopment disorder. Additionally, educators should consider the aforementioned areas an indicator even if a student isn’t delayed but faces challenges in meeting the milestones. 
The RtI model can be used to address the needs of students with potential disorders by offering multiple, tailored options for intervention. In tier one, all students receive instruction and interventions to stimulate learning and development. In tier two, students needing intervention receive intervention to provide additional support. In tier three, students receive more intense interventions in order to help keep them learning and developing along with their peers. 
One assessment I learned about this week was the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). This assessment assesses an individual’s social interactions, play skills, and imagination. The ADOS assessment helps professionals recognizer the severity of Autistic symptoms which can aid in diagnosis and most importantly, treatment development and implementation. 
-Haley
Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in children. Patient Care at NYU Langone Health. (n.d.). https://nyulangone.org/conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder-in-children/diagnosis#:~:text=The%20Autism%20Diagnostic%20Observation%20Schedule,and%20repetitive%20behaviors%20in%20children.
post 3
Miranda Munoz posted Jun 12, 2024 9:43 AM
Q 1: What are some key indicators or early signs that educators should look for to identify students at risk? How can the RtI model be tailored to address the unique needs of this population?
A: Some indicators or early signs that educators should be on the lookout for in regard to neurological developmental disorders in students would be, difficulties in reading, whether that be level of reading or comprehension, writing style or writing skills, and lastly math (Rodríguez et al., 2021). These are problems that will usually arise due to problems with executive functioning, which is another way to say cognitive processing concepts. Within this research there is a link between EF and the academic skills of students that can be found and assessed. The RtI model can be used to address these unique challenges of this specific demographic by applying the Cognitive Hypothesis Testing model. The CHT is comprised of 4 main components such as academic achievement (which is dependent on an increased numerical value of complex neuropsychological and cognitive functions), children with a baseline of unique learning abilities, the learning profiles being then broken down by evaluations and analysis of responses to valid treatment options, and that academic underperformance being able to be remediated with by examination which would be based on strength and weakness (Rodríguez et al., 2021). With the concepts that this approach takes, we can break down what the students baseline is, and form ways that are tailored to them for treatment, and then have the students be able to remediate any discrepancies. While there are still items to iron out when it comes to this test, such as it yielding mixed results, I feel as though it is a good way to establish a baseline and possibly consider other options while moving forward.
Q 2: Additionally, drawing upon ancillary research, what are measures that could help inform the observations that educators may notice? Explain the validity of whichever measurement you select in providing assessment of and insight into a neurodevelopmental disorder, including in formulating viable treatment interventions.
A: The measure that I feel would help inform educators with their observations would be the Einstein Assessment of School Related Skills. I believe that this test is beneficial to students, and a measure that should be filled out prior to classes to be able to gage the appropriate classes the student should take as well as to see what their learning course would be, aided or otherwise. Neurodevelopmental disorders are helpful in assessing a range of concepts that can impact an individual’s cognitive, communication, motor, as well as social skills or ability (Zoran, 2023). The EASRS is a brief measure which would only take the student 7-10 minutes to complete, that addresses reading, math, auditory memory, language processing skills and visual motor skills of children within the age range of of grades K-5 (Gottesman & Cerullo, 1987). Even if this seems young to begin testing, I see it beneficial that students get examined as early as possible for greater benefits when it comes to learning in the future. To examine the validity of this exam, research as well as the measurement was applied to children grades K-5, with 2,300 participants. These participants were already enrolled in regular education classes. After the assessment it was determined that 200 of these students displayed some form of learning disability and were diagnosed learning disabled. The sample of this study was broad to ensure that it was not biased by academic ability, socioeconomic status, or gender to also include either suburban or urban regions (Gottesman & Cerullo, 1987). Viable treatment options would be to pull anyone that is taking a regular education course, and speak to them and their parents one on one to explain the test results, what the test means for the child’s future education, such as receiving extra help, or moving them to a quiet area to test, or just providing the extra help needed to be able to succeed. Other measures such as a medical intervention, should only be taken by the parent’s discretion. 
References:
Gottesman, R. L., & Cerullo, F. M. (1987). The development and standardization of the Einstein assessment of school-related skills – a test for pediatric use. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/pr1987176#:~:text=The%20Einstein%20Assessment%20of%20School%2DRelated%20Skills%20(EASRS)%20is,children%20in%20grades%20K%2D5. 
Rodríguez, C., Areces, D., García, T., Cueli, M., & Gonzalez-Castro, P. (2021). Neurodevelopmental disorders: An innovative perspectiveviathe response to intervention model. World Journal of Psychiatry, 11(11), 1017–1026. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v11.i11.1017 
Zoran, A. (2023, October 2). Understanding Neurodevelopmental Evaluations: A guide. Ability Psychological Services. https://abilitypsychservices.com/understanding-neurodevelopmental-evaluations/