Family Change Groups for the Early School Age Child

Abstract

Children who have recently undergone radical family changes may experience difficulty in coping with the stress that their new situation may evoke. These situations include a recent divorce or separation, joining a foster family, going to live with relative, death or serious illness of a sibling or parent, or incarceration of one of the parents. It may involve living in a non-typical family. The focus of his article is on a family change program which has been found to facilitate the adaptation and the further development of coping skills of the 5-7 year old child who has recently undergone family changes. This article is based on experience with approximately 30 groups over a five year period with this and other age groups. The groups usually consist of 4 to 5 children with one leader. The 8-12 sessions for each group last approximately 40-60 minutes. The treatment goals include coping more effectively with stress evoked by the child's unique living situation, mdfying distorted cognitions associated with the family situation, learning lo relax and resolving sleeping problems. The interventions include reading and discussion of excerpts from children's books, relaxation and imagery training, token reinforcement, modeling, self instructional training, homework, cognitive correction, and interactive games and crafts. Consumer satisfaction and that of parents and teachers referring the child has been high. Most treatment goals appear to have been achieved.