Unit 1: Understanding the Development Stages of Adolescence

Learning objective: Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood, and it involves some significant changes (e.g., to the body and to an individual’s perspective of the world) which include many physical, sexual, cognitive, social, and emotional changes that happen during this developmental period. It can result in anticipation and anxiety for both children and their families. There are many different definitions of adolescence and trainees will be introduced to a selected few key definitions. In this unit, trainees will learn to know and understand what is to expect at different stages (there are three key sub-phases of adolescence: early, middle and late) in order to promote healthy development throughout adolescence and into early adulthood.

Unit 2: Challenging Issues in Adolescence

Learning objective: Adolescence is divided into three phases: early adolescence (10-13 years old), middle adolescence (14-17 years old) and late adolescence (18-21 years old). Each of the phases has its own set of challenging problems. The trainees will be introduced to the five current key challenging problems faced by adolescents: (1)  Depression: It affects many adolescents caused by the need to fit into a group, low self-esteem as a result of acne, and prevalent bullying problems;

(2) Anxiety disorder: It concerns the expectations that an adolescent may have or that others may have about him/her which can lead to severe stress. Moreover, the pressure to measure up well to others or problems with peers can contribute to anxiety;

(3) Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder: These food-related issues are commonly encountered problems in adolescence today. Having to confront criticism about their own bodies and simultaneously bombarded with impossible images of beauty that society sells at a high price, adolescents often focus on what they eat. They use diet to gain control over weight. Needless to say, there are disastrous consequences on the body;

(4) Social phobia: This condition is often triggered when an adolescent is in a social context or when they think about being in that context. Interacting with strangers or having to go to a place full of people can be a living nightmare for them. Hence, many of them prefer to stay at home. Insecurities, being self-conscious about their bodies, bullying, and the need for acceptance can cause social phobia; and

(5) Antisocial and oppositional defiant disorder: It is often easy for most people to confuse between antisocial and oppositional defiant disorders with just natural problems in adolescence. Disobedience to adults, non-compliance with rules, small thefts (like shoplifting) and being permanently angry are some of the signs that can indicate the presence of these disorders. These also include respecting nobody, acting without thinking, being very impulsive and not taking into account the integrity of others, which can be observed in many adolescents. Trainees will share their own adolescent experiences and how they go about coping with such challenges.

Unit 3: Parenting Adolescents

Learning objective: The adolescent years can feel like riding a roller coaster. However, by maintaining positive and respectful parent-child relationships during this period, the family can (try to) enjoy the ride! In this unit, trainees will be introduced to Ellen Galinsky’s six stages of parenthood development (i.e., Stage 1-image making, Stage 2-nurturing, Stage 3-authority, Stage 4-interpretive, Stage 5-interdependent, and Stage 6-departure) and how it affects the way parents go about managing their adolescent kids. As a result, adolescents and their parents often struggle with changing dynamics of family relationships during this period of conflicts. However, parents’ role sill plays a critical support throughout this difficult period. Trainees will learn how to work with parents with challenging adolescents through some of the key strategies, such as starting early conversation about topics important to adolescents (e.g., sexual activity, substance abuse, independence and individuality), maintaining positive open communication, helping their adolescents to anticipate changes in their body through open discussion and socio-emotional reassurance, supporting and setting clear limits with high but reasonable expectations, etc..

Unit 4: Working with Adolescents

Learning objective: Trainees will be introduced to youth work. This is a specialized field that involves in handling and providing support to young individuals (adolescents) with behavioral difficulties. In youth work, the job is primarily responsible for devising recreational projects, handling the budget, producing progress reports, managing intervention programs, and counseling troubled youth while keeping their information confidential. In this unit, trainees are provided examples of responsibilities that a youth worker undertakes, i.e., the typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles as youth workers. These include the following but not limited to just these activities:

(1) Provide adolescents with emotional and academic counsel to help them stay focused on achieving their personal and collective goals;

(2) Assist them in achieving and maintaining academic certification and/or vocational accreditation or equivalent compliance;

(3) Perform and oversee daily activities for adolescents or juvenile delinquents who are in detention, treatment, and/or revocation;

(4) Assist in fund raising and educating adolescents and general public about drug abuse, HIV/AIDS awareness, and teen violence;

(5) Provide support and counsel adolescents/juvenile delinquents, help them with social skills and work ethics so they can be out in society;

(6) Educate teenage parents about the importance of staying in school as well as adolescents who are at risk of dropping out; and

(7) Train to monitor and identify changes and to provide one-on-one counseling, communication and listening.

Unit 5: The 4 Categories of Symptoms in Disabilities & Disorders

Learning objective: In this unit, trainees will learn about the different kinds of disabilities and disorders seen in many adolescents. These include both learning problems (e.g., slow learner, underachiever, and borderline functioning learner) and behavioral challenges (e.g., disruptive behavior, lackadaisical behavior, inappropriate sexual behavior, socio-emotional behavior, and abnormal behavior). Trainees will learn about the four key categories of symptoms, i.e., primary/core, correlated, secondary and artefactual, that describe a disability or disorder, such as dyslexia, autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Assignment: There will be a 30-minute multiple-choice question type of test at the end of this unit.

Unit 6: Understanding the Splitter-and-Lumper Model of Disabilities & Disorders

Learning objective: A better understanding of difficulties, disabilities and disorders is best introduced through a systemic structure based on the framework of six levels of learning and behavioral challenges/problems under three different categories of causative origin, i.e., sociogenic, psychogenic, and neurogenic: Level 1-learning/behavioral differences; Level 2-learning/behavioral disadvantages; Level 3-learning/behavioral dysfunctions; Level 4-learning/behavioral difficulties; Level 5-learning/behavioral disabilities; and Level 6-learning/behavioral disorders. In other words, the sociogenic challenges consist of levels 1 and 2; the psychogenic challenges consist of levels 3 and 4; and the neurogenic challenges consist of Levels 5 and 6. Next, the trainees will be introduced to the splitter-lumper model of disabilities and disorders with examples of selected conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and specific learning disabilities (SpLD). Trainees will learn to differentiate among the different levels and categories of learning/behavioral challenges.

Unit 7: Disability and Diagnostic Categories [Level 1]

Learning objective: Using the 14 disability categories provided by the US Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEAS 2004), trainees will be introduced to these categories as listed in the Educator’s Diagnostic Manual (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2007). This nosological classification system will help the trainees to identify and differentiate the disabilities and disorders based on their symptoms and subtypes as well as specific subtypes. The 14 key disability categories include (1) specific learning disability, (2) speech & language impairments, (3) mental retardation (now known as intellectual disabilities or cognitive impairments), (4) emotional disturbance, (5) other health impairments, (6) multiple disabilities, (7) autism, (8) orthopedic impairments, (9) hearing impairments, (10) visual impairments, (11) traumatic brain injury, (12) deaf-blindness, (13) deafness, and (14) developmental delay.

Unit 8: Psychoeducational Measurement in Adolescence

Learning objective: Measurement in the field of education for adolescents comprises of assessment, evaluation and management. Keeping in mind that adolescents are neither children or adults, they are the ‘in-between’ category. As such, measures used in assessing children and adults are not appropriate when apply to test adolescents. As a result, new assessment tools are needed. In this unit, trainees working with youth are introduced to a wide range of selected assessment tools used at the different levels within the hierarchy of abilities and skills: Level 1-Innate abilities and skills; Level 2-Sensory behavioral abilities and skills; Level 3-Adaptive behavioral abilities and skills; Level 4-Socio-emotional behavioral abilities and skills; and Level 5-Cognitive behavioral abilities and skills. Trainees will be taught how to use selected assessment tools, score and interpret the results in order to create a comprehensive profile of an adolescent.

Unit 9: The Adolescent Psyche and Personality Types

Learning objective: In adolescent psychology, the focus is emphasized on the unique mental health needs of adolescents (defined as individuals between 10 and 19 years of age). While most people have an idea of what talk therapy looks like with adults, and they might have an idea of what play therapy looks like with young children, adolescents are a distinct group. They are no longer children but not yet adults, and as such have unique needs. Therefore, it becomes important for trainees to know and understand the adolescent psyche and the personality types that are associated with it. Hence, working with adolescents requires us to consider the specific needs of someone whose brain has developed past the childhood stage but has not fully matured into adulthood. In this unit, trainees will also learn about what constitutes an adolescent psyche and the personality types in adolescence: change and stability and links with adjustment and relationships.

Unit 10: Social-Emotional & Academic Challenges in Adolescents

Learning objective: Most adolescents, if not all, express their concerns about being accepted by their peers. There are also those who have encountered or even expected some social rejection due to their difficulties with controlling their behavior and understanding others’ social signals. Challenging social issues faced during the childhood phase can become worse as a child grows older, with an inevitable escalation of the intensity of any rejection or bullying during the period of adolescence. This rejection can negatively affect both academic performance and emotional health. In fact, much more troubling to an adolescent than performing poorly in class tests or examinations. An adolescent also may appear emotionally immature compared with the peers. Sometimes s/he feels more comfortable interacting with younger peers or when spending time with adults who show greater acceptance of the immature actions of adolescents. As with academic challenges, however, difficulties with social interaction can often be helped by having adolescents learn specific skills. Trainees will learn a number of ways how to work with adolescents, especially educating or training them how to interact positively with others, including role modeling, role-playing, analyzing interaction, and practicing new techniques. In adolescence, these older ‘kids’ are more likely to experience new motivation to improve their social life and they seek advice about social issues more often from peers than from adults such as parents and teachers.