A proposed organization of guidance program at St. Alphonsus High School, India

• Main Author: Sharma, Anthony F.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1973
• Subjects: Educational counseling; Educational counseling > Case studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4032
• Institution: De La Salle University

v. 2. Curiosity is a great teacher. It is one of the ways that both human and brute animals learn to act and experience events. Being a teacher, curiosity has a unique pedagogy of its own. It has an enticing aspect about it it offers challenge and invites risk-taking. Every risk in its turn is like a coin with two sides to it a loss or a gain. Learning of an act or an experiencing of an event prompted by curiosity can, therefore, have two consequences, a good or a bad. It can be pleasant or unpleasant, growth promoting or growth hindering. It is of this process of curiosity leading to a learning of an undesirable behavior and then unlearning the undesirable behavior that the present case study seems to provide an illustration. In undertaking the present case study of Jose, a twenty-year old commerce student, who was being gnawed by his inability to overcome his masturbatory habit, the counselor had two objectives in mind. The first and the main objective were to help Jose to effectively combat his undesirable habit of masturbation and thus bring it under control. Secondly, through the case study the counselor intended to try the effectiveness of the means he had chosen for the attainment of the main objective-namely, the behavioral counseling techniques in this particular case of a college student who the counselor hypothesized, would be resistant to a schoolboy like treatment. To help Jose arrive at the desired goal and to use the means chosen effectively, the counselor needed as accurate a picture as he could get of Joses strengths and weaknesses, his personal and social relationships and tendencies. Such was therefore the purpose of the initial few interviews with Jose were conducted. Moreover, since at the explicit request of the counselee, no other external source or significant others could be contacted to obtain the needed information, the counselor made use of two psychological tests of Personality (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Schedule) to somehow meet this deficiency. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), a test of intelligence, was also administered at the request of the counselee himself much after the formal counseling relationship had ended. Furthermore, since the main purpose of the study was to bring about the desired change in the counselees behavior, behavioral counseling approach was employed to this end, in particular, the SPAM treatment. v. 3. Cecil, the subject of the case study, was brought to the counselor by her mother, Mrs. Feliciano appeared particularly disturbed by the behavior of her 17-year old daughter, a fourth year high school student at a school in Quezon City. Cecil to her was an unusual kind of girl. When girls of her age seemed so crazy about boys, Cecil had shown no apparent interest in them. She appeared to value more the friendship of Mrs. Concepcion, a mother of three children and a village neighbor of the Feliciano family, than that of her boyfriend, Ruben. Ruben had been visiting Cecil regularly for a little over a year but had always received cold treatment from the latter. Cecils attitude puzzled and worried Mrs. Feliciano. The recent discovery had puzzled her the more and made her more anxious. She had intercepted Cecils letter to Mrs. Concepcion and the passionate content of the letter convinced her of her earlier suspicion that her daughter was a lesbian. For a better understanding of the case, the counselor met with the counselees significant others. The meetings with the significant others took place in the following manner : The opportunities to meet Ruben and Mr. Lim, Cecils boyfriend and uncle respectively, were provided by Cecil herself. The meeting with Sister Marie Emmanuel was arranged through, and with the permission of Cecil. The techniques that the counselor utilized ranged from non-directive to directive. In other words, he was eclectic as far as his counseling approach was concerned. To establish a good rapport was his first concern during the first part of the first interview. To this end he used the techniques of restatement, clarification and reflection. As the interview progressed and the rapport became greater, the counselor probed, interpreted and tried to effect behavior change through use of role-shift. A role shift strategem was used as an appropriate means to undo what had been done, namely, to destroy the apparent evidence of Cecils lesbian tendency and thus ease the situation at home. Accordingly, a suggestion was offered to Cecil to act in a manner that met with her mothers expectation about the girl of her age, especially in dealing with Ruben, her boy-friend. The game of Chinese checkers was used as means towards this end. A subtle suggestion was also made to Mrs. Feliciano about her using the gentle approach she had spoken to her husband about. Since the hints were well taken and put into use by both mother and daughter, the beneficial effects of the suggested strategem are very much in evidence today, namely, the falsity of the accusation has been realized and confessed, a closeness and understanding have developed between the mother and daughter, and tension at home is remarkably low.