Human Services Scenario Analysis

Sam is a seven year old black boy who has been diagnosed with bi-polar. I worked for an after school program. All the children that attend the program are very different behaviorally but this particular boy stood out of the crowd. My first time meeting him, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know the child’s background and my supervisor didn’t brief me before entering into the class room. Going in blind, I decided to quickly use my skills from my previous employer, to understand what was going on with him in this environment. Looking at him you would think that he’s a calm stand offish little boy but that is not the case. Class would begin to start, and when it was time for the roll call and his name is called, acting differently from the others, he would crawl underneath a chair under the table.
I really thought he was just a normal trouble maker. It’s time to work on homework. Sam acts out. Seeing him under the chair and table, my first thought was “oh he has ADD or ADHD. Well one minute he’s very hyper and playful and at a blink of an eye, he’s cussing people out, threating other students in the classroom, and runs out of the classroom and has a full out tantrum like a two year old.
At the end of the day, I go to my supervisor and ask, “Ok. What’s the story on Sam?” she says “Well, we have been told by his step mom that he has a mild case of bi-polar disease.” Many questions were answered by her. His father was hardly ever around. He’s a truck driver, so it’s hard to have a consistent relationship with him, but with his step mom, she does the best she can to have him behave. She tells us that he sees a therapist two times a week, monitoring his behavior and reporting if the day will be good or bad.   “We have to treat him differently because of his bi-polar.” My supervisor advised. I said “wow.” But in my mind I was thinking- Sam will be treated just like any other child in this program. He knows what he’s doing, and knows that he’s getting away with it...