What I've Learned So Far

1) What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?
            Since I started working on my senior project, I have learned a lot about the different types of child abuse that there are like physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. I've learned what they are, what are the requirements for these things to be considered "reportable" and some of the things that are done to punish the abuser. I have also learned about the different types of side effects that may come up like children growing up not knowing how to keep a healthy relationship with anyone, like living with guilt and stress disorders. I have also learned about how therapists and psychologists decide what kind of treatment the victim will get. For example, if they are younger children, between the ages of 4 and 13, they will most likely end up in some kind of group therapy. Another thing that I have learned is that to help someone else you first need to help yourself. So, you need to keep working on yourself and helping heal whatever "scars" you may have whenever you can. 


2) Post evidence of this accomplishment.

To me, this picture represents that no matter how much research you do you will find contradicting answers, different definitions, and different ideas. The sticky notes on top of all of those other papers represent that you need to know how to manage your time because you will have lots of therapies, you also need to manage your personal schedule and anything that may come up. The very top sticky note means that therapists have a lot of decision making when it comes to children. You have to decide like whether they get group therapy or they get trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy or treatment (medicine). 


3) What research helped you to do this and how?
            My first interviewee, Ymasumac Maranon-Davis gave me a lot of the details about what therapists do. She have me an inside view on what she does, when she sets up therapies, when she has therapy herself and some of the decisions that she has to had made at one point or another and decisions that she has helped other people make. Another source that has helped me, A LOT, is a book called Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect by Cynthia Crosson-Tower. This book has a lot of information on what child abuse and neglect are, it also talks a lot about different treatments that may or may not be helpful in certain cases. Another thing that it talks about is how people react to abuse and what are some things that the abusers do. This is a really good book and I'm glad that I came across it, but unfortunately I haven't finished it so I don't know what the rest of the book is about, yet!