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Abnormal Psychology

Session 1 - Spiderweb
Effectiveness of Proposed Activity

Conduct disorder, which may manifest itself in the form of aggressive behaviours, are more prevalent in low-income neighbourhoods like Admiralty (Hodgkinson, Godoy, Beers, & Lewin, 2017). To address this issue, our group carried out   ‘Spiderweb’ to help children identify what triggers their impulsive behaviours. This activity comes hand-in-hand with a sharing session where children shared what frustrated them in the game. Initially, my group thought that the children would naturally get frustrated with others when they keep restarting. However, when the children were asked if they felt frustrated with others at any point, most of them responded by saying they did not feel angry at all. My team was taken aback because their replies were contrary to what we had imagined. We instinctively countered their responses by reiterating what typical behaviours would be when playing the game, and brushed the whole matter aside altogether. Hence, I feel Spiderweb did not really address conduct disorder because the children did not identify what triggered their impulses.

Recommendations

Two areas could be improved -  intensity of the game and how facilitators responded. By increasing the game’s intensity, children’s impulses may be more easily triggered. For example, adding a time limit of 2 minutes per round may spur children to be more motivated to win and will more likely be frustrated when someone makes a mistake. Facilitators could also consider different perspectives and prepare well-thought responses such as bringing in real-life scenarios that are relatable at children’s level. These recommendations could enhance children’s learning experience.

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References 

Hodgkinson, S., Godoy, L., Beers, L. S., & Lewin, A. (2017). Improving mental health access for low-income                  children and families in the primary care setting. Pediatrics, 139(1). doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-1175

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