Case Study: Career Guidance (Research Paper Sample)

Case Study
Name of Author
Institutional Affiliation
Case Study: Career Guidance
Case 1: Malia
Question #1
One can work with Malia by offering career guidance and advice. The approach will be in identifying what she likes, needs and prefers in her career interests. It would also be important to involve her family members in the consultations. Of importance is providing the young learner with assistance in making a transition plan from high school to college. First thing would be an assessment of Malia’s needs and abilities. Her school records and testimonials would also be instrumental. A SWOT analysis of her academic and career prospects would be appropriate. The evaluations will help provide insightful information on the capabilities and limitations of the young scholar. The objectives of the guidance would be identifying and assisting Malia get through her career ambiguity. A therapeutic intervention would help the learner to overcome her confusion and see things in clearer perspective.
As an 11th grader, the confusion experienced by Malia is not uncommon. She is undergoing through dilemmas between pleasing her parents and following her dreams. She is likely in Kohlberg's Level 2 stage of moral development (Naff, 2010). In the stage, she wants to conform to her authorities and comply with their wishes. At the same time, personal interests are confusing her efforts for social norms adherence. The private interests, in this case, are art and photography interests that she holds. The accord and compliance influence is seen in taking up the Debate Team membership suggested by her brother. The AP courses in Biology and Psychology are also a reflection of the wishes of the parents, not her choices. The dilemma has affected her self-confidence and esteem as she questions her abilities and capabilities.
Working with Malia would mean restoring her confidence and belief in herself. It would also entail helping her identify her strong areas and capacities. At the same time, she will be able to understand what she likes and feels interested in life. It would also be upon the counselor to confirm the presence or absence of dyslexia or any other learning disabilities. After establishing all that information, a plan for improving on her perceptual skills will be significant. The plan will include recommendations for schools that fit her condition and lifestyle guidance. Her experience working at Montessori school as an assistant is insightful. Malia was able to enjoy her work without pressure from anyone. She found it enjoyable working with children between 3 to 5 years. For once, she felt comfortable in the classroom setting. Working with that age bracket calls for one to be a good listener.
The quality of good listening abilities is seen in most dyslexia people such as Malia. The implied poor performance in school due to lack of self-confidence could be partially true. Children with the dyslexic condition might have low self-esteem issues in life. Such might affect their confidence in learning too (Naff, 2010). It would also be critical to ask Malia her opinion, views, and suggestions to her learning problems. Dyslexic learners are inadequate in expressing themselves as some keywords might be hard to apply. Patient, calm and considerable time with Malia will reveal several of these issues and challenges. Getting to understand and identify the aspirations, ambitions and preferences of Malia is a priority.
There is an existing theory about Malia’s challenges called the learning disability theory. The theory would, however, not be applicable to this particular case. The reason is due to its perception of learning disabilities as exclusively biological origination. The perspective does not provide the whole picture hence the social model of disability is adopted. The theory posits that such disabilities in learning are as a result of social and structural issues. The approach would be not to measure the adequacy of Malia on her GPA or AP classes’ performance. Rather her social structure in arts and other areas she is interested in should be included in the assessment. The model will be useful as it concentrates on micro perspectives that would help reveal a lot about Malia, her personality, character and capabilities in all specters of her social life.
Using such insights, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) will be created with her instructors. The program will help overcome challenges of the dyslexic condition. Close relations of the subject will also be involved in the model. The goal would be to help shape a tolerant and helpful attitude towards Malia. Instead of trying to force her to conform to normative life, the relations should work towards making her comfortable in her strong areas. Information about her condition will also help her understand and view herself more positively. Trying to force changes on her would be inappropriate. The model provides the road map of attitude change instead. One way of doing this would be putting Malia in a therapy or support group to help her gain confidence an...