LASA 1—Analysis of Historical, Legal, and Ethical Issues

As someone knowledgeable about research on children with exceptionalities, you have been given the task of presenting a report to the court on your arguments for and against people with intellectual disabilities raising children.
Do the following:

• Launch the online library (under Academic Resources).
• Select Find Videos.
• Select Filmakers Library Online.
• In the search box, type “is love enough” and click Go.
• The first result should be Is Love Enough? directed by Tom Puchniak. Review this video.

Analyze the historical, legal, and ethical issues in the video. Make sure you include the following in your analysis (in an order that flows well in your paper):

• Compare the historical trends related to people with disabilities. How would outcomes be different fifty years ago for the people in the movie?
  • Compare the differences from about ten years ago when the movie was produced to today.
  • Explain how far we have come and what still needs to be addressed (such as terminology, acceptance, and support).
• Explain how laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the IDEA influence these decisions.
• Identify the ethical principles that might apply to the situation. Consider the professional ethics codes, including the following:
  • American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
  • American Counseling Association. (2005). ACA code of ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center/ethics
• Synthesize your research and create two arguments: one for and one against parents with intellectual disabilities raising children. Consider the perspectives of the parents as well as the children. Use evidence and examples from research, utilizing your assigned readings, and at least two peer-reviewed articles on this topic to support your argument.
• Given what you learned in the video, your assigned readings, and research you found, recommend supports or interventions for the following:
  • The family
  • Within the community for the family and child
  • The school
• Although this video focused on those with intellectual disabilities, generalize the issues to other exceptionalities.
• Conclude your paper with a review of current thinking for and against people with exceptionalities raising children, based on the sources used.

Write a 7–9-page paper (not counting the title page, abstract, or reference page) in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Be sure to include a title page, abstract, and reference page also in APA format.

• Improve your interview and referral questions for the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3. Using this case vignette, add to your referral questions by integrating the feedback that you received from your instructor in M4 Assignment 2 on your mock interview questions and formulated hypothesis on why the individual needs the referral.

Example Referral Questions:

• As a forensic mental health professional, what factors do you need to consider in your psychological testing for the forensic assessment report?
• What are the pertinent multicultural consideration?
• What behavioral observations do you make about the client by reading the case vignette?
• What are your assessment options in working with the client?
• What standard and accepted psychological tests might you apply to your client in a forensic setting? Select from the instruments you researched in M3 Assignment 2 RA.
• How will you recognize and evaluate your client’s offender behaviors associated with malingering and deception? What theoretical orientation do you want to use in this case for your treatment recommendations?
• What is the case scenario that you have selected?
• What is the reason for referral?
• What is the purpose of the forensic assessment and report?
• What is the nature of the problem presented in your selected case vignette?
• What is the context in which the forensic assessment report will be used?
• What is the background of your client? What are the symptoms displayed by your client and their significance in this case?
• What is the mental status of your client? Be sure to elaborate on every major component addressed in the mental status examination.
• What interview type and approach did you use with your client?
• What tests are appropriate to use in your forensic assessment report? Identify one intelligence test, one objective personality test, and one projective test.
• What collateral information will you use in the process of the evaluation?
• How will you present your impressions of the client?
• Revise your copy of Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report on the basis of your instructor’s feedback. Using the Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report template that you downloaded for M4 Assignment 2, revise your evaluation and interpretation of the information provided to you in the case vignette that you selected. Synthesize the information you collected to create a forensic mental health professional individual assessment report. Your findings should be in a report format.
  In a 10- to 12-page report, include only the following components:
  • Reason for Referral: Explain the objective of your case vignette analysis, clearly bringing out the aspects or reasons that motivated you to carry out the study.
  • Presentation: Create mock interview data and collateral information (you are to identify the questions to ask in the interview). Provide a synopsis of the interview. To support the mental status of your client, provide data based on your forensic assessment report and the mental status components you have identified.
  • Current Life Situation and Background Information: Explain the problem provided in your selected case vignette using the interview and mental status data. How does the data relate to the background and multicultural characteristics of your client and your behavioral observations?
  • Objective Testing: Identify the assessment instruments you would recommend to evaluate the client and explain the rationale for your recommendations. Describe the objective tests you have selected and their use. How did you apply these tests to your selected case vignette? According to your study, what is your analysis of the symptoms displayed by your client? What ethical and multicultural issues do you need to address? You will apply what you have learned from M3 Assignment 2 RA to this section.
  • Provide your diagnostic impressions based on DSM-5 criteria. What is your principal diagnosis? What is your secondary diagnosis? Are there other conditions that may be the focus of clinical attention to consider?
  • Conclusion and Recommendations: What is your hypothesis after taking into account the mental status examination, the interview, personality tests, and the symptom analysis? Explain your hypothesis and substantiate it using instances from your case study. Discuss your results with conclusions and recommendations. The final version of Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report should contain all the assigned components and the corresponding information and include revisions and improvements based on your feedback from M4 Assignment 2.
• Synthesize the data and write a reflection statement in 2–3 pages. In a separate document, address the following:
  • Describe your professional role and relationship with the court and the third party requesting the assessment or evaluation.
  • Explain the hypothesis you have formulated.
  • Explain why you chose the tests for the assessment of the client.
  • Discuss potential ethical dilemmas that might arise in your assessment of the client.
  • Discuss the pertinent multicultural perspectives you considered.
  • Explain how you would prepare yourself to defend your evaluation in the court setting or to relevant third parties. Be sure to support your explanation with professional literature.
  • If you recommended treatment for your client, discuss the evidence-based approaches used with the disorder you diagnosed.
  • Discuss the influence of cultural factors on the assessment process. The final version of Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report should contain all the assigned components and the corresponding information and include revisions and improvements based on your feedback from M4 Assignment 2.
• Synthesize the data and write a reflection statement in 2–3 pages. In a separate document, address the following:
• Describe your professional role and relationship with the court and the third party requesting the assessment or evaluation.
• Explain the hypothesis you have formulated.
• Explain why you chose the tests for the assessment of the client.
• Discuss potential ethical dilemmas that might arise in your assessment of the client.
• Discuss the pertinent multicultural perspectives you considered.
• Explain how you would prepare yourself to defend your evaluation in the court setting or to relevant third parties. Be sure to support your explanation with professional literature.
• If you recommended treatment for your client, discuss the evidence-based approaches used with the disorder you diagnosed.
• Discuss the influence of cultural factors on the assessment process.

Your final deliverables are:

• A selected case vignette
• A list of interview and referral questions
• The assessment template
• The final assessment report
• A reflection statement

Your report and reflection statement combined should be approximately 12–15 pages. You are to utilize outside resources in your reflection statement only.
 
Assignments to work from
4:2
Mock Individual Assessment (Rough Draft)
Create a mock forensic assessment report based on a patient in a selected vignette. Provide your diagnostic impressions based on the DSM-5 criteria.
For this assignment you are to:

• Improve your interview and referral questions for the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3. Use the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3 for this assignment.
• Next, create and document a set of mock interview questions and potential referral questions to ask your client and yourself. You can determine the questions in relation to the case vignette that you choose.
• You might also want to consider some of the example referral questions listed below.
• Analyze all the information provided in the case vignette and begin to formulate a hypothesis as to why the individual needs referral.
• Example Referral Questions:
  • As a forensic mental health professional, what factors need to be considered in your psychological testing for the forensic assessment report?
  • What behavioral observations do you make about the client by reading the case vignette?
  • What are your assessment options in working with the client?
  • What standards and accepted psychological tests might you apply to your client in forensic settings? Select from the instruments you researched in M3 Assignment 2 RA.
  • How will you recognize and evaluate your client’s offender behaviors associated with malingering and deception?
  • What theoretical orientation do you want to use in this case for your treatment recommendations?
  • What is the case scenario you have selected?
  • What is the reason for referral?
  • What is the purpose of the forensic assessment and report?
  • What is the nature of the problem presented in your selected case vignette?
  • What is the context in which the forensic assessment report will be used?
  • What is the background of your client? What are the symptoms displayed by your client and the significance they have in this case?
  • What is the mental status of your client? Be sure to elaborate on every major component addressed in the mental status examination.
  • What interview type and approach did you use with your client?
  • What tests are appropriate to use in your forensic assessment report? Identify one intelligence test, one objective personality test, and one projective test.
  • What collateral information will you use in the process of the evaluation?
  • How will you present your impressions of the client?