Interview Requirements:
Each student will select a child or adolescent to interview (not your own child or family member). The interview should last approximately 30 minutes for young children and approximately an hour for adolescents. Consider the child/adolescent’s developmental level and life experiences from a multicultural perspective to frame your interactions.
**I chose to interview my co-workers son who is 14 years old
Suggestions for interviewing children over 9 years old: You should begin by explaining the interview process, sharing a bit about yourself (i am an investigtor for CPS who works with child’s mom…you can add in anything else), obtaining assent, and then move on to questioning. Some suggested questions include:
What is a typical day in your life (at school, at home, with family & friends)? My mom wakes me up early to get ready for school, she then drops me off because i have practice for sports, at school i try my best to behave even though i do get in trouble because of my friends, sometimes my mom is called, after school my grandma picks me up because my mom tends to work very late, i eat dinner at my grandmas house then my mom picks me up, at home i play video games or bother my younger brother)
What is it like to be your age? (i feel that it is semi easy to be my age because all i have to worry about is school and my friends, i dont feel like i have real responsibilities)
What do you think most adults do not know about people your age? (i think adults dont know how hard it is to fit in with other kids my age, i feel that they do not understand where I am coming from and the reason behind some of my decisions)
What do you hope your life will be like in 10 years? (in 10 years i want to be done with college and hopefully working in law enforcement)
What kind of career do you want to have? (i want to become a state trooper or a professional football player if I do play sports in college)
Where would you like to go in life? (i would like to stay out of trouble so that i can grow up to be educated and successful, i hope to have a family of my own)
What are your hopes for the future? (i hope that i grow up to be responsible so that i can make correct decisions once i am an adult)
NOTE: The purpose of the interview is to gain experience speaking to and working with a child or adolescent. Keep in mind that this is an interview, not a counseling session. Do not intentionally elicit information that you are not yet trained or properly supervised to address (i.e., asking about drug use or other risky behaviors).
Written Requirements:
Write about your interview in a reflective paper. The paper should be 3 pages in length (not including the cover page and references) and must follow APA guidelines. At least three academic sources must be used to support your discussion. Academic sources include journal articles and textbooks, not websites or Wikipedia.
Your paper should include the following sections:
Section I – Summary:
A thorough summary of the interview (not a verbatim transcript), which includes questions you asked and any activities you engaged in together.
Section II – Reflection:
Your reflection and reaction to the interview in relation to the child or adolescent’s developmental level. Include the following in your reflection:
What did you learn about interviewing a child/adolescent?
What was more difficult than you expected? (for me it was easy as I interview children weekly due to the line of work i am in (I am an investigator for child protective services))
What was easier than you expected? (building rapport was easier than expected)
What was it like being in that role? (i am used to being in the role of interviewee due to my job)
How did you build rapport? (asked child about his interests and incorporated that into getting to know him)
What was salient for the child or adolescent from a developmental perspective?
Reference at least one academic source to support your observations and discussion related to development.
Section III – Theory, interventions, and/or Recommendations:
A discussion that incorporates developmental theory, counseling theory, interventions, and/or recommendations that would be developmentally and culturally appropriate for the age of the child/adolescent you interviewed. Consider any exceptional abilities of the child/adolescent.
Reference at least two academic sources for your discussion of theory, interventions, and/or recommendations.
