Behaviorism During the Previous Months,

Behaviorism

During the previous months, a summer program has been organized for the children from the unprivileged socio-economic backgrounds. The scope of the program was that of offering unique and joyous moments for children whose parents did not have the possibility to offer them summer vacations. In other words, the scope of the summer program was that of gathering selected children and integrating them in daily activities of fishing, scouting and other such entertaining activities.

The underlying idea behind the summer program for underprivileged children is represented by the desire of the organizers to bring more happiness into the lives of these children and also support their future formation as valuable and reliable members of the society. During their summer vacations, most children from a lower socio-economic background stay in their homes and around their neighborhoods, which might be unsafe and which can also cause depression. A summer program can as such make the difference in the life of an underprivileged child by providing an alternative, a good time and even inspiration for the future.

The summer program was organized by the Here for You foundation, with the aid of numerous interns and volunteers. Aside from the benefits for the children, the summer program also created observational and developmental opportunities for the interns. As part of this category, several behaviors were observed, and these could also be explained in a theoretical stance. Additionally, it is important to more accurately pin point the benefits of the summer program and to forward some recommendations for future improvements.

2. Observed behaviors

Two sets of behaviors were observed during the internship at the summer program. On the one hand, there was the behavior of the volunteers and interns towards the children, and, on the other hand, there was the behavior of the children.

At the level of the volunteer and intern behavior, this is assessed as highly involved and careful towards the children. The interns continually sought to ensure the safety of the children and to make sure that they had everything they needed, such as extra blankets if and when necessary, enough food and so on. The interns would, for instance, delay the start of an organized activity until all children would have the necessary instruments in their hands.

The interns and the volunteers at the summer program also strived to treat all children equally and show no favors -- however this is a generically difficult task when working with children. Still, the interns treated everybody with the same care and respect and did not grant special favors or more attention in a discretionary manner.

The behavior of the interns towards the children was usually professional and equitable, focused on the development of warm and trustworthy relationships with the children. Still, the staffs strived to remain objective, often finding themselves in situations of internal conflict, where they would tend to sympathize with one child, but would have to make an impartial ruling. These situations nevertheless allowed time and created opportunities for the character and behavior of the interns and volunteers to further grow.

Another interesting thing to point out about the behavior of the interns and the volunteers towards the children in the summer program is that the program staff seemed more patient and more understanding towards the underprivileged children, than they would be towards children from higher social and economic classes. This behavior was initially observed at the level of staff-children interactions, but it was also confessed by the interns in small talks and conversations between themselves and the volunteers. In other words, the staffs at the summer program felt some degree of compassion for the underprivileged children and treated them with more care than they would have treated privileged children.

The second set of observed behaviors was represented by the behavior of the children, which was highly diverse and shaped by the very personality of the children, as well as by the social and economic backgrounds. For instance, a ten-year-old girl, living with a foster family was rather happy, open and communicative, whereas a twelve years old boy, living with his father was closed up inside, depressive and refused to engage in group activities.

A generalization of the behavior of the children present in the summer program is difficult to complete due to the differences in their behaviors, but still, some notable behavioral observations were made and these are presented below:

The children often valued the attention given to them by the adults in the camp, namely the volunteers and the interns at the program. While they were not always willing to interact with other children, they would most likely welcome the attention from an adult

Most of the children who were closed up and had depressive tendencies revealed positive results after sustained communications with the interns; gradually, they even became able to interact with the other children in the summer program

The interest revealed by the children towards education was mixed, with some children being eager to learn new things, whereas others being unwilling to learn; the children who were unwilling to learn were mostly depressive and angry. Still, after sustained interactions with them and observations of other children, the general interest in education increased and the children opened themselves up to learning new things.

3. Theoretical explanations of behaviors

The behaviors manifested during the development of the summer program have initially been observed from the standpoint of a simple intern, and have been assessed through observations and efforts of understanding the respective behaviors in the given context. Still, at a deeper level, the behaviors observed can be understood in a wider context of behaviors, with the aid of the available literature. In other words, it is possible to understand the behaviors observed in a theoretical stance as well.

In this order of ideas, the behavior of the interns and the volunteers towards the underprivileged children can be theoretically supported by the existence of special needs of the underprivileged children. For instance, some of these children have not been given adequate support for learning and they might be underdeveloped from an educational standpoint.

Also, some of the children might have had an inadequate access to health care (due to lack of financial resources, but also due to lack of education on the part of the caretakers); among these underprivileged children, the rates of obesity, tooth decay or asthma are higher than those for the children in the more developed socio-economic classes (Epstein, 2008). In such a setting, understanding the different needs of these underprivileged children, the more attentive and more patient behavior of the volunteers and interns is theoretically justified.

The conclusion to be drawn at this stage is that the interns and the volunteers had engaged in behaviors of positive discrimination, that its, the different treatment of social and economic classes that had been discriminated against in the past; the scope was that of righting part of the wrong in the life of these children and creating better opportunities for them. This approach of the program staffs had resulted from a desire to create equality of rights between the children and it is also supported at a theoretical level due to its expected ability to create social benefits (Hunt, 1993).

In terms of the behavior revealed by the underprivileged children, an actual assessment of this is more difficult to conduct due to the uniqueness of each child and the absence of theoretical cannons for their behavior. Still, as has been mentioned throughout the previous section, some notable observations were made and a theoretical dimension can be integrated at this stage.

First of all, it was noted that the underprivileged children in the summer program preferred and welcomed the attention of adults, rather than the attention and interaction with peers. From a theoretical standpoint, this can be explained by the fact that they are often neglected by their parents, and as such long for adult attention. Furthermore, Bill Jordan (1974) points out that the highest neglect for the underprivileged children is observed at the levels of education, due to the low levels of education and educational abilities of the parents.

Another behavior observed was represented by the tendency of depressive and angry children to open up to adults that insisted on interacting with them. Gradually, these children became less angry and revealed a more constructive behavior, being better able to interact with other children and even engage in group activities; their communicative abilities also increased.

This behavior is best explained by Stanley a. Winters and Eunice Cox (1972) who point out the therapeutic role of camps and other summer programs. According to them, children who become involved in such programs tend to more easily solve their emotional problems and better behave within the society. Still, in order for these effects to be maintained within the long-term, the advances made had to be supported by the family environment of the child, who also had to constantly focus on maintaining and adding new behavioral improvements (Winters and Cox, 1972).

Another behavioral trait observed during the summer program was represented by the increasing interest in education. This interest was initially dispersed, being higher among some children and lower for the angrier and more depressive children. Still, with sustained efforts, the second category of children also registered an increase in its interest towards education. From the theoretical standpoint, this change can be explained by the efforts to stimulate children education. These efforts were directly made by the interns and the volunteers at the summer program, and they were indirectly supported by the children who were more eager to learn. The stimulation to learn not only directs the children towards an increased emphasis on learning, but it also stimulates their future social position. This stimulation effort is necessary and welcomed in summer programs for all children, since lacunas in educational stimulation can exist in any household, regardless of socio-economic status.

"Children of high stimulating home environments scored higher in social adjustment that those from a low stimulating home environment even when we take into account their parents' education and the total income of the house. We may conclude that there are social adjustment gaps among children of different levels of home stimulating families regardless of their socio-economic status" (Huang, 2007).

4. Benefits of internship

The most important benefit of the summer program is represented by the changes in the attitudes of children and their perceptions and expectations of life. With the aid of the summer program, the children come to overcome the social and economic shortages, and become part of a team and learn friendship, effort, commitment and determination to succeed. These improvements in attitudes and perceptions help the children to better interact within the society and can even stimulate them to engage in education more, reducing as such the temptation for child criminality.

The improvements in child attitudes and perceptions can also help improve the family relationships. Specifically, some of the children attending the summer program had difficult relationships with their parents, as a result of material insufficiencies, frustrations and other problems characteristic of the underprivileged social class. These tensions were being transmitted to the children.

In the summer program however, the children managed to move away from these frustrations and went back home with a more positive attitude and a more constructive approach of life. These changes in children attitude could be further on transmitted to the parents, or could be preserved by the children, and this would help improve the relationship between the two generations. Still, in order to make sure of the sustainability of this benefit, more studies should be conducted within the families after the summer program.

All in all, the summer program organized for the children in underprivileged families has generated a series of effects at the level of the children and the communities. Still, the long-term feasibility of these benefits is difficult to estimate at this stage. It is however expected for the benefits to have maximum impacts within the short-term, and for these benefits to decrease as the life of the children progresses.

In some few instances, where the child is dedicated to the teachings learnt in the camp and is consequent in implementing them, they might generate life changing benefits. In most cases however, the benefits are expected to decrease in important as the child ages and they would forget the lessons learnt in the camp. In order to enforce them, it would be necessary to reintegrate the children in the summer programs the following years as well.

5. Suggestions for the future

At the end of the summer program, several observations were made, based on situations in which the intern was a direct or indirect participant. Based on these observations, some suggestions can be made for future programs, in order to further enhance their success and quality. One example in this sense is represented by the recognition of the decreased access to health care of these underprivileged children. In such a setting, it would be recommended for the future summer programs to also integrate at least one medical staff, to assess the general health of the children and make recommendations to improve the state of their health. The conclusions could be written and handed out to the children, to take home to their parents. The medical doctor would also be open and willing to discuss the health issue of the children with their parents and make recommendations as to how these could be addressed; the pediatrician could even offer tips to the parents on how to access more cost effective health care solutions.

The second recommendation for the future development of summer programs is also derived from an important observation regarding the underprivileged children, namely the fact that they can be more closed up and more prone to depression than children from privileged classes. In this context then, the recommendation is that of also integrating a psychiatrist in the program.