Class Descriptions

The class descriptions displayed below are for the past Fall 2021 term and may not reflect the current curriculum.
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SW621

Culturally Responsive and Evidence-Informed Assessment with Children, Youth, and Families

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
SW506
Pathway Requirement For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Pathway Elective For:
Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse
Description:
This course is intended to develop knowledge and skills for practice with children, youth and families, with special attention to assessment. Students learn about varying approaches to assessment, the various contexts in which assessment takes place, and the assessment skills used with children, youth, and families. Students will be familiar with both strengths and limitations of assessments, and how assessments are used (e.g., in school, juvenile justice, and child welfare forensic assessment) including assessments for intervention recommendations. Students will learn different models of assessment and the role of interdisciplinary assessments (e.g., medical examinations and psychological testing) in the overall assessment process. Students will also become acquainted with widely used assessment practices with children, youth and families in terms of initial screening, risk assessment, and structured decision making.
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SW622

Child and Family Well-Being - Micro Practice

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
SW506 and SW601 or SW621 (concurrent enrollment in SW601 or SW621 permitted if necessary)
Pathway Requirement For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Pathway Elective For:
Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse
Description:
This course will present prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation practice theories and techniques emphasizing culturally responsive and evidence-informed interventions that address diverse groups of infants, children, and youth within their social contexts.(e.g., peer group, school, family, neighborhood, and communities). A range of evidence-based intervention approaches will be presented such as cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoeducation, parent-child relationship and behavioral therapy, parent management training, multi-tiered school based interventions as well as bottom-up, sensori-motor interventions that are aimed at preventing or repairing emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Intervention strategies taught in this course rely significantly on the social worker as a critical component of the change process.
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SW623

Child and Family Well-Being - Macro Practice

Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
SW508
Pathway Requirement For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Pathway Elective For:
Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Policy & Political Social Work
Description:
This course will provide a macro lens to assess and engage with various social services, policies, and programs that provide developmental, preventive, protective, and rehabilitative services for children, youth, and families. Students will be introduced to major policies and macro-level issues within the education, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems. The racial and economic achievement and discipline gaps will be explored within the context of schools. Students will examine historical child welfare policy development, explore strengths, limitations, and outcomes, paying particular attention to systemic gaps in service delivery, the over-representation of children of color, the differential response of family serving systems based upon social identify differences, the structural exclusion of the voice of marginalized communities, and deficits of cultural and linguistic competence. The course will develop socially just and culturally-competent policies and practices by delving into the competing tensions of child-protection/family-preservation and quality/quantity of services, and analyze evidence-based change interventions that build on strengths and resources of children and their families at all levels of intervention while considering the diversity of families including race, ethnicity, culture, class, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, ability and other social identities. Students will learn about disproportionate minority contact and the impact of incarceration on youth as well as interconnections between the three systems. This course will also examine efforts to engage communities in the policy and service delivery process through a variety of mechanisms including community partnerships, coalitions, and systems of care. Students will be sensitized to the roles of power and privilege of professionals, and gain insights about how similarities and differences between themselves and client communities affect mezzo and macro policy development and implementation for children, youth, and families.
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SW624

Child Maltreatment Assessment and Treatment

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
1 Credit Hour
Prerequisites:
None
Pathway Elective For:
Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Children, Youth, and Families
Description:
This is intended to develop skills for child welfare practice, with special attention to child maltreatment. Students learn about the various contexts in which child welfare practice takes place and the skills and modalities that are used with children, youth, and families who are the focus of child welfare intervention. This course will prepare students to work with diverse client populations and will help them appreciate the imbalance of power between client and professional. Understanding the needs and responses of involuntary clients is an integral part of the course. Relevant evidence-based practices are taught and child welfare policies and practices are subjected to critical review. The first term will focus on assessment and the second on treatment. This course will cover the following areas: 1) personal, professional, and societal responses to children at risk for maltreatment, 2) diversity in the child welfare population and skills for working with diverse client populations, 3) client issues and responses to child welfare intervention, including power differentials and involuntariness, 4) theories that explain child maltreatment and their social construction, 5) assessment strategies to be used with children and adults with child welfare issues, 6) interventions employed in the child welfare system and the evidence or lack thereof to support them, and 7) evidence-based treatment strategies used with traumatized children. This course will focus upon practice issues, especially poverty and parental problems in families in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Students will be sensitized to their personal reaction to child maltreatment. They will be apprised of professional expectations, such as mandatory reporting of child maltreatment, and will learn about the general structure of service delivery to child welfare clients, which constitutes the context within which they will provide services to clients. Sensitization to the roles of power and privilege of professionals as they relate to both children and their parents is an integral part of the course. In addition, the course will address the sometimes conflicting needs of children and families and legal system impact on child welfare practice, as assessment and the various methods of treatment are taught. The diversity of child welfare populations, in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, class, and sexual orientation will be covered. Of particular focus is the over-representation of children of color and the differential response of the child welfare system based upon class. Students will be made aware of how differences between themselves and clients of child welfare services affect service delivery. These differences will include race, developmental status, economic status, education, gender, and physical well-being.
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SW625

Play Therapy with Young Children

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
None
Pathway Elective For:
Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Children, Youth, and Families
Description:
This course will examine practice theories and techniques for working directly with children ages eighteen months to nine years, and their caregivers, via play therapy. This course will emphasize evidence-based play therapies that address diverse groups of young children. Special attention will be given to the meaning of play across cultures, as well as the role of play in the healthy development of children. The interaction between environmental risk factors, protective factors, promotive and developmental factors as they contribute to coping, resiliency, and disorder will also be covered. Primary emphasis will be given to Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) and Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT).
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SW626

School Social Work Assessments

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
None
Pathway Elective For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Description:
This course will present knowledge and critical skills to prepare for social work practice in school settings. The topical areas will include: a brief overview of educational programs and legislation in the United States for individuals of all ages and their families; school social worker assessment tools and services for educational institutions at the pre-K elementary, and secondary levels; assessing and responding to issues of economic and social discrimination in ways that center justice and educational access; laws, policies, and practices related to determination of qualification under special education rules within multi-disciplinary teams and response to intervention, multi-tiered models; and advocating for the right to education of oppressed and special populations (including children and youth with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities, TLBGQ youth, and diverse racial, socioeconomic, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds). Students will learn comprehensive, multi-tiered and culturally relevant assessment protocols and techniques relevant to school based social work practice. SW 626 is one of two electives meeting School Social Worker Specialization requirements.
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SW627

Child Welfare System

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
None
Pathway Elective For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Description:
This course will focus on the evolution and development of child protection in the United States. The goal of the course is to provide students with an understanding of how state governments think about the adequacy/appropriateness of parenting, the safety of children, when and how child protection agencies get involved with families and what the evidence says about such involvement. We will discuss the origins and implementation of major child welfare policies and we will review practice innovations and some of the most pressing challenges facing child welfare systems today. A common theme throughout the course will be the intersection of child welfare and poverty, race, gender, identity and trauma. The course will cover policies and practices from both micro and macro perspectives and students will learn how child welfare systems collaborate (or at times fail to collaborate) with other allied systems of care (e.g. community mental health, juvenile justice, substance abuse).
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SW628

School Social Work Interventions

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
None
Pathway Elective For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Description:
This course develops advanced knowledge and skills for effective school social work practice. Students learn to identify, select, and apply evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies with individuals, groups, families, and school personnel to enhance student learning, development, and school success. Course content emphasizes practice skills advancing social justice and educational access, including trauma-informed models, positive behavioral supports, crisis prevention and response, behavior intervention planning, mediation, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem-solving. Students examine interventions supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Emotional Impairments, and other IDEA disabilities, as well as strategies promoting family engagement and collaboration among teachers, families, and school personnel. Students develop competencies for school social work practice through multi-tiered systems of support for socio-emotional and academic success, interdisciplinary approaches strengthening individuals, groups, and families within school and community contexts, and methods increasing student and family access to education and resources. Intervention methodologies focus on promoting human rights and educational equity while fostering welcoming, supportive, inclusive school climates. Schoolwide interventions examined include positive behavioral supports, restorative practices, family engagement strategies, intergroup dialogue, conflict resolution, and coordination with community agencies. Students practice classroom-wide, small-group, and individual interventions. SW 628 is one of two electives meeting School Social Worker Specialization requirements.
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SW630

Contexts of Life-course Development: Childhood, Adolescence, and Early Adulthood

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
Foundation Essentials Required
Pathway Requirement For:
Children, Youth, and Families
Pathway Elective For:
Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse
Description:
This course will examine the development of life course in stages, from conception to early childhood (0-6), middle childhood (7-12), adolescence (13-18), and emerging adulthood (18+). Students will explore how development unfolds, with a particular emphasis on how adversity shapes the experiences of children from a young age. Key theories used to understand human development and behavior include those focused on attachment, trauma, and resilience. Special attention will be given to the relationships between critical life conditions, (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic class, sexual orientation), life events (i.e., separation, loss, illness, transition to school, transition to adulthood) and psychological and physical functioning. Course material on identity will address the topics of self-esteem, self-concept, and the development of gender, race, and ethnic identity.
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SW638

Theories and Principles of Socially Just Policies

Grading Method:
Graded
Credits:
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites:
SW508
Pathway Requirement For:
Policy & Political Social Work (Host)
Pathway Elective For:
Management & Leadership, Program Evaluation and Applied Research, Children, Youth, and Families
Description:
In this course, students will be exposed to various theoretical frameworks informing policy development and gain an understanding of basic economic principles frequently employed in policy debates and discussions. With this knowledge, students will be able to identify, in a more sophisticated and nuanced way, policies that promote social justice and those that do not; understand how certain theoretical frameworks and ideas have been used to oppress and empower different groups, and identify points of interventions within existing institutions. One part of the course will cover different concepts of justice, fairness, and equity as they apply to public policy. Students will also interrogate ideas about neoliberalism, capitalism, globalization, and financialization and their influence on policies. Students will be introduced to concepts from economic theory that are often used to promote or thwart the development of certain policies. This includes the concepts of supply and demand; market failure; and public goods.
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