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Courses >
Child Care & Parenting > Understanding Adolescents
 Yesterday, she was a sweet young girl. Today, you swear aliens have abducted her and put an evil twin in her place.
To know your kids is to love them. In this course, an experienced social worker will help you gain a deep understanding and appreciation of your adolescent's development and behavior. You'll uncover the secrets of the adolescent mind and gain valuable information on how they think, how they feel, and how their identities develop.
Parents, family members, child and youth workers, counselors and the like will all benefit from the information shared in this course.
You'll learn about the many physical, emotional, and cognitive changes that affect the teens in your life, and you'll understand the significance of these changes both for you and the adolescent. You'll look into relationships both in and outside of the home and the development of a teen's identity. You'll explore personality, moral development and the role of faith.
Finally, you'll gain an understanding as to how teens are affected by stress, including common defense mechanisms, coping techniques, and common mental health issues.
By the time you finish this course, you should be very well-prepared to understand, appreciate, and meet the needs of the teens in your life.
This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Sonya Jodoin.
 Sonya Jodoin has been involved in social work and youth work for over eighteen years. She holds a diploma in Social Service Work and has had continual education in psychology. She brings to the course both professional and personal experience in the field of adolescence, along with training in a multitude of treatment modalities, approaches, and therapies. She has worked on the front line in mental health settings with individuals and their families, primarily with teenagers. Ms. Jodoin has developed and implemented a specialized joint educational/mental health treatment program for children whose behavior has resulted in school expulsion.
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
In our first lesson, I'll explain the term adolescent development and familiarize you with some terminology. I'll also provide you with an overview of the three main stages of adolescence to help you become familiar with the tasks and milestones inherent in each stage.
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| Friday - Lesson 02 |
Adolescence is a time of change. These changes occur on the outside as well as on the inside. For this lesson, we’re going to focus on some external changes, and one of the things we'll look at is puberty, the impact it can have on the adolescent, as well as how these changes can affect how you treat an adolescent.
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| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
In this lesson, we'll start looking at some of the internal changes kids experience during adolescence. As children's bodies take huge leaps forward, so do their brains as they learn and discover new ways of thinking and reasoning. This is cognitive development, which means how someone thinks, and that'll be our focus for this lesson.
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| Friday - Lesson 04 |
The dreaded peer group. During today's lesson, we’ll take a close look at socialization, peers and peer groups, friends, intimacy, and social changes in your adolescent's behavior.
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| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
One of the things that changes most during adolescence is a child's family relationships and how family members interact with each other. In this lesson, we'll take a look at some of those changes and the impact this may have on both the adolescent and the family.
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| Friday - Lesson 06 |
Emotional development is one of the internal changes that evolves during adolescence. During today's lesson we’ll take a look at some aspects of emotions and their development, and the significance this may have for adolescent development.
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| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
This is the “Who Am I?” lesson. Today, we'll explore how we think about ourselves, how our identity develops, what might influence our identity, and our self-concept.
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| Friday - Lesson 08 |
Today's lesson is all about moral development and faith separate from religion. We'll look at how the changes to the adolescent play a role in their moral development. You'll become familiar with the overall thoughts, ideas and processes that seem common to adolescent moral development.
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| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
In this lesson, we're going to take a close look at stress, anxiety, frustration, and defense mechanisms. We'll explore how these things affect all of us and how some of this is demonstrated during adolescence.
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| Friday - Lesson 10 |
For this lesson, we'll adopt a slightly different format. Today, we'll look at four separate things: nature versus nurture, temperament, personality, and resiliency. The main thread carried throughout this lesson is how a better understanding of ourselves can help us to better understand others.
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| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
Similar to the last lesson, today we'll look at a few more distinct topics. First we'll review some of the adolescent needs that we've discussed prior to this lesson, then we'll discuss chronic illness, gay and lesbian youth and the issues these individuals may be faced with, and finally a chapter highlighting parenting the adolescent.
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| Friday - Lesson 12 |
For our last lesson, we're going to stray from the normal to the abnormal part of adolescent development. The focus of this lesson will be a brief overview of disorders or conditions that are consistently viewed within the adolescent population.
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To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Student Reviews:
"I am really glad I took this course. After studying secondary education in college, I was amazed that a course like this was not required of all future teachers of adolescents. The psychological changes that these young adults go through really do impact their interaction and everyday emotions while in high school. It would help every teacher of young adults to know just what is going on inside their minds and bodies."
"I enjoyed all of the thought provoking information. It was very applicable to anyone who deals with children."
"I enjoyed the course. I found very informative and useful information and suggestions that will assist me in my teaching profession. Sonya has an effective and often humorous way of presenting her research. I highly recommend her as an instructor."
"I enjoyed this course very much. I think it should be a prerequisite for all parents with children about to enter adolesence. Thank you!"
"I got some great information and plan to use all of it as I work with students, teachers, and parents this fall as a middle school counselor. This was my first on-line course and I would definitely take another one because it was a very good experience."
"I have a young teenager at home. This course has been a tremendous help to me in learning to deal with her actions and reactions."
"This class is so packed full of useful information. Anyone that works with adolescents really needs to take this class!"
"This course had lots of excellent information for parents and professionals who want a better understanding of pre-teens and teenagers. A lot of food for thought and very challenging!"
"This course helped to freshen up my knowledge on the subject of adolescent psychology. I found much of the information to be quite useful in dealing with my students at the junior high level as well as my 14-year-old daughter. Thanks."
"This course was an excellent choice. The information was so interesting and useful, both professionally and personally. Thank you!"
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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