Life Space Theory Essay Example

Life Space Theory Essay The vocational rehabilitation population consists of individuals who have incurred serious injuries that prevent them from returning to their field of work. This particular group of individuals require attention in their counseling experiences to help them focus on accepting and redefining important roles in their lives. As Kosciulek (2004) explains, â€Å"the terms of adjustment, adaptation, and acceptance have been used to describe the end result of coping with a disability and successfully integrating the disability into the individual’s life and identity† (pp. 195). D. Super (1980) formulated his life span, life space theory to address the various difficulties caused by changes and developmental rifts that humans encounter during their lives. Super’s interest revolved around, â€Å"extending vocational theory to better assist counselors as they encountered a range of vocational problems with clients in diverse life stages and roles† (Neault, 2000). Sup er’s theory includes several useful tools that counselors can integrate in therapy sessions to help clients replenish their role salience as they develop new appreciation and definitions of their life roles. One way to apply Super’s theory includes creating worksheets, questionnaires and self reports for the clients to respond to. These will later allow visual confirmation of the individual effectiveness and efficiency of Super’s theory when put into practice.Super proposed that the life role of worker served as an important primary function in a person’s sense of self identity. In a population that can no longer complete the everyday tasks in their normal fields of work, many clients have to sacrifice their careers along with personal ideals and goals. The development of new definitions of work that fit the limitations and needs of the client’s physical capabilities can present difficulties. Conflicts arise as clients tend to lose their role salie nce when they adjust to new careers, life roles and work spaces. Also as the counseling and rehabilitation process begins, the stages of the client’s adjustment may look similar to Kubler-Ross’ theory of acceptance of one’s death. Disabled individuals have to let their past self identities go in order form new ones (Kosciulek, 2004). In relation, Super’s Life-Space, Life Span theory can provide an adequate structure which counselors may utilize to help vocational rehabilitation clients define new life roles as well as role salience in their lives.First, when utilizing Super’s theory to help clients define their new life roles and salience, it is helpful to understand what previous life roles and salience were lost when the injury was sustained. Looking closer at â€Å"lost† roles and the client’s perceived salience, or lack thereof, will provide insight on what must be evaluated and re-established with the implementation of Super†™s Theory.   This issue holds importance as Neault (2000) explains, â€Å"Career counselors, therefore, need a special understanding of the issues that clients face during such transitions, as well as an awareness of the differences between voluntary and involuntary transitions, and the unique stresses caused by sudden or sustained and gradual change† (Planning for Serendipity? Career Management for Changing Times). The life roles that Super proposed include child, student, worker, partner, parent, citizen, homemaker, leisurite and pensioner. These particular roles play themselves out in various theaters, such as home, office, university, parks etc. (as noted by Hartung, Herr and Niles, 2001).When an individual cannot participate in their usual work roles and theaters, a severe loss of salience may occur. Salience as noted by Hartung, et al., (2001), is the knowledge of which life roles hold utmost importance, and which others act as subordinates. Indicators of salience i nclude the knowledge, participation and commitment one gives to their life roles (as noted by Hartung, et al., 2001). Since the work role likely held priority position in the individual’s lives, the loss of the ability to engage in the activity also extinguishes the level of salience it once held in the client’s perception. Another loss occurs due to the fact that the clients cannot access the work field they once participated in. The injuries take away more than the client’s health, as they also restrict the ability to do the work and access the field. These new problems need continual attention, with goals oriented towards bringing reasonable opportunities to the clients for consideration.By implementing Super’s theory through a variety of worksheets, tasks and self reports for the client, the counselor can provide many useful coping strategies to help alleviate the stress that follows the loss of an important life role. One example of a worksheet could utilize Super’s â€Å"rainbow† illustration of life roles. The rainbow heuristic contains an illustration of Super’s Theory wherein the various â€Å"colors† of the rainbows signify an individual’s levels of salience in different life roles (Hartung, et al., 2001). Completing such a worksheet, and filling in the various layers of other life roles into the rainbow illustration, the client can visually perceive additional life roles aside from work that they may want to investigate. However, in cases of serious injury where the client cannot comprehend or see worksheets, verbal tasks may need to be developed by the counselor for the client instead.By building off different worksheets, or at least the rainbow concept, the counselor may encourage the client to further explore and improve the other aspects of their life and relationships. The continuing development of the life roles of partner, parent, child, citizen, and if possible, student, can help the client build social support networks that will provide significant care for the individual. Kosciulek (2004), notes that social support is a key ingredient to successful therapy. His 1995 finding states that, â€Å"strong social supports may alleviate psychological difficulties related to client isolation† (pp. 203).Notably, the counselor must realize that not all clients have the capacity to complete worksheets, questionnaires or self reports. Serious injuries that leave individual’s cognitively disabled, blind, or completely paralyzed can also hinder the use of such counseling tools. The counselor and client must work together to discover the levels of complexity that each client can process; as well as assess what questions need the most attention in each given circumstance. Some individuals hurt on the job may fear going back to work and thus have no desire to focus on any alternative development in that role. Given that, the counselor must tailor individual w orksheets, tasks, questionnaires and self reports to fit the client’s needs. In acute cases, such tools may prove ineffective and other methods more valuable.Consequentially, while much of the client’s life role as a worker and its salience has been lost, Super’s Theory can offer a structure upon which to build one’s life roles and salience anew during the rehabilitation process. Just because a client cannot participate in the career field they originally chose, does not mean that they cannot work at all. Implementing Super’s theory in this case becomes a valuable self-help tool for clients. Psychometric questionnaires for example, can give the counselor and client indication on the range of creativity, job skills and mental capability of the individual. These tests can offer insight as to what career opportunities may be available to the client. Also, as they progress through worksheets or other tasks proposed by their counselor, the goals they ac hieve, the new definitions of self they develop, and the value they derive from life experiences other than work may gradually shift their viewpoint from what they have lost to what they now can build.Another benefit of utilizing the â€Å"rainbow† heuristic applies when it is used as a life-career tool. Individuals then utilize the illustration to see the course of their previous work roles, how their needs and situations influence their current ones, and ultimately how they can pursue future life roles that they hope to develop (Hartung, et al., 2001).   This occurs as the client views their old life â€Å"rainbows† to the new ones they have created out of necessity. The counselor can then help the client to build bridges and adapt to their new rainbow of life. The ultimate goal for this type of task should center on helping the client build self-determination. As a whole, self determination should encourage clients to define goals for themselves, to recognize the attitudes, abilities and skills that they possess, to encourage choices that will determine the course of their future without duress, and to achieve their goals based on self knowledge and value (Kosciulek, 2004).A new sense of the work role may eventually evolve through Super’s theory as clients realize other employment options available to them that can take place in work-theaters as comfortable as their own homes. The changing career fields of the world offer more opportunities to work in comfort, and away from the job site. The clients can use this to their advantage. Also the ability to earn degrees at home via the internet can provide additional opportunities. Ultimately, through using Super’s theory counselors should highlight that, â€Å"the definition of the role activity depends on the individual’s situation and goals more than the location of the activity or the theater in which the role is played. Thus , balancing life-role activities requires goal clarity on a continual basis† (Hartung, et al., 2001 ).Evaluating the efficiency of Super’s Life Span, Life Space theory will have subjective answers in each individual client’s case. This comes from the fact that the clients sustain vastly different injuries in both physical locations and levels of severity. An individual who sustains massive head trauma and has major cognitive deficits will not benefit in the same ways from the therapy as someone who has incurred a permanent knee injury. This situation highlights the fact that Super’s theory has limits to its usefulness. While it can apply a structure for those individuals with minor physical disabilities who have the capacity to learn new skills for different careers, those individuals who have cognitive deficits and cannot process information may not find themselves in any truly stable and independent roles in the future. However, this does not mean that cognitively impaired individuals cannot benefit from Super’s theory. As stated previously, counselors can encourage the clients to find value in other life roles as well.Gauging the efficiency of the theory for those individuals who have not sustained any traumatic cerebral injury still appears subjective. Nevertheless, the individual effectiveness of the theory should remain visible in the progress made through the worksheets completed, goals established, life roles and salience that developed. The questionnaires and self reports should record the amount of progress made over time. Again, severity and type of injury will play a part in how much progress is made in a designated time span.Super’s theory also has deficits that apply to all the clients situations. The problem with the theory as Neault (2000), explains, â€Å"his [Super’s] theory was neither unified nor comprehensive; rather, it remained segmental comprising an assortment of theories dealing with various aspects of career development†Ã‚   (Planning for Serendipity? Career Management for Changing Times). The comprehensiveness of this theory needs to be tailored by the counselor for the client. This can pose difficulties depending upon the amount of skills, resources, and capacities that the client does or does not have. Counselors may have to spend more time with the clients building these â€Å"extratherapeutic factors† (Kosciulek, 2004). By doing so, the progress and efficiency of Super’s theory may appear non-existent until the establishment of the required skills occurs.Generally though, when addressing vocational rehabilitation clients, Super’s Life-Space theory can provide an adequate structure which counselors may utilize to help individuals define new life roles as well as role salience in their lives. Through encouraging the realization and development of other life roles, and possible alternatives to work roles and theaters, counselors can help clients to develop the coping skills and self determination needed for future role salience. In particular, the use of worksheets, tasks and self reports will help both the client and the counselor to visibly see progress and goals being made. Super’s theory offers a structural foundation that can provide many opportunities and avenues for counselors to explore with their clients. Figuring out what works best for each individual may appear a setback to the theory. However, in reality, counselors should constantly seek to tailor their therapy to best suit the client’s needs, thus adjusting and monitoring the theory on a continual basis. Through constantly pursuing this goal, the counselor may help individual’s find a new career field that suits their needs, or in very extremely disabled clients, help them to cope with the loss of their work role.

What Is A Sample Topic Proposal For English Essay?

What Is A Sample Topic Proposal For English Essay?Writing a sample topic proposal for English essay is an important part of writing a standard English essay. Writing a sample topic proposal for English essay gives you an idea about the kind of essay that will be written in your sample subject matter.The basic idea of a sample essay is that you use it as a basis to write the essay that you think is best for you. It helps you come up with ideas for a topic that is specific to your topic. You will learn more about the quality of writing you can achieve. As a writer, you will get insight on how to write a good article.Essays can range from 100 to 1000 words. Having a lot of information and details in your essay allows you to present a more compelling writing. As you write more detail and complexity, it gets to your reader faster and gives them a strong sense of what you are trying to say. Of course, if you write too much and provide too much information, it will just feel like you are tr ying to give all of your thoughts and opinions. However, you want to make sure that the reader has a clear view of the main points of your article.Finding a good topic is a very important part of your essay. You should choose a topic that has some significance to you. Once you have chosen a topic, you can write a great paragraph of your topic outline. This outline will help you focus on all of the important details of your topic and outline out all of the other details that you might not be able to remember on your own.There are some topics that you might not even know about. If you are just writing an essay on one thing, it might be better to start writing about that topic and move to another idea later. Some people have problems remembering things that they already know, so if you can remember everything about your topic, then you will be less likely to forget what you should write about next.Another important part of writing a sample essay is the style. You will want to choose a style that is professional and is going to reflect on you as a writer. Some of the ways to do this is by choosing a specific tone or pitch. Many times, it is easier to write a speech than to write an essay, so you might want to write something more light-hearted.These tips should help you prepare to write your essay. Whatever topic you choose, you want to ensure that you can write it well and that your essay will reflect on your overall skills as a writer.In conclusion, writing a sample topic proposal for English essay is very important. If you have the skills and expertise, you should take advantage of it and write an essay.