Child Interview Reflection

When interviewing a child it is necessary to ask appropriate questions that are age appropriate for the child. This is a very important factor when interviewing a child because this can either result in a child not understanding the process of an interview by just responding with head nods or a child replying with a response that assures you that they understand the process of the interview. In order for an interview to be successful with a child there are certain procedures that should be followed. This essay will explain my experience while interviewing a 5 year old African American child name Alicia Atkins. It will explore the process of the interview, reflection upon completion of the interview, challenges faced, and critiquing my interview …show more content…
During the interview the most challenging problem that I faced was getting Alicia to take me serious. What affected this was because of our relationship prior to the interview. In order to fix this and get the interview in progress, before we started I had to explain to her there will be no joking or playing during the interview, and then I followed with explaining to her the process of the interview and proceeded. While referring to the child interviewing guide I followed the steps it suggested, such as what kinds of questions to ask children based on his her age. By rearranging questions that are age appropriate for a 5 year it assures that the child will answer them to the best of his or her ability. I also referred to the videos that were about interviewing children. I used the examples of what to do and what not to do, to create my own questions based around the topic, and what I wanted to achieve during my interview. I composed all the information that was gathered from these sources and created and outline for my interview. My thinking changed over time because I kept reinforcing what not to ask, and why certain questions would not provide accurate feedback from the 5 year old. Going into the this assignment, and creating and outline for my interview for a 5 year I did not think about how the questions that are asked could make or break the interview and even ruin the credibility of the interview. This assignment …show more content…
Because I knew the 5 year old when I introduced myself as Lashundra Parkinson a social work student from FAU learning to help children and families. The 5 year old looked confused, as she never heard me introduce myself that way before. This causes me to take extra time out of my interview to explain to her exactly why I had to introduce myself that way. Once I was sure she understood then we proceeded. Some of the true and false questions she insisted that I was trying to trick her. For example I asked is the sky orange? Or is she a boy? While she did answer the questions correctly, she implied more detail as to why the sky is not orange and why she is not a boy. My strength during this process was that I remained professional, followed my outline to the best of my ability and took adequate notes. This resulted in me reaching the conclusion that the child is adapting fine with the change of attending kindergarten, she does miss her preschool teachers, so a visit to her old preschool would be could for her. I think my best work is was around the questions that I generated. Each question that I asked, the child answered and we were able to elaborate more. I very satisfied that I was able to make a connection thorough my introduction, as a result the 5 year old would continually