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Abstract
Positive adjustment to first grade is an important milestone in children’s lives. Yet, it is sometimes further complicated by additional challenges such as parental divorce. Drawing on a social ecological perspective we explored how the systems rooted in social ecologies enable children’s resilience when their parents are divorced so as to result in their coping well with adjusting to first grade. We used a single instrumental case study that involved visual methodologies to uncover lessons from the story of a first grader whose parents divorced but who continued to adjust well to first grade. Our findings suggest leverage points for school psychologists (SPs) who wish to champion the resilience of first graders who are adjusting to formal school as well as their parents’ divorce. SPs can intervene by supporting the first grader’s processes of agency and meaning making; by working systemically to engage systems of support; and by mobilizing systems with task-sharing.
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Author biographies
Carla Bezuidenhout, D.Ed, is a post-graduate student in Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa. She practices as an Educational Psychologist within a public school setting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Linda Theron, D.Ed, is a full professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria. Her research explores how sociocultural contexts shape resilience in South African young people, specifically resilience processes of those challenged by chronic adversity (see www.Lindatheron.org).
Ezlette Fritz, D.Ed, is a private practitioner and teaching and research fellow in the Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a fellow director of MEISA (Milton Ericksonian Institute of South Africa) which provides training to professionals in Ericksonian hypno- and psychotherapy and ego state therapy and previous president of SAPSAC (South African Professional Society for the Abuse of Children).
