Chapter 8: Later Sessions: Finding, Amplifying, and Measuring Client Progress
1. The text emphasizes that clients build solutions more by drawing on their successes and strengths than by analyzing their _______________
2. Later sessions also focus on building on strengths; the purpose is the same – to open and sustain a dialogue around what’s ______for the client.
3. The interviewer engages the client in the search for ________________ that have occurred since the last time they met and these ______________ are the building blocks for solutions.
4. As exceptions emerge from the interaction, the interviewer uses solution-focused interviewing techniques to _____________ the exceptions.
5. ______________procedures are also used to get the client’s estimate of progress and do additional goal formulation work.
6. Goal formulation work includes determining the next ___________ and determining when the client feels ready to ____________ services.
7. The format is similar to the first session with the information gathering, practitioner taking a break, developing ______________ and returning to deliver the ____________.
“What’s better?”
8. Later sessions are begun by asking “what’s better?”
9. Since the suggestions form the interviewer are viewed as just that, suggestions that come from the information provided by the client, in which the client can best decide if the task is ________________ in solution building, the interviewer does not ask the client is she has completed the task.
10. Asking “what’s better” rather than asking “is anything better?” reflects confidence that the client is ___________________ to have taken steps.
11. “What’s better” also reflects the conviction that solutions are primarily built from the perception of ____________________.
12. There are several responses you may get when asking the client “what’s better?”
a. The majority of clients are able to identify exceptions that are better since the last meeting
b. The second group will need some encouragement and _____________ but will be able to identify exceptions with that.
c. A small minority will say things are ______________________.
d. Specific questioning, such as asking about individual ___________, often helps who are unsure or who state things are worse, to identify exceptions.
EARS
13. Once an exception has been identified, it is your role to explore it in _____________.
14. The idea of EARS comes from the Brief Family Therapy Center:
a. E: Eliciting _______________________
b. A: Amplify the exception by asking the client to describe what is ____________between the exception time and the problem times then exploring how the exception happened, especially the role the client might have played in making the exception happen.
c. R: Reinforcing the successes and strengths represented by the exception through exploring the exceptions carefully and through ________________
d. S: Start over by asking “What __________ is better?”
15. Peter’s second session with Ah Yan:
a. Peter asked for more specific _______________ about what made a difference in the exceptions
b. Peter worked to keep Ah Yan focused on ___________________ talk. He did this through identifying strengths and successes that could be reinforced through compliments and then asking for more ____________________.
c. Peter also used __________________ questions to sustain solution talk
Doing More of the Same
16. It is useful to inquire about what it would take to make exceptions happen again in order to identify successes and things the client can do to make the exception happen ___________________
Scaling
17. Scaling can be used to determine the client’s current ______________of progress and also their level of _______________. Incongruent numbers can be explored further for new information.
Next Steps
18. Client’s perception of ______________may shift in latter sessions, especially as perceptions of problems and possible solutions shift.
19. Goal formulation in later sessions does not involve repeating the miracle question, rather using client’s answers to scaling questions about _______________ for goal formulation.
20. Moving up the scale and finding out what the differences are between numbers may help a client work toward smaller, sometimes more _________________ goals.
21. Revisiting goal formulation may be most helpful with clients who have unclear or seemingly ______________________ goals and clients for whom little has gone better during the past week.
22. Relationship questions can also _______________ what is happening in the client’s solution building.
23. True empowerment takes place when the interviewer’s questions help the client make their own claims about what good and _________________ people they are.
Termination
24. Conversations about termination can use _____________ questions, such as “What number do you need to be to not come to see me anymore?”
The Break
25. As demonstrated in the interview between Peter and Ah Yan, perceptions, definitions and meanings may shift over time and thorough ______________ with others.
Feedback
26. Note that in the feedback from the second session, Peter leaves it up to Ah Yan to decide about coming back and the time frame.
The Second Session with the Williams Family
27. Insoo started the session with, “What’s _____________ since the last time we met?”
28. There were notable successes and __________________ on which to focus.
29. Write your feedback here, as asked for on page 168:
30. Discussing successes gave Gladys renewed _______________ in her ability to successfully respond to the challenges of her family.
Setbacks, Relapses, and times when nothing is better
31. When setbacks occur, the authors ask the questions, “Without ___________, how would we recognize stability?” and “Without stability, how would we recognize ___________?”
32. ______________and failures are two sides of the same coin.
33. It is important to _____________ client disappointment.
34. If absolutely nothing is better and things are in fact perceived as worse, use __________questions.
Conclusions
35. The feedback at the end of the session always draws attention to client _______________.
True or False
1.In later sessions of solution building, goal formulation generally precedes exception exploration and scaling.
2.Normally, the practitioner begins later sessions by asking clients whether they have completed the tasks which were assigned at their previous session and whether the tasks were helpful.
3.Clients often go beyond the limits of their task assignments in building solutions.
4.The majority of clients are unable to state anything specific in answer to the “what’s-better” question.
5.Ah Yan was able to describe to Peter in their second session some things which were better since their first meeting, but she had no idea about what she might have done to make those things happen.
6.In their second session, Ah Yan was better able to describe the underlying problem for her anxiety.
7.Ah Yan’s perceptions about the meaning of her symptoms and problem shifted between the beginning of her first session with Peter and the end of her second session.
8.Despite Gladys’ best efforts to the contrary, Albert returned with Gladys and the children for a second session with Insoo.
9.Gladys indicated that she had been molested by her father and that her mother failed to believe it and would beat her for supposedly lying about her father.
10.When clients continue to insist in a later session that nothing is better, the practitioner should turn to asking coping questions.
Multiple Choice
1.The “what’s-better” question which is used at the beginning of all later sessions in solution building is a question.
a.goal-formulation
b.exception
c.scaling
d.coping
2.Solutions are built primarily from the client’s perception of:
a.goals.
b.exceptions.
c.motivation level.
d.confidence level.
3.The “E” in the acronym EARS stands for the word:
a.engaging.
b.exceptions.
c.eliciting.
d.examples.
4.In getting details about what is better, which one of the following should the interviewer not ask?
a.What is better?
b.When is it better?
c.How does it happen?
d.Why is it better?
5.In the second-session meeting between Ah Yan and Peter, what did she indicate was one of the things which was better?
a.She quit a job which was overwhelming for her
b.She left a dance for a brief walk with her husband when she becomes anxious
c.She found acceptable day care for her children
d.She stood up for herself with an intrusive mother-in-law who was criticizing her for working outside the home
6.In later sessions, goal-formulation is accomplished through the use of ?
a.the miracle question
b.exception questions
c.scaling questions
d.coping questions
7.At the end of their second session, Peter gave Ah Yan the task.
a.do something different
b.overcome the urge
c.continue to do what works
d.formula later-session
8.Which of the following emerged out of Insoo and the Williams family discussion of what was better?
a.The family had been to the Salvation Army Family Camp and enjoyed it.
b.Gladys had set more boundaries on extended family members.
c.Three of the children had enjoyed each other’s company.
d.All of the above
Essay
1.Explain each element of the acronym EARS. Give examples of the solution-focused questions and statements that an interviewer can use to accomplish the interviewing task represented by each element.
2.Select either the case of Ah Yan or the Williams family. Write a summary of the conversation between interviewer and client(s) about what was better which touches on each main interviewing procedure that Peter or Insoo used and the client(s) response to each procedure.