ABSTRACT
Sam is a four-year-old Native American boy who has been attending Head Start classes in his community, an urban town located several hundred miles from the reservation where he was born. Sam’s parents moved to this town shortly after Sam was born to look for better employment. Sam’s teacher asked a social worker from a mental health agency to come and observe Sam because she noticed that his cognitive and social development seemed to lag behind that of the other children. For example, Sam has trouble remembering when to use the bathroom, has not developed a very large vocabulary, and seems overly withdrawn when other children try to engage him in play.
