ABSTRACT
A family consisting of a mother (M), father (F), 18-year-old teenage son (S), and younger 12-year-old daughter (D) had been receiving treatment at a university family therapy clinic. The presenting problems concerned their adolescent son, Bob, and were initially described as his poor grade performance, obesity, and difficulty getting a girlfriend. In this session, which I am initially observing from behind a one-way mirror, the student therapist (T) has been following up about the boy’s grades. His algebra grade successfully rose from previous test scores in the 40s to this week’s scores in the mid-90s, enabling the mother to boast that the therapist was smart in helping them have a game plan to improve the boy’s performance that worked. The father quickly added that their son must still pass the semester exam before he can graduate from high school.
