Article:
Juan just turned 15 years old and is starting his second year in high school as a sophomore. He lives with his parents and two younger siblings in Queens. Juan has done very well in school and is attending a specialized high school in Manhattan. 
Juan’s father has accompanied him to a visit with the school counselor. Some of Juan’s teachers have suggested a counseling visit since Juan ‘s mood seems to be somewhat “depressed” . Last year he was an A student but some of the early work submitted in the term has not been of expected quality.
After brief introductions, Juan’s father immediately suggested that school might be too “easy” for Juan and maybe he should be challenged in more difficulty classes. When the counselor turned to Juan for some insight, Juan sat almost motionless, looking from parent to counselor. When asked how he felt about school, Juan simply nodded answers.
One main concern brought up by Juan’s teachers is that he is not engaging socially and has dropped out of all extracurricular activities. Juan’s father suggested that Juan dropped the activities because he wanted to focus on academics. He did acknowledge the importance of social life, but said that Juan had an “opportunity” to make something of himself. He noted how proud he is of Juan and added with a huge smile, that Juan wanted to be an engineer.
The counselor asked Juan’s father to leave the room for a few minutes so that she could speak with Juan a bit more. For the most part, Juan remained silent, but did say that he was having some difficulty sleeping and he felt his friends from last year “were different”. He also said sometimes he felt overwhelmed by school and this would make him angry for “no reason”. When asked about his parents, Juan said he was very close to them and did not want to let them down. He was concerned that he wasn’t excited about becoming an engineer. When asked about career plans, Juan shrugged his shoulders.
In 3 pages:
1)Provide a brief summary of the case. 2) In the context of understanding young adolescent development within culture—discuss some of the concerns with Juan at this time. Are these behaviors typical development for a teenager? What does the research tell us about how mood, physical energy level, sleep and motivation are impacted by biological and cognitive changes? 3)What (minimum two) recommendations would you make for Juan in dealing with his parents expectations? Identity concerns? Sleep and mood? 4)Conclusion