N480 Family Assessment Visual Report: The Wild Thornberrys

The Wild Thornberrys CREATED BY: KENDALL AYERS NURS 480 FAMILY THEORY & PRACTICE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN MARCOS

MEET THE ‘WILD’ THORNBERRYS Nigel Archibald Thornberry

Nigel was born in the United Kingdom. He has devoted his entire life to studying all kinds of wild animals & their habitats. He travels around the world with his own family making wildlife documentaries. He is eccentric, enthusiastic, & cheerful even in the face of danger. He is best known for his exaggerated facial features.

Marianne Hunter-Thornberry

Marianne is a loving mother.

She is a strong woman, often the voice of reason & sometimes loses patience with Nigel. She operated the film camera & edits their nature show. She will go above & beyond to get the perfect shot. She is usually the one to take on disciplinary duties, trying to keep her children out of trouble & finish their homework.

Deborah “Debbie” Thornberry

Debbie is a typical 16-year-old girl who is interested in fashion, music, & longs for a normal suburban lifestyle. She dresses in grunge clothing & has a peekaboo hairstyle. She is the only family member to know Eliza’s secret.

Elizabeth (Eliza) Thornberry

Eliza is a 12-year-old tomboy who loves adventure. She has red hair in braids, glasses, braces, & freckles. She has four visible teeth connected by two braces. She is able to communicate with animals, especially her chimpanzee sidekick, Darwin. She must keep this gift secret or she will lose her powers.

Donald Michael “Donnie” Thornberry

Donnie is a 4-year-old feral boy who was raised by orangutans after his parents died, since he was a toddler. He was adopted

by Nigel & Marianne Thornberry. He commonly wears leopard print shorts & loves to eat all kinds of insects. He babbles wildly & frequently makes animal noises.

Donald Michael “Donnie” Thornberry

FERAL CHILD (Delay in Growth & Development) Donnie was discovered in Borneo by Nigel & Marianne Thornberry while they were filming a show about orangutans. He was raised by the gentle primates since he was a toddler, following the death of his biological parents, whom were killed by poachers. A feral child is a human child who, from a very young age, has lived in isolation from human contact & has remained unaware of human social behavior, & unexposed to language (Gray, 2019). Donnie is fair skinned, has dark brown hair, & wears a pair of gold shorts with leopard print designs. He does not wear shirts or shoes. His hair appears to be in the form of spaghetti strands. He has an abnormally large mouth with large sets of excess teeth. He will eat just about anything, including bugs & plants, & enjoys speaking in his unique form of gibberish & doing the “wedgie” dance. He babbles wildly & makes animal sounds. On occasion, he will spout blurbs of English & sign family in sign language. It is unknown exactly how much English & sign language he actually knows.

Donnie has a lot of energy & is very hard to handle at times. He is often put into the care of Debbie, who finds her little brother to be quite a handful.

COMMUNICATION ●

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Each individual within the Thornberry family has their own unique communication style. ○ Nigel Thornberry is eccentric, enthusiastic, & cheerful regardless of the situation. He is optimistic & very easy to talk to. His children often go to him for their concerns. ○ Marianne Thornberry is a strong, authoritative, & loving mother to her children.

She can be very stubborn & difficult to talk to at times, especially while filming or shooting. ○ Debbie Thornberry often isolates herself from her family. She spends much of her time reading or writing in her journal. She feels as if she is being deprived of a normal life. She fights with her parents often. ○ Eliza Thornberry has her special gift of communicating with animals. She strives for adventure & communicating with all kinds of animals. She keeps her power from her parents so she is constantly fabricating stories. ○ Donnie Thornberry babbles wildly & makes animal noises more often than not. He is not easily understood by his family. It is difficult to note exactly how well he is able to understand his family members as well.

Collectively the Thornberrys make decisions as a unit & practice open communication. Both Nigel & Marianne consider the opinions of their children & routinely involve them in decision making efforts, like where their next adventure will take place.

STRENGTHS ●

The Thornberry family structure is close-knit with strong relationship ties. ○ They genuinely care for one another. ○ Each family member is extremely supportive of one another’s goals & aspirations. ○ Each family member is comfortable voicing their opinions, feelings, & concerns. ○ Nigel & Marianne make themselves readily available to their children. ○ They adapt well to change, due to their constant traveling.

CHALLENGES ●

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The Thornberrys struggle with balancing the varying personalities within the family. ○ This can cause problems when conflicts arise.

Withholding the truth from loved ones ○ Eliza keeping her power from her parents could be dangerous for not only herself but also her family.

Self-Isolating ○ Debbie isolates herself from the family often, which can lead to a communication barrier.

Developmental Delay ○ Donnie cannot effectively communicate his thoughts or feelings to the rest of the family & it is unknown how much information he truly understands.

Family Culture & Religion

DUVALL’S STAGES OF FAMILY DEVELOPMENT ●

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The Thornberrys are a nomadic family of documentary filmmakers, famous for their televised wildlife studies. They are a close-knit family of six, including Darwin their pet chimpanzee. They truly care for each other & love one another. They are extremely adventurous & travel all over the world, from place to place. They live in a camper & do not practice any one specific religion.

Nigel & Marianne are formally educated. However, the Thornberry children do not go to school & are on vacation year round. This family faces new challenges everyday. They are forced to communicate with one another & adapt to new geographical locations. They must differentiate between appropriate & inappropriate behaviors in regards to wildlife & their interactions with one another. This family in particular practices showing empathy towards animals, willingness to learn about other cultures & ways of life, & aims to better understand the vastness & diversity of the world.

According to Duvall, family begins when two individuals marry prior to having children, then continues to childbearing, then the raising of preschool & school-age children, then the launching of young adult children into independence, followed by empty nesting & concludes with both parents pass away (Kaakinen, et al., 2015). ○ There are eight stages of family development. ○ The stage in which the family resides depends on the age of the family’s oldest child.

In the case of the Thornberry family, the oldest child is Debbie, a 16-year-old adolescent. ○ Stage 5: Family with an Adolescent ○ This stage differs from the previous stages in that the family must begin to loosen family ties & allow adolescents more freedom & prepare them for live on their own (Kaakinen, et al., 2015). ○ Parents of adolescents need to be aware of advances in technology & the increasing gaps in between generations.

Life is not what it used to be. ○ Debbie frequently voices her need to be more independent & controlling over her own life & lifestyle choices.

The Family Systems Theory ●

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This approach allows nurses to understand & assess families as an organized whole and/or as individuals within family units who form an interactive & interdependent system. It encourages nurses to see individual clients as participating members of a larger family system with the overarching goal to help maintain or restore the stability of the family, to help family members achieve the highest level of functioning that they can (Kaakinen, et al., 2015).

The Family Systems Theory consists of four key concepts: ○

Concept 1: All Parts of the System are Interconnected ■

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Concept 2: The Whole is More than the Sum of its Parts ■

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The Thornberry family as a whole is affected by Donnie’s current state not only as a unit but also individually as well.

They begin to think about how his condition will affect them as a family.

Concept 3: All Systems Have Some Sort of Boundaries or Borders Between the System & Its Environment ■

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Donnie’s delay in growth & development directly affects the rest of the Thornberry family. For example, he is typically placed in the care of Debbie, who often will become frustrated & takes her frustration out on the rest of the family, adding excess stress.

The Thornberry family has very flexible boundaries as they control & selectively open or close to gain balance or adapt to the situation. As a nomadic family, they are constantly traveling from place to place having to adapt to all kinds of situations. They have set rules in place in order to regulate & keep their family safe during these adventures.

Concept 4: Systems Can Be Further Organized into Subsystems ■

The Thornberry family has the following subsystems: parents, siblings, parent-child, daughter subsystem, son subsystem, & human-animal subsystem. Each of these subsystems make up the family system as a whole.

PROBLEM Altered growth & development related to social isolation & separation from parents as manifested by abnormally large mouth with large sets of excess teeth, consumption of bugs & plants, communicating in a unique form of gibberish, babbling wildly & making animal noises.

INTERVENTIONS 1.

2.

3.

Assess present level of personal, social, cognitive, & motor development (Ackley, 2015). a.

Rationale: assessing current personal, social, cognitive, & motor development will provide essential baseline data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented interventions (Arri, 2019). b.

Outcome: Donnie will exhibit comfortability during the time of assessment & by the end of the developmental assessment.

Teach parents & family members appropriate developmental tasks & guidance information such as having a greater attention span, recognize familiar words like ”STOP” & follow two to three part demands like “brush your teeth” or “go to bed” (Ackley, 2015). a.

Rationale: educating family members on age-appropriate developmental tasks will aid in better understanding of what is expected & will aid in the implementation of familial involvement (Arri, 2019). b.

Outcome: Donnie’s parents will verbalize three age-appropriate developmental tasks for Donnie’s age group by the end of the day.

Provide opportunities for child to meet age-related developmental tasks such as a greater attention span, recognize familiar words like “STOP” & follow two to three part demands like “brush your teeth” or “go to bed” (Ackley, 2015). a.

Rationale: consistent availability of opportunities to meet age-related developmental tasks will enhance the likelihood of obtaining better outcomes for the individual (Dhuey, 2017). b.

Outcome: the Thornberry family will have verbalized efforts to implement such opportunities into Donnie’s daily routine as well as assign roles in doing so by the end of the day/meeting.

References Ackley, B. J., Ladwig, G. B.. (2015). Nursing Diagnosis Handbook. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.

Arri, H., Agus, S., & Padmi, D. Y. (2019). Individual Adaptation Based on Family Development Stage.

Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Education and Social Science Research (ICESRE 2018). doi: 10.2991/icesre-18.2019.39 Dhuey, E., Figlio, D., Karbownik, K., & Roth, J. (2017). School Starting Age and Cognitive Development. doi: 10.3386/w23660 Gray, H. (2019). Book Review of: Newton, Michael. (2004). Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children. New York: Picador Publishing. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth/Le Journal Canadien De Famille Et De La Jeunesse, 11(1), 334-338. doi: 10.29173/cjfy29429 Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., & Robinson, M. (2018). Family health care nursing: theory, practice, and research. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.

Image References Fig. 1 Thornberry Family [Online Image]. (2002) retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167743/ Fig. 2 Thornberry Family [Online Image]. (2002) retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167743/ Fig. 3 Nigel Thornberry [Online Image]. (2000) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 4 Marianne Thornberry [Online Image]. (2000) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 5 Debbie Thornberry [Online Image]. (2000) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 6 Eliza Thornberry [Online Image]. (2000) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 7 Donnie Thornberry [Online Image]. (2000) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 8 Donald Michael “Donnie” Thornberry [Online Image]. (2001) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 9 Debbie & Donnie Thornberry [Online Image]. (2002) retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167743/ Fig. 10 Thornberry Family [Online Image]. (2002) retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167743/ Fig. 11 Donnie Thornberry [Online Image]. (2015) retrieved from https://www.regain.us/advice/family/family-systems-theory-definition-what-is-it/ Fig. 12 Donnie Thornberry [Online Image]. (2002) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com Fig. 13 Donnie Thornberry [Online Image]. (2000) retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com