Therapy at home: Vygotskian perspectives on parental involvement.

Abstract

In this article a case study is used to demonstrate the contributions of parents to the diagnostic and intervention process in home-based therapy. Two assumptions of Vygotskian theory form the bases for this conceptualization: (1) that individual mental functioning has social origins, and (2) that individuals appropriate their ways of talking and thinking from the sociocultural routines and practices in which they are embedded. Given these assumptions, the role of the parent is presented as essential to assessment and treatment because the talk of the child is jointly constructed with them and within home activities. The case study functions as an example of how parents are instrumental to our therapeutic work.