NADIA

CLASS HANDOUT #3

First Session

Nadia’s mother, Jamila Tehrani, and her mother’s sister, Yasmin Amirpour - who speaks English
much better than Mrs. Tehrani- accompany Nadia to the visit. Nadia held onto her mother’s
hand as they came into the office and sat very close to her, bringing a chair closer to do so. She
looked down or around the office and did not seem to be willing or able initially to attend to
the conversation between you and the other adults.

Mrs. Amirpour says that her sister is very frustrated with Nadia. Nadia seems to be moody and
uncooperative; daydreaming when she should be concentrating on schoolwork or on tasks that
she must do around the home. Mrs. Tehrani works part-time at a local cleaner and says that
Nadia has not taken care of the few things she needs to after school. Mrs. Tehrani works only
three days a week and is home by 3:30. She is beginning to be worried about leaving Nadia with
Sabina for that time, which she used to do and had no concerns. Nadia is also much more
irritable with her brother and sister lately.

Nadia’s aunt reports that Nadia has been very different over the last few months. About 2 ½
months ago there was a fire in their apartment complex. It was not in their apartment but on
the floor below. Mrs. Tehrani and the three children woke up in the middle of the night with a
firefighter pounding on the door. Mrs. Tehrani did not understand what he was saying and
would not open the door. Daquan opened the door and ran down the hall to get his aunt. The
aunt came running and found Jamila huddled in a corner looking much disoriented, with Nadia
clinging to her. With the help of the firefighter, Yasmin dragged Jamila out of the apartment
and out of the building. Nadia and Daquan followed with Sabina.

There was some smoke damage to both women’s apartment, but more so to the aunt’s home
than the Tehrani apartment. The family was able to move back in by the end of the next day,
and Yasmin and Jamila were both relieved that there was not much damage. Nadia, however,
seemed particularly upset by this event.

When Nadia is asked what might be going on for her that contributes to her having trouble in
the way described, she just shakes her head and says, “I don’t know, I don’t know…”

Questions for Discussion:

1. What are the important facts we know so far?

 2. What Hypotheses do you have? What would your next steps be to support or refute
these Hypotheses?
3. How do the required readings for this class session inform your Hypotheses?
4. What specific questions arising from the case might you want to research in the
literature?
For each question above, identify how the core concepts assigned to your small group inform
your answers.