Effect on Childrens Development - Case Study Example

Case Study of a 4 – year old child using psychosocial, cognitive and physical approaches Introduction: A child’s development is mainly influenced by the family, in which children spend most of their time, acquiring different cognitive and social skills. Therefore, it has the most important effect on children’s development. (Thomson,2005)). This paper investigates the case of my niece Zoe, who is 4 years old and used to be well-spoken, talented, bright. She even played the piano. Then a change in her life turned her personality upside down. The change was ( my sister’s ) her mother’s marriage and the moving with a step-father. Since Zoe was raised by her a single mother the fact of having a new dad in the house caused a change in her behavior. She started to shutter in her speech and gradually has withdrawn. The aim of this paper is to study Zoe’s case from three different perspectives, psychosocial, cognitive and physical. Section One: The Psychosocial Prospective: This section is based on the stages of development which are developed by psychiatrist, Erik Erikson in 1956.( Harder, 2002). According to Erikson, humans go through eight stages of development in life from birth to death and that each stage has a crisis which must be resolved. If a crisis failed to be resolved at an earlier stage it might cause conflicts. (Harder, 2002). The stages of this theory will be exploited in relation to our case study. So only the three first stages will be addressed. Erikson’s Stages of Development: Stage One: Trust Versus Mistrust According to Erikson, this stage represents the period of infancy until the first one or two years of life. (Harder, 2002). The main emphasis of this stage is on the mother’s positive and loving care for the baby. If this is achieved successfully the child will learn to trust that life is basically good. Whereas, if failure occurs at this stage , the child will mistrust the world. (Harder, 2002). Referring back to Zoe’s case, since Zoe is only 4 years old and used to have a normal personality. This indicates that this stage must have been fulfilled by the mother who successfully provided love and care to little Zoe. Stage Two: Autonomy Versus Sham This stage occurs during early childhood, probably between 18 months to 3 years. At this stage, children work to master the physical environment while they are maintaining self-esteem. Autonomy is achieved by means of being stormy self-will, stubborn and negative. (Harder, 2002). At this stage, children use the powerful word “No”, although it might be painful to parents, it develops important skills of will. Children during this stage can be very vulnerable and if they are ashamed in toilet training or learning other important skills, they may feel great shame and they start doubting their capacities which results in low self-esteem.( Harder, 2002). In Zoe’s case, this stage was again successfully fulfilled and evidence are her ability to speak out and play the piano. Stage Three: Initiative Versus Guilt According to Erikson, this psychosocial crisis occurs during the “ play age” from 3 to 5 years. This is the stage in which Zoe holds in. (Harder, 2002). Children at this age learn to imagine and extend their skills through playing and fantasizing. In addition, they may learn to help and cooperate with others. Moreover, they can lead and follow others. On the other hand, if children are immobilized by the feeling of guilt. They can be fearful and continue depending on adults and are restricted in play and imagination. (Harder, 2002). In the case of Zoe, a conflict arose from the family which led to her change of personality and behavior. It is apparent that Zoe is fearful or unready to accept the change in her life. The concept of a step-father sounds frightening to children. Zoe was very little to reason thing out, So she shuttered herself and this resulted in her uncertainty and withdrawal. The main relationship children emphasis at this stage is with their family. Therefore, this matter has to be resolved so that it will not affect other stages of development.( Harder, 2002). Section Two: The Cognitive Prospective Children at their early years are very much interested in understanding the world, especially people. It is amazing how children at this age succeed in recalling specific past experiences. Yet they are better at remembering the general sequence of familiar events. .(Thomson,2005). In our case, Zoe seems to have a conflict between her past experience with her mother and her current experience. Since children at this age are only good at solving practical problems they lack logical reasoning skills. The most important reason for that is the fact that children are not yet mentally ready to solve abstract problems.(Thomson,2005). In the case of Zoe, her lack of logical reasoning might affected her and resulted in her withdrawal. In her mind, Zoe couldn’t reason the shift of her mother’s love to a new channel (step-husband). So withdrawal was the only thing Zoe was able to do. Young children are likely to be interested in what goes on in people’s mind. Since their mental development is gradual. For instance, at the age of two, a child will have a simple awareness of how intentions can guide people’s actions. As for the age of three, a child will learn that beliefs and desires are subjective and can differ from one individual to the other. By the age of five, children realize the important fact that thoughts may not accurately reflect reality, and people can be mistaken or even fooled. This in fact can be applied to Zoe’s case. She might have been faced with the fact that thought do not resemble reality. She might have been promised or told that nothing will affect her relationship with her mother. Yet after experiencing the situation, she realized that promises are not always fulfilled. This gave her a reason to withdraw.(Thomson,2005). Added to that, children might feel frustrated when treated like adults and asked to reason things beyond their knowledge or comprehension. This indeed is the case of Zoe. To conclude, understanding how children think can be of great importance to their development. Because a child’s perception of life’s different events often determine how these events affect him/her. Therefore, Zoe’s perception of her current life style can indeed affect her future and the way she perceives things related to marriage and relationships .(Thomson,2005). Section Three: The Physical Prospective Preschoolers between ages six and six develop physically; combining change in body proportions, strength and coordination which enables them to throw a ball or draw using crayon .(Thomson,2005). In Zoe’s case she used to play the piano. Added to that, as the brain continues to mature at the early childhood phase; dramatic changes in thinking, language, memory, emotion and self control take place .(Thomson,2005). Therefore, the changes in Zoe’s behavior can be attributed to the changes in her thinking skills and emotions. In other words, in a short period of time, Zoe has been dramatically changed from a stable, bright and well- spoken child to an isolated and shy child. This indicates the physical changes in her thinking and perception of life. (Thomson,2005). Added to that, researchers indicate that children who grow up in a two-parent family do better on a wide range of outcomes from those who grow up in a single parent family.( Thomson,2005). In fact I believe that this can be applied to Zoe’s case, because she was being raised by a single mother. In addition, the generation gap between the mother and child is great since the mother is 40 years old and Zoe’s is 4 which might lead to further conflict and misunderstanding..( Thomson,2005). Conclusion To sum up, it is obvious that Zoe’s case is the result of the mother’s changed behavior towards Zoe. Added to that, Zoe might be affected by the presence of the step-father. Furthermore, Zoe was being treated as an adult due to her mother’s desire to make Zoe take her own responsibility sooner than expected. Moreover, the fact that Zoe’s whole world has been changed affected her negatively. In my point of view, Zoe’s mother is the main reason for the sudden change in Zoe’s personality. Having warm communication and intimate relationship between children and their care givers can result in miraculous outcomes. (Thomson,2005). In our case, the mother should notice the changes in Zoe’s behavior and acts upon that. Spending more time with the child and discussing things together in order to find solutions and modify things to the best can be the best solution to overcome Zoe’s condition. However, I believe that my role as Zoe’s aunt obliges me to try first of all to talk to my sister and advice her on the condition of Zoe and if this fails to achieve any positive outcomes. I might try talking to Zoe and communicating effectively with her and if this fails then I think my duty is to take Zoe to see a child psychiatrist, who might be able to help little Zoe and guide her to the right path. Bibliography Harder, F. (2002) The Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson. Learning Place online.com.[online], available from http://www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Erikson.html [Accessed 5th March 2006]. Thompson, R. (2005) Child Development. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. [online], available from http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557692_5/Develoment_child.html [Accessed 24th Feb 2006]. 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