Atypical Development and Mental Retardation - Coursework Example

Running head: ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT, MENTAL RETARDATION Atypical Development, Mental Retardation [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Atypical Development, Mental Retardation Introduction This assignment will discuss the physical, communicative, social, cognitive, emotional and moral development of a fictitious eight-year-old boy named Tim. After outlining these developments, this assignment will predict Tim’s life-course based on his developments. Analysis Firstly, it is necessary to provide some background information about Tim. Tim is the eldest of two children in his family. His little sister Mia is aged six and Tim adores her. Tim and Mia are the children of Jill and Frank. Jill is a teacher at one of the local schools and Frank is a police officer who previously worked on an oil rig. Both Jill and Frank are middle-income earners, who have bought a house in one of the average suburbs in south Brisbane. As a result of having bought a house in an average socio-economic area, Tim goes to one of the local schools nearby. The other students who attend the school are from the nearby areas and are from similar backgrounds. Tim is a healthy young boy who does not have any health issues or disabilities. He has a close relationship with both his mother and father. He likes to do ‘masculine’ types of activities with his father, such as boating, camping and fishing. Tim and his father enjoy watching the football and going to see their favourite team, the Brisbane Broncos. Tim is a happy, typical child in an ordinary context. While Tim has grown quickly in the early stages of his life, he will find the next two years of his physical development are slow compared to previous years and the next stage (teenage years) of his life. Even though he is social at the moment he may become socially indifferent and will not make any interaction with others unless if he needs something, they much rather be by themselves. And socially awkward in that he may have a hard time making friends because of the lack of interest leave between them. It also touched a very little on the sensory, but very little information was given. As far as social interaction goes, he may want to spend more time alone rather than with others. He may be happy are quite content to be left alone (Trevarthen 1996). He may start to show little interest in making friends and have a difficult time mixing with other children. It is possible that as per the prevailing symptoms in the near future he will display discomfort and disinterest when around other people, especially their age peers. As such children have an extremely difficult time relating to and understanding the outside world, they prefer their own world (Trevarthen etal 1996). Tim may also be much less responsive to social cues, such as smiles or eye contact and they often exhibit an aloof manner. He will also have abnormal ways of relating to people their unresponsive manner to verbal communication towards them is sometimes misinterpreted as deafness (Dorman & Lefever 1999). Due to these social problems, he may also try to manoeuvre in ways to avoid physical contact when they are picked up. Along with social interaction, his own play behaviour may be different. Even though it is quite normal still there are symptoms which show a lack of spontaneous and imaginative play may be present. However they may sustain what would qualify as odd play. He seems only interested in playing with hard objects, and their play is typically dominated by a fascination by the mere presence of certain objects (Trevarthen 1996). His immediate sensory features, is what they have to manipulate are the things that truly capture Tim’s attention in a toy (Trevarthen 1996). Spinning objects, such as toys, is something that he does love to do, as well as spinning themselves around. In the near future he may do not imitate others' actions and they do not initiate pretend-like games. Communication His language development may slow down (Dorman 1999). In this case he may also lose previous communication abilities that they had, this is called 'regressive autism' (Ackerman 1997). His language development may not be sequential and is delayed and deviant. In the near future he may learn and know plenty of words but not know how to use them to express what they want or need. Using language appropriately and in context may present great difficulty for him like other children like him he too will refer to himself by his first names, confusing pronouns and excessively use third person (Ackerman 1997). He will use words without attaching the common meaning to them and often communicate with gestures and pointing in the place of words (Catalano 1998). A few examples of these gestures are waving, facial expressions, eye contact, body language, and movement. Another communication characteristic he will display is echolalia, or the repeating of words or phrases in place of normal language. He may also use extremely strict language. Like other children like him he too may often speak in a singsong manner. In a couple of years a short attention span is also another symptom which may be prominent the subject, along with an even greater difficulty understanding non-verbal language and literal meanings. Tim may even have difficulty in maintaining normal non-verbal communication and body language, and might therefore seem more literal minded or unresponsive than he really are. Tim might also have difficulty with verbal communication (Dowdy etal 1998). This generally comprises of what is called a semantic-pragmatic component. Thus, considering the before mention term, he may take a statement or question in an extremely accurate or strange way. For example, it they treat situations like, "I would like coffee with my cereal.” by putting coffee in your cereal... Another example could be innocently answering "what do you do when you get cut?" by "bleed," as a substitute for explaining about what ought to be done concerning the cut (Tustin 1991). Tim might also experience a lot of other communication problems, such as problem remembering vocabulary, or difficulty pronouncing terminology. How ever it can also be possible that he may have problems in coordinating speech movements. Tim however is and will better then other peoples showing such symptoms as people like these may be mute, or might occasionally lose the capability to speak. Tim could even have odd pronunciation, tone, or oral qualities. Tim may even stop and require a lot of time to process verbal remarks or inquiry, and to make replies. Doing things again and again that have been heard is not exceptional, at time she may even imitate other’s words. (Twachtman 1998). The variety, intensity and comprehensiveness of services needed by the subject in this case as well as the participation of professionals from various disciplines require the efforts of some professionals to coordinate and advocate for the child. In the future it will be important that Tim’s clinician will have to encourage and welcome the participation of parents and other important family members as their involvement helps to support the child during their difficult times in counselling (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1999). Physical After some Tim might even experience sensory impairment. He may have sensitivities in the areas of touch, hearing, smell, sight, and taste, balance and pain either to a lesser or greater degree . The sensitivity in the balance in turn affects their gross motor skills making them uneven (Catalano 1997). He may have what appears to be an empty gaze, strange reactions to sounds, bizarre visual inspection of objects, patterns and movements, and no reaction to cold (Trevarthen 1996). Both cerebral and cerebella white matter amounts in Tim may be found to be oddly enlarged. In contrast, the cerebellar vermis, which is principally grey matter, maybe found to be reduced in size. (Courchesne1997 and Kaufmann etal. 2003). Hazlett etal (2005) states that enlargement during this period is consistent with either a “decrease in the normal loss of neuronal processes (dendritic pruning) or over-exuberant dendritic arborization. (p.12) In Tim’s case the oxidative stress theory can also be applied as it hypothesizes that toxicity and oxidative stress may cause a condition like Tim’s will be in some cases by damaging Purkinje cells in the cerebellum after birth through the possibility of the involvement of glutathione. Behaviour Behaviours could also differ in Tim case . At the moment he has normal behaviour but in the near future exhibit noticeable physical excitement over activity or extreme under activity . An example of this is the over-excitement shown by some autistic children when tickled (Trevarthen 1996). Tantrums and showing extreme distress for no obvious reason may be something extremely common in Tim’s behaviour (Dorman 1999). Another aspect of his behaviour will be his typical interest in objects or some repetitive activity . Some repetitive behaviour may include but are not limited to hand flapping, blinking, fiddling with things, repeatedly tapping, and rocking . These repetitive behaviours along with other self-stimulatory behaviours, which could increase at times of anxiety, could be some of the scariest facets of autism (Catalano 1998). Another scary facet is that Tim could have a tendency for aggressive and self-injurious behaviour. As per Tim’s condition he may also have an extremely hard time adapting to new things and changes, and a number of these behaviours could be Tim’s way of adapting to the situation. In the future Tim could prefer sameness and function best under a strict routine Transitions to a new house, school, or foods are particularly difficult for Tim. An abnormal pattern in Tim’s sleeping behaviour is yet another thing that he must also deal with (Dorman 1999). Emotions Tim may have enjoyed a lot of emotions, up till now he could even feel two emotions at the same time. But as time goes on he has started to feel. There will be times when Tim will to have some trouble; however, this will mostly be due to complicated emotions, like pride and embarrassment. Tim may also have to face a lot of hardships in describing their experiences of embarrassment. If put to the test , it may noted that Tim will only be able to recount embarrassing occasions which are mostly external and uncontrollable, the circumstances also related with grief, and Tim may rarely retell his experience to an audience. It is possible that in the near future Tim will possess a limited understanding of the word "embarrassment". Nevertheless the presence of other people at the time the embarrassing takes which Tim might start thinking about himself. To the point that Tim’s lack of reference to an audience or normally restricted understanding of embarrassment embedded in the incapability to monitor the attitudes and judgment of the people around him. Tim may even show a relative indifference to praise (Kasari, Sigman, Baumgartene & Stipek 1993), along with a lack of understanding of other's attitudes, the normal developmental may not in anyway apply to Tim’s future condition. Whereas Tim’s experience pleasure in perfecting the shortfall identified in Tim’s future condition may most probably hinder their understanding and perception of socially transmitted pride. Tim may at times even seem unemotional, although Tim may even be extremely emotional when something is important to him. Tim in the near future could even be more outspoken and open to his emotions than other people who do not have the problems he is facing. Tim may tend to loathe, or at least be unconcerned regarding change. He may even experience a lot of have attachment to things, places, or schedules, and become extremely disappointed if forced to discard those things, places, or schedules . Something that may be considered as ridiculous to others might be extremely important to Tim. As a lot of people who are going through the same condition which Tim will have a few very strong interests that might be considered as being obsessive. These obsessions could be sometimes considered as being ordinary like sports, technical neurology, or as strange as learning by heart the train schedules. Thus people like Tim take their unusual interests extremely seriously (Tustin 1991). Gender The fact that Tim may be facing a lot of difficult conditions however this will not prevent him from understanding race and gender stereotypes and their importance in society; like any other child he too will easily learn stereotypes by noting each and every action of his parents, like locking all the door at night before sleeping. Parke et al. (2004) concluded that: The boys whose fathers were often absent were less popular and had less-satisfying peer-group relationships then did boys whose fathers were regularly available. Possibly, boys who grew up without their fathers have less chance to learn the behaviours that other boys in their culture value. They may, for example, tend to be shy, timid, and reluctant to play rough games- traits that are correlated with poor peer relationships. Frank being at home will assist in providing the social skills that Tim needs to use in his everyday life. In addition to this, Frank will be a positive male role model and assist with Tim coming to terms with his own gender. This will allow him to gain an understanding about what is considered acceptable male behaviour. Bem (1984, p.220) proposes that children acquire a gender schema that reflects the society’s beliefs about characteristics and roles of males and females. This also contributes to what is considered acceptable behaviour in a given culture for male and females. Conclusion This case study of Tim made the concept of Autism quite clear. Autism differs in its intensity and symptoms, and might not be identified, particularly in slightly affected children or when it is masked by other handicaps. Doctors depend on a set of behaviours for them to have doubt of the possibility of an autism diagnosis. a number of the behaviours consist of; slow ability to make friends, inability to initiate or hold a conversation with others, absence of imaginative and/or social play, repetitive or unusual use of words, obsession with certain objects or subjects, and inability to change routine. People might respond to Tim in a different way, they may even ask a lot of different questions; like why is he doing that or behaving like this? Why does Tim will have to be ready to face the world. The questions asked are difficult to answer but they realize that their child is intelligent in his or her own way and remain that way . No matter how difficult it is for parents of an autistic child, there are a lot of alternatives about health care and management, and ever ending trust, confidence, belief , the child, and the child’s therapist . References Ackerman, L (1997); Discussion of Autism General Information Autism 3(1) American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (1999); Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of Children, Adolescents, and Adults With Autism and other pervasive Developmental Disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 38(12). Bem, S.L. (1984); Adrogyny and gender schema theory: A conceptual and empirical integration. In Sondregger, T. B. (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 34(1) 179-226. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Catalano, R. (1998); When autism strikes: Families cope with childhood disintegrative disorder. New York: Plenum Press. Courchesne E (1997); Brainstem, cerebellar and limbic neuroanatomical abnormalities in autism. Curr Opin Neurobiol 7: 269-278. Dorman, B. and Lefever, J.(1999); What is Autism? Autism Society of America. Dowdy, C.A., Patton, J.R., Smith, T.E.C., & Polloway, E.A. (1998).;Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the classroom. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. 292 pages. H. C. Hazlett, M. Poe, G. Gerig, R. G. Smith, J. Provenzale, A. Ross, J. Gilmore, and J. Piven (2005); “Magnetic resonance imaging and head circumference study of brain size in autism: birth through 2 years,” Arch. Gen. Psychiatr., vol. 62, pp. 1366-1376, Kasari, C., Sigman, M. D. Baumgartner, P., Stipek, D. J (1993); Pride and mastery in children with autism. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Kaufmann WE, Cooper KL, Mostofsky SH, Capone GT, Kates WR, Newschaffer CJ, Bukelis I, Stump MH, Jann AE, Lanham DC (2003); Specificity of cerebellar vermian abnormalities in autism: a quantitative magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Child Neurology, 18: 463-70. Parke, R, D., Dennis, M., Flyr, M, L., Killian, C. McDowell, D, J., Morris, K, L. et al. (2004); Fathering and Children’s Peer Relationships. In Lamb, M, and E. (Ed.), The Role of the Father in Child Development (4th ed) New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Trevarthen, C., Aitken, G., Papoudi, D. and Robarts, J. ( 1996); Children with Autism: Diagnosis and Interventions to Meet Their Needs. London, Jessica Kingsley. Tustin Frances (1991); Revised understandings of psychogenic autism. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. Vol 72(4), 585-591. Twachtman-Cullen Diane (1998); A Passion to Believe: Autism and the Facilitated communication Phenomenon Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, Read More

Along with social interaction, his own play behaviour may be different. Even though it is quite normal still there are symptoms which show a lack of spontaneous and imaginative play may be present. However they may sustain what would qualify as odd play. He seems only interested in playing with hard objects, and their play is typically dominated by a fascination by the mere presence of certain objects (Trevarthen 1996). His immediate sensory features, is what they have to manipulate are the things that truly capture Tim’s attention in a toy (Trevarthen 1996).

Spinning objects, such as toys, is something that he does love to do, as well as spinning themselves around. In the near future he may do not imitate others' actions and they do not initiate pretend-like games. Communication His language development may slow down (Dorman 1999). In this case he may also lose previous communication abilities that they had, this is called 'regressive autism' (Ackerman 1997). His language development may not be sequential and is delayed and deviant. In the near future he may learn and know plenty of words but not know how to use them to express what they want or need.

Using language appropriately and in context may present great difficulty for him like other children like him he too will refer to himself by his first names, confusing pronouns and excessively use third person (Ackerman 1997). He will use words without attaching the common meaning to them and often communicate with gestures and pointing in the place of words (Catalano 1998). A few examples of these gestures are waving, facial expressions, eye contact, body language, and movement. Another communication characteristic he will display is echolalia, or the repeating of words or phrases in place of normal language.

He may also use extremely strict language. Like other children like him he too may often speak in a singsong manner. In a couple of years a short attention span is also another symptom which may be prominent the subject, along with an even greater difficulty understanding non-verbal language and literal meanings. Tim may even have difficulty in maintaining normal non-verbal communication and body language, and might therefore seem more literal minded or unresponsive than he really are. Tim might also have difficulty with verbal communication (Dowdy etal 1998).

This generally comprises of what is called a semantic-pragmatic component. Thus, considering the before mention term, he may take a statement or question in an extremely accurate or strange way. For example, it they treat situations like, "I would like coffee with my cereal.” by putting coffee in your cereal. Another example could be innocently answering "what do you do when you get cut?" by "bleed," as a substitute for explaining about what ought to be done concerning the cut (Tustin 1991).

Tim might also experience a lot of other communication problems, such as problem remembering vocabulary, or difficulty pronouncing terminology. How ever it can also be possible that he may have problems in coordinating speech movements. Tim however is and will better then other peoples showing such symptoms as people like these may be mute, or might occasionally lose the capability to speak. Tim could even have odd pronunciation, tone, or oral qualities. Tim may even stop and require a lot of time to process verbal remarks or inquiry, and to make replies.

Doing things again and again that have been heard is not exceptional, at time she may even imitate other’s words. (Twachtman 1998). The variety, intensity and comprehensiveness of services needed by the subject in this case as well as the participation of professionals from various disciplines require the efforts of some professionals to coordinate and advocate for the child. In the future it will be important that Tim’s clinician will have to encourage and welcome the participation of parents and other important family members as their involvement helps to support the child during their difficult times in counselling (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1999).

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