The Nature and Theories of Child Development - Assignment Example

Child Development By [Your Name] Presented to the Committee on Degrees in [Your department] In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of [Your course] [Your college] May 31, 2011 Paper 1 Topic 1: The Nature And Theories Of Development Question 1.1- Development of a glossary Glossary Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Naturalistic observation This is the study of people behaviors’ in everyday life (Goodwin, 453). The researcher can interact with the group being observed or not. Naturalistic observation refers to as a way in which a study is done on people’s behavior. Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Self-reports Self reports refer to the type of survey where respondents responds to questions without the researcher interference (Stone, 199). This survey can applied where the researcher wants to gather information on the participant’s feelings and even attitudes. A self report deals mostly with a personal belief and feelings on a particular issue as in most cases they are often used as a way of gaining participants responses in observational studies. Questions 1.2 – Short answer questions 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of correlational designs when researching child development? Correlational designs have various advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is that correlations allow one to determine the amount of variance that your factors can account for the differences in scores (Price, 2000). One of the disadvantages of the Correlational designs is that they assume the variables are the values along an interval scale. This means that multiplying and dividing them make some mathematical sense. In reality, there are nonparametric forms of correlation. However, they are not as robust as parametric statistics and in addition; they do not lend themselves to higher statistical designs in form of multiple regression, factor analysis and canonical correlation (Price, 2000). 2. Outline the ethical issues involved in research on children. According to (mrs, 2006), children are all peoples in the age below 16 years. There are ethical issues that are very important in involving this group in a research. Consent: this is the permission awarded to the interviewer by an adult allowing the interviewer to involve a child for interview. The child must have an opportunity to decline or agree to take part in a research. Interviewing questionnaire: It’s ethical that any personal information relating to other people should not be collected from children. This can only be done after gaining consent from a parent or a responsible adult. Incentives and rewards Any reward or incentive provided by the researcher to the child should safe, legal and acceptable to the responsible adults. This is very important for the age group to avoid any products that are known to cause allergic problems. If any incentives are to be used, they should fit the task required. All high sugar content foods should be avoided (mrs, 2006). Topic 2: Children in Context Glossary Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Macrosystem Macrosystem is one of the ecological theories of child development (Oswalt, 2008). This theory includes things such as the relative freedoms permitted by the cultural values, the economy, wars, etc (Oswalt, 2008). All these things can affect a child either positively or negatively. Macrosystem tries to explain how everything in a child and the child's environment affects how the child grows and develops. Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Socialization This is the process through which the child becomes an individual by respecting his or her environment laws, norms and customs (Crespi ,36) This is the stage where a developing child becomes conscious of the surroundings by following the laid down customs and norms. Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Chronosystem Chronosystem involves the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course (Crespi ,36). In most cases, chronosystem’s effects on the minority child determines future achievements Chronosystem involves a socio-historical circumstance that surrounds a life of a child. Question 2.2 What are the effects of poverty on children’s development? According to nccp (1999), many children are poor in their first years of life. Children suffer greater risk of impaired brain development. This is due to their exposure to a number of risk factors associated with poverty. Poverty threatens children’s brain development. Optimal brain development is from the prenatal period to the first years of a child’s life. Risk factors impede brain development during this sensitive period. It’s notable that a number of children in poverty are exposed to such risk factors (nccp, 1999). Topic 3: Conception and Prenatal Development Glossary Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Fetal/foetal alcohol syndrome Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is caused by the heavy abuse of alcohol during pregnancy (Seifer, 2008). It’s characterized by facial deformities, skeletal abnormalities and other deficits in children. FAS is caused by drinking alcohol and especially in the first trimester. Memory problems occur in children and other cognitive deficits. Glossary Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Dizygotic twins These are also referred to as fraternal twins. They are unlikely to have the same chromosome profile. They mostly do not look alike (Seifer, 2008). Twins developed from two separate oocytes which are fertilized at the same time. Question 3.2- Short Answer Questions 1. List teratogens and other maternal factors that affect brain development during the prenatal period. Teratogens are the factors that are associated with anomalies to the fetus due to exposure to the toxic substances (seifer, 2008). These substances are classified in various types such as the environmental teratogens, licit and illicit substances. Environmental teratogens are substances such as lead exposure, polychloronitade biphenyl exposure and mercury exposure. The illicit and lict substances are tobacco, alcohol and the illicit drugs exposure. 2. Explain what twin studies contribute to our understanding of human development. Most studies on twins compare identical twins as having 100% genetic similarity(seifer, 2008). . For the non identical twins is about 50% genetic similarity. The researchers help understand the occurrence of an individual trait between identical and fraternal twins. This analysis helps the researchers to estimate the heritability of specific traits and quantify the effect of genetic factors on the individual trait. Twins study has led to some interesting insights into the influence of genes on human behavior (seifer, 2008). . Topic 4: Birth And The Neonate Glossary Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Infant mortality This is the number of deaths of infants in per 1000 live births (Smith, 2008). This is traditionally caused by dehydration and diarrhea. Though currently it is caused by pneumonia. Infant mortality refers to as the average infant’s death for the infants below one year of age. Most causes of the deaths are due to malnutrition and malaria. Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Anoxia This condition is due to oxygen not being delivered to a part of the body (smith, 2008). This is the absence of oxygen supply to an organ or tissue in the body. Question 4.2 Short answer questions 1. List and make notes of the consequences of low birth weight. According to Smith (2008), low birth weight refers to an infant is born with the less than the required weight. An infant with low birth weight (LBW) weighs less than 2500 g (5.5 lb) at delivery. There are several reasons for the LBW in infants. These are mother’s infection, placental problems like inadequate blood flow, preterm labor, poor maternal health and abusing illicit drugs such as excessive alcohol and smoking. Babies’ experiences wide variety of physical challenges depending on the cause of the low birth weight. Physical problems: Babies may experience stunted growth on the brain growth and the general infant development. Social and cognitive delays: this can be exhibited by learning delays and social shyness. These have been linked to be caused by the low birth weight. 2. What has research shown about the five senses in the neonatal period? Neonatal period is the period between the childbirth and the first 28 days. According to Goldfield, (2008), the following are the five senses in the neonatal period. Sense 1: is the regular, quiet, synchronous sleep. The infant is at rest and there is low resistance of the limbs to passive movement. The face is relaxed and the respirations are regular in rhythm and constant in amplitude. Sense 2: Irregular sleep, paradoxical REM sleep).Eyes are closed and may be pinched or relaxed. Respirations are irregular and faster than state 1. Resistance of the limbs to passive movements is greater. Sense 3: alert inactivity. The limbs are at rest except for occasional small movements. Face is relaxed. Eyes are open and respirations are constant in rate. Sense 4: waking activity. Frequent bursts of generalized motor activity are experienced in limbs, trunk, and head. They vary in intensity and duration. The eyes are open but the infant may be silent, moaning, grunting, or whimpering with no cry for sustained periods. Respirations are irregular. State 5: crying. Cry vocalizations are the essential defining criterion. They may vary in intensity from persistent whimpering to loud screaming. Topic 5: First Adaptations Question 5.1-Development of a glossary Glossary Glossary of cognitive vocabulary Word or phrase Formal definitions from references My definition Habituation Habituation is the gradual reduction in the strength due to repetitive stimulation (Torrence, 2008). In the study of the infant’s habituation, researchers explore their understanding of the world. Young babies distinguishes and remember various sounds, smells and sounds Question 5.2 1. List and make brief notes on the advantages of breastfeeding for infants and toddlers. There are various benefits of breastfeeding to an infant. According to (Lawrence, 2008), the following are the benefits of breastfeeding to the infants. Infections: Breastfed infants have fewer infections. This reduces high mortality rate in children below the age of 5years. Bottle fed infants experiences high rates of diarrhea and respiratory infections. Immunity: Human milk contains blood cells that contain several immunological components including lactoferrin, lysozyme, and many antibodies which are all important host defense mechanisms against bacteria, viruses, and other agents of infection. Prevention of diseases: Some childhood diseases are prevented if the child is breastfed well. A decline in breastfeeding can cause diabetes, cancers and even leukemia if the child is not breastfed for at least 4months. Breastfeeding also causes reduction in the inflammatory bowel disease and celiac disease was similarly associated with breastfeeding. 2. What can we learn from traditional Aboriginal Australian cares about how to soothe a baby? According to Penman (2006), in indigenous families’ care giving role is normally spread over more family members than in non-Indigenous ones. We learn a lot from the traditional Aboriginal Australian cares about how to soothe a baby. Soothing is good for the health of both the mother and the baby. It calms the nerves. Babies can be soothed by singing and these soothing sounds help your baby to gently unwind.  Soothing is intended to assist the baby get to sleep without much intervention from the parents. 3. What evidence suggests that maturation is the driving force underlying motor development? Motor development has often had relationship between neural structure and behavior. On the infant motor development, there exists a relationship between behavior development and the maturation of neural tissue (Kamm, Kathi, 1990). Developmental changes in motility and locomotion in animals shows that motor changes to histological analyses of neural maturation. There are broad changes seen in normal motor development to developmental changes in the nervous system. A god example is the infant's ability to lift the head. The ability was attributed to newly develop cortical control of the cervical region. Maturation of the nervous system is the unitary driving force in motor development. Attached: List of references Crespi, I. SOCIALIZATION AND GENDER ROLES WITHIN THE FAMILY: A STUDY ON ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR PARENTS IN GREAT BRITAIN Department of Sociology, Catholic University of Milan, Italy Goodwin, C 2010, Research in Psychology: Methods and Design, John wiley & sons, denver: USA Goldfield , E 2008, Newborn Behavior, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA Elsevier Inc. Newborn Behavior.pdf Kamm, Kathi, 1990, dynamical systems approach to motor development. viewed 31 may 2011, Lawrence,R,2008 Breastfeeding, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA,Breastfeeding .pdf Mrs, 2006 Conducting research with children and young people, viewed 31 may 2011, Nccp, 1999, Poverty and Brain Development in Early Childhood, viewed 31 may 2011, Read More