Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting - Assignment Example

Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting/ Short Essays Bloom’s Taxonomy Comprehension: Erik Erickson suggests in his theory that the quality of caregiven a child in the first few months after birth will have an effect on their social development. He calls this stage Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth through the first year). Application: The Trust vs. Mistrust stage would indicate that it is important for parents to respond to their infant appropriately and consistently when caring for the child beginning immediately after birth. Analysis: Erickson’s theory of development indicates that a child should learn to trust during the first year of age or the child can not move on to the next stage of psychosocial development. It is possible then for the child to remain stuck for a lifetime or to learn trust at a later age there by allowing the individual to more to the next stage of development in a later time frame. Synthesis: A therapist understanding Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory of development could then determine if an individual was stuck in one of the stages, causing problems for the patient in social situations, and then help that individual achieve the goal of that stage and they could then continue to move on in their development regardless of age. Evaluation: It would appear that Erickson’s theory would then be a valuable tool in assessing personality disorders and choosing a treatment protocol. 2. Francine, age 14, has decided that she cannot do anything without assistance from an adult. Identify from what Eriksonian stage this decision may have come. Defend your decision. Construct a scenario of that stage to demonstrate why she has adopted this approach to life. See Course Discussion Forum folders - Child Analysis Guide, Child Analysis Sample A/S Francine is stuck in Erickson’s third stage of psychosocial development, Initiative vs. Guilt. This is the goal that should be conquered between the ages of three and five. Buy this time children have developed a number of cognitive and social skills. She is expected at this point to be able to use these skills to meet the challenges in her small piece of the world. Some of these challenges involve taking responsibility and making plans. If her caregivers encourage this initiative, Francine will develop the ability to take responsibility and plan new things. If her parents discourage her doing this, she will develop a feeling of being unable to plan her future. Francine’s parents may have been over protective being afraid to let her learn by failing or falling. It is in failing and getting up and fixing what is wrong as much as it is succeeding that teaches a child that they can. Children begin to develop confidence in their ability to achieve when they have not only been successful but also from fixing a mistake and knowing they can fix it. Hovering parents do not allow this process to take shape. On the other hand, the good parent would only allow Francine to take on the responsibility appropriate for a three to five year old. It is not that the wise parent does nothing they do what is appropriate for Francine’s development. Knowing Ericksonian theory would seem to be very helpful to the parents in their task. 3. Phyllis, age 7, was born with serious birth defects. She has an intact and supportive family. She receives physical therapy services through Children’s Services and educational assistance through the local school system and the regional center that provides services to handicapped individuals. Use ecological systems theory to construct a scenario incorporating the various systems into Phyllis’s life. (A/S) Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory looks at a child’s development within the context of the system of relationships that form his/her environment. For Phyllis, her layers of how the ecosystem touch her are different because of her handicap. Bronfenbrenner would insist however that she is just as affected by her altered ecosystem as is any other child. The misosystem contains the layers that are closest to the child and it contains structures with which the child has direct contact. For the average child, this is family, school, neighborhood and possible child care. In Phyllis’s case she has family, physical therapist and teacher or tutors supplied by Children’s Services. It is unknown if he neighborhood has direct contact in the form of playmates however the neighborhood likely effects the quality and type of services for which Phyllis qualifies. This fits the deficit model where Bronfenbrenner says that in such situations the parents have to claim to be lacking to get such outside help so the entire system breaks down or at least become out of shape. The child learns about the world by interacting on the micro level which is always affected by the Exosystem. The Exosystem is intern effected by Phyllis because of her special needs. Bronfenbrenner sees this as a breakdown in our society that effects the development of children negatively. While the systems that Phyllis needs are incorporated into her life they change the dynamics just as the industrialization of the population has changed children’s world. Many believe that this theory is especially important to teacher so they understand some of the issues they must help to overcome. 4. Some theories propose that negative early experiences have a lasting and permanent effect on life. Others propose that later experiences can overcome early ones. After demonstrating your familiarity with both sides (K,C), state and substantiate your opinion on these two viewpoints. (E) Freud said the first five years of development determined the rest of that individual’s life. He outlined the psychosexual development that he believed needed to take place beginning with oral need gratification and continuing through the genital stage. He believed that is anything went wrong in this development or if a traumatic event interrupted this development the person would be affected for life. Interruption of the anal stage was sure to cause that individual to be stingy, extremely neat and behaviorally rigid or just the opposite, the person would be very messy, generous and lacking in self control. Freud believed these tendencies would remain for a life time. Freud stated the first three stages were the most important and what happened there could not be reversed. Erik Erickson outlined eight stages of development and he believed that development continued though out a life time. He did believe that each individual had to conquer the task of each stage but he believed that that could be done at any pace even though the ages he suggested were the norm. Therefore, therapists has used his theory to help individual’s along in their development so the same social issues did not continue to resurface again and again. This writer believes that development does happen over a life time. Longitudinal studies have shown that people have overcome difficulties that caused them to be developmentally stuck. Protocols have been developed to treat personality disorders such as Marsha Linehan’s Dialectical Behavioral Therapy which treats individuals who have been severely abused and learned an inappropriate coping mechanism. She has had considerable success with that program and it can be found in all parts of the United States. While these protocols are not 100% successful they have been helpful to large numbers of people. 5. You are constructing a research study of the effects of breast feeding on the physical development of the infant. Go to University’s ELRC; click on ProQuest (upper left of the screen; type in “breast feeding infant nutrition” Follow instructions to delineate your research(A) Generate your theory based on several articles found through the ELRCB) It seems that breast milk is nutritionally superior if the mother eats nutritionally and physically able to utilize all nutrients and pass them on in the breast milk. The other great value to breast feeding in the nurturing aspect. Develop your hypothesis/hypotheses from your theoryC) In this busy world, breast feeding if difficult because of the time involved especially for working mothers. This writer believes that the nurturing aspect of breast feeding is the most important since nutritionally the ingredients can be duplicated fairly well. (Feldman & Feldman, 1996). Therefore, mothers should concentrate on holding and interacting with the child rather than pumping milk. Identify your independent variable and your dependent variableD) type of milk Decide upon research design you will use. Justify the appropriateness of its use in this study (E) Qualitative design because we are looking for cause and effect. Describe your population, including number of subjects, ages, and any other relevant descriptorsF) Mothers of identical twins, at least 10 Describe your study. Be sure to include any cultural influences G) Describe ethical considerations(AP) Women giving birth would be recruited to agree to feed one child from the breast and pump milk to feed the other child but hold and talk to that child just as she did the breast feeding child and for the same amount of time. Height and Weight data from regular checkups over a five year period of time would be used to see if there is a statistical difference in size based on nurturing during feeding. The confounding variable that would have to be accounted for is the sucking resistance of the bottle vs. the breast. 6. Developmental theory can explain healthy behavior. Jonathan, age 10, enjoys school and does well. He is well liked by his peers and his teachers. He is respectful and fun loving. Using Eriksonian theory construct a scenario of what his life may have been like during the second and third stage of development. Interpret appropriate theory.(K) Analyze his present life according to Eriksonian theory,. (What may have happened to him during the second and third stage, to explain why he is well adjusted.)See Course Discussion Folders,Child Analysis Guide, Child Analysis Samp[e (Ap). According to Erickson this child probably grew up in a home where, when he became a toddler and began exploring his parents allowed him to explore up to the capabilities of a toddler but protected him from those things for which he was not ready, therefore, there was a balance between the will of the parents and the will of the child. Erickson stated that in stage two there is a battle between the will of the parents and the will of the child. The child must be given reasonable freedom to explore to gain autonomy over his environment and thereby feel that he can. As a preschooler, this child likely was allowed to use his new cognitive skills to take responsibility and plan his actions. Again, this takes place with in the limits of a three to five-year-old. This child is then able to feel capable of planning and being responsibile and that feeling carries on into later stages of development. Erickson calls stage three Initiative vs. Guilt. 7. After reading about the main theories of intelligence, describe and interpret one that you believe has credibility and importance. Justify your opinion. Indicate how it either substantiates or conflicts with two other theories. (E) Spearman came up with the two-factor theory of intelligence. It is the most known and the most used to date. He believed that g represented and individual’s mental energy. This is then the amount of energy or ability an individual has for the purpose of learning. The two factors involved are g mental ability and s the area of specific ability, math, mechanical or verbal. I believe this is the most credible way to look at pure ability to learn. When you add more factors you add more variables which confound the issue. The Triarchie Theory says that intelligence includes three factors, logical thinking, problem solving and practical thinking. It is practical thinking that becomes muddy. This is the ability to adapt to your environment. Sociologists tell us that this is cultural and taught in some cultures, not only differently but more effectively, than in other cultures. This appears to muddy the outcome. The Multiple Kinds of Intelligence Theory includes at least seven kinds of intelligence including things like musical ability, body movement, understanding ones self and understanding others in addition to the basics in the other theories. This really tends to add things that make it difficult to use the information in settings where pure ability to learn needs to be known. This does not mean other things are not important but pure information is often more useful. If basic ability is known these other things can be tested individually to help an individual find his/her strengths. 8. What are your opinions on the merits and drawbacks of IQ testing?(E) IQ testing can be very helpful in finding out basic ability levels and unusual patterns that may indicate more testing is needed. Therefore, expectations of an individual can be placed at a reasonable level and more help can be given as determined by further testing. The drawback is when IQ tests are used for things they are not meant to be used for such as diagnosing learning disabilities or educational tracking. 9. You have been asked by a local multicultural school to develop a program aimed at improving the moral development of their students using the theories of Kohlberg. In order to do so, you need to develop a structured interview to obtain have a baseline for each student. Using Kohlberg’s theory and the famous Heinz dilemma as your prototype, construct a scenario of a moral dilemma that is cross culturally relevant to assess the moral development of children from age 8 to 16. There should be no absolute right or absolute wrong outcome. Develop samples of pro and con responses for each stage of moral reasoning (AP). Your mother needs a new kidney. You prove to be a match to donate your kidney to save her life. This is a very expensive surgery and the hospital will not allow your mother to be treated unless $100,000.00 US Dollars are provided a head of time because she is in immigrant. You do not have health insurance and obtaining that much money seems impossible. You organize multiple fund raisers and appeal to international charitable organizations but you are still short $50,000. You are a computer expert and can easily break into the hospital’s computer system and show that the amount has been paid so you do exactly that in order to save your mother’s life. Should you have broken into the computer system or not? If the child is in the preconventional stage, he is likely to say no he would not break into the computer system, because his choices at this point are governed by the fear of punishment or reward. They could take the other side saying they want the reward of still having their mother. In the conventional level,the child would want to be seen as good by those individuals who are important to them so the child is likely to say it was OK to break in to please his mother. It could be the child would see self as more important and take the other side so as not to have to go to jail. The final stage is autonomous moral standards when the individual weighs their own moral standards. So the answer could be either yes or know but the individual would be able to outline his own thinking in making the decision. So, he could say something like I know that is really stealing and illegal but it is not fair that my mother is discriminated against because she is not a citizen so it is OK for me to ‘level the playing field’. They could come up with the opposite answer and they would just outline their thinking differently. 10. Go to the University’s ELRC. Click on World Cat,(children) AND, (violence) AND (television) AND (computer games) After reading your text, and several articles from professional journals on the effects of TV violence and violent computer games on children, formulate and defend your opinion on the effects of television and/or computer games on children.(E). Studies show that the longer a child is exposed to violence in video games and in TV programming the more desensitized the child becomes. There are other variables such as children with problems such as mental health problems, family problem or school problems are more likely affected (Brinkman, 2001) It seems it takes a large number of hours with such violence to have it play a role in real life for the child. It would seem the best idea would be to limit video game time and choices as well as TV time and choices and have many conversations with the child about what they are thinking. There has to be a balance because socially the child will also have to fit in and banning TV and video games will not facilitate that outcome. 11. Choose a specific gender stereotype, e.g., Male children are more proficient at math than female children CHOOSE ANOTHER. Construct an opinion of how your chosen stereotype impacts on development. (E) It is a stereotype that women are better at caring for children than are men. As a result, women are given must of the child care responsibilities in families, they take most of the child care jobs in society. Men grow up thinking caring for children makes them feminine so they do not want to do the basic child care jobs at home or in the work force. We even see far fewer male teachers in elementary school than in higher levels of education. Women also look differently at men who enjoy child care often seeing them as less masculine. In truth men, can care for and nurture children as well as women. Women may be better off if they looked for men who nurture children when looking for a mate. It is likely she would get more help with the children and perhaps a better father, that is, if the male has bought into the idea he has to look macho and does not give in to his nurturing side. 12. What in your opinion are the merits and drawbacks for children of computer use at home and school? (A/S) Certainly one of the merits of having computers available is that the children learn how to use the software and the hardware. They will need that information as they enter the everyday world. Students are also able to speed up their work time using computers. They can communicate inexpensively with friends and globally for information. Having the computer at home allows for the same benefits at home as they have at school. Computers also afford student practice in fine motor skills which are now becoming important in several parts of the business world such as surgery or engineering robotic skills. The draw backs are that the student may not be practicing some academic skills like spelling. Students can get to things they should not be doing like pornography and it makes them more vulnerable to predators. In some cases, computers in any location can be socially isolating. It seems the draw backs would be the same in both locations. 13. Bilingual education, defined as instruction in first language and English, remains controversial. What are your opinions of the merits and drawbacks of bilingual education (Not bilingualism)? (E). Bilingual classroom seem to be effective and have few drawbacks for students who are native English speakers. Although there are frustrations for some students most do well. The drawbacks are with the students who are not native English speakers. These students do not progress as well in learning English which is essential to their future in this country. 14. Describe and interpret a theory of the etiology of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) to which you subscribe. Justify why you believe this theory has merit. What are some ways to manage an ADHD child both at home and at school? Recent research seems to show that the etiology of ADHD is biological. As we are more able to look into the brain we find very often mental health disorders are indeed controlled by the brain. Since the availability of brain imaging, researchers have been able to look at the function of the brain and not just watch symptoms of the disorder. Brain imaging shows not only the structure of the brain but the processing of the brain. This imaging gives more information about the neurochemistry of the disorder. In ADHD the catecholamine-rich fronto-subcortical systems appear to malfunction. There seems to be a catecholamine disruption (Brown, 2000). The Journal of the American Medical Association (2002) reports that ADHD brains are 3-4% smaller that those of children who do not have the disorder. They have also ruled out medication as the cause of the smaller brains. Neuroimagine continues to be tested but is not yet definitive enough to be used as a diagnostic tool. It seem that deficits in executive function are key factors affecting academic and career success The executive function is a variety of functions within the brain that motivate, organize, integrate and manage other functions. The executive function allows individuals to be aware of and evaluate the longer-term consequences of their actions (Brown, 2000). Many trteatments have been tried and many of them have been effective with one or two symptoms of ADHD therefore this writer would choose a treatment that works onas many symptoms as possible. A Multimodal Treatment is most commonly used. This treatment includes: Parent and child education about diagnosis and treatment Behavior management techniques Medication School programming and supports Treatment should be planned to fit the needs of each child and family. Research shows that children who received medication, alone or in combination with behavioral treatment, showed significant improvement in their behavior at home and in school. These children also maintain better relationships with their classmates and family than children receiving other forms of treatment (Nahlik, 2004). Psychostimulants are the most widely used class of medication for the management of AD/HD related symptoms. Seventy to eighty percent of children with AD/HD respond positively to psychostimulant medications. Significant academic improvement is shown by students when they are put on these medications. They show increases in attention and concentration, compliance and effort on tasks, their school work is done more accurately and they accomplish more in the same amount of time. They also show decreased activity levels, less impulsivity, fewer negative behaviors in social interactions and less physical and verbal hostility. A new, nonstimulant medication--atomoxetine--appears to have similar effects as the stimulants (Tannock, 2006). Behavioral interventions are also part of treatment for children with AD/HD. They use positive reinforcement, teaching problem-solving, communication and self-advocacy skills. Adolescents should be actively involved with school planning and treatment teams (Brown, 2000) Individuals with ADHD deal with everyday issues like organizing, prioritizing and follow-through. Cognitive behavioral has specific techniques to address these issues. This is a concrete form of therapy that uses lists and plans made in therapy to address upcoming issues. The patient is constantly asked to predict obstacles and plan to overcome the difficulty. In a sense, that is teaching brain processing. References Brink, P. J. (2001).. Violence on TV and Aggression in Children. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 23 (1); 5-8. Brown, T.E. (2000). Attention-deficit Disorders and Comorbidities in Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. Nahlik, J. (2004). Issues in Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adolescents. Journal of Clinical Pediatrics. 43 (1), 1-10. Tannock, R (2006). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder: Advances in Cognitive, Neurobiological, and Genetic Research. Journal of Child Psychology, 49(1), 73-81. Feldman, W., &  Feldman, M. E. (1996).The Intelligence on Infant Feeding. The Lancet. 347 (9008);5712-5722. Read More