Why is testing an infant a difficult task? Explain how infants are tested using Sesell and Bayley Instruments.
Testing children is a difficult task because they are active and can be distracted easily. They have low levels of concentration. Infants are also watchful when they meet unfamiliar people and perform inconsistently depending on the environment. Language barriers and cultural differences also contribute to making the testing procedure for infants a difficult task. Sell test requires the observer to observe, children film and analyze their performance by examining the film frame. Bayley involves the interaction of a child and the examiner using a sequence of tasks. The performance of a child is rated based on each task. Scores are added up, and they are compared with those of other infants that are of the same age.
Consider language development from birth through age 2. Explain the process by using the major language milestones and ideas that support your responses.
After birth, children cry as a sign of their language to express any need, and they also appear to recognize the voices of their mothers. At two to four months, cooing begins, and they start to repeatedly attempt to utter the same sounds when they are trying to respond to voices. At the age of five months, they respond to changes in a tone of voice, and they understand the first words. During their sixth month, they begin to bubble seeking attention. At their seventh month, they narrow down from universal linguist to the language of the caretaker. Between the age of eighth and twelfth months, kids start to comprehend words and use gestures to communicate. At the age of 13 months, they speak their first word. At eighteen months they start to acquire new words regularly. Between nineteen and two years, they start to use two words questions or combine few words.
Describe some ways that adults can assist children who must cope with stressful events such as a terrorist attack.
They should hold them as a sign of providing physical closeness and care. Adults should comfort and try to protect children from further exposure to stressful events and scary scenes that have the potential of making them anxious. They should explain to kids every distressing event that they may encounter. Adults should also reassure children about their personal safety and that they will protect them from any danger. They should also assure kids that the event will not happen again since it will be controlled by the authority, such as police officers.
There are variations in self-esteem. These changes are linked to the aspects of children’s development. List some of these variations and explain what they mean.
One of the variations in the association between self-esteem and low academic achievement. Academic achievement could be affected negatively by the level of self-esteem during child development. High-performing children have high self-esteem and they show significant levels of initiative. Self-esteem causes variations in the degree of happiness among children. The high standard of confidence increases their happiness. Children with low levels of self-esteem are always depressed. It is also linked with the increased levels of depressions and suicide attempts during adolescence. It also lowers life satisfaction and increases anorexia nervosa during puberty.
Distinguish between gender, gender identity, and gender role. Explain your gender identity and gender role using examples from your own experience.
Gender refers to the different characters that are used in determining whether a person is a male or a female. Gender identity is acquired by the majority numbers of children when they are at the age of three years. It can be described as the sense that people develop concerning an individual being a male or female. For instance, I am expected to indicate masculine traits, for example, aggressiveness in my community. Gender roles refer to the expectations of society that prescribe male or female behaviors. They dictate how people should feel, think and act depending on their gender orientation. For instance, parents and the community expect that I should be the provider in the family. Additionally, in a situation that calls intervention, being a male, I am supposed to intercede and help the victim.
The idea of the hidden curriculum in schools is an approach to teaching moral development. What are the pros and cons of this approach?
The method is established through observing different ethical issues that children are exposed to either from their teachers, learning materials, or school administrator. The advantages are that children with bad behaviors can be guided to improve by observing school rules, being punished, or rewarded for improvement. The disciplinary actions hence help in instilling values in the students. The disadvantages of the approach are that friends at school and classroom rules can be used to spread negative attitudes like cheating and stealing. Children can also learn unethical behaviors from their teachers.
Diana Baurmind has proposed the four main categories of parenting styles. Compare and Contrast these parenting styles and describe the likely outcome of the child’s behavior with regard to each style.
Authoritarian parenting is characterized by many rules, punishments and parents have high expectations of their children. Sons may behave aggressively. Kids may become fearful and develop poor communication skills. Authoritative parents encourage their children to be independent. However, they control their kids’ behavior by placing limits on their actions. Outcomes are happy kids, independent, and success-oriented. Neglectful parents are not involved in the life of their children. As a result, they become inattentive, socially incompetent, and develop low confidence. In the Indulgent parenting style, parents are fully involved, places minimum demands and directives on their children. Kids become careless, disrespectful, and lack self-control.
Explain the differences between the following four peer statuses of children: popular, neglected, rejected, and controversial.
Popular children are often referred to as best friends and are always liked by their friends. They have many social skills that help them win the attention of their peers. Neglected children are rarely termed as people’s best acquaintances, but their peers do not dislike their friendships. They are infrequently engaged in interactions with their friends and hence described as being shy. Rejected kids are disliked by their peers. They rarely recommend them as their best acquaintances. Controversial children are highly disliked, and their peers frequently nominate them as their best friends.
The transition the middle or junior high school occurs at the same time as many physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes are involved in the transition to adolescence. Explain how an average adolescent might be struggling with this transition and how parents could support the child through the struggle.
The children may struggle with the transition through trying to fit in the society, accepting physical changes and emotional changes. During adolescence, they also move from the top to the lowest grade in the learning institutions. Parents can support them by providing an environment that will make them personally responsible for their actions. They should also provide opportunities that their children will be exploring with exerting minimum control. Parents should also encourage their children and pay attention to their queries and be ready to offer positive feedback.
There is a special concern about largely unregulated aspects of the Internet that make it difficult to monitor the information that children are accessing. If you were at a parent-teacher conference, how would you suggest parents handle this situation?
I would suggest to the parent and teachers that they ensure there are proper communication channels between them and the kids. They should disclose to children the risks that they are likely to experience when using unregulated online materials. In the same way that they prepare their children for the real world, they should also make sure that kids are well prepared for the life that they are likely to be exposed to in the online world. Parents should give honest answers to prevent their children from searching for more unregulated information that is easily assessable online.
Among the factors related to schools and achievement discussed in Chapter16, which one do you think has affected your achievement in school most? Provide specific examples from your life experiences.
One of the factors that affected my achievement most in school is the lack of sustained attention. Students are required to perceive the effort of sustaining high concentration as an essential element of achieving good grades. I was poor when I was needed to maintain attention in class. For instance, I could not concentrate for the whole lesson. I could not persist when the task became complicated. My poor performance in some units as a result of my failure to focus throughout the lesson. I could develop a negative perspective towards a teacher and felt that his or her unit was rather annoying. I ended up performing poorly in some subjects as a result of having low sustainable attention in school.