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Create and analyze a 1–2-page simulated case study of a child with developmental challenges, aged 2–5 years old

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Create and analyze a 1–2-page simulated case study of a child with developmental challenges, aged 2–5 years old. Then, create a 5–7-page intervention plan based on evidence-based strategies that have proven effective in similar cases and make projections of possible long-term impacts that current challenges may produce across the individual's lifespan.

Note: The assessments in this course follow the successive stages of lifespan development, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

Early childhood begins at the end of toddlerhood, at approximately age 2, and continues until middle childhood begins with formal school entry at age 5 or 6. During this period, there are greater changes in cognitive development than any other period of life. At the same time, family relationships provide individuals with their earliest social experiences. Attachment patterns developed during early childhood influence an individual's ability to successfully develop and maintain peer and adult relationships throughout the lifespan.

Two major theories describe cognitive development in early childhood—Piaget's constructivist theory and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory.

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Jean Piaget was one of the first theorists interested in cognitive development. Piaget proposed that cognitive development follows a predetermined sequence of four stages. Interestingly, Piaget conducted a substantial amount of his research observing his own three children. In their studies, Piaget and his wife transcribed detailed records of their children's behavior (Lefmann & Combs-Orme, 2013).

Lev Vygotsky (1962) emphasized the role of culture or society in the transmission of knowledge and offers a sociocultural perspective of lifespan development, integrating social environment and culture. He is well known for the introduction of the concepts of scaffolding, the zone of proximal development, and the private speech transformation to inner speech.

Attachment is an important aspect of human emotional development during early childhood and throughout the lifespan. The family provides individuals with their earliest social experiences. According to Erik Erikson (1950), the key developmental issue in infancy is developing trust. The development of trust is directly related to the quality of attachment patterns. Much of the attachment theory is based on the strange situation, which is a measurement technique developed by Mary Ainsworth and her colleagues (Bretherton, 2013). There are four types of attachment patterns:

Secure attachment.

Avoidant attachment.

Ambivalent attachment.

Disorganized-disoriented attachment.

Other topics related to attachment include stranger anxiety and separation anxiety, intergenerational attachment patterns, the long-term effects of attachment, and the introduction of the concepts of mutual regulation and social referencing.

At this point, the direct application of attachment theory to the world of work may seem remote to you. However, attachment can affect an individual's ability to successfully develop and maintain peer and adult relations.

References

Bretherton, I. (2013). Revisiting Mary Ainsworth's conceptualization and assessments of maternal sensitivity-insensitivity. Attachment & Human Development, 15(5/6), 460–484.

Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Norton.

Lefmann, T., & Combs-Orme, T. (2013). Early brain development for social work practice: Integrating neuroscience with Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 23(5), 640–647.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Though and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.