From the case study, Carlos is a well-groomed, properly-nurture, and well-mannered 9-year-old boy. Having experienced substantial struggles with academic and social expectations, Molly, Carlos’s mother, decides to bring her son to the office. In this case analysis, the purpose is to elaborate and illustrate the development profile of the child, explaining the individual growth through biological, social, psychosocial, cognitive, and environmental theories.
Environment Influences and Unborn/Newly Born
Notably, environmental factors tend to have major implications for prenatal development. One of the critical environmental influences is the socio-economic status (SES), which relates to the years of education, the prestige of one’s job, and income levels in the assessment of the economic status. Researchers have had the chance to link SES to the timing of the marriage and parenthood, as well as family size (Berk, 2013). People who execute jobs requiring skilled and semi-skilled manual occupations tend to marry and have children earlier while giving birth to more children than people in the professional and technical occupations.
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Molly gave birth to Carlos at the age of 19-years-old, documenting the enormous role and influence of the SES. SES also affects family interactions and educational attributes. There are also issues to do with maternal nutrition, which tend to have enormous implications on the growth and development of the unborn and newly born. From the case study, before learning about her pregnancy, Molly did engage in the lifestyle associated with intoxication. She would smoke and take occasional alcohol. For smokers, there are always implications such as the increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, and experiences of allergies, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome. There is also the issue of poverty, which affects the nutrition and growth of the newly born.
For Carlos, after his birth, Molly had to live with her child in an institution of the battered mothers. Until Carlos was two-years-old for a normal daycare, he spent time within the institution as Molly went ahead to work as a waitress in attempts to make ends meet. The level of poverty depicted in this aspect highlights the deterioration of the growth and development of Carlos as he could not have the right chance to interact with the ideal individuals to oversee the growth and social development with the peers. Molly and her new husband, Carlos’ stepfather, tend to be busy people in terms of their schedules, limiting the amount of time spent with their child. Carlos would spend most of the time, drawing or playing video games. Another critical issue in terms of environmental implications is the geographical location (Berk, 2013). There are localities where children such as Carlos do not have time to spend with their peers. The case documents a situation in which Carlos does not interact with his peers effectively as he spends more and more time in their home while feeling agitation at the slightest point. It is also essential to note the influence of a teratogen, which is an environmental agent capable of contributing to abnormalities in the exposed fetus.
Theoretical Analysis of Developmental Concerns of Early Childhood
Theorists have put forward biological, social, psychosocial, cognitive, and environmental theories to help elaborate on the developmental concerns of early childhood. The objective of these theories is to elaborate on the tendency of the children to change, as well as grow throughout childhood while concentrating on social, cognitive, and emotional growth. According to the biological theory, children’s cognitive abilities, personality, motor functions, and physical traits tend to develop based on biological design. This is through focusing on the genetic evolutionary, as well as hormonal influences of childhood development. As documented in the case study, Carlos was behind in terms of the normal growth pattern based on the assessment by the pediatrician (Berk, 2013). This explains the tendency of Carlos to be behind his peers academically upon beginning kindergarten because of the inability to know his colors except for the primary colors. He could not count to 20 consistently while he failed to master the alphabet in full as his peers symbolizing being behind in terms of biological growth and development.
Alternatively, there is the social theory of childhood development, which argues that social interactions tend to precede development, thus, depicting cognition and consciousness as outputs of the socialization and social behaviors. From this perspective, social interaction is a vital tool in cognitive development. From the case study, Carlos did not have substantial interactions with the peers making him lag in terms of the social performance or communications in the learning environment (Berk, 2013).
In most cases, Molly could not create the right environment for the socialization to take place because of the busy schedule limiting the ability of Carlos to interact with the peers. Besides, there is the psychosocial theory of development, which relates to the combination of social and psychological behavior. One of the perfect examples is the exploration of the relationship between an individual’s fears and the relationship to others in the social context. When relating to her mother, Carlos appears to be well-mannered and assists in the duties, such as enabling her mother to take care of his siblings.
Additionally, Carlos did not have the chance to spend time with his friends. He had a lonely childhood. As a ‘good baby,’ he did not show any emotional attribute when alone or when his mother returned from her economic duties. Carlos spent time drawing or playing video games; thus, the chance to learn to be alone rather than initiate and maintain interactions with peers in social contexts. Cognitive developmental theory focuses on the chances or transformations in intellectual abilities, including attention, memory, academics, imagination, creativity, language, and problem-solving (Berk, 2013). Carlos lacks these making it a challenge to be at par with his peers in terms of academic and social performance.
Finally, various environmental issues document the influence of such external factors in the growth and development of an individual. In the case of Carlos, these things become apparent because of the diversities in the siblings and relatives. Molly comes from a traditional Hispanic family. On the other hand, Mike, Carlos’s biological father, comes from a Caucasian family. These cultural and environmental attributes have been ideal in affecting the growth and development of Carlos based on the confusion arising through the socialization process.
Developmental Concerns of Middle Childhood
Critically, as children become more mature emotionally, cognitively, and physically, their social relationships with peers and family members change and mature in equal measure. During middle childhood, peer friendships tend to take on a more prominent role; thus, the need for the children to perform better. As identified in the case information, Carlos suffers from poor social and academic performance. This relates to the inability to interact effectively and efficiently with peers (McGuire & Shanahan, 2010). In addressing this aspect, it is appropriate for Molly to adopt and implement a vital program enabling Carlos to spend more and more time with peers as a platform for appreciation of the relative approach in social practice. One of the perfect theories enlightening the view on this issue is the social learning theory. Carlos has the chance to learn through interactions with their peers while reducing potential isolation and poor performance in academics. The approach makes it ideal for the parents to consider the maximization of the social output.
Impact of Multiculturalism and Diversity
Researchers have had the chance to recognize the influence of the cultural variables on the approaches used by children in the presentation, understanding of the world, and interpretation of the experiences. As evident in the case, culture affects the experiences through which children begin literacy and acquisition of the number of knowledge (Newcomb, Bukowski, & Pattee, 1993). Some of these experiences are encouraging learning through reading books and instructing them to count. Carlos is behind his peers in such forms of learning as there is no culture in the case of Molly enlightening the awareness of the child through reading books or instructing Carlos to read and count. Preschool and school-age populations are becoming increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse.
Interventions
In the course of addressing the challenges in the case, it is appropriate to aid the utilization of the following interventions. First, Molly should strive to organize special academic lessons for Carlos away from the classwork to ensure that he does not lag academically. One of the challenges in the case is poor academic performance; thus, the need to ensure that Carlos improves in academics. Second, Molly should ensure that Carlos moves to a locality where he can interact with his peers more often. This is through encouraging him to go out and play rather than spend time drawing and playing video games affecting his growth and development in terms of social interactions and performance. Finally, Molly should consider improving relationships with the diverse family of Carlos. The big family would offer a platform for Carlos to learn and socialize effectively to improve his social performance. Engaging the child in the culturally responsive educational experience will be ideal in enabling the building of self-confidence and skills while increasing his awareness, appreciation, and inclusion of the different beliefs and cultures.
References
Berk, L. (2013). Development through the lifespan . Pearson Education, India. Illinois University.
McGuire, S., & Shanahan, L. (2010). Sibling experiences in diverse family contexts. Child Development Perspectives , 4 (2), 72-79.
Newcomb, A. F., Bukowski, W. M., & Pattee, L. (1993). Children's peer relations: A meta-analytic review of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average socio-metric status. Psychological Bulletin , 113 (1), 99.
