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Objective 3 Demonstrate knowledge of differential child/adolescent development
Objective 7 Demonstrate an awareness of gender, cultural, and linguistic differences which influence the over or under representation of students identified as E/BD and the effect culture can have on what is considered normal as well as abnormal behavior.
There are two very specific objectives addressed in this module. In order to understand what behaviors might be considered unusual, it is important to be clear about the intentions of the statutes and guidelines. There is little agreement, even in the IDEA definitions. Several agencies and support groups lobbied for changes in terms and definitions. In the first module material was presented that discussed some of the issues and questions. To simplify this module, a generalized definition is included. It is not definitive, but it is student friendly:
The term “emotional or behavioral disorder” refers to a disability that is characterized by behavioral or emotional responses in school programs:
Normal child development. Legal mandates are specific on the importance of taking normal development into account. At one point, all teachers took classes in child development. This is essential with respect to looking at which children need special education accommodations.
Child Development and deciding if behavior is normal or ED Success in student management is directly linked to why we become teachers and how we feel about children. Successful teaching and learning is linked to what we know about children, how they develop, how they learn and where each is on the progression toward physical, emotional, philosophical, social and intellectual health and well being. Of course, it also joins with what we know about our own development and our personal desire to grow, to mature, and to self-actualize.
Teaching is hard work! A great teacher is a combination of energy, enthusiasm,
love of the subject, and love of children. It is time intensive and draining.
It requires great problem solving skills, the ability to understand nonverbal
cues, to be intuitive, and very focused. A great teacher is emotionally intelligent
and acquires finesse in interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence.
Part of this kind of savvy comes from understanding human nature; that is understanding self, understanding group behavior, and understanding the development of human beings. Once we have a basic understanding of child development, we are more able to recognize when a student is behaving in a growing, consolidating, or unhealthy way. That facilitates understanding and working successfully with students in our schools. This is important because children are really quite different from one another.
From understanding general development principles, we move to a more individualized
look at the youngsters in our classes. Each student is an individual, and each
is distinctive -- special! The idea of working with a child, one on one, can
and does work, but with 30 students, that individualization is difficult! In
the high school, with 150-200 students each day, it's virtually impossible.
Somehow, teaching becomes lecturing, or text reading. Contributing to children's
lives some days becomes keeping a "lid" on the dynamics and keeping
everyone safe. Some days, its hard to spend a couple of significant minutes
with each youth. Since our time is so limited, and the work so hard, we who
love teaching look for ways to work smarter. A critical component of smart
teaching comes from understanding developmental principles in such a way that
we can apply it to individual students -- one more link in the chain.
We will explore five areas of development and look at how they apply to youngsters,
and the way they contribute to better education and a more satisfying experience.
By understanding the steps involved in healthy growth and development, we
can recognize ways to enhance student motivation and assist students in the
quest for self responsibility.
As we see ways that students are stuck, or developmentally delayed, we can
help them to take steps toward health, self worth and growth. So often, those
students who seem the most puzzling, the least available to learn or bond,
are also those who are “stuck” developmentally. It may be key
to behavior we do not understand. Learning about development will provide
links to more than better scores, better management, it enhances student
well being. It forges community and builds the child. . . . and best of all,
it will enhance your pleasure and satisfaction as a teacher.
This reading defines some of the critical concepts for understanding and studying human development. In the past 100 years, the study of children moved out of the realm of philosophy and into a careful, thoughtful set of experiments and observations. Child development research is really profound and simple. Most of the material has been discovered, rather than invented. Just as a geologist observes rock formations and astronomers watch the sky, we began to watch children. In virtually every instance, it is that observation that led us to realize that children grow in a sequential way.
Understanding the development of children is critical to good teaching, and
gives us
powerful tools for honing the art and craft of teaching. By recognizing components
in the thinking processes, the typical behavior interests of an age group,
the tasks for students at different ages, we can match curriculum with expectations
and enhance teaching success while increasing the excitement students feel
about learning. William James (why not find a site about him and add some interesting
insights about a seminal educational philosopher?) was a pioneer in this field.
He took a background in medicine, and a desire to understand human beings,
into the teacher education field. He loved to teach, loved to make his lessons
dynamic and student centered, and wrote about his insights in Letters to Teachers.
Maria Montessori also moved the study of human development into the classroom.
(Why not find a site about her? Pestalozzi was a contemporary with many of
the same ideas. Interested in finding out about him?) Interestingly, she was
the only woman admitted to medical school in her community and her pioneering
work with youngsters was as radical as her insistence on being a woman doctor.
She worked with students who had difficulty learning and provided developmental
steps and didactics that allowed special needs students to succeed. She provided
a learning environment that addressed the specific developmental level of the
child, then combined empathy, tasks at the student's success level, and tasks
at the "stretching point" of the youth's ability. The teaching environment
was highly stimulating, multi-sensory, and keyed to different kinds of intelligences.
With that formula, she was able to take the most backward "idiots" who
could not be trained in schools, the street urchins and delinquents in Rome,
circa 1900, and successfully teach them. Her work exemplifies the power of
understanding child development.
Child Development considers the nature or genetic predisposition of the child,
the culture and environment or nurturance the child receives, and the time
period when students reach certain milestones or have a life altering crisis.
The critical periods provide the time frame when most children begin to
work on and acquire specific skills and a point of reference for checking
on the
development of an individual child.
If the child becomes interested in or acquires skills at about the same
time as peers, we see the sequence of development as normal, and if the
child is
slow to walk, to talk, to read or write, we may see that child as having
a developmental delay. Time, nature, and nurture are integral components
in understanding
human beings, or children as a whole, and acquiring sensitivity to the remarkable
uniqueness of each individual youngster.
Our human biology directs much of our development. As a species, we mature in very specific ways. For instance, by the time an infant is born, he or she will have grown more, physically, than all the rest of life. That growth occurs inside the womb, substantially without direction or intervention. Once the infant is born, there are specific biological ways the child unfolds. As an example, the human being gains control over the body in a cephalocaudal, and proximodistal progression. That means that invariably, if the child is normal, control over the head develops before control over the trunk and control over the trunk occurs before control over the arms and legs. This is the pattern, and it happens over and over again from one baby to the next. Of course the environment contributes to the rapidity of motor development. Practice, encouragement, nutrition, and freedom to move contribute to the process, of course, but with great regularity, babies go through this progression of muscle development as though they are following a blue print, and they do it step by step.
Understanding the nature of a student is a critical part of classroom management. When we know a student is hyperactive we can help the student adjust to that fact. We would never belittle a child who was crippled, or make education requirements such as running track, if that were impossible for the child who was wheel chair bound, to accomplish. We would be embarrassed by someone who expected a child without sight to read a text without Braille. We wouldn't tolerate the cruelty of a peer laughing at a youngster with Downs who didn't know how to tell time. By recognizing that personality traits and learning styles are also part of the nature of a child, the teacher and child can work together to recognize and better utilize inherent strengths. It also is possible to accept the idea that we each have inborn aptitudes and strengths as well as limitations and areas of weakness. If we see a lack of musical ability as laziness, we may become angry with the student who seems unmotivated to practice. If we recognize the student as having a different array of gifts and music as an exposure experience rather than an area of expertise, we bring a different kind of expectation to the classroom. Some students have a gift for music, some do not. Some doodle, some are limited in natural art talent. Some are great at math, for others, arithmetic is page after page of ciphers.
Culture, social class and environment are factors that contribute to student behavior and the expression of personality and nature. When we first studied children at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the question of nature and nurture was frequently argued. Today, after several decades of behaviorist theories that suggested environment was the critical factor, we are back to a more balanced view. We realize that determining a formula for how much nature or nurture contributes to a student's being is not the essential question. Instead, we recognize that a child's genetic nature accounts for many personality traits. In fact, twin studies and our ability to locate genetic traits in human DNA has dramatically increased the number of traits we see as inborn. As we become more clear about genetic input, we can more fully and honestly address the importance of culture and community.
Dyslexia sometimes runs in families. By recognizing such a pattern, we might learn what other family members did to learn to read, and thus enhance the work we do to encourage reading. If diabetes or cancer or heart problems appear to be in the future of a person, we can change diet, increase exercise and monitor the person’s health. The same tools can be tapped for learning. If a parent was ADHD, we can learn from those life experiences and help the student establish similar coping skills to the ones the parent found to be successful.
A student's life experiences include contributions from family, community and social interactions. Children's needs and perceptions color the way they see school, how they feel about their gifts and talents, how resilient they are in the face of frustration. Understanding environmental forces allows a teacher to facilitate growth. Those of us who entered the teaching profession to "make a difference" will find energy in realizing how vital nurturance is for helping students self actualize and reach full potential.
In disciplining students, this developmental insight can change the way we view misbehavior or lack of motivation. As Piaget and Erikson note, children want to please themselves, but they also want very much to please others and gain acceptance for themselves and their actions. This is one of the most powerful forces for children. They need safety, a sense of belonging, validation of worth. Knowing this, we can be pretty certain that something is wrong when a child will not cooperate, can't or won't finish assignments, isn't constantly seeking and inquiring. We can shape a youngster’s learning environment and tasks to enhance natural interests. When a youngster is off task, we can support the need for a change of pace and also provide support for moving back into meaningful work.
Konrad Lorenz studied ducks and found that immediately after hatching, they
imprinted, or established a bond. We often see pictures of this gentleman being
followed by a row of ducklings, as though he was the mother fowl. From his
work and the observation of youngsters, we know that there are specific times
when learning seems to get a biological push. When a child learns to walk,
we can see the natural progression of developing muscle groups that take the
child from a prone position to upright and running in a matter of months. The
course seems preset and the child goes from one skill to the next. A person
who tries to learn to walk later, has much greater difficulty and often needs
therapy and protracted periods of time to accomplish the task. The body's center
of gravity changes, the tasks do not seem to come naturally, and the seeming
miracle of walking only occurs through a series of hard fought torturous exercises.
Can an infant be taught to walk earlier than expected? Probably some acceleration
is possible, and maybe it will be good for the baby. Can an older child learn
to walk if they miss those first years? Yes, it happens occasionally. The "natural" or
critical time seems to be the best use of time and resources. It is difficult
to say what might be lost by pushing an infant to sit before it is natural
or walk before the muscles are fully ready. In schools, we seem to ignore readiness
in favor of a set curriculum of instruction. The more we match ability and
timing with students, the fewer discipline problems we are likely to encounter.
The more we match student ability and capture critical periods -- utilize the right timing , the fewer discipline problems we are likely to encounter.
There is also the question of what happens if a critical period is missed. Language development research gives us insight into this. We know that there is a brief period of time, approximately until 18 months, when an infant seems wired to hear faint nuances in language. Over time, that facility fades. The children who move to a country and acquire a second language often do well picking up and reproducing language sounds until about eight years old. After that time, few speak a language without a marked accent from the first acquired speech patterns. Certainly they can learn another language, but it seems to require more effort, more time and the accent remains.
Montessori called these times "sensitive periods." This chart shows her findings about sensitive periods of development in her work with children in Italy. They suggest an optimum time frame, or critical period for language and motor skills.
New born 1 2 3 4 5 6 years
walking
concern for details
need for structure and order
unconscious awareness of language conscious awareness of language
large muscle control hand coordination
Erikson suggested that critical periods extend to social and emotional development. Human beings are really quite resilient, so it is difficult to determine how lasting a trauma may be.
Critical periods may impact classroom management. This true story about Stephanie is one example: Stephanie was criticized for a foolish response in first grade. It only happened one time, but it was the last time Stephanie raised her hand to answer a question, not just that year, but for the rest of her school life. She moved to the rear of the classroom when given a choice, and despite above average intelligence, she took every chance she could to stay home.
First grade is a time when initiative and industry vie with shame and doubt. Was this a critical period in Stephanie's development? If she shared her distress, could the teacher "undo" the emotional wound? Was it the teacher, or did Stephanie have esteem problems elsewhere? Was Stephanie born more emotionally fragile than her friends, or did others in the grade also respond as she did to an overly critical experience? We can't be sure, but it begs the question of critical periods as a function of understanding and properly working with youth. Again, nature, nurture and time are integral parts of personality.
Critical periods also are important in developing curriculum. Most youngsters
in the primary grades are consolidating large muscle control. Many do not have
enough eye-hand coordination to find writing or reading exciting. Instead,
many youngsters are pushed to cut, paste, draw, color, write and make sense
out of symbols before the internal push and readiness are in place. This means
students are not ready to relish tasks, may find learning drudgery rather than
stimulating. We could literally destroy the likelihood that a person will love
learning, writing, reading, by pressing a personal or politically established
time frame for learning. Once a student experiences a series of learning failures,
school challenges may appear overwhelming. If the student also sees attempts
to work effectively as futile and finds productive means of controlling the
school environment to be unfulfilling, a new set of less positive and productive
ways of relating. If this happens once or twice, most students rise above the
failure and frustration, but if it is a consistent part of trying to learn,
who can blame them for day dreaming, rebelling, talking to neighbors rather
than staying on task, and sometimes, even lashing out in frustration?
Once we began the scientific study of human development, observation became a critical tool. As data were gathered and compiled, a pattern emerged. Gesellâs work is specific about the ages when skills or behaviors emerged. His institute produced books alerting parents to "terrible two's" and seven year olds as whiny, while eight year olds were more social and settled.
There are many views about these questions. At this point, there is sufficient documentation to show that there are patterns of development, and that many children in the same grade are grappling with similar issues. Many fourth graders start clubs and are enthusiastic about playing and working together, while a great number of four year olds play next to rather than with other four year olds. Some in each group don’t match the general trend. Some fourth graders cannot play well in groups, and some fours love group play.
For some theories, Erikson’s socio-emotional stages, Gesell’s observations of physical development, Piaget’s work on cognitive development, the sequence may be fairly stable, but the rate of acquisition varies widely. We also are not quite sure that stages are hierarchical [that students must go through the stages in sequence and don't jump around or skip some steps]. We think that level four moral reasoning is more complex than level three, but in all circumstances? Does everyone go through level three and advance to level four reasoning? What about cognitive development and learning styles? Are there some children who approach life in a linear more abstract manner and some who always approach learning from a more hands on way, seldom or never gaining the ability to or interest in reasoning abstractly? These questions lead us to use care in over generalizing about ages and stages, but in fact, a wide range of children do fit the ages and stages, and take those stages consecutively.
Having an idea of the typical behavior for an age group is a critical tool in managing the classroom. This is a good example. Whining and tattling are typical behaviors for children in the second half of first grade and most of second grade. Children this age are beginning to develop an awareness of right and wrong -- not what will get them in trouble, but rather the notion that black and white rules apply to everyone. They are terrific judges of one another. They want adult approval and seem torn between getting their own way and gaining approval, often paired with following rules. Many children chew pencils, still suck on fingers or thumbs, chew their nails, pick their noses.
Some of this may just be age appropriate, some of the behaviors increase with frequency from stress. Gesell calls this stage, "life in a minor key." It is in stark contrast to the "know-it-all" six year old and the social and more self assured eight year old. In a typical class, there will be a blend of youngsters expressing this range of behaviors. A teacher can establish procedures that deal with tattling. Students can be given guidance about social feelings about touching the nose and the time and place for self soothing. Music, exercise and treats can help keep spirits high. The teacher can watch for students who are less secure and build a strong bond with those children who seem more fragile.
As the teacher learns more about behavior, community building becomes easier. Though we laugh with Murphy's law, human beings do not behave in that way. Our bodies repair themselves, often without any help. We want to be happy, to care for others, to make good choices. When we do not, we feel sad, disappointed, and work to regain stasis. Children want to be successful, have an inborn curiosity, are resilient in efforts to mature and hope to be liked, to have friends, to belong to and contribute to community.
Studying human development is complex. During early childhood, educators see themselves working with social and emotional well being. To gain the attention of students and prepare them for more difficult tasks, physical development is also a function of teaching. However, as the child moves beyond the primary grades, teachers are less likely to see the child from a holistic perspective, and more often, the emphasis is on cognitive development as the important thrust. This is further underscored by the changes in testing and grading. During the early grades, we often find report cards that mark social behavior, work ethic, and developmental milestones. We seldom test in these areas but we monitor closely enough to observer and report on them.
By junior high, cognitive development is obviously the focus, and in high
school, each teacher instructs, tests and grades content, with few exceptions.
This seems sensible, since it narrows the focus of school, but it cannot be
considered good practice when one recognizes the importance of educating the
whole child.
This begs three questions:
The scope is set at five areas.
P Physical Biological forces, height, weight, coordination, puberty
E Emotional Personality, ego strength, sense of self, traits
P Philosophical Super ego, reasoning about behavior, internal voice
S Social Relationship, Second person perspective, esteem referent
I Intellectual Cognition, way of reasoning, problem solving paradigm,
IQ
All of these areas have a developmental component. Each is the subject of
research, and each is includes a range of abilities that forms a recognizable
and observable frame for describing a class of related behaviors. Since it
is the whole child who comes to us, not a being reducible to an intellect,
it is the whole child we teach.
Read the following examples of how different areas of development impact the
cognitive or intellectual focus.
Luis has diabetes. When his blood sugar drops, he becomes listless and can’t
seem to pay attention. The physical part of him is tied to his behavior and
to learning.
Yolanda has cerebral palsy. She is very bright but cannot hold a pencil to
write out her letters. Her physical limitations make it difficult for her
to express what she knows, verbally, but she belongs in the gifted program,
intellectually. She gets teased and left out of recess activities, so her
social development is hampered.
Samantha was tiny at birth due to maternal drinking. She was slow to walk,
and her physical agility is limited. She went from the hospital to foster
care, and her infancy was marked by stays in the hospital interspersed with
moves from one foster care situation to another. Her ability to trust never
materialized so her emotional development is sporadic. She does seem to engage
well with the teacher, and her ability to complete her work seems to depend
on the amount of time the teacher can work with her, one on one. When the
teacher provides support, Sam works, but when the teacher leaves, Samantha
loses focus and work efforts stall.
Dom sits in the back of the room and stares off or doodles on a paper. He
does not seem focused on school work and it is hard to tell if he is listening
to the teacher. He was not very successful in kindergarten or first grade.
At times, the teacher goes to his desk, explains the task and gets him started.
Every time that happens, he completes the work, but then doesn’t go
on to the next task. His emotional development is solidly at initiative vs.
shame and doubt.
Leonard is in trouble again! He took colored pencils from another student’s
desk and when asked about it, he replied that he didn’t have any and
he needed them, so why all the fuss? His philosophical development is still
pre-moral, a stark contrast from the black and white view of the other students
in the sixth grade. He has trouble fitting in with peers. They laugh at his
antics and think his fabrications are amusing, but they don’t view
him as part of the group. Sometimes, Leonard gets so upset at not belonging
that he strikes out at students or plays practical jokes on them rather than
participating in the group activities. Leonard always seems to be at the
bottom of class misunderstandings or uproars. His lack of progress in moral
reasoning also contributes to problems in his social development.
Tiffany sits near the library, reading a book. She is alone most of the time.
Her friends began to ostracize her when she spoke up in class about the importance
of preserving life and against hunting the local deer. She developed philosophical
reasoning that leads her to believe that all life is sacred. Her teen aged
friends can not see what all the fuss is about, and find her impassioned
remarks amusing, giving them a great way to tease her and get under her skin.
Lately, her work has been slipping, and she seems detached during class.
She no longer offers any opinions, even when called on. Though she is very
bright, her lack of social acceptance, in part due to her precocious life
view, affects her intellectual development in the school setting, for her
lack of social acceptance saps her energy and desire to move forward with
school tasks.
Luke acts like he is a bubble on a hot stove. The chemistry teacher finds
him especially trying. Students can not focus on experiments if Luke is in
their group. Recently, one of the more mature student came up after class
and told the teacher that he would like to help with the teacher’s
request to keep Luke in the group, but it just isn’t working. Luke
always insists on his own way, does not follow directions, and then alienates
the other students by his verbal antics. Luke’s social age seems to
be closer to seven than seventeen.
Each of these scenarios shows ways development is having an impact on teaching
content. Each of these youngsters has a developmental level that differs from
the majority of the class, and in each case, the behavior emerges as a discipline
issue. Sometimes the student is "acting out" and other times it is
the response of peers that is problematic. Viewing children as growing, developing,
even stalled or regressed, provides a positive perspective for understanding
and thus for redirecting the behavior by helping the student "grow into" age
appropriate responses.
Our view of children suggests that growth, change, and learning are inherent.
The more holistic our view, the more behavior we are likely to understand.
As we become fluent in recognizing the behaviors and typical age appropriate
actions of youngsters, we gain facility in helping youngsters make productive,
age appropriate advancements.
This healthy school environment can include children empowering each other and facilitating growth of community. It can work together to build networks, a great foundation for productive, fully function, fully mature individuals who are prepared to work productively in situations with rapid change and who are ready to envelop personal challenges, international community, what ever the future brings. We not only graduate knowledgeable, life long learners, we move together to a more dynamic, emotional philosophical, social and intellectual maturity.
Now that you completed the reading you can determine if you feel you have a strong child development background and can proceed to the next set of PEPSI activities. If your background is spotty, you will need to review developmental information. The PEPSI model provides a good overview.
Remember to skim the readings in this course material rather than doing the activities or assignments. Again – skim the readings and skip any assignments or activities listed on the PEPSI reading pages.
If you have a strong background in Child Development, go to the PEPSI building activity. PUT in the link here……
If you need to review child and adolescent development, you can access this material at the following hot links:
PEPSI Links:
ON-LINE LESSON: Pepsi as a Screening Tool: Understanding the Whole
Child
ASSIGNMENT 1: Building a PEPSI
ASSIGNMENT 2: Portrait of 'Norm'
ASSIGNMENT 3: 'I Just Don't Seem to Fit'
ASSIGNMENT 4: PEPSI Observations
ON-LINE LESSON 2: PEPSI Observation Charts
ON-LINE LESSON 3: Ideas for the IEP
ON-LINE LESSON 4: Optimizing Growth
TEXT OPTIONS: There are a number of good texts on child and adolescent development. Santrock and Rice are almost legendary authors in this area.
Santrock, J. W, (2002). Child development (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rice, F. P. (1996). The adolescent: Development, relationships and culture (8th ed). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Now go on to the PEPSI building activity. (PUT LINK HERE)