Traumatic Brain Injury: Jefferson’s Case

When new parents are expecting a baby, they rarely consider the possibility that the baby could have significant challenges. For those who have children with severe, multiple disabilities, planning for the future is a critical, lifelong process and requires considerable investments of time and effort, while potentially causing significant stress to the parents. With advances in our understanding, there are many more resources available to children and families than there were previously.

Review the following scenario:

Jefferson is a six-year-old boy in kindergarten. He has suffered from cerebral palsy and a severe seizure disorder since he was an infant, resulting in significant physical and cognitive impairment. Although he has received services and support through early childhood intervention (ECI) services, as he enters formal schooling, his parents have become increasingly concerned about his future. Jefferson spends most of his time in a wheelchair and uses a special touchscreen augmentative communication device. In addition to their concerns about the future, Jefferson’s father also harbors considerable guilt that he or his wife might have caused their son’s disabilities.

Based on your research, respond to the following:

• Summarize research related to the influence of nature versus nurture on the cause of Jefferson’s disabilities.
• Provide a hypothesis of Jefferson’s likely prognosis. What supports or services might maximize this outcome?
• Evaluate what Jefferson’s future might have been if he were being raised in the U.S. in the 1940s.

Write a 3–5-page paper in Word format (not counting the title and reference pages). Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Be sure to include a title page and reference page, also in APA format.

Watch “The Broken Child” posted within Learning Module Two.

1. Select one (1) of the people/situations portrayed in the video. Discuss the following questions for the person/situation you chose:

a. What type(s) of child maltreatment was portrayed?  Define the type(s) and explain what you saw that made you think of this type of maltreatment? b. What problems or risk factors (define the terms) were presented that appear to have caused the maltreatment?  c. What effect of the maltreatment did you see?  d. What was your opinion of the attempts at intervention that were made? e. What was surprising to you about this person or situation?  Why was this surprising to you?   The  purpose of the reflection paper is to provide you with an opportunity  to think about and respond to the video, particularly in light of  lectures and readings.  Thoughts, reactions, and questions about the video should be recorded in this paper.  Please do not simply summarize what happened in the video – you will lose points on the assignment for doing this. You MUST cite at least three (3) sources of information in your paper (e.g., material from your book, the readings, or the lecture) to receive full credit. Your paper should be at least two (2) pages and no more than three (3) pages. 
Must be able to find the textbook Child Abuse and Neglect: Second Edition by Monica L. McCoy and Stefanie M. Keen.
Will attach further readings and power point lectures
Everything must be cited in APA format including references page
MUST BE DONE BY THURSDAY OCTOBER 4TH

Discussion: Enhancing Social and Emotional Development in the First Year

As your textbook suggests, applying knowledge from the study of social and emotional development is applicable for parents, teachers, health care providers, policy makers, and many other types of professionals. Perhaps it is for the first group—parents—that this knowledge is of most vital importance, since they are the main individuals who interact with an infant in the first year and thereby set the early foundation for social and emotional development throughout the lifespan.

Returning to the topic of orphanages mentioned in this week’s Introduction, a great deal of research has examined the impact of being raised in an orphanage setting on infants’ social and emotional development. Generally, they have found that the effects of early deprivation depend greatly on the length of time that the child was institutionalized. Specifically, O’Connor, Rutter, Beckett, Keaveney, and Kreppner (2000) found that children who were adopted into loving families by 6 months old were able to make up most developmental deficits that they had when they were adopted. However, children adopted after the age of 2 had lasting developmental delays. These early years are a critical period for brain development, and interestingly, children who had spent a longer time institutionalized also had a smaller-than-average head size, indicating the effects of these experiences on the brain. Further research has found that children who experience early deprivation also experience chronic stress, as noted with elevated cortisol levels, more than 6 years after their adoption (Gunnar & Cheatham, 2003; Gunnar, Morison, Chisholm, & Schuder, 2001). This high level of stress is associated with a variety of outcomes, including physical growth limitations, difficulties with focus and attention, and challenges with controlling anger and impulses. All of this research points to the importance of proper interaction and care for infants in the first year!

In this Discussion, imagine you are a developmental psychologist asked to give a presentation to a group of parents expecting their first child. In this presentation, you explain to these parents several tangible ways that they could nurture and support their infant’s social and emotional development in the first year of life.

To Prepare:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources and consider social and emotional development in infancy.

· Imagine you must give a 5-minute presentation to expecting parents about how they might nurture, support, and enhance their child’s social and emotional development. For your intended audience, choose a cultural group or population different from your own.

· Develop a script for how you would present information from the literature and how the parents could apply it to their lives in tangible ways. Write the script using language actively directed toward your audience (e.g., “I would like to share with you several ways to…”). Practice reading your script aloud to ensure it could be presented within the time frame.

By Day 4

Post the presentation script that you would use to inform parents how they could nurture, support, and enhance their infant’s social and emotional development in the first year in a context that relates to their culture. (You do not have to record the presentation.)

Required Readings

Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., & Dennis, T. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development, 75(2), 317–333.

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Halberstadt, A. G., & Lozada, F. T. (2011). Emotion development in infancy through the lens of culture. Emotion Review, 3(2), 158–168.

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Kochanska, G. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72(4), 1091–1111.

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Lewis, M., et al. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of emotions (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

· Chapter 15, “The Emergence of Human Emotions” (pp. 272–292)
Handbook of Emotions, 4th Edition by Lewis, M. Copyright 2016 by Guilford Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Guilford Publications, Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Required Media

Balmes, T. (Director). (2010). Babies [Motion picture]. France: StudioCanal. Available from Focus Features at http://www.focusfeatures.com/babies

Note: You will need to purchase the DVD or rent streaming access to this documentary. It is available through many online video distribution services. 

Please use at least 3 references