1. For the three pervasive issues surrounding child development, select two to define. Along with the definition for each, provide an example from your own experience with children (e.g., as a child yourself, your own children, your observations of others) and a research finding about the issue. The issues from which you will choose are listed: They are a) nature versus nurture, b) continuous versus discontinuous development, and c) critical and sensitive periods of development.
  1. Discuss the domains of development (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial) in relation to one age range of normal development. Through the perspective of at least one major developmental theory, explain the developmental accomplishments during that age range for all three domains. Provide research-based evidence from the articles assigned or your own research in the library in peer-reviewed articles for what occurs during each period.
  1. Watch each required video, Child Development Milestones ( ) and How I Learn ( ). Relate the developmental milestones in the videos to your reading in the textbook. Assess critical periods in the cognitive and psychosocial development of children from birth to 3 years of age. If a parent of a 2-year old child asked you what to do because the child was not speaking in sentences like their older sibling did, what advice would you give the parent? Why would you give this specific advice? What other explanations might be given in this situation and why would you choose to not provide those to the parent?
  1. Based upon your readings from the course materials and your own independent research, discuss three research findings related to development from conception to 2 years of age. Relate these findings to any topic in Chapter 2's reading. These topics include culture influences on nutrition, genetic factors affecting mental health, and the birthing process.
  1. Review the article, When Children have Children ( to learn about the effects teen pregnancy has on the teenage mother and her family as well as possible risks to the developing baby. Imagine you are putting together a training tool about the effects of pregnancy, geared towards educating teenage girls.
    Write a 200-250 word article that could be printed in a magazine for teen girls.
  1. Review the information about nutrition, physical activity, and obesity provided by the Centers for Disease Control. ( ) Visit the various links provided by the CDC on nutrition, physical activity, obesity in America, and effects of weight on health and emotions for everyone and health professionals. You may also include information from the required readings on brain and motor development. List three important facts health professionals need to communicate to the community about healthy child and adolescent development. Provide specific explanation on why each of these facts is vital for people to know. List three important facts that you can use to change your life or your family's or that you could use to help your friends or community. Provide specific explanation on changes you or others can make based upon each of these facts.
  1. Locate an article on either a child or adolescent with a physical disability (brain or motor). Alternatively, you could also interview someone you know who is a parent of a child or adolescent with a physical disability. From your reading and/or discussions, explain what aspects of development are connected with the disability. Additionally, answer at least 2 of the following questions in your posting:

• How does the physical disability affect overall brain or motor development?

• How does the physical disability affect the family?

• How old was the person when the physical disability was diagnosed? Explain what differences might have occurred in the person's development if the disability

would have been found earlier.

• Is the cause known for the disability? If it is, what is it? If it is, what treatment or interventions, if any, might have prevented the disability?

  1. Does child psychological development follow the same path as child physical development? Include citations from at least two scholarly sources to support your discussion.
  1. Watch the video, Learning Disabilities FAQ ( ) and briefly describe one of the following:
    • Reading Disabilities and Dyslexia
    • Dyscalculia
    • Dysgraphia
    Do you think all learning difficulties are associated with learning disabilities? Why, or why not?
  1. Provide one statistic on the occurrence of each of the following:

• One of the four parenting types,

• Physical or emotional abuse,

• Mental or physical disabilities

• Biological differences in development, and

• Effects on development of social learning

Explain how these statistics relate to adolescent development. At least one statistical fact is to be about people in a country other than the United States.

Locate the statistical data from places other than the textbook and do not use .com, wiki, or blog information. Additionally, do not use psychology.com or ezinearticles.com. Be sure to provide the source for each of your facts.

The required and recommended articles/websites for the week are good starting-points for finding information.

For example, I might give the following information for social learning:

• Some have estimated that 40% of children or more are left alone at home (AACAP, 2010).

Or

• By their senior year in high school, 63% of adolescents have had sexual intercourse (WebMD, 2011).

For mental and physical disabilities, I might give this information:

• One obsessive behavior that can start in adolescence is trichotilomania. About 1% of the people in America have signs of this disorder (AACAP, 2010).

Of course, I would also have to provide statistical information on parenting types, abuse, and biological differences.

  1. Watch the How to Assess your Child’s Self-Esteem video ( and reflect on the following questions:

How are self-concept and self-esteem related and what contributing factors affect their development? How does play affect development of children and thus later development during the adolescent stage?