Physical Description
Understanding the process of physical, mental, social, and emotional development is critical to managing issues occurring at certain developmental stages due to the influence of external factors. The ability to identify and isolate factors hindering an individualâs development is particularly important when observing childhood development. For this reason, this paper focuses on the development of an eight-year-old child, who exhibits signs of underdevelopment in the social-emotional area. By developing a balance between the childâs social interactions and his mental and physical training, his parents will be able to address the observed problem and assist the boy in learning to build relationships with others.
The child named Teddy is the patient that this case targets to study. Teddy is eight years old, he has been developing physically at a regular rate, and he does not have known physical health issues. Teddy is very active, frequently showing an inability to focus on specific tasks, particularly, those requiring meticulous work. As for Teddyâs socio-emotional development, he appears to be lacking certain skills, including the ability to identify his emotions and control them to the extent appropriate for his current age.
Cognitive Development
In turn, the cognitive development of the patient appears to have been taking place at a reasonable pace. Specifically, applying the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test to the case under analysis has shown that the child is capable of managing key information and solving cognitive tasks (Vandenbroucke et al., 2018). Namely, teddy has shown the ability for verbal and visual comprehension. For instance, the child can accept specific instructions, identify the expected outcomes, and implement the instructions in question to the extent of his abilities.
Similarly, Teddyâs visual-spatial skills have also demonstrated that the child can navigate the environment quite successfully. Teddy is capable of identifying key visual-spatial characteristics of objects around him and acting accordingly in order to navigate the target setting. For example, he has identified the differences between the objects in the distance and those in the vicinity, remarking correctly that the specified objects are of the same size despite the seeming differences.
Likewise, Teddyâs skills of fluid reasoning have appeared to be quite impressive. The boy has shown the ability to infer conceptual information from observations. Namely, Teddy can operate visual data such as color, shape, and size, arranging items in the required order and noticing patterns in the suggested way of arranging them (Partanen et al., 2020). Therefore, the boyâs fluid reasoning appears to be at a rather high level. Similarly, processing speed, namely, the speed of data management, is quite high in the patient, allowing him to identify the answer to a specific problem quite fast.
However, as far as the working memory of the patient is concerned, several issues have been identified. Namely, Teddy seems to be having difficulties remembering information and retaining it in his short-term memory for the required amount of time. The observed issue aligns with the presence of propensity toward attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since the child is very active and shows signs of impatience when provided with tasks that require concentration, diligence, and patience.
Social Development
To evaluate Teddyâs social progress, the assessment of his interactions with peers, as well as the development of key social skills, has been conducted. Unlike his cognitive skills, Teddyâs social development appears to have been stalled slightly since the child has been experiencing significant issues with gaining the ability to interact with other children properly. Namely, teddy has been showing problems with acquiring basic communication skills for building a rapport with others, particularly, children of his age (Groh et al., 2017). As a result, Teddy currently has very few friends, although he does not voice any concern regarding his loneliness.
Moral Development
The development of key moral standards and ethical principles has been taking place rather naturally in Teddy. Currently, he is capable of identifying morally wrong and right ideas and choosing his actions accordingly. Specifically, Teddy has shown the ability to recognize the negative effects of lying and, thus, has accepted that lying is an inherently negative action. Similarly, he has developed a strong opinion about other unethical choices. Therefore, his moral development can be considered appropriate for his age.
Emotional Development
Finally, the childâs emotional development was assessed using measurements similar to those for his social interaction skills. The outcomes of the evaluation have shown that Teddy has been lacking emotional intelligence. Specifically, he has shown difficulties recognizing the emotions of others, as well as naming his emotional responses directly. The observed tendency may be a sign of early-onset social phobia. Indeed, Teddy has indicated high levels of shyness in his interactions with his peers. Moreover, he has demonstrated difficulties reading social cues, which can be considered a symptom of an autistic spectrum disorder development. Although predicting future development patterns is quite difficult at the current stage, it is highly recommended that Teddy should receive professional assistance in managing his current problems with emotional development.
References
Groh, A. M., Fearon, R. P., van IJzendoorn, M. H., BakermansâKranenburg, M. J., & Roisman, G. I. (2017). Attachment in the early life course: Metaâanalytic evidence for its role in socioemotional development. Child Development Perspectives, 11(1), 70-76. Web.
Partanen, P., Jansson, B., & Sundin, Ă. (2020). Fluid reasoning, working memory and planning ability in the assessment of risk for mathematical difficulties. Educational Psychology in Practice, 36(3), 229-240. Web.
Vandenbroucke, L., Spilt, J., Verschueren, K., Piccinin, C., & Baeyens, D. (2018). The classroom as a developmental context for cognitive development: A meta-analysis on the importance of teacher-student interactions for childrenâs executive functions. Review of Educational Research, 88(1), 125-164. Web.