Week 5: Physical Development Changes in Early Childhood
Early childhood is a time of tremendous biological, psychological, and social changes, and sometimes these changes can be interrelated. During this period of development, children’s bodies change and their repertoire of skills including cognitive, language, and social development continue to expand. Although early childhood is a time of dramatic intrinsic change, there are many influences that can impact development at this stage. For these reasons, it is important for social workers to possess a good understanding of child development in order to recognize the normative patterns of development and assist with intervention strategies as issues are noticed.
This week, you explore the areas of development in early childhood including the impacts to development at this stage.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Analyze the effect of homelessness on developmental tasks of children
Analyze development in early childhood, including cognitive and language development and social development
Identify social work resources for homeless children
Analyze the effect of a parent’s incarceration on the biological, psychological, and social development of the children
Apply a theoretical construct to a child development issue
Apply practice skills in social work settings
Assignment: Case Analysis Paper
At the early childhood stage, children accomplish many meaningful developmental skills as a result of the parent/child relationship. However, when parents are incarcerated, what happens to the child? Reports have suggested that separation as a result of incarceration often has major effects on the experiences of the child. Children of incarcerated parents are typically faced with circumstances characterized by poverty and diminished access to resources, which places them at greater risks for developmental challenges.
In this Assignment, you begin to fully understand the impact of parental incarceration on children as you examine the impact of the unavailability of the parent to the child during the period of incarceration.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review the case study from the text that is listed in the Learning Resources, which focuses on the development of children.
By Day 7
Submit a 3- to 4-page paper in which you:
Explain the effects of the parent’s incarceration on the biological, psychological, and social development of the children in the case study.
Explain how social and economic conditions could affect the children’s development.
Identify a theoretical construct that can be used to describe this case and explain how.
Describe two practice skills the social worker could employ to assist the family.
