respond
Early childhood interview
Student Anya
If your last name is A-F, please explore the physical needs of the child’s development
Physical Needs: Exploration of physical needs includes developmental milestones,
brain growth, sleep/nutrition needs, and environmental influences/risk factors
Student schumer
If your last is S-Z, please explore other professional considerations.
Other Professional Considerations: These topics can include attachment,
Bronfenbrenner’s theory, temperament, cultural considerations, language development,
development of self, gender development, social relationships/play
You will respond to 2 classmates.
In your replies, address areas of development that have not been fully addressed.
You may use the topics above or include some topics/theories/key concepts from the
infancy and early development chapter. Your focus for these replies should be to help
your classmate understand this concept and understand how it applies to the child
being discussed
Quality replies will integrate material from the textbook to support your discussion of
child development. All material from the textbook should be cited in APA style. Students
should define psychological terms and concepts used; assume your audience is not
familiar with developmental psychology.
Student Tanya
I interviewed, Sonya, a 33-year-old Asian, single mother from West Virginia that has a
4-year-old daughter. She resides in a 2-bedroom apartment subsidized by the state
(section 8 housing). I started off asking questions about her pregnancy, her delivery
and general physical development since birth. She indicated to me that her daughter,
Kayla, was a full-term birth but slightly underweight at 4 pounds, 10 oz at delivery.
Sonya informed me that she suffered a lot of food insecurity because of severe poverty
and couldn’t get good pre-natal care nor eat healthful foods while pregnant. As a result,
her baby suffered malnutrition and has suffered some physical and mental delays.
Sonya informed me that her daughter was delayed in walking, not taking her first steps
until she was nearly two years old. Cognitively, she’s on par with a typical two and half
year old but she is getting services to try and catch her up. Kayla has also been
experiencing a lot of emotional frustration, anger, and impulse control issues. She
lashes out, kicks, punches, and tries to bite her mother and other children. Her
language is delayed and because of this, she struggles to express herself appropriately.
She also struggles with insomnia and will often roam the apartment at night. This
behavior has caused Sonya to move her daughter’s bed into the master bedroom to
keep a closer eye on her daughter and keep her safe during overnight hours. Sonya
indicated that she is exhausted trying to manage all the physical and behavior
consequences of Kayla’s development thus far.
Sonya currently works two jobs as a result of trying to support her daughter on her own,
and because of this her daughter is left in the hands of a state run daycare center
during the day. She admits that she feels like its not the best environment for Kayla, but
because it is funded in large part by state funds, it the best she can afford right now.
Sonya feels like her daughter doesn’t get the attention she needs at the daycare and
behavior problems have escalated lately to the point of the center threatening to
terminate care. Socially, Sonya is isolated as her family all resides in the mid-west and
her daughter’s father has never been involved in Kayla’s life. He does pay Sonya about
$25 per month in court ordered child support which she indicated does not even cover a
month’s supply of milk for their child.
According to our textbook, Invitation to the Lifespan: Chapter 5, children experience a
tremendous amount of physical growth from birth to age six. During each year of early
childhood, well fed, healthy children grow about 3 inches per year and gain about 4.5
pounds (Berger, 2019). Sonya informed me that at 4 years old, Kayla currently weighs
about 30 pounds, which according to the website kidshealth.org, is a full 10 pounds
under the average weight of a typical 4-year-old, North American female child (Gavin,
M.L; 2019). Aside from weight and stature considerations for Kayla, at this stage of
development she should also be able to catch a ball most of the time, serve herself food
and pour herself a drink with adult supervision, as well as unbuttoning a button and
holding a crayon or pencil between fingers and thumb, developing fine motor skills
(Centers for Disease Control, 2022). I inquired about Kayla’s development in these
area and Sonya stated that she does attempt to catch a ball and unbutton her sweater
but its not long before frustration at being unable to master it takes hold and results in a
temper tantrum that is very hard to control and reign in once it begins. Because of this,
Sonya does most of her care without assistance from Kayla as her frustration takes
center stage and the pay off in learned skill isn’t worthwhile in the moment.
Socio-economic status has taken a great toll on Sonya. Her daughter and herself have
missed out on opportunities, not just financial but also in material and social impacts.
The dynamic of her and her relationship with her daughter’s father has also had a
profound impact on both of their lives, in the present and possibly into the future
(Khadijah, 2012).
Culturally speaking, Sonya is Asian, which makes her a bit unique, ethnicity wise in
West Virginia. Asian Americans are among the fastest growing ethnic groups in the
United States. In Asian American culture, parents support their children and regulate
their behavior, but in very different ways than White American parents. Asian American
parents have the reputation of appearing stricter and lacking in warmth. Asian immigrant
parents believe that control is not only necessary, but a key role in parenting. To these
parents, strictness is an attempt to protect children, not inhibit them. In other words,
control and warmth are defined differently for Asian parents, so authoritarian parenting
means something different, too (Van Campen, KS. & Russel, T., 2010).
As I asked about culture and the impact it may have on Kayla, Sonya stated that her
parents were often cold and unfeeling when it came to discipline, behavior or even
accomplishments and achievements. She felt that her parenting of Kayla would reflect
the same parenting style that she grew up with, and given Kayla’s developmental
limitations, that she felt that that type of parenting would hold her daughter back, not
promote her. Sonya also felt that her daughter’s gender was also a hindrance, she
noted that boys at her preschool were often allowed to “play fight” with each other, while
highly discouraged for girls in the class.
Sonya disclosed to me that because of her lack of resources, she has experienced
profound depression and anxiety which has made parenting to Kayla that much more
difficult. She said she feels like she parents through guilt and that she lets behavior
“slide” that she wouldn’t otherwise let go. She told me she feels guilty and like it’s her
fault that her daughter is so delayed and has so many issues. She states that she lacks
any professional support as she cannot afford it, and access even if she could, is
severely limited.
Sonya applied to college this past month to get her associates degree in criminal
justice, she is hoping for a better life for herself and Kayla, and that many more
opportunities avail themselves so she can afford a higher standard of living. Poverty
has clearly held Sonya and Kayla back and the only way out of the cycle according to
Sonya, is education. Sonya is also hoping for consistently better services so that Kayla
can catch up and develop appropriately going forward.
Sources:
Berger, SB. (2019). Invitation to the Life Span (4th. Ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Gavin, ML. (June, 2019). “Growth and your 4-5 Year old”: Kids Health (Video).
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/growth-4-to-5.html#:~:text=An%20average%204%2Dy
ear%2Dold,arts%20and%20crafts%20and%20puzzles
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/growth-4-to-5.html#:~:text=An%20average%204%2Dyear%2Dold,arts%20and%20crafts%20and%20puzzles
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/growth-4-to-5.html#:~:text=An%20average%204%2Dyear%2Dold,arts%20and%20crafts%20and%20puzzles
Student schumer
● I decided to research other professional considerations and by doing my
research I decided to interview my mom’s boss Erica Cervantes. When I
asked her why she decided to become a mother. She enjoyed the
relationship that she has with her mother. (Cervantes, 2022). . When I
asked is her child had any attachment issues, what types and how she
dealt with them. She told me yes, her child had attachment issues after
she stopped breastfeeding and the way she would solve it by spending
quality time with her. (Cervantes, 2022). There are many different types of
attachment that are put into four categories. (Berger, 2019, p. 135). When
I asked her if her child had any temperament issues and how she would
deal with them. She told me that yes and that by being consistent was the
way she dealt with it. (Cervantes, 2022). Temperment can change and it
can all depend on their mother’s pregnancy. (Berger, 2019, p. 131). When
I asked her if her child had any problems with language development. She
told me that her child did not have any problems with it. (Shumar, 2022).
Language is a hard thing to learn for children and they start to learn bit by
bit. (Berger, 2019, p. 176). When I asked her how her child makes friends.
She told me that she makes friends in preschool, daycares and sports.
(Cervantes, 2022). I then asked her how her child felt about their
communities. She told me that her child loves her communities.
(Cervantes, 2022). Broferners’s theory had multiple stages. (Berger, 2019,
p. 11).
I believe that there are different ways that children develop. I believe that
languages can be learned in many different ways.
Works Cited
Berger, K. S. (2019). Invitation to the Lifespan (4th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Cervantes, E. (2022, February 23). Personal Interview. Interviewed by
Angel Shumar.
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