HUMAN GROWTH AND LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
(BIRTH TO ADOLESCENCE)
Question 1
Human lifespan development varies from different stages and this study is to illustrate the development of two children at different ages. The first child was Xuan, 6 years old followed by Ting, who is 10 years old.
The methods used to gather these data were through naturalistic observation and interviews which enable the observed parties to freely express their feelings, thoughts and behaviour. Interviews were also conducted with their mothers to seek further information. The study on Xuan was conducted during her enrichment class and for Ting, the observation was carried out during a social event.
Xuan stays with her parents and an elder sister who is 8 years old. Her parents are working, hence she was enrolled in a childcare centre, currently in K2 grade. She is average in build and it was noticeable that she was somewhat shy, and thinks before speaking. However, she was found to be helpful, attentive and participated throughout the lesson. The first observation was noted when she requested from her teacher for a song sheet so that she can practise singing at home. Next observation demonstrated her socioemotional competence was when she patiently explained and guided her classmate to complete the class work. Her good cognitive and motor skills were also shown when she tried to help her teacher to clean the classroom table with a wet rug, she rinsed it well, laid the rug fully and diligently cleaned the tables.
The other child participating in this study was Ting, with obesity condition and currently in Primary Two grade. She stays with her mother, who is a divorcee with many chronic illnesses. According to her mother, Ting repeated her K2 grade as she did not qualify for admission to the Primary One level. Ting shared that she likes snacks, watching TV programmes and playing video games. She said that she does not like any sports because she perspires a lot and feels very uncomfortable. It was noticeable that Ting’s physical outlook is more mature than her chronological age and she appeared to be friendly and active. She will play with her friends and at time, she will cut into our conversation where her mother would raise her voice to scold her. Her mother shared that before her divorce, her husband used to bring them to the neighbourhood coffee shop for his regular beer drinking sessions and Ting mingled well with the adults. She also complained that Ting is lazy, does not like to study and hence, is unable to catch up on school work.
From the physical outlook, both looked normal, active with good motor coordination despite of Ting’s obesity. The observation study suggested that Xuan has a complete and strong family structure that supports in her development physically, cognitively and socioemotionally. Her physical build and motor skills are well and healthily developed, as well as her ability for problem solving when she responded correctly to ...
