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Undergraduate Studies ePortfolio

Jessica BrownBA Psychology, 2010

Personal Statement

Attending college is not in the cards for everyone. I come from a family that had no college bound children, I was the exception. College was a new adventure that I jumped into with no idea where I wanted it to take me. After three years of community college I decided on Psychology. In my first year of working on my BA in psychology I found this drive in me that I never thought I had. School became a priority and something of interest in my life and I went from having a low 2.0 GPA to having over a 3.0 in college. Although I had no idea what I was going to do with a degree in psychology, at first, I knew it was what I wanted to study. Over the years of studying psychology I noticed the growth in my communication skills. I was very shy growing up but as I got further into the psychology program I began to open up and have a voice.

Graduating from college with a four year degree was a very intimidating goal at first, but as I got further into it, it became more exciting. Now that I have achieved this major goal for myself, the next step is to set a new goal. I want to continue my education and work towards getting a Masters in Marriage and Family counseling. To complete a master’s degree is something I never thought I would be pushing myself to do, but after completing my BA and working in the field I currently am in, it’s exactly what I want.

I have spent the last three years working at one of the most rewarding, yet difficult jobs. Being a preschool teacher to four year olds has so many wonderful gifts that come with it, as well as stressors. Working with four year olds I have learned to have patience, be flexible, compassion, organization, and communication skills. Although communicating with a four year old is different than an adult, you still have to learn how to change you communication skills to fit that person. I have worked as a receptionist, title assistant, and cashier, all of which have taught me how to communicate with people, as well as having patience. However, none have tested or taught me as much as working with children. There is no way to have everything go according to plan when working with kids. They have bad days and good days, so you are always on your toes and always changing what was initially planned for the day. In my position as a teacher, I have also learned how to communicate with not only children, but adults. I had to communicate with them on how their child’s day went, what we learned, what is needed for the week and other situations that may arise. Communicating with parents about their child’s day isn’t always positive, so I’ve had to learn how to communicate negative behavior but do so in a positive manner. Teaching has also taught me to be organized; having to prepare a lesson plan, prep the art projects, as well as following a schedule.

I have always been a caretaker and have always enjoyed working with children. After three years of teaching and many years of babysitting I knew I wanted to continue my work with children, only in a different setting. With all the experiences I have had in life, school, and work I know that my final career goal is to become a school counselor. I want to continue to make a difference in children’s lives and continue to help our future generations. Working with children is one of the most rewarding things you can ever do. I have working with children from all different types of home lives and I know that I want to continue to have a positive impact on our future generations.

Resume

Jessica L. Brown

Objective:

Looking to seek a position as a school counselor with a team of inspirational people with a common goal of helping children reach their potential.

 Qualifications:

Excellent communication skills

Great leadership abilities with years of experience as a lead teacher

Avid team player

Self directed, driven, detail oriented, professional.

Solid record for working toward company objectives, meeting deadlines, and following through on commitments.

 Education:

Century College AA, currently attending Argosy University to attain a degree in Psychology with a focus on children

 

Experience:

 Especially For Children 12/07 - Present

Teacher

Responsible for Creating a positive learning environment for a class room of 20 children

Supervising Teacher Aids

Designing monthly curriculum

Organizing activities 

  

Resume

 Medtronic Inc / Volt 03/07 – 12/07

Receptionist

Answer phones and direct callers

Mail receipt and sort

Scheduling of meeting facilities

Buffalo Wild Wings 01/07-05/07

Cashier

Cash register

Phone Orders

Assist servers

 

Affinity Title 2004-2007

Title Assistant

Scheduling closings

Opening files

Final polices

Updates and assessments

Completing final HUDs

Closing packages

Administrative duties

Worked closely with Microsoft Office applications 

Resume

King of Kings Lutheran Church 2003-2005

Nursery Supervisor

Directed children ranging in ages 1-7 in various activities

Coordinated group activities

Supervised volunteers

Lifeguard Realty and Mortgage 2000-2005

Administrative Assistant

Real Estate showings

First point of contact for customers and clients

Inbound and outbound calls

Data entry

Maintained customer files

Worked closely with Microsoft Office applications

 

 

 

Extracurricular activities: Volunteer child care & local charities such as Feed my Starving Children.

Reflection

While attending Argosy University I have discovered more about myself and what my strengths and weaknesses are. Through my career as a student I have had many opportunities to brush up on paper writing skills but have had minimal chances to advance in my presentation or researching skills. While taking a research class I learned how to properly research information for a topic and how to read that information correctly. During my time at Argosy I have also had a few opportunities to navigate through the process of putting together a power point presentation. Although I am still discovering how to properly go about this I feel like the classes and professors at Argosy have given my a solid foundation to make me feel more confident in putting together a slide show or conducting research. Through the years of attending Argosy I have become more confident in my abilities as a student and a professional.

Table of Contents

Cognitive Abilities: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy – Analysis Prenatal-Birth-Infancy

Research Skills- Autism Spectrum Disorder

Communication Skills: Oral and Written – Business Presentation

Ethics and Diversity Awareness – Getting to know people of color

Foundations of Psychology- Created Brochure

Applied Psychology- Integrative Approach

Interpersonal Effectiveness- Diversity

Critical Thinking

Analyze the impact of the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional processes on the Prenatal-Birth-Infancy stage and focus on maximizing physical and emotional health.

 Consider the following case studies:•  Charles often felt he was unwanted. His feelings were the result of his mothers' ranting and raving when under the influence of

alcohol. She often said that she was forced to marry her husband right after school because she got pregnant with Charles. She moaned about the fact that she could have had a better life had she not gotten pregnant with Charles. She spoke of her friends who worked and enjoyed their lives while she had to care of Charles, who was born premature and with a low birth weight. Charles often suffered from fever. Charles’ weakened medical condition was often a bone of contention for his parents.

•  Paul’s parents thought he was a blessed child. His mother often said, before Paul’s birth, she had a vision of God sending a basket full of sparkling stars her way and blessing her. During the pregnancy, his sister, who had fallen off a fence and was in bed for almost six months, recovered and started walking on her own. Paul’s father also said Paul was the most robust of all his children and was a handful when he started walking.

Response

During the first four years of life children are going through so many different physical changes. They grow in a cephalocaudal pattern which means they begin growing from the head and gradually work their way down (Santrock, 2008). An example of this is that infants can see objects well before they can control their torso and they can use their hands long before they can crawl or walk (Santrock, 2008). Infant growth also follows a pattern known as the proximodistal pattern, which is growth starts from the center of the body and works its way towards the extremities (Santrock, 2008). The average size of a new born baby in the U.S. is 20 inches long and 7 ½ pounds (Santrock, 2008). Infants lose weight within the first few days because they are still learning how to suck in order to eat but after they master that task they begin to gain an average of 5 to 6 ounces a week during the first month (Santrock, 2008). The physical growth that you see in infants also involves their gross and fine motor skills. Some large motor milestones that infants demonstrate are rolling, crawling, walking etc. Once the child reaches two months of age they are able to sit with the support of someone else, they can sit independently by 6 or 7 months and can pull themselves up on things by about 8 months (Santrock, 2008). They are also typically able to stand alone by 10 to 12 months of age (Santrock, 2008). By about a year most infants begin to walk and by 13 to 18 months toddlers are able to use their hands and legs to climb up steps (Santrock, 2008). They also begin to develop their fine motor skills such as grasping toys, using a spoon, and many other things that involve finger dexterity (Santrock, 2008). During the first

 

Critical Thinking Continued

two years of life infants are refining their small motor skills such as grasping and reaching (Santrock, 2008). Their vision and hearing also develops throughout the first two years of life. Newborn infants are unable to see small things that are far away, their vision is about 20/600, by the time they reach 6 months it is believed to be 20/100 and by their first birthday they are able to see at the level of an adult. Newborn infants hearing isn’t as sharp as an adults hearing is either, when they are first born they are unable to hear soft quiet sounds, they are also less sensitive to the pitch of sounds but once they reach two years of age they are able to distinguish sounds with different pitches (Santrock, 2008).

During the first four years of life children also run the risk of many different health issues and risks of death. One major risk that occurs during the first 4 to 6 weeks of life is known as sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS. SIDS is a condition in which infants stop breathing and without any cause die in the night (Argosy, 2008). This is one of the highest causes of deaths in infants in the United States. There are things that can be done to prevent SIDS such as placing your baby on their back to sleep, making sure the child’s room isn’t too hot, and avoiding putting large stuffed animals in their cribs as well as heavy blankets. There are no known causes to SIDS and there is no way of knowing which children are going to die from it and which children wont, all infants 4 to 6 weeks of age are at risk. Another health issue that affects many infants is ear infections or OME (Argosy, 2008). It is said that children who have chronic or severe ear infections can suffer from a decline in motor development, they also found that it may also affect language acquisition, balance and hearing (Argosy, 2008). Other health issues that affect many children, more commonly though in poor children, are anemia and growth retardation due to a lack of meats and dark green vegetables (Argosy, 2008). There are also health risks that come with lack of prenatal care from having risks during their pregnancy as well as during birth. Prenatal care is the time that the doctor informs you of the affects that smoking, drinking, drugs, and an unhealthy life style could have on your unborn baby . They also view the baby’s development, looking for any manageable conditions and treatable diseases (Santrock, 2008). They also recommend classes that the parents could go to, to give them a better understanding of the benefits of breast feeding over bottle feeding, what to expect during labor, and what foods are good for them to be eating (Santrock, 2008). It also helps the parents to be aware of stressors that may have an affect on their unborn child. When women experience fear, stress, anxiety, and other emotions it can affect the fetus (Santrock, 2008).

The sensorimotor stage, which is the cognitive development, is believed to last from birth to around 2 years of age (Santrock, 2008). Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage in to six sub stages: simple reflex, first habits and primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity, and internalization of schemes (Santrock, 2008). The first stage is the simple reflex stage which occurs during the

Critical Thinking Continued

the first month of life (Santrock, 2008). This is when they begin to notice sensations and action through reflexive behaviors, such as rooting and sucking (Santrock, 2008). The second stage is first habits and primary circular reaction which occurs between month 1 and month 4 of life (Santrock, 2008). This is when they coordinate sensation and two types of schemes; habits and circular reactions (Santrock, 2008). The third stage is secondary circular reactions which occurs between month 4 and 8 or life, this is when they become more object oriented (Santrock, 2008). The fourth stage is coordination of secondary circular reaction which occurs between 8 months and 12 months of age (Santrock, 2008). This is the stage that they begin to have eye hand coordination or vision and touch coordination (Santrock, 2008). The fifth stage of Piaget’s theory is tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity which occur between 12 months and 18 months of age (Santrock, 2008). During this stage they realize the different things that can be done with objects such as stacking things, knocking things over with other objects, and sliding them across the ground (Santrock, 2008). The last stage of Piaget’s theory is known as the internalization of schemes stage, this occurs between 18 months and 24 months. During this stage they are able to use symbols to manipulate and transform events (Santrock, 2008). Piaget’s theory tends to be pretty accurate but there is still criticism and people who question how accurate it is. Other cognitive development that occurs in the first 4 years of life is attention, and memory. As infants grow and their brains develop they gain the ability to focus on one thing at a time, by four months they are believed to be able to attend to one object (Santrock, 2008). They also begin to develop their language skills through different stages. This begins with crying through different types of cries, then they begin to communicate through cooing (1-2 months), then they begin to babble (around 6 months), and finally they begin to gesture (8-12 months) which shortly after leads to their first words (Santrock, 2008). Once a child reaches 18 to 24 months of age they begin to use two-word utterances to communicate, such as; “see doggie”, “More Milk” “No Mine” etc. (Santrock, 2008). They continue to develop their vocabulary, by 18 months they can typically say 50 different words and by about 2 years they have a vocabulary of about 100 words (Santrock, 2008).

Infants also develop emotionally from the day they are born. They begin to show emotions in facial expressions within the first six months and by the time they reach the toddler stage they are able to express emotions such as empathy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt (Santrock, 2008). It has also been observed that infants as young as 6 months can show jealousy, this was observed through having mothers hold a life like doll while their child was in the room and watch their reactions (Santrock, 2008). Most children will show a sad or angry emotion if they see

Critical Thinking Continued

holding or caring for another baby. Children as young as 6 months begin to show signs of stranger anxiety and it increases at about 9 months and by about a year old children are able to read their parents emotions in a situation to know how they should be reacting (Santrock, 2008). Another emotional development that children go through within the second years of life is the development of a sense of self as well as independence (Santrock, 2008). It is said that the emotional health of a child is dependent on their relationship with their caregiver (Argosy, 2008). Parents need to be aware of the fact that they need to adapt their behavior to their child based on where the child is at developmentally (Argosy, 2008). A parent can not discipline or expect the same behavior from a two year old that they would from their 5 year old (Santrock, 2008).

When looking at the two case studies the difference between the two boys developments is clear and the reasons in the major differences in the developmental milestones is due to the extreme differences in how they were raised. Charles was ignored; he was never read to, hardly talked to and was never given the opportunity to work on his motor skills due to the fact that he was typically in a playpen with one toy. Paul on the other hand had so many different people playing with him, interacting with him, teaching him, reading to him, and just taking an active part in his development that he developed physically at a normal pace and developed properly mentally as well. In order for children to develop at a normal rate and reach each major milestone around the time they should be they need to have people in their life’s that take an active part in helping that development. Children need to read to, talked to, and given time to be on the floor to reach for things, move around to things they can pull up on, being in a playpen and left to them selves will harm a child’s development.

References:Argosy. (2008). Socio-emotional development in early childhood. Retrieved March 10, 2008 from

http://myeclassonline.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=2895408&CPURL=myeclassonline.com&Survey=1&47=4220923&ClientNodeID=404511&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Santrock, J. W. (2008). Life-Span Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies  

Research Skills

Research Methods: Final ProjectAbstract

It has been proposed that children with autism function at a different level than children who are born without autism. It’s been mistaken that all children with autism function at an extremely low level compared to that of a “normal” child. The purpose of the study was to see how children with autism function both mentally and physically in comparison to children without autism. There were forty-eight children (12 ASD boys, 12 ASD girls, 12 boys without ASD, and 12 girls without ASD) ranging from 6-16 years of age. The research was conducted at twelve different school, for a three week period of time. This same group of children also took part in a non-verbal IQ test to see the differences in mental abilities. They were given two tests, they are the ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised 1994) and Levine (Leiter Performance Scale 1986) (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). According to current tests the children with ASD work at a lower physical and mental capacity than children without ASD.

IntroductionAccording to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are up to one in

every 150 children that may be a case of autism spectrum disorder (Jacquart, 2009). Autism spectrum disorder is known to be one of the fastest growing developmental disorders in the United States (Jaquart, 2009). It has also been established through research that ASD has a male predominance by 4 to 1 (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). However, it has also been stated that girls with ASD show more severe form of ASD when it comes to IQ (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). Children with ASD may possible be at risk for being physically inactive due to other deficits that are associated with ASD (Pan, 2007). A study conducted at 14 different schools during recess on 48 children (23 boys and 1 girl with ASD; 23 boys and 1 girl without) documented that children with Autism are less active during overall recess, lunchtime, first and second morning recess, than that of a child without autism (Pan, 2007). Children with ASD took part in 27.58 min of physical activity compared to 35.04 minutes of children without disabilities (Pan, 2007).

Research Skills Continued

Children with ASD have also been known to function at a different mental capacity as well, compared to “normal” children. There has been research done on a relationship between non-verbal IQ and gender in autism (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). A study done in 2008 examined 194 families with one child with autism and 154 families with more than one child with autism (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). In the families with more than one child with autism they found no difference between males and females non-verbal IQ (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). However, looking at the families with only one child there was a difference between the males and females non-verbal IQ’s, the females had lower scores. Lastly they looked at only the male siblings of male and female with ASD and there were no significant differences in the IQ’s. Researchers have also found that half of the children diagnosed with ASD also have moderate to sever attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as anxiety disorders (Roohi, DeVincent, Hatchwell, & Gadow, 2008).

The prior research that has been done on both physical and mental capacities of children with ASD in comparison to children without ASD has shown that they do function at a different level. Prior studies has focused on either mental or physical but have not compared both idea’s with the same group of individuals. From this I became interested in how children would test in both areas. The reasoning behind this study is to be able to compare the physical and mental capacities of these same forty-eight children and see if it changes anything. The prior research could have been done on children with more or less severe autism. Therefore the primary objective of this research is to examine the physical and mental abilities of children with and without ASD that fall into an age group of 6-16.

Methods

The first task is conducted by observing a group of students while they interact and participate in physical activity over a three week period of time. The second task is conducted through two tests that will be administered to the children and parents to analyze the non-verbal IQ’s of the children.

 

Participants

A sample of forty-eight children, 12 ASD boys, 12 ASD girls, 12 boys without ASD, and 12 girls without ASD, ranging from age 6- 16 years old. They were selected from twelve schools for a three week period of time. They will also participate in two administered non-verbal IQ tests. They were recruited through the schools and parents choosing. The parents of each child were given consent

 

Research Skills Continued

forms. Each parent was informed of the research that is being conducted and given time to ask questions, as well as share concerns. There was a pre-experiment time period to make sure that the children who were being researched had no additional physical or mental impairments that could greatly alter the results.

Instruments and Measures

In the first task a device known as a GT1M ActiGraph was used (Pan, 2008). This device is used to measure acceleration of human motion, ranging in magnitude from 0.05 to 2.00 G with a frequency of 0.25 to 2.50 Hz (Pan, 2008). The higher the count the more physical activity that was taking place. There will also be written observations of their physical activity to support the ActiGraph.

In the second task there will be two tests administered to research the non-verbal IQ’s of the children. There two tests are the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R, Lord et al. 1994) and the Leiter Performance Scales (Levine 1986).

 

Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised (ADI-R, Lord et al. 1994)

This is an interview that is conducted by the researchers with the guardians or parents of the children being researched. It is used to gain details about behaviors necessary for diagnosing ASD (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). It helps distinguish between developmental delays and impairments (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008).

Leiter Performance Scales (Levine 1986)

This test is a standard measure of nonverbal problem solving and an individuals learning ability (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). It uses non-verbal instructions and non-verbal responses for both the person administering the test and the child that is responding (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008).

Results

In collect data for our first task we observed and analyzed the activity level of 48 children ranging from 6-16 years of age. For our research we observed 12 ASD boys, 12 ASD girls, 12 boys without ASD, and 12 girls without ASD. From this observation and collection of data from the GT1M ActiGraph, we found that children with ASD perform at a much lower level of activity than children without ASD. The children with ASD performed about 12% lower than children without ASD. This isn’t a drastic different, but it’s

 

 

Research Skills Continued

significant enough to say that children with ASD do perform at a lower level of activity than children without ASD.

In collecting data for our second task we used two types of tests. The two tests we used are; Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R, Lord et al. 1994) and the Leiter Performance Scales (Levine 1986) (Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, & Mahoney, 2008). From these two tests we concluded that children with ASD have a lower mental capacity than children without ASD. Children with ASD have a lower non-verbal IQ. We not only discovered a significant difference between children with ASD and without ASD, we also noticed a difference between girls and boys with ASD. Girls that had ASD have a lower non-verbal IQ than boys with ASD.

To analyze our data we will use something known as the correlation method of statistical analysis. Looking at the correlation we will be able to see the relationship between the sets of scores (Shaughnessy, Zechmeister, & Zechmeister, 2009). We will then compare the scores of the children with ASD’s mental and physical abilities with that of children without ASD. We will put together a scatter plot of the data and then calculate the correlation coefficient of the data points. The correlation coefficient gives us a quantitative summary of the information (Shaughnessy, Zechmeister, & Zechmeister, 2009).

Discussion

The results support prior research that suggested that children with ASD function at a lower non-verbal IQ and physical level than children without ASD. However, we focused primarily on one specific region and state. There was a significant difference found between ASD children and non-ASD children, as well as girls and boys with ASD. This result was found in prior research as well, i.e. Pan (2007) research on children’s activity levels and Banach, Thompson, Szatmari, Goldberg, , Tuff, Zwaigenbaum, and Mahoney’s (2008) research on non-verbal IQ and gender. The use of the same children for both parts of the research gave us an ability to compare both parts, their mental and physical abilities, as well as gave us more control over our study.

Research Skills Continued

ReferencesBanach, Ryan, Thompson, Ann, Szatmari, Peter, Goldberg, Jeremy, Tuff, Lawrence, Zwaigenbaum,

Lonnie, & Mahoney, William (2008). Brief Report: Relationship Between Non-verbal IQ and Gender in Autism. Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC.

Jacquart, M. (2009). Recognizing & Managing Autism. Child Care Support Network. Vol.3 No.5, Impact Publications

Pan, Chien-Yu (2007). Objectively Measured Physical Activity Between Children With AutismSpectrum Disorders and Children Without Disabilities During Inclusive Recess Settings in Taiwan. Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC.

Roohi, Jasmin, DeVincent, Carla J., Hatchwell, Eli, & Gadow, Kenneth D. (2008). Association of a Monoamine Oaxidase-A Gene Promoter Polymorphism With ADHD and Anxiety in Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Springer Science+Buisness Media, LLC.

Shaughnessy, J.J., Zechmeister, E.B. & Zechmeister, J.S. (2009). Research methods is psychology (8th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Todd, Jessica, Mills, Chalotte, Wilson, Andrew D., Plumb, Mandy S., & Mon-Williams, Mark A. ( 2009). Slow Motor Responses to Visual Simuli of Low Salience in Autism. Journal of Motor Behavior. Vol. 41 No.5, Heldref Publications

Business Presentation

By: Jessica Brown

Candidates Background

Education – BA in Early Childhood– In process: Master in Child Psychology

Experience– 5 years as a daycare provider– Managing other employees– Lesson planning

Candidates Background

Training– CPR and First-Aid certified– SIDS and Shaken baby syndrome– How to deal with tough children

Skills– Speaks both English & Spanish– Excellent verbal, written and

communication skills

Candidates Strengths

Strengths– Outgoing personality

• Have fun with parents and children

– Creative• Planning

– Patience• Does well with tough children and parents

– Communication• Approachable and Easy to talk to• Good listener

Candidates Weaknesses

Weaknesses– Doesn’t do well with confrontation

• Softy• Feels attacked

– Difficult time standing her ground• Put others needs/wants first• Make others happy

– Lack of experience managing this size staff• Managed a group of 5 staff

Expectations

Meet Expectations– Education

• BA Early Childhood

– Experience• 5 years in Childcare

– Skills• Communication

– Training• CPR, First-Aid, SIDS, etc.

Expectations

Exceeds Expectations– Creative

• Searches for new ideas and activities

– Bilingual• Speaks both English and Spanish

– Outgoing• Approachable and Out spoken

– Self Driven• Always wanting more

– Manager Experience

Why not this Candidate?

Candidate #1– Education

• 4 year degree in Early Childhood

– Experience• 3 years as a daycare provider• 2 years as a nanny

– Skills• Excellent verbal & written communication

– Training• CPR, First-Aid, Shaken baby, SIDS

Why not this Candidate?

Candidate #2– Education

• 2 year degree (AA)• Received her Childcare Teacher Certification

– Experience• 12 years as a child care provider

– Skills• Sign-language

– Training• CPR, First-Aid, SIDS, and Shaken Baby

Syndrome

References

Minnesota Childcare (2010). Minnesota Childcare Resources and Referral Network. Retrieved on June 11, 2010 from http://www.mnchildcare.org/opportunities/

Diversity

Getting to know people of color

When I first looked at this assignment I thought about the people I knew and realized that I have a lack of diversity in group of close friends. After thinking about it I realized I had a friend that was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when he was in Junior High, his name is Eder and he is 23 years old. Eder was born and raised in Mexico city until he was 12, when his family decided to pack up and move to Minnesota for his fathers job. The town they moved to was of average size but had a lack of diversity. The town was about 95% white at the time, although as it has grown so has the % of non whites.

While talking to Eder and listening to his responses to the questions asked I would say he now feels like he is part of society and no longer feels so much like the minority. When asked how he would describe the general attitude toward people of his race, he said “many people think of Mexicans as lower class and look down on them.” Eder also stated that he thought people only focus on the negative things that have been said or show of Mexicans and that is held over all people of that race. He also discussed how he has friends that have talked to him about how they were going to be going to Mexico and they were scared that everything bad was going to happen that possibly could because they were white. He feels that people here have such a negative view point of Mexico as well due to the media.

Eder and I went on to talk about if he felt like people here discriminated against him because he is Mexican he said “when I first moved here I did feel like people were discriminating against me, leaving me out of things, and giving me looks because I spoke very little English and I was one of the few Mexicans at my school. I think another major part of it was that you feel uncomfortable being thrown into new situations and I may have just felt that people were discriminating or looking at me differently.” The longer Eder has lived in Minnesota the less he has felt discriminated against because he has been welcomed by people of all races and has had many great opportunities that he knows he wouldn’t have had in Mexico. We agreed that there are always going to be the ignorant people who have comments to say but he has learned how to react to them as he’s grown up. He doesn’t feel as discriminated against also because he speaks very clear English and he has become comfortable with our society and culture. I asked Eder how often he’s around people of his race during non-work time and he had stated that it was probably only 5%-10% of the time, which is when he sees his family. Eder also said “wow, thanks Jess you really opened my eyes to something, just how little time I spend with my family and other Mexicans.” He has no close friends that are of the Latino race.

Diversity Continued

Eder’s response to what an important core value that he would like to pass on to his children was very similar to what I would consider important. Eder and I both have a strong value in faith and family. He stated that in Mexico about 95% of people are practicing Catholics because of a sense of hope. He talked about how his family would have to get there an hour early to get a seat and people of all class levels came and no one was looked at any differently, all were equal and there for the same reasons. This follows greatly with what was said by Argosy (2009), that religion is valued by Latinos and the majority of them practice Catholicism or are part of the Roman Catholic Church. In Mexico Sundays are spent with family and at church and he said a lot of places are closed because it is a sacred day and it is taken as a day of rest. Eder also talked about how their extended family would get together on Sundays which was a very large group because of the size of their family. According to Argosy (2009), Latinos family includes even good friends and god parents. In the Latino race their family is a large source of support for them so they tend to live closely together (Argosy, 2009). Another value that he didn’t state that I find important would be one of acceptance and open mindedness. I want to instill in my children the importance of accepting all kinds of people and to not discriminate or make anyone feel uncomfortable because of their race, ethnicity, or any other differences they may have.

Talking with Eder I learned a lot more about him than I had known before. I thought it was interesting to listen to him talk about life in Mexico and how similar and how different it is from here. I had never talked to him about his past and what it was like in Mexico until this interview. I learned that he is a deeper person than I thought he was and he has a lot of the same values I do. I also learned from talking to Eder that just because we are from two different lifestyles and cultural backgrounds doesn’t mean we are different and have different values, we have a lot more similarities than I had ever thought before.       References:Argosy University (2009). Diversity. Retrived on November 8, 2009 from: http://myeclassonline.com 

Foundation of Psychology

You have just started a new job as the Parent Liaison officer with a large public childcare preschool in your community. As part of your duties, you are to provide information to parents of preschoolers for preparing them for their children’s readiness for school.

 You have to create a brochure that will provide parents with advice on specific toys, books, and activities they should use to insure their child’s ideal physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development from infancy till age five or kindergarten.

 Suggest specific tasks that parents should perform to insure this development.

 Describe what should be the ideal physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development from birth to three years of age.

 

The ideal physical development from birth to three years of age should be defined to three areas; brain development, motor development, and growth in height and weight. During infancy children grow a great deal in height and weight. Children typically grow two and a half inches in height and gain between five and seven pounds a year (Santrock, 2008). During childhood the brain and head are also growing and developing. After the child grows out of the infant stage and into the toddler stage their brain begins to grow at a faster pace than the rest of the body, where as during infancy it’s the body that is growing and developing at a faster pace (Argosy, 2008). During the preschool years, due to the faster growth of the head and brain, children tend to look more top heavy. At three years of age a child’s brain is about three-fourths it’s adult size (Argosy, 2008). As the growth in the brain takes place, children’s ability to do motor activities will strengthen. Children also develop their motor development skills such as running, building, scribbling, cutting paper and many more activities (Santrock, 2008). During infancy children also developing their motor skills such as crawling, switching objects from one had to the other, rolling over, or even pulling them selves up on things to begin walking. At the age of three children’s fine motor skills still aren’t well developed, but by age four it improves to more precise movements (Argosy, 2008).

The ideal cognitive development during this stage of life would be an increase in attention span and a child’s ability to remember things. As an infant, children have an extremely short attention span. If you try to do activities with them such as music or reading a story they would likely get fidgety and stop listening after about 5 minutes. If it was an activity with music where they had instruments, at least for the older infants, they may last for 10 minutes. Even at the toddler stage they struggle with staying focused on an activity for very long. Preschoolers have a little longer attention span than the younger kids and can stay focused on one project, if it catches their interest for 20- 30 minutes. It becomes easier to do activities with children as they get older and their motor skills strengthen. Another thing that comes with the cognitive development of children is their memory. For example if you were to play

Foundation of Psychology Cont.

memory, the card game, with toddlers and preschoolers, the preschoolers would most likely have an easier time remembering where the same picture was than a toddler would have. This is not to say that infants don’t have the capacity to remember things, I have seen an infant smile as soon as a specific person came into a room and cry if she turned back around because he knew that when she came into the room it meant it was snack time. He had the capacity to remember and associate that person with that task. Also at the preschool age children become egocentric. They only understand their own perspective and not the perspective of others ( Santrock, 2008). Children at this age also think that inanimate objects have life like qualities (Santrock, 2008). During the time of infancy to preschool, and even beyond, children learn through observing others and need the assistance of an adult or caregiver to complete or succeed with certain activities. Children also develop problem solving techniques and the ability to strategize on how to complete a task. With age these abilities become more complex. As children get older the need for help will decrease and parent’s assistance in activities will decrease. When the parents or caregivers level of support or assistance decreases this is known as scaffolding (Santrock, 2008). Eventually parents are there as observers for the most part but still need to help with a little bit of guidance.

The ideal socioemotional development would be the development of the self. The development of self involves; emotional development, moral development, as well as gender role development. Children begin to develop the “self” around two years of age. They forget failures quickly and approach new areas o explore without fear, even if it may be dangerous (Santrock, 2008). They also begin to hear their conscience at this stage. They begin to understand when they are doing something they shouldn’t be doing. They begin to hear the “inner voices” of self-observation, self-guidance, and self-punishment (Santrock, 2008). At eighteen months children are able to recognize themselves in a mirror and around age two, a sense of me emerges (Santrock, 2008). Children’s emotional development also increases at this stage of life. They begin to feel pride, embarrassment, guilt, etc. Children begin to distinguish between their different moods. They know when they are happy, mad, sad, angry, and tired etc. They also begin to be able to talk about their emotions and others emotions (Santrock, 2008). Another thing that they begin to do during this stage is how to understand and manage their emotions in a social setting as they get older (Santrock, 2008). At this stage children also develop morally through the influence of their caregivers. They develop moral feelings, reasoning, and behavior. Children also develop an understanding of their “gender role”. Little girls spend more time playing house and playing the “mommy role” where as little boys spend more time building things, playing games like cops and robbers, and playing rough with friends. Children gain the understanding of these roles through observing the people around them. If a little boy lives in a house where the daddy never helps clean he will gain the understanding that that is a “woman’s job” where as a little boy who lives in a house where both parents help with cleaning he will develop an understanding that it is a shared job.

Foundation of Psychology Continued

What toys should parents choose for their child to promote ideal physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development?

Toys and activities that parents should choose for their children to develop physically, cognitively, and socioemotionally are typically the same for each age group from infant to preschool. They do however vary in types of toys, for example, an infant or toddler would be playing with bead puzzles, the large beads that slide on the metal rods and the preschoolers would play with jigsaw puzzles. This would help them develop their motor skills. They also need books and blocks to develop their minds and their imaginations. They also need dress up areas and art to help build their imaginations. They need sensory stuff such as the books that have pages to touch and smell as well as objects that can build their senses. Children also need climbers and playgrounds as well as balls and tricycles to help them develop physically and gain muscle control.

There are many things parents can do to insure the development in these areas, the most important being taking a positive role in your child’s life. Don’t assume they are learning these things at daycare or are read to at daycare so you don’t need to do that same at home. Parents can insure good physical development through working with your children on activities such as puzzles, blocks, art, and other large and small motor activities. They also need to make sure they are living a healthy life style. Meaning; eating healthy, being active, and not smoking. For cognitive development parents should read to their children and work on activities to develop their memory by playing games that involve remembering things, such as memory. For best socioemotional development parents should set a good example of how to deal with emotions and talk to their children about emotions. They should also avoid over reacting to a child’s poor behavior and redirect them to other behaviors in a positive way. Parents reactions to their children’s behavior has a big influence on the child’s development of self (Argosy, 2008). Also how parents deal with their own emotions affects how a child will deal with them. Parents can have an influence over their child’s emotions on how they even talk to the child about them. Parents can be described as taking an emotion-coaching or an emotion-dismissing approach (Santrock, 2008). Parents have a great deal of influence over all developmental stages of a child’s life and they need to make sure they are taking a positive part in their child’s development, not a negative.

 References:

Argosy. (2008). Socio-emotional development in early childhood. Retrieved March 10, 2008 from http://myeclassonline.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=2895408&CPURL=myeclassonline.com&Survey=1&47=4220923&ClientNodeID=404511&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Santrock, J. W. (2008). Life-Span Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

  

Applied Psychology

Describe how a counselor or therapist will use the Integrative approach in Sabina’s case. The Integrative approach is the purposeful application of two or more of the seven theories analyzed in this case. Psychoanalytic, Adlerian, Existential, Person-centered, Gestalt, Behavior, and Cognitive Behavior.

When looking at these 7 different approaches of therapy there would be many conclusions that a counselor, depending on their background in these approaches, would conclude about her. Each approach looks at clients slightly differently than the rest of the approaches and focuses on different techniques. “Every orientation has its own place and its own use in therapy (Argosy, 2009). It is more important to keep your clients best interest in mind and which approach would best suite them.

Looking at the Psychoanalytic approach in therapy a counselor would believe that the things she is struggling with stem from Sabina’s childhood and the conflicts she faced then. They would believe that in some critical stage in Sabina’s development during childhood something was not met. The goals that a counselor would hope to meet with Sabina in this type of counseling would be to help her make the unconscious conscious and to reconstruct the basic personality (Corey, 2009). They will also work with her on reliving childhood experiences and find a way to work through the conflict that was never solved (Corey, 2009). The therapists function with Sabina would be to remain neutral and have very little self disclosure with the client (Corey, 2009). The therapist is there to encourage the client to open up and disclose their own experiences and not use their own personal experience to counsel. Some of the techniques used would be free association, interpretation, dream analysis, and analysis of transference (Corey, 2009). She may experience fear, uneasiness, or she may experience relief. She will start out with face to face counseling and may end up using a couch after a few sessions.

When using the Adlerian approach with Sabina the counselor would look at her situation and see is she feels she is meeting her goals and if she has achievable goals. The goals of this therapy approach would be to help Sabina set achievable goals that she wants to meet to make her feel more like she has a purpose here. Another goal is to also help her gain confidence in herself. The therapists function is to help is to work with Sabina figure out what her mistakes are and set goals with her that she can meet but give her something to strive for. The relationship between Sabina and her therapist would be one of mutual respect and trust as well as a joint responsibility in her progress (Corey, 2009). Some techniques that the therapist may use with her are encouragement, gathering life history data, and helping clients search for new possibilities (Corey, 2009). She may experience discouragement and resistance to change or repeating of behaviors.

Applied Psychology Cont.

The Existential approach would lead her therapist to believe that she has chosen the life she is in and she has the power to choose to change that life. They would believe that she has the ability to decide her fate (Corey, 2009). The goals that the therapist would have for Sabina in these therapy sessions is for her to realize that she does have this control over her life and realize all of her possibilities. Also to help her realize she does have the power to create her life, good or bad. The therapist’s relationship with Sabina would be to help her understand and get a hang of what her purpose is in this world. Sabina can expect her therapist to use techniques such as addressing her freedoms and responsibilities, isolation and relationships etc (Corey, 2009).

Now we will look at what would be expected if Sabina’s therapist would use the Person-centered approach. That Sabina is not reaching her full potential because of the things that are surrounding her. She has the ability to strive for to reach her full potential but things are standing in the way of that. The goals that are hoped to be achieved in this therapeutic approach are for Sabina to self explore in order to find the things that are blocking their full growth potential (Corey, 2009). The relationship between Sabina and her therapist is crucial to this type of approach; they need to have a genuine and trusting relationship. The therapists function as well as techniques used is listening, helping to reflect on feelings, clarification, and being there for their client (Corey, 2009). She will possibly feel or experience feelings that were denied before and an increase in trust in her self and feeling like she’s got direction and purpose.

When taking the Gestalt approach with Sabina the therapist may believe that her inside doesn’t match her outside. In other words she may feel beautiful on the outside but inside she may feel depressed and unattractive. Some goals would be to achieve a feeling of wholeness and strengthen her capacity to make choices. The therapists techniques and function are to help Sabina confront her real issues, take responsibility for their choices, and may use what is called the empty chair technique (Argosy, 2009). This is when the therapist has the client conduct dialogue between its conflicting self. The therapist is to help assist their client in discovering their own interpretation not interpreting for them.

When analyzing Sabina’s case using the Behavioral approach a counselor would believe that she has learned her behaviors, such as needing her husbands praise to feel good, from others around her. The goals of this therapeutic approach are for Sabina to learn more effective behaviors and try to end her negative behaviors (Corey, 2009). Help her gain confidence. The therapists function would be to identify the conditions by gathering information on the situation, and the consequences (Corey, 2009). The therapist’s job is to help teach Sabina skills on how to change these behaviors. Some techniques that are used are reinforcement, shaping, relaxation methods, modeling, and flooding (Corey, 2009).

Applied Psychology Cont.

Lastly when looking at the Cognitive behavior approach a therapist would believe that Sabina is unaware of her negative behaviors and thoughts and they will help her to become conscious of them. Goals that are set for this type of therapy are confronting faulty beliefs, to minimize these beliefs, and to become aware of automatic thoughts and how to change them (Corey, 2009). The therapist is to be there for support and unconditional acceptance of Sabina. The therapist functions almost like a teacher in this therapeutic approach (Corey, 2009). Some techniques used are debating irrational beliefs, gathering data on assumptions the client has made, and learning new coping skills (Corey, 2009).

These are all very different but very similar approaches in therapy. During all of these counseling sessions Sabina is likely to experience discouragement, anger, sadness, growth, peace, calmness, and many other emotions. In each therapy approach the desired outcome is for Sabina to lead a more fulfilling life. Another outcome would be for Sabina to set goals for herself and to find her purpose in life. It is also for her to gain confidence and a sense of self worth. No matter what type of approach one uses they hope for a positive outcome and a person who walks away with confidence and a better sense of themselves.   

References:

Argosy University (2009). PSY400 Counseling Theories. Retrieved on June 29, 2009 from: http://myeclassonline.com

Corey, Gerald (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. 8th Ed. Thomson Brooks/ Cole. California.

Interpersonal Effectiveness

Diversity

We age with everyday and one day we will all be grouped into the group known as the elderly. Some people embrace this but most fear the thought of getting old. Society fears the thought of not being independent, beautiful, and young. Our culture values these things so the thought of not having it is a frightening one. In a society where people turn to cosmetic surgery, botox, and breast implants to avoid the aging process, how can we learn to accept this process? There is only so long though that you can avoid the inevitable.

When I think of the elderly now I typically have a negative attitude toward them. The elderly people I have been exposed to in my life have always been angry ones. When I was a child my great grandpa threw shoes at us if we went into his room, but it was to get his Oreo cookies. I feel bad that I have a negative view towards them because I have met many kind elderly people, but for some reason they still seem to scare me. I don’t know if my fear of them stems from the fear of becoming older one day or just because of who I have been exposed to, or maybe a little of both. I also however feel bad for them because they don’t have the same independence they once had and the things that use to be so simple to them are now becoming more difficult. Which, I guess thinking that all of them are this way would be one of my biases toward the elderly.

My biases, prejudices, and stereotypes that I have towards the elderly are, like I said previously, that they are mean or angry and that they are dependent on others. I tend to hold most of the same biases that many people do towards the elderly. I assume all elderly people have physical and mental illnesses and are usually isolated from society (Argosy, 2009). I am aware that not all elderly people hold true to my stereotypes that I believe but I feel that many do. Most elderly people I’ve seen or met have had some type of physical or mental illness. My grandmother for instance, once my grandpa died has started to slip and we believe she has developed some type of mental illness. She has told stories such as, she went to Michael Jackson funeral and sat next to his children, but this never happened. She refuses to admit she is sick and still tells us she went to the doctor yesterday and they say she’s perfectly healthy. Her stories are told like it was yesterday, when in actuality it was weeks, months or years ago. Most of the elderly are put into homes to be taken care of, there they are still exposed to people and are taken outside but they aren’t out in society and seeing what’s going on, they are isolated from it.

The thought of growing old definitely scares me. I am scared of getting old because I’m not good at depending on other people, so the thought of having to depend on others scares me. Also the thought of maybe not remembering my family is a scary thought, I would never want to put my family through the pain of me not remembering them. Also I know with agecomes the increase of chances of losing loved ones and the loss of my family would be devastating for me. However, if I do live to be a good ripe old age I hope that I

Interpersonal Effectiveness

have made a difference in the people’s lives around me. I hope to leave my family with a sense of security and a deep love for the people around them. I hope to teach my family to be accepting and forgiving and to help others in need. I hope when I die that I have helped change the life of someone that was in need.

Growing old can be a very scary thing but if you live your life to the fullest and do the things you always hoped to do; you may be able to look at it as another milestone. If you can leave a lasting affect on someone when you go, it makes it all worth it in the end.

References

Argosy University (2009). Diversity. Retrieved on December 13, 2009 from: http://myeclassonline.com

My Future in Learning

Learning does not only take place in a classroom,

we learn from the people and the experiences

that we encounter throughout life.

My plan to continue learning

is to further my education in Psychology

and one day finish my Masters.

Once I am working in the field

I will continue to learn from co-workers,

clients, family and friends.

Learning is never done,

there is always something that someone else can teach us

or show us that we have yet to experience.

Contact Me

Thank you for viewing my ePortfolio.

For further information, please contact me at the e-

mail address below. jessica_leatrice@yahoo.com