19 month developmental examiner's report

Virtual Writing Assignment 1

Discussion Question

Why do you think most expectant mothers become emotionally attached to their unborn children during the third trimester? Support your opinion with information from the chapter describing developmental changes for both the mother and baby. Remember to use in-text citations

Virtual Child Assignment #1 Essay Questions

Run the program through 30 months (up until age 3) – Infant/toddler physical, cognitive and emotional development (30 points possible)

Answer the questions concisely, yet thoroughly, citing specific examples from your experiences raising your Virtual Child.

Download the assignment with a word processing program (I recommend Microsoft Word). You can either open it and save it as a word document in order to complete the form or copy and paste it into a new word document. Type your responses to the essay questions within the document in the spaces provided. Use full sentences and paragraphs to answer the question set. Save your assignment onto your computer or storage device for a backup copy. Submit your assignment as an attachment on the assignment link.

Each response should be written in paragraph form (at least 4 sentences per paragraph). A good answer will address every part of the question, will describe the child’s behavior and provide 1 – 2 supporting examples. Don’t just state something is going on—provide examples. How do you know?

College level writing is expected. Your score will be reduced by 3 points for five to nine grammatical/punctuation/spelling errors, 5 points for ten to fourteen errors, 10 points for fifteen to nineteen errors, 15 points for 20 or more grammatical/punctuation/spelling errors.

Do not copy information from the program—rephrase it in your own words. In addition, whenever possible relate your descriptions and explanations of the child’s behavior to the concepts, theories, and research covered in the textbook (use in-text citations). Please avoid expressing an unfounded opinion—try to base your arguments on research studies and conclusions, or a theory that seems well supported by the research in the field.

A scoring guide follows each question. Compare your response to the expectations described.

1. Introduce your new baby! Did you have a boy or a girl? What is your child's name? How did the delivery go? Include time and date born (when you created your child) and any other medical information that you feel is important about your child’s birth. Describe your child's eating, sleeping and motor development (movement) in the first nine months. Begin at birth and describe how these things progressed through the first 9 months. Examples include how well your baby slept, how many hours at a stretch; was your baby breast or bottle fed? How was your child’s tolerance for food? When did he/she begin solid food? When did your baby begin to sit up, crawl, stand and/or walk? How does your child’s development compare to typical developmental patterns? How do you know? Support your response with evidence of typical developmental milestones described in the text.

Type your response here:

Scoring: _____/2 points for a thorough introduction of your child, 2 points each for describing your child's _____/2 eating, _____/2 sleeping and _____/2 motor development up to nine months and _____/2 points for comparing these to the typical developmental patterns (10 points)

2. Analyze your baby’s temperament at 8 months and again at 19 months. At eight months was your child "easy," "slow to warm up" or "difficult" or a combinations of two of the categories based on Thomas and Chess' classic temperamental categories (textbook p. 141-142). On what do you base this judgment--give examples. At 19 months, how would you describe your baby in terms of the five aspects of temperament utilized by the Virtual Child program (activity, sociability, emotionality, aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self-control) Give an example from each of these five areas. Has your child's temperament been stable over the first 18 months? Give examples. Explain how the concept of "goodness of fit" applies to your interactions with your child.

Type your response here:

Scoring: _____/1 point for describing the category and ______/2 points for a supporting observation of the Virtual Child's behavior. One point for giving a supporting example of each of the five aspects of temperament: _____/1 activity, _____/1 emotionality, _____/1, sociability, _____/1 aggressiveness, _____/1 self-control. _____/1 point for addressing the issue of stability and _____/1 point for discussing and giving an example of goodness of fit. (10 points)

3. Were you surprised by anything in the 19-month developmental examiner’s report? (Review the report at the end of the 19 month section by clicking on the timeline at the top of the program.) Does your perception of your child’s physical, cognitive, language and/or social development differ from that of the examiner’s report? Give a minimum of two specific examples of how your perception of your child’s development is similar or different from that of the developmental examiner. Provide specific examples from the program. Since everyone can improve their skills, write about some aspects of your child’s development that the need the most work. What could you do to help your child develop or enhance these skills? Based on what you have studied, do you think the areas of development you described are most likely the result of specific biological or environmental factors? Support your opinion with concepts from the text.

Type your response here:

Scoring: _____/4 points for describing at least two areas in which your perception of your child’s development is similar or different from that of the examiner’s report by providing examples from the report and your experiences. _____/4 points for describing at least two areas that need the most work or support. _____/2 points for a hypothesis and evidence regarding biological or environmental factors from the readings.