Life Stages: Adolescence and Mddle Adulthood

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*Life stages

[Present] a case study paper that describes a hypothetical person in two stages of life development.

(1) View the person as a hypothetical client if you are studying Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA).

The Applied Behavior theory is based on principles of conditioning or altering behavior. It is a systematic approach to changing behaviors through the principles of conditioning. The technique focuses on how children change or modify behaviors in responses to influences that occur through their environment, or how the child or children) can unlearn bad behaviors. Applied behavior analysis is often used to develop educational and/or treatment techniques for disturbed children that can be conducive in a school or residential setting. Bjou (2000) sets forth five essential steps to characterize a behavioral approach that can be useful for treating children with a disability or problem behavior that include: (a) ameliorating the problem, (b) devising a program to weaken undesirable behavior and strengthen desirable behavior, (c) using behavioral principles to implement the treatment program, (d) maintaining adequate and accurate records, and (e) altering the program if improvement is needed.

(2) The goal of this answer is for you to present a developmental profile of a person in two concurrent stages of life (e.g., early and middle childhood) explaining their individual growth using biological, social, psychosocial, cognitive, and environmental theories. Select the scenario that corresponds to your concentration track, and then, choose two successive developmental stages.

*Two concurrent life stages of a developmental profile for the proposed client are the periods of middle and late childhood and adolescence.

(a) Middle and late childhood

Middle and late childhood is the developmental period that takes place within the period times of 5 to 11 years. In middle childhood considerable progress takes place in children's physical development. According to Santrock (2006), the period of middle and late childhood is when a slow, consistent growth takes place, and proportional changes are among the most pronounced physical changes in middle and late adulthood, with head circumference, waist conference, and leg length. (p. 293). For example, children grow taller, heavier, and stronger (Santrock, 2006). In addition, during middle and late childhood, children's motor skills become more coordinated than in childhood. The fundamental skills are the elementary skills of reading, writing and arithmetic (p. 18). Achievement becomes an important part of the child's well being. Executive functioning (EF) is associated with a wide variety of psychiatric disorders with childhood onset. Even in healthy children, individual differences in EF are associated with important developmental outcomes, including school readiness during early childhood (Prencipe, Kesek, Cohen, Lamm, Lewis, & Zelazo (2011).

(B) Adolescence

Adolescence is the transitional period from childhood to early adulthood beginning from the age of 10 to 12 years and ending at 18 to 22 years of age (Santrock, 2006, p. 18). According to Santrock, adolescents incur a number of physical changes including dramatic gains in height, weight changes, and sexual characteristics. It is also a period for adolescents in which there is a heightened period in sexual development. In addition, according to Santrock, the fundamental thought process becomes more logical, abstract and idealistic.

(2) Create an outline of the client's different developmental features during each of the developmental periods. Write a response that follows the sample case study format (see below the scenarios). You must use at least five primary source references that are from peer-reviewed journals and the class text.

Profile of Client - N

(a) Age range: Middle and late childhood, 5 to 11 ...