5. CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

WARM-UP

Open answers

  1. When I was born I weighed …. pounds/kilos and I was ….inches/centimetres long. Students should answer the second part of the question very personally. They should be able to answer question b. too and work on the growth curves on their own. They are already given examples at page 44.

EXERCISES

5.1. Reading comprehension (p. 46)

  1. 3 to 8 months.
  2. when they are newborn.
  3. 24 to 36 months.
  4. 4 to 5 years.
  5. 24 to 36 months.
  6. 3 to 4 years.

5.2. Vocabulary building (p. 46)

  1. Babble
  2. Crawlers
  3. Sturdy
  4. Make-believe
  5. Scribbling
  6. Spellings

GRAMMAR PRACTICE

5.3 Gapfill (p. 46)

1. don’t worry

2. should consult

3. shouldn’t be

4. pay

5. don’t let

6. don’t hesitate

7. don’t force

8. should introduce

9. don’t be

10.wait

5.4 Gapfill (p. 47)

  1. Can’t
  2. Can
  3. May
  4. Mustn’t
  5. Can’t
  6. Can’t
  7. Don’t have to
  8. May not
  9. Must
  10. Can

ACTIVITIES

5.5 Listening comprehension (p. 47)

  1. growth.
  2. Work
  3. Imaginative
  4. Skills
  5. Tool
  6. 0-1 year
  7. Touching, banging, mouthing, throwing, pushing
  8. 12-21 months
  9. 2 years
  10. Play with a shoebox pretending it’s a schoolbus; pretend to eat a plastic ring saying it’s a doughnut
  11. 30-36 months

5.6. Speaking (p. 48)

Student B: Hello, my child is 2 years old and I think she may be a bit behind in her development.

Student A: How old is your child?

B: She is 23 months.

A: What’s her weight and how tall is she?

B: She weighs 11,5 kilos and she is 84 cm high.

A: What exactly are you worried about ?

B: I think she has a physical and cognitive slowdown.

A: At what age did she start walking?

B: She started walking at 18 months. Now she can walk speedily but does not run.

A: Well, some children do not start running until after 25 months. Let me ask you another question. Can she understand you whenever you talk to her?

B: Well, she understands orders and directions but she seems to have problems in understanding two-steps orders, i.e. “get your doll and bring it here”. Sometimes she recognizes parts of the body but does not name them, she just indicates pictures of them.

A: Are you saying she has a difficult communicative approach?

B: On the whole she does not say much, she can say 30 single words, although not all of them are understandable. How can I do to develop her vocabulary and to make her express herselfverbally?

A: Don’t worry if she speaks little. She is developing her language and her attitude towards the outer world. How would you describe her social behaviour?

B: She is very solitary, she likes feeding her dolls and she does not have any interest in other kids.

A: I see. Is there a particular activity she enjoys doing?

B: Yes, there is. She enjoys helping round the house.

A. As you are saying she is solitary but she has at least one interest. Youmay encourage her to play with other kids of her age in a kindergarten. She is likely to develop her communicative social behaviour. Could you tell me if there are other behavioural aspects which you are concerned with?

B: Yes, neither she feeds herself nor she drinks from cup. She is always drinking from bottle.

A: This is not a serious problem, but you should teach her that if she wants to drink she must use a cup otherwise she won’t have anything to drink. The idea is: No cup, no water! Considering that she does not cooperate whenever it’s time for meal, is there a particular situation in which she cooperates well?

B: Yes, she cooperates when we go to bed in the evening and she lets me help her taking off her clothes.

A: So, I wouldn’t be worried with the situation of your child if I was you. He’s learning how to discover the world around her. She is likely to be a little bit shy but from what you told me she doesn’t have any developmental problems and you don’t need to consult a specialist. You have to wait and follow your child’s needs.

EXERCISES

5.7. Reading comprehension (p.49)

a.F

b.T

c.T

d.F

e.T

f.F

g.T

h.T

i.F

j.F

5.8. Matching (p.50)

1.c

2.f

3.a

4.b

5.g

6.h

7.e

8.d

GRAMMAR PRACTICE

5.9 Verb/noun identification (p. 50)

Concern, concern

Refer, referral

Develop, development

Comprehend, comprehension

Use, use

Respond, response

Fail, failure

Enjoy, enjoyment

Lose, loss

Impair, impairment

Limit, limitation

Imitate, imitation

Recognise, recognition

Prefer, preference

Relate, relationship

Behave, behaviour

Change, change

5.10 Gapfill(p.51)

  1. delays
  2. impairment
  3. referral
  4. lack
  5. failure
  6. preference

5. 11 Matching(p.51)

1 when d

2. as soon as a

3. when b

4. When h

5. as soon as c

6. when f

7. as soon as e

8. while g

EXERCISES

5.12 Matching (p. 53)

a. 3

b. 1

c. 2

d. 4

5. 13 Reading comprehension (p. 53)

  1. Because its causes are elusive and its symptoms are similar to those of other conditions.
  2. 3 to 7 percent of the schoolage population.
  3. social problems, depression, failed relationship, substance abuse etc.
  4. a treatment which relies on medical, educational, behavioural and psychological interventions.
  5. In most cases it is an integral part of the treatment.
  6. Ritalin, Concerta, Metadate, Focali, Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat.
  7. It is quite difficult, as dosage varies from patient to patient.

ACTIVITIES

5.14 Speaking (p. 53)

On the one hand, Ritalin is thought to be ineffective because it only influences spontaneous behaviour. On the other, it is thought to regenerate children affected by autism, as one mother states. This case shows how this kind of drug can calm the child’s nerves down and let him behave as any other child of his age.

5.15 Writing(p. 54)

For

Medicationusually provides an integral part for treating young children with behavioural problems and I completely agree with its use. Today scientistshave investigated cases in which the use of drugs haspositive effects on children suffering from Attention Deficit or Hyperactivity Disorder. It is known that families need a support because they have to cope with serious problems they cannot face alone. On this aspect medicine has achieved great results and has improved not only the life of children affected by such diseases but also the life of their families.

Against

Medication usually provides an integral part for treating young children with behavioural problems. However, it is generally thought that they only alleviate the disease effects. Parents who decide to give their child drugs are well aware of the fact that their child will never recover. So what’s the point of using drugs? As any medication the patient may have side-effects. Prolonged usage may provoke serious damage on the personality making the condition even worse.