Child Development PSYC 3201 Instructions for Child Development Reflection Paper

Child Development
PSYC 3201
Instructions for Child Development Reflection Paper:
-This paper is intended to provide students with an opportunity to incorporate concepts learned
during the course of the semester as they reflect on their own personal development through infancy
and childhood. This is a biography style paper and should be 4-5 pages, typed, double-spaced, with
size 12 font. Your paper must have a title, preferably a creative one.
1. You may interview adults close to you for stories about particular milestones, such as your
first words or when you first walked, etc.
2. You should discuss your personal development in relation to the topics covered in the
course, incorporating specific terms and concepts learned.
3. Discuss different childhood stages in chronological order, discussing your prenatal period,
infancy, preschool, and middle childhood. These chronological periods are the subtitles for
your paper.
4. Examples of topics to discuss under each childhood stage subtitle follow:
A. Prenatal Development
a. Do any dominant & recessive gene diseases run in the family?
b. Mother’s smoking, drinking, nutrition, weight gain during pregnancy, stress, age,
prenatal care/complications
B. Infancy
a. Full term? Premature? Birth complications?
b. Birth Weight – If low birth weight discuss the risks
c. Breast feeding? How long?
d. Illnesses
e. Temperament (Easy, Slow to Warm Up, Difficult, Average?)
f. Attachment to mother/other caretakers (securely, avoidant, etc. attached? And
what were caretakers’ behavior? warm/responsive?)
g. Cognitive stimulation (being read to, etc.)
h. Sleep habits: laid on back to sleep or stomach? (talk about risks for SIDS)
C. Preschool/Middle Childhood
a. Peer experiences (popularity, neglect, rejection, etc.)
b. Illnesses
c. Traumatic experiences
d. Academic experiences (success, failure, etc.)
e. Parental discipline (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive)
f. Type of praise used by parents (did they praise ability or effort?)
5. Finish your paper with a summary paragraph, discussing your past, present, and future
developmental trajectory (path).
6. Your paper will be graded using the following criteria:
a. How well written your paper is:
• Your paper should have a clear organization or outline guiding the paragraph topics.
• Each paragraph should focus on only one topic and should have a topic sentence.
• Paragraphs should have transition sentences to lead the reader from paragraph to
paragraph.
• Each sentence should be clear and concise.
• Explain each point fully and clearly.
b. How well you relate your personal developmental life history to the content covered in
this course. Put real thought and effort into integrating the content of this course into
your discussion.
Come up with anything, just please make it a reflection paper that goes based off all the questions and rules