AMY BIRTH TO 18 YEARS OLD

Amy birth to 18 years old Svitlana Simpson Salt Lake Community College

AMY BIRTH TO 18 YEARS OLD

Amy was born to parents who are both college educated. Amys father is an electrical engineer and Amys mother is a Registered Nurse. Amys parents have been married for 5 years; their ages are 34 and 35. Both of Amys parents are Caucasian. Amy and her family live in Malibu California. The area is an upscale neighborhood and they have plenty of social support. Amys grandparents live in the same neighborhood and often assist her mom and dad with childcare when their work schedules conflict. Amys parents also have the help of their next door neighbors who have a two year old of their own and often lend support with childcare. Both of the parents have good health; there is no major health problem history in either family. Amys mother was careful before and during the pregnancy. Amys mother did not drink alcohol, smoke or put herself in an area that would expose the fetus to large amounts of teratogens, because Amys mother lived in the clean air environment of Malibu California there was little pollution exposure (Berger, 2010, chapter 2, 73). The conception was normal; there was no need for artificial incrimination or need for a surrogate. Amy was born a healthy baby 8 pounds and 12 ounces and 21 inches long. Amy was a full term baby at 39 weeks and was delivered normally without need for cesarean section (Berger, 2010, chapter 2, 63). Amys prenatal development was perfect without problems. Amy developed normally from the germinal period to birth. Just as all infants must do, Amy started out as a single zygote that multiplied into about 10 trillion cells (Berger, 2010, chapter 2, 58). Amys sonogram, which was performed around the end of the third month, revealed all healthy structure of a normal fetus (Berger, 2010, chapter 2, 61). Amys finally bill of health was done using the Apgar scale, she had good scores on heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, color and reflexes (Berger, 2010, chapter 2, 63). Amys mother has chosen to breast feed her and she will also use a breast pump to save and store extra milk when Amy needs it.

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Amys sleep schedule as a new born was like most others, she slept for about one or two hours and then was awake for changing and feeding. Amy will need to sleep a lot to help increase body weight and brain maturation (Berger, 2010, chapter 3, 93). Amy is a pleasure to take care of even though she is awake during the night every few hours. Often Amy gets upset and cranky during the night and must be soothed and comforted by Mom and Dads touch, this is more and more comforting to Amy because she can recognize who the caregiver is at the time of comforting (Berger, 2010, chapter 3, 99). Amys parents adjusted properly and made sure that her every need was met. As the months of development continued Amy progressed to the age of 3 months old. Amy is now able to support her own head while sitting on Mom and Dads lap (Berger, 2010, chapter 3, 95). As Amy continued to grow older she hit all of her early mile stones as the months went by. At age of 6 months Amy was able to sit unsupported, at 9 months was able to walk while holding on to Mom and Dads hands, and at 11 months she was already walking (Berger, 2010, chapter 3, 95). Amy was now mobile throughout the house and Mom and Dad made sure to baby proof the house. There were child locks on doors, toilet seats, cupboards and cabinets and electrical safety devices installed in all the outlets in the home. As time went on and Amy got older all of her senses developed properly. Amy showed all the signs of progressing in the Six Stages of Sensory Motor Intelligence. As the months went by Amys parents observed each stage: Stage one (Birth to 1 month): Amy is sucking, grasping, staring and listening, Stage two (one to four months): Amy has accommodation and coordination of reflexes; she can suck her pacifier differently from a nipple and grabs at her bottle to suck it, Stage three (four to eight months): Amy now has made interesting sights last by responding to objects and people, example when mom plays peak a boo with here or someone claps in the room, Stage four (eight to twelve months): Amy has adaptation and anticipation

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when she responds to people and objects just like when Amy plays patty-cake with Mom, Stage five (twelve to eighteen months): Amy now experiments like a little scientist, she is able to put things in the toilet and flush it to see what happens, Stage Six ( eighteen to twenty four months old): Amy now has demonstrated new mental combination capabilities by understanding that if she puts objects in the toilet that made it overflow last time she will now hesitate before performing the same action (Berger, 2010, chapter 3, 107). Amy was like most children, she

was doing her best to interact with mom and dad. By the age of one she said her first word Mama which was on normal pace with other children of the same age (Berger, 2010, chapter 3, 113). Amys parents were so pleased with the daughter. Amy was the pride and joy of the family. It was almost time for Christmas and Amys parents were excited. On a trip to the mall to visit and get pictures with Santa when Amy was terrified when put on Santas lap for a picture. Amy was displaying common signs of stranger wariness, because even though Santa was friendly he is still a stranger to Amy (Berger, 2010, chapter 4, 125). Amys mom and dad were disappointed that they didnt get pictures with Santa but they understood their daughters emotions. Amys parents realized that she had her own self awareness now because Amy realized her body, mind and actions are now separate from other people (Berger, 2010, chapter 4, 126). Amy used lots of new speech involving I statements and was able to pretend when playing. While Amy was home with Mom and Dad she was watching an episode of Tom and Jerry cartoon. In the cartoon, Jerry the mouse hit Tom the cat with ball. After watching the episode Amys mom and dad observed that she then hit their cat with a ball. This action of mimicking the violent act shown on the cartoon is an example of social learning (Berger, 2010,

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chapter 4, 132). Amys mom and dad realized that they needed to sit down with Amy and explain to her that hitting the cat was not o.k. Amy was getting older and it showed in her maturity in the later years of her being a toddler. Amys prefrontal cortex had matured to the point where she was now able to curb temper tantrums, keep emotions more nuanced and responsive and slept more on a regular schedule (Berger, 2010, chapter 5, 168). When Amy got into trouble her new maturity showed the most because she didnt break out into a temper tantrum. Although Amy was now more mature she still viewed the world from her own perspective displaying egocentrism (Berger, 2010, chapter 5, 170). Amy often displayed egocentrism by thinking that every little girl had a mommy and daddy just like she did. Amy often made comments about this when she went to the park with her parents and asked why this other girl never had her daddy with her. Amy often learned through scaffolding when her parents would teach her a new skill, like holding her hand and showing her to look both ways when crossing the street or sliding down the slide with her at the park so that she is not scared (Berger, 2010, chapter 5, 174). Amy was a joy to have in the house and her parents read to her every night before bed. Amys mom and dad were impressed at the speed in which she used new words she heard during story time. Amy was displaying fastmapping by using new words from story time because she would tell her mommy and daddy after she leaned about butterflies that butter must come from butterflies (Berger, 2010, chapter 5, 179). Amy often liked to paint pictures with water colors about what she did with her parents. Amy would try her best to make the pictures as good as she could being only 5 years old. Amy had a lot of intrinsic motivation about painting and making it as perfect as she could because she liked it so much (Berger, 2010, chapter 6, 200). When Amy was asked to clean up her toys in

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her room she often required extrinsic motivation because Amys mom and dad had to reward her for cleaning her room (Berger, 2010, chapter 6, 200). Amy was such an easy going child for her mom and dad. Amys parents preferred the permissive style of parenting, they gave Amy all the love and nurturing she needed, talked and communicated often with her but were not big on the discipline factor (Berger, 2010, chapter 6, 210). This parenting style allowed Amy and her parents to live in harmony because Amy was a well natured child they did not feel the need to control her every action. Amys parents were happy they were not into physical punishments; they used more forms of time outs and talks to get their point across. Amys parents were reminded of the fact not to punish their child when watching family movie in which a child who was often spanked or slapped turned into a bully later in life (Berger, 2010, chapter 6, 218). Amy now reached age 10 and was as active as ever. Amy didnt suffer from childhood obesity like some of the other children in her school because her parents maintained a healthy diet for her and encouraged physical activity. Amy benefited from the increased activity, she was not obese, and she showed appreciation for cooperation and fair play and had respect for teammates and opponents from other ethnicities and nationalities when she played on her soccer team (Berger, 2010, chapter 7, 237). Amys parents loved watching their daughter play soccer. Amy had a real passion for soccer and was the teams top scorer. Amys reaction time was critical factor in her ability to be the teams leading scorer because she was able to respond to stimulus much quicker than other children of her age (Berger, 2010, chapter 7, 243). Amy loved where she lived in Malibu California. The air was clean and the water was sparkling. This love of her environment made Amy very aware of pollution in other areas and a

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need to keep Malibu clean and beautiful. To say the least at the young age of 11 Amy was an environmentalist. Amy learned all of this because she had a knowledge base from her parents and environment (Berger, 2010, chapter 7, 242). Amys love for the Malibu coast line allowed her to spend time with her parents who loved to sail. One day while out near the shore a storm broke out and Amy was terrified by the tossing and turning of the boat while mom and dad tried to get the sail boat safely to shore. No loss of life happened that day but the stress of the event was evident in Amy. Because Amy had a strong social support she showed true resilience when she wanted to get back out on the boat the next weekend (Berger, 2010, chapter 8, 277-278). Both Amys grandparents, parents and neighbors friends played a large role in her social support system. This strong support system allowed Amy to be successful throughout her life into high school and later into college when the stress of her academic pressures got high. During high school Amy had to deal with puberty like everyone else. Amys like most girls in high school was concerned with body image. Amy was tall and thin, and ensured she dieted and continued to exercise to maintain her ideal body image (Berger, 2010, chapter 9, 317). Amys group in school were all tall skinny pretty girls. Amy noticed that one of her friends was getting extremely thin. Amys friend suffered from anorexia nervosa, she self starved herself and often over exercised (Berger, 2010, chapter 9, 318). Amy and her parents were able to help her friend get treatment for her anorexia nervosa. Another thing Amy had to deal with was STD education. Amy was abstinent and was not considering sex until marriage, but some of her friends were active. Amy did not want to engage in sex in part because teenagers have higher rates of gonorrhea, genital herpes, and Chlamydia (Berger, 2010, chapter 9, 322). Amy made it through high school and then went off to the University of Utah to study to be a doctor. Amys parents were very proud of how their daughter had matured and developed.

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Reference List: Berger, K.S. (2010) Invitation to the Life Span. New York, New York: Worth Publishers.