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2111 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

2111 Physical Development

Madeline Sharpe
The University of Memphis

2111 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Obesity
1. Obesity
1. Having too much body fat can cause obesity, which leads to many health and
emotional difficulties (Winsor, Murrell, & Magun- Jackson, 2015).
2. Childhood Development
3. Knowing when children develop certain characteristic during Childhood may help
in understanding why a child may be gaining weight at a more rapid speed.
1. Prader-Willi Syndrome causing obesity
1. Prader-Willi Syndrome is a genetic disorder and most who have it are short in
stature, have intellectual disabilities, and behavioral problems due to a constant
hunger (Hoybye, 2013).
2. Hunger, body fat, constant, genetic
3. Prader-Willi syndrome causes a constant hunger, which can lead to obesity
meaning parents have to watch their kids diet daily.
4. Many children with Prader-Willi Syndrome will steal and hoard food so they can
come back later and eat whatever they want which can cause problems within a

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household (Salehi, Leavitt, Beck, Chen, & Roth, 2015).

1. For the past few summers I have volunteered at Camp Conquest, which is a camp for
children and adults with special needs. One of the campers, Ben, who has autism, also
has a rare disorder known as Prader-Willi Syndrome. This disorder causes the person to
always feel hungry and never feel fool. Although his parents keep to a strict diet and
times he can eat it still is very hard for him to control his eating. Unlike most children
Ben has difficulty communicating and forming relationships with people as well as not
being able to stray away from change in his daily routine because of his autism. It is
already hard enough for him at home with people he knows telling him when to eat and
what to eat but when he comes to camp the change causes him stress, which may lead
him to lash out on his volunteer. When most people are hungry they get mad until they
eat which is just how Ben reacts but he is constantly hungry unlike most. It is really sad
to seen Ben so angry and sad all the time but watching his diet is more important than
him being happy because if his parents let him eat whatever and whenever he would be
obese and probably dying. So many of us take so much for granted that we dont stop to
think maybe someone has is harder than us and in this case Ben does.
1. Type of Development
1. Neural
2. Most of Bens hunger is coming from his brain sending it to his stomach
constantly

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References:
Hoybye, C. (2013). Prader-willi syndrome. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Salehi, P., Leavitt, A., Beck, A.E., Chen, M. L., & Roth, C. L. (2015). Obesity management in
Prader- Willi syndrome. Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews PER, 12(3), 297-307.
Winsor, D.L., Murrell, V.S., & Magun- Jackson, S. (2015). Lifespan development: An
educational psychology perspective. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.
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