Blog 9 (Chapter 16)

When reading about adolescent depression and suicide on pages 448-451 of the textbook, I was astounded at the number of suicides which occur in the United States – one statistic on page 448 reports there is one teenage suicide every 90 minutes in the U.S. Today. I was diagnosed with melancholic depression at the age of 15 and put on antidepressants, so I know first hand how clinical depression feels and the hopelessness and despair that clouds your vision and makes the typical ups and downs of adolescence seem monumental. I first began exhibiting signs of depression at age 12, and this compounded with my move to a different state at age 13 (see previous post) I struggled for several years during early adolescence before getting the help I so desperately needed. Had I received help sooner than age 15, my ages of 13 and 14 would probably have been easier to cope with and less traumatic for me and my parents.

No one said growing up was easy, and if they did, they were fibbing. However, it is not normal to want to hurt yourself, to be preoccupied with death, to participate in self harming activities such as cutting oneself, or any of the other various symptoms of depression located in the textbook on pages 450-451. I feel it is the job of parents and educators alike to notice when any of their children or students are having a particularly tough time dealing with life, and to help them. This does not mean to immediately put the struggling child on antidepressants. Many times, the child simply needs someone to talk to and the reassurance that they are worthwhile individuals and do have a purpose and a reason for being. Perhaps had I not dealt with depression I would not be the person I am today, and I have to say I do like who I have become because I know I'm a good person and I wouldn't trade my life at the moment for anything in the world.

Blog 8 (Chapter 15)

Gender differences, specifically among college students, is discussed on pages 426-429 of the textbook and was a very informative read for me. One of the reasons I chose to attend a University with a small population of male students, was because I wanted adequate attention and extra help from my professors and I knew this would be more difficult for me to attain if I were to attend a University with a more equal amount of male and female students. It has long been known and discussed how teachers, some without even knowing it, treat their female students differently than their male students. Traditionally, males were thought to be more apt in electronic and mathematical ability so teachers teaching those subjects would spend more time lecturing and helping the male students. Whereas females have typically excelled in areas of art and human relations and thus teachers teaching in those subjects spend more time with their female students.

Teachers have recently begun to assess how differently they do teach to either gender and have also begun to spend more time and effort trying to create a more equal and fair learning environment for all students. However, it will take some time before everyone is able to simply see a human being who has strengths and weaknesses, rather than seeing a person of a specific gender. Another interesting idea to keep in mind is that maybe there are reasons why women tend to excel in humanities while men tend to excel in areas of mathematics and invention. Dating back to early men and women, women were typically in charge of raising their young and organizing their homes, while men were in charge of providing food and shelter for their women and children. Perhaps through years of evolution, we as women today still have an innate ability to care for others while men have an innate ability to calculate and invent. This does not mean that women cannot be good in math or that men cannot be good as social workers, however maybe it is simply scientific as to why women and men have different abilities and that it's OK for each gender to express those abilities as they grow and develop.

Blog 7 (Chapter 14)

On page 391 of the textbook, brain development is discussed and something caught my eye. The term myelination refers to the process where nerve cells are insulated by a covering of fat cells. This myelination increases during adolescence and it works to assist neural impulses to get from the brain to the various other parts of the body. I was diagnosed with M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis) in April of 2006. I had never studied M.S. prior to my diagnosis and since being diagnosed I have studied the process of myelination (or in my case demyelination) quite extensively. With M.S. the body attacks itself for unknown reasons and the covering of fat cells on each nerve cell is slowly eaten away by the body which creates a lesion. This lesion creates a blockage to where nerve impulses sent from the brain cannot get through to other parts of the body. Currently I take a once per month infusion of a newly approved drug known as Tysabri and my only symptoms of M.S. are numbness and tingling in my legs and feet, extreme sensitivity to heat, and fatigue. There is still no cure for M.S. and little is known about the disease, however I am confident we will find a cure within my lifetime.

Both the physical and cognitive development within the adolescent years is interesting and I can't help but wonder if something did not develop adequately for me which created my M.S. Perhaps during my teenage years, the myelination that should have taken place only took place partially and left my nerves open to the effects of the disease. Only time will tell where M.S. comes from and why some get it and some do not, however it will be interesting to find out if various developmental stages within the teenage years can work to thwart or encourage the onset of this disease.

Blog 6 (Chapters 10 and 13)

Bullying is a very real and very disturbing threat among children, specifically adolescents. Not only does bullying negatively effect a child's self esteem and self worth, but it can create a false sense for the bully that the way in which they are behaving is appropriate and possibly encouraged. The heart wrenching story located on page 365 of our textbook illustrates how bullying can cause a child to take his or her own life, due to a mixture of desperation and lack of coping skills. It is vitally important for educators as well as adults and other children to be on the look out for bullying within their classrooms and homes, and to help the victim of the bullying recover and stand strong in the face of adversity.

I was bullied terribly in 8^th grade. My family and I moved from NY to MD and instead of going to a private school, which I had attended my whole life up until this point, I decided to try public school instead. Not only did I stand out because I was “the new kid” and I was “weird” (I liked heavy metal music which I still do and was very shy which I still am to a certain extent) but I also did my homework and took notes in class which really made my peers take a quick disliking to me. I quickly spiraled out of control which lead to me being placed on home study in 10^th grade (see previous post). Had someone, anyone, stood up for me throughout my 8^th grade year or had anyone even tried to befriend me, I may have had an easier time. I remember teachers laughing at me being bullied by the “jocks” and “cheerleaders” which made me feel even worse and even less like a human being. We all have scars from events we have lived through, however, in my opinion scars from being bullied take the longest to heal. It is high time for parents and teachers to stand up and refuse to allow their children and students to bully or be bullied before more adolescents become statistics.

Blog 5 (Chapter 12)

Homeschooling is an ever-increasing phenomenon within the United States, and while relatively new, it has drawn both criticisms and approvals from educators and parents alike. As mentioned in the textbook on pages 337-338, both the effectiveness as well as the drawbacks to homeschooling are discussed. There appears to be no difference between those educated in traditional schools and those educated at home regarding their acceptance rate into colleges as well as their scores on standardized tests.

Having personal experience with homeschooling (my 10^th grade year of high school) as well as knowing several families who have chosen homeschool for their own children, I can vouch for the fact that homeschooling does negatively effect a child's social skills and various other aspects of emotional intelligence. However, much of this depends on if the child who is homeschooled has access to extracurricular activities with which to practice their social skills outside of the home. In some cases, due to extremely unsafe public schools and private schools which are too expensive, many parents feel they have no other choice than to teach their children at home. Only time will tell how homeschooling truly affects children and whether the pros outweigh the cons.

Blog 4 (Chapter 9)

I find language development in children to be very fascinating, and more fascinating still is how growing up in poverty affects the language development of young children. According to the textbook on pages 249-250, a child growing up in poverty has been exposed to roughly 13 million fewer words by the age of 4 than those being raised in families that are classified as “professionals”. There are several reasons for this disparity among what lower SES versus higher SES children are exposed to regarding language. When living in poverty, typically those with young children are highly stressed, more so than those of higher SES families, due to most likely living in dangerous areas and having a smaller support group to help them with their children, as well as having a less expansive knowledge of child development than those classified as “professionals”. All of these reason compound to those in higher SES families having more time and making more of a concerted effort to expose their children to correct grammar, sentence structure, and increasingly difficult words.

It is unfortunate and unfair that those born into poverty are given so much less for reasons out of their control. Another factor relating to language development is the fact that typically children in lower SES families are raised by caregivers in daycare, or perhaps untrained babysitters, whereas many higher SES mothers are able to stay home during the day to talk more with their children (and to even talk to their infants as well). I have been told many times that when I was an infant and young child, my mother never stopped talking to me. Therefore, I was using correct sentence structure and highly developed language by the age of 2, and supposedly I haven't stopped chatting since! It is not a matter of those born in lower SES families being developmentally different than those born in higher SES families, it is simply a matter of resources.

Blog 3 (Chapters 8 and 11)

Injuries in young children are a fact of life. As children's bodies as well as their cognitive abilities begin to develop and as children become more physically active, they are more likely to get bumps and bruises along the way. One aspect of safety that is becoming an ever-present issue among many parents of young children is their safety on the World Wide Web. As discussed in the textbook on page 308, safety in cyberspace has grown into a top priority for parents and educators alike over the past decade. Not only does the Internet give children access to information which will help them with their schoolwork, but it also gives them access to child predators and misinformed individuals who may be relaying inaccurate information to unknowing children. A wonderful guide for online safety is provided on page 308 which I would hope all children and adults alike would take to heart.

I love the Internet and how so much information is at your fingertips by only the pushing of several buttons and typing of several words, however the Internet is also a very dangerous place. I think more parents and educators should view the Internet in this way: Would you allow your child or teenager to give their personal information to random strangers in a busy shopping mall? Hopefully most would say no, they would want their children to be more cautious. The Internet is much the same way, it provides a mask of anonymity to those on the other end of the screen, thereby making it impossible to discern who it is you are speaking with. If more adults viewed the Internet as a busy shopping mall full of strangers, perhaps our children would be safer from the dangers that lurk within the Web.