Case Study: Comprehension Analysis

Childhood is a critical period in the life of an individual as it affects his or her development on the basis of different psychological and environmental issues. Often, child development is associated with critical stages where the person realizes that he or she is a part of a complex social community that functions according to different norms. As a result, in order for the child to succeed as a social identity, language and cognitive development should be regarded as drastically important factors. For this reason, EEL learners at the US schools may suffer from different barriers to socialization, which need to be identified and overcome for the child to socialize successfully. The analysis of the social and cognitive development of an EEL learner of the Hispanic ethnicity during the period of three years demonstrates that EEL students may face both internal and external barriers to communication and social development. Thus, the analyzed subject, Miguel S.-E., has overcome some of the barriers to his development, including socialization in a multicultural community with inadequate language proficiency and diverse family crises. At the same time, there are still issues that Miguel S.-E. finds difficult to cope with, with speech disorder remaining the major psychological stressor. The boy’s developmental pattern follows Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, which is why their frameworks may be used to assist the child in overcoming the remaining psychological problems.

The Description of the Child

The Child

The analyzed child is a boy of Hispanic ethnicity named Miguel S.-E., whereas the regarded period of his life is between 5 and 8 years. Initially, the boy had a developmental disorder that aggravated the speed of his social adaptation. Disregarding his speech disorder, at the elementary stage of development, Miguel had a strong will for communication and socialization, mainly displayed through playing different games with his friends. Miguel has a family where all the members speak Spanish, so he had no opportunity to communicate in English at home. Thus, his initial condition at the kindergarten after entering an English-speaking community was the stage of limited socialization due to the lack of English proficiency.

The development of the child may be analyzed through the framework of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. According to the scholar, the development of a person depends on the experience of a conflict and the overcoming of the issue (Cherry, 2017), which is relevant in the case of Miguel. The external conflicts at his elementary stage of development included family conflicts and the problems with socialization with other students. The major internal conflict was his speech disorder, which restrained his speed of acquiring the required level of language proficiency and was a source of shame (“Beyond the Desk”, n. d.). In addition, the child had a history of low birth weight and a self-restricted dietary behavior (“Beyond the Desk”, n. d.), which might have potentially affected the speed of his early development. Scholarship data confirm that the dietary habits of a child at the early stage of development affect the speed of his or her development. For instance, Yousafzai, Rasheed, Rizvi, Armstrong, and Bhutta (2014) revealed that additional stimulation and nutrition of the infants until they reach 24 months drastically improves the speed of the development of their cognitive, language, and motor skills. Therefore, in the US community, the analyzed EEL child faced factors that restrained the achievement of the major needs at the earlier stage of his development.

The Major Needs of the Child

The major needs of Miguel may be presented by taking into account Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. According to the first theory, the boy’s major needs include the need for trust in the family and the kindergarten settings, the need for autonomy, and the need for the absence of shame (Syed & McLean, 2017). The reasons for the fulfillment of these needs include a partial absence of family support caused by internal conflicts, the absence of language skills required for successful socialization at the kindergarten, and the speech disorder. At the same time, the assessment of the child’s cognitive and other abilities reveals other needs that fall under Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. These issues include the need for the development of verbal-linguistic, intrapersonal, and visual-spatial intelligence (“Child development principles and theories”, n. d.). Thus, Miguel’s chief physical needs include the need for movement and the need for the individual space, whereas the social needs comprise the needs for communication and support. On the other hand, the emotional needs of the child are the needs for understanding, self-control, and self-expression, and his cognitive needs involve the need for acquiring English proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking (“Beyond the Desk”, n. d.). Therefore, the boy’s problems correspond to the crises that, in Erikson’s theory, need to be overcome with age for Miguel’s development to be successful.

The Predominant Factors of the Child’s Development

The child development factors for Miguel include his family and kindergarten surrounding, a speech disorder, and cognitive abilities. The first two factors are critical due to the fact that they affect his psycho-emotional and second language acquisition skills. The evidence supporting this is the information that Miguel’s family is a Spanish-speaking one, and that they experience different psychological conflicts (“Beyond the Desk”, n. d.). Moreover, the boy’s speech disorder deteriorates the speed of his socialization due to the shame it evokes, and it restrains his language learning efforts (“Beyond the Desk”, n. d.). In their turn, the external factors aggravate the internal ones, leading to the fact that at the earlier developmental stage, the child avoided social contacts. Disregarding the fact that he lacked English proficiency for establishing a successful communicative contact, the boy was also pressured by shyness induced by the speech disorder.

The Development of the Child

The analysis of the latter stage of Miguel’s development demonstrates that he has successfully managed to overcome the major challenges associated with his psycho-emotional, social, and cognitive development at the preceding stage of the development. Thus, at the age of 8 years, the child is a 3^rd-grade student who has greatly improved his literacy, language, and communication skills (“Capella University”, 2017). Moreover, the major part of his needs presented at the earlier stage of development has been successfully met. For example, his family setting has become more supportive and less tense, his current language skills allow him to engage in all classroom activities, and he has become an active participant in different athletic activities (“Capella University”, 2017). Therefore, for Miguel, the main environmental stressors of the preceding stage of development are mainly absent now.

Disregarding positive developments, Miguel’s internal conflict induced by the speech disorder is still present, although the boy receives speech and language therapy. His speech disorder is still an embarrassment for him and it is intensified by his sensitivity to criticism (“Capella University”, 2017). According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, at this stage, Miguel has interest, skills, and motivation to succeed at tasks that are associated with his autonomy and self-regulation (Syed & McLean, 2017). Apparently, these tasks are his sports activities, which have led to the positive correlation between the boy’s self-image and his reputation among the classmates. The evidence for this is the information that Miguel excels in soccer and basketball, which have increased his self-confidence and acceptance by the peers (“Capella University”, 2017). Therefore, during a period of three years, Miguel has become a part of his new community, although his major internal conflict has remained.

The analysis of these facts through the framework of Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory demonstrates that in the middle childhood, the boy has found his passion, which is the development and the use of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. According to the scholar, this type of intelligence presumes that people solve problems, express emotions, and handle objects by using their body and enjoying sports, dancing, and drama (“Child development principles and theories”, n. d.). Consequently, the boy uses the advantage of his bodily-kinesthetic intelligence when attempting to solve the internal problems associated with the remaining speech disorder.

Recommendations

The analysis of the case of Miguel S.-E. demonstrates that it is possible to support the optimal development of the child in his or her transition to adolescence and adulthood. The issue that can be used for intensifying the progress in overcoming the speech disorder is Miguel’s success in the development of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Scholars claim that children with this type of intelligence develop knowledge through their physical senses, which is why they benefit from movement activities directed toward the development of motor and other skills (“Child development principles and theories”, n. d.). Thus, the efficacy of his speech and language therapy may be improved through inclusion of specific physical challenges bound to speech practices. This combination would contribute to the boy’s motivation toward the performance of the practical speech and language tasks as well as increase the level of his therapeutic achievements.

Finally, the curricula and the speech and language therapy program modified toward the needs of Miguel S.-E. should follow the guidelines of the Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers and the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment. The reason for this is that both regulations grant ethically correct development of the child while avoiding the aggravation of his or her internal psychological issues. For instance, the Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers ensures that teachers educate students in a nondiscriminatory manner (“Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers”, 2017) whereas the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment establishes a comprehensive ethical framework for the development of the students (“The National Association for the Education of Young Children”, 2005). The advised steps allow assisting Miguel S.-E. in overcoming his internal conflicts and becoming an individual without psychological and socialization problems.

Conclusion

Summarizing the presented information, it is possible to conclude that Miguel S.-E. has successfully transited from toddlerhood and early childhood to the middle childhood, although his further transitions still require support. So far, the boy has successfully managed to overcome diverse external and internal problems — however, the speech disorder has remained his major psychological concern. The application of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory revealed that the boy benefits from the development of the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Therefore, the boy should have more physical activities and challenges in his curricula and speech and language therapy since by taking advantage of his type of intelligence, the boy can successfully overcome the revealed psychological and speech imparity issues.