Physical Development, Cognitive Development, Moral And Ethical Issues, And Trauma Impacts On Different Ages

Age 5-7 years

The coordination of motor movements and reaction time improves. Resulting in activities like skipping, jumping, throwing, and catching (Scholastic, 2022).

Age 12-18

The child becomes a teenager and different changes in girls and boys. Girls develop breasts, widening of hips, and pubic hair while boys also develop pubic hair, penis enlargement, and hair on face.

Male age 40-65

During middle adulthood, males experience hair loss, wrinkles, and vision and hearing loss (Tyler, 2020).

Female age 40-65

During middle adulthood, females experience menopause ad physical changes like wrinkles, and hair, hearing, and vision loss (Tyler, 2020).

Age 65+

In the late adulthood, people experience loose and think skin and difficulty in motor skills (Tyler, 2020).

a. According to Piaget, what might be a reason that a child has a cognitive impairment?

Schema plays an important role in Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development. Schemas, which are called as basis of cognitive models, can affect the learning of a child. When the child is not able assimilate the schemas which results in dysfunction in equilibration and accommodation, the child might have cognitive impairment (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).

b. You are watching an infant playing with a toy. She holds it and stares at it intently, she holds it with one hand, then both hands, and then she puts in her mouth. She then drops the toy but is able to find it and pick it up again. According to Piaget, what stage of cognitive development is the infant in? Briefly describe this stage.

The child is going through the process of adaptation. When the child looked at the toy, she assimilated the new information, leading to accommodation with the toy, and finally, trying to find equilibrium when she tried to fit it in her mouth (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).

Heinz steals the drug “In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: ‘No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.’ So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.” (Kohlberg, 1963, p. 19)

a. Do you think that Heinz should have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug? Briefly explain why, or why not.

Heinz should have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife. This would have resulted in saving his wife’s life and that could have been reciprocated later in another act of moral kindness by him.

b. Considering your answer to part a. of this question, which stage of reasoning does your answer belong to? Explain your answer.

By breaking into the drugstore, Heinz would have followed the Stage 2, which dictates a relation in individualism and exchange. In this stage of pre-conventional morality, children only account for their views and judge any situation based on individual’s requirements (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013).

a. Community Services workers in Victoria are not ‘mandatory reporters’. Does this mean they are not legally obligated to report suspicion of child neglect? Explain your answer.

Mandatory Reporters are paid workers who have to provide their services for children. However, community workers are not mandatory reporters. However, this does not mean that they don’t have any moral and ethical obligations to report suspicion of child abuse (Australian Association of Social Workers, 2016).

b. What is the purpose of ‘Failure to disclose’ offence?

“Failure to disclose” offence has been created to ensure that an individual effectively reports the crime of child abuse and against a sexual offender so that nobody can be excluded from execution and proper punishment (Justice and Community Safety, 2022).

List three possible impacts of trauma on each group of people of the following ages:

a. Baby – aged 0-12 months

Babies till age 1 are also affected by trauma and express it by disruptive relationship with parent till age 3, developmental problems in language development, motor skills, physical and social skills along with dysfunctional emotional expression (Better Health, 2022c).

b. Child – aged 7-9 years

Children from age 7-9 years can depict problems by impact on academic performance, behavioural problems at school, and changes in eating and sleeping habits (Better Health, 2022d).

c. Child – aged 12-18 years

Teenagers react to trauma by string emotion display of anger and sadness, sleep pattern disturbance, and loss of interest in daily activities from activities that were liked before (Better Health, 2022d).  

Satisfactory / Not Satisfactory

a. A five-year old child you are working with has started to discuss things of a sexually-explicit nature.

As a social worker, there should be timely intervention, which could include planning and consultation by others. In required, the social worker can also monitor and document the progress of the person so that the influence of this discussion could be understood (Government of South Australia, 2019).

b. An elderly person tells you that her daughter with whom she lives does not let her have any money or allow her to go out anywhere.

The social worker can adopt two approaches. Firstly, they can decrease the effect of this behaviour by intervening in the problem of the elderly person (Kaspiew, Carson & Rhoades, 2016). The social worker can also bring awareness in the society by changing the mind-set of the individual (Kaspiew, Carson & Rhoades, 2016).

a. Neglect of a baby under 18 months old

Some possible indicators of neglect of a child include untreated medical conditions and an unusually high appetite along with stealing and hoarding food (Government of South Australia, 2022).

b. Physical abuse of a child aged 3

Indicators include suspicious burns and bruises in unlikely places such as face, hands, and buttock (Government of South Australia, 2022).

c. Teenager considering self-harm

Signs such as wearing unsuitable clothes to cover up wounds and changes in mood, sleep, and eating patterns (Better Health, 2022b).

d. Woman in fear of continued domestic violence

Women living in continued fear of domestic violence modulate their behaviour around certain topics and have depression and/or deliberate self-harm (Health Direct, 2022b).

e. Elder abuse

Indicators of elder abuse include malnutrition and dehydration along with fearful, anxious, and cowed behaviour (Better Health, 2022a).

a. The foremost requirement of an incident report is the accuracy of the material. The data should be specific and include facts. This should be organised and accurate and should be delivered objectively (Aaron, 2019).

b. The next requirement for the incident reports is that it must be supported by proper evidence and pictures for the complete understanding of the reader (Aaron, 2019).

c. Finally, the text should have validated data and the report writer should have the authority to confirm the truthfulness of the data (Aaron, 2019).

a. Physical domain

The physical domain underlies the physical changes such as size and strength changes along with development of motor skills (Australian Early Development Census, 2022).

b. Cognitive domain

This includes development intellectually and covers the creativity and attitude of the individual towards acquiring and doing skills such as reading and writing (Australian Early Development Census, 2022).

c. Psychological domain

The psychological domain could include proper development of personality and maturation of the individual’s communication skills (Australian Early Development Census, 2022).

d. Social domain

Social domain covers the social behaviour of the individual and their social interaction with others through both verbal and non-verbal communication (Australian Early Development Census, 2022).

e. Affective

Affective domain include expression of emotions along with controlling the emotions according to the situation (Australian Early Development Census, 2022).

Search and read the resource sheet ‘What is child abuse and neglect’ from Child Family Community Australia. For each of the five subtypes of child abuse and neglect briefly describe each type in your own words.

a. Physical abuse

Physical abuse occurs when a child is harmed physically which hurts their body or body parts (Child Family Community Australia, 2018).

b. Emotional abuse

Emotional abuse happens when a child undergoes non-physical hurting through words or treatment, such as rejection, isolation, terrorisation, ignoring, and corruption (Child Family Community Australia, 2018).

c. Neglect

Neglect include certain events in which the primary caregivers fail to provide their attention to the child. This could also continue in the long run in terms of the child’s health, education, emotional development, nutrition, and safety (Child Family Community Australia, 2018).

d. Sexual abuse

Sexual Abuse includes the child’s involvement in any sexual activity which is out of their control or does not include their consent (Child Family Community Australia, 2018).

e. Exposure to family violence

A child suffers through family violence when the primary caregiver has a regular habit of physical violence, which also affects the child along with other family members (Child Family Community Australia, 2018).