Strengths: 1. Large Enrollment 2. Flexible class schedules 1. The Apollo Group is the largest provider of higher education for adults seeking an associates’, bachelors’, or masters’ degree. The University of Phoenix has over 400,000 students enrolled in one of their many degree programs. The revenues of the Apollo Group have increased by $4.9 billion and its profits increased to $553 million since 1996. 2. The Apollo Group offers classes that are catered around the schedules of working adults. Classes are offered year round with minimal breaks between semesters. Most students take one class twice a week for five to six weeks in the evenings. Classes are also offered online for students who do not wish to participate in the traditional classroom learning environment. Weaknesses: 1. Accreditation 2. Lack of Qualified Instructors 1. The University of Phoenix (UOP) is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. This accreditation is sufficient in most states, but some states require other accreditations from that particular state. The Bachelors’ and Masters’ programs in business offered by UOP are not accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The AACSB is the most highly recognized accreditation in the industry. By not receiving this accreditation, students who receive degrees from UOP may not be considered for positions in the business industry. 2. UOP utilizes facilitators to facilitate or lead seminar style classrooms. Most classes are comprised of 10-15 students and those students are broken up into groups of 5. Most assignments are group assignments. The class facilitator leads the discussions and guides the class through the curriculum. The facilitators are the instructors for the class. UOP does not hire or employ professors with Doctoral Degrees in order to keep their labor cost down. When a college does not employ doctoral level instructors the quality of education is impaired. Opportunities: 1. Perceived as a low quality diploma mill. 2. Lack of doctoral staff These two opportunities for the University of Phoenix are intertwined. The degree programs at UOP are viewed as low quality diploma mills because they do not employ a large number of doctoral level instructors on their campuses. The class room curriculum is developed by the class facilitators. Those facilitators are not considered qualified in the education arena to develop such curriculums for bachelor and master level degree programs. Therefore, UOP is viewed as a for profit educational college that enrolls students in a degree program that does not equip them to handle the challenges they will face in the real world. It is a weakness, because in some states the graduates will not considered for a position in their field of study because UOP is not accredited. Threats: 1. Competition. 2. Regulatory Issues 1. UOP faces more competition now as more public and private sector universities are now offering adult degree programs and online.

1. Strengths: 1. Large Enrollment 2. Flexible class schedules
1. The Apollo Group is the largest provider of higher education
for adults seeking an associates’, bachelors’, or masters’ degree.
The University of Phoenix has over 400,000 students enrolled in
one of their many degree programs. The revenues of the Apollo
Group have increased by $4.9 billion and its profits increased to
$553 million since 1996. 2. The Apollo Group offers classes
that are catered around the schedules of working adults. Classes
are offered year round with minimal breaks between semesters.
Most students take one class twice a week for five to six weeks
in the evenings. Classes are also offered online for students who
do not wish to participate in the traditional classroom learning
environment.
Weaknesses: 1. Accreditation 2. Lack of Qualified Instructors
1. The University of Phoenix (UOP) is accredited by the Higher
Learning Commission. This accreditation is sufficient in most
states, but some states require other accreditations from that
particular state. The Bachelors’ and Masters’ programs in
business offered by UOP are not accredited by the Association
to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The
AACSB is the most highly recognized accreditation in the
industry. By not receiving this accreditation, students who
receive degrees from UOP may not be considered for positions
in the business industry. 2. UOP utilizes facilitators to facilitate
or lead seminar style classrooms. Most classes are comprised of
10-15 students and those students are broken up into groups of
5. Most assignments are group assignments. The class facilitator
leads the discussions and guides the class through the
curriculum. The facilitators are the instructors for the class.
UOP does not hire or employ professors with Doctoral Degrees
in order to keep their labor cost down. When a college does not
employ doctoral level instructors the quality of education is
impaired.

2. Opportunities: 1. Perceived as a low quality diploma mill. 2.
Lack of doctoral staff
These two opportunities for the University of Phoenix are
intertwined. The degree programs at UOP are viewed as low
quality diploma mills because they do not employ a large
number of doctoral level instructors on their campuses. The
class room curriculum is developed by the class facilitators.
Those facilitators are not considered qualified in the education
arena to develop such curriculums for bachelor and master level
degree programs. Therefore, UOP is viewed as a for profit
educational college that enrolls students in a degree program
that does not equip them to handle the challenges they will face
in the real world. It is a weakness, because in some states the
graduates will not considered for a position in their field of
study because UOP is not accredited.
Threats: 1. Competition. 2. Regulatory Issues
1. UOP faces more competition now as more public and private
sector universities are now offering adult degree programs and
online educational opportunities. Those private and public
colleges are accredited in the states in which they operate. UOP
faces a decline in enrollment as a result of the public and
private sector colleges entering into the adult education arena.
2. UOP has undergone several investigations into their
enrollment practices. An enrollment counselor salary doubled
based on the number of students he enrolled. The Senate
Committee on Education’s investigation found that only 1% of
students enrolled in for profit colleges actually received a
degree. It also found that 85% had withdrawn and the dropout
rate was 66%. The dropout rate was 55% at public college and
45% at private colleges. UOP revenue from federal dollars at
the end of 2010 was 88% which is very close to the limit of
90%. When the limit is reached it will affect the enrollment of
new students at UOP because federal dollars will no longer be
available.

3. Recommendations:
I recommend the Apollo Group work on receiving the proper
accreditation is all states in which they operate campuses. They
need to make the necessary arrangements to ensure when
students graduate from their college that their degree will
actually be worth something. I would hate to be the student who
attended college for 4 years to be told I had a $60,000 piece of
paper that meant absolutely nothing in the business world. If
UOP is not accredited in those states by the required
accreditation facility then UOP should inform the students prior
to enrolling.
Abstract
So now that this class has come to and end, in this final
paper of my case study on Jeremiah Wilson, I will do to the best
of my ability to explain the development of Jeremiah from being
an infant to an adolescent. My goal in writing this paper is to
inform you with detailed information on what events have taken
place from his infant stage of his life and how they may have an
impacted him up until this point at his age of 8 years old. I will
do my best to describe what are the most important areas that
have had an impact on his development, what includes culture,
the parenting skills and the set up and environment. More
importantly with this paper I will point out the meaningful
socioeconomic issues did have an impact on him. Upon the
research of these events it will have uncovered literature
reviews to better help support my final project. Lastly, I will be
highlighting the recommendation of optimal development of
Jeremiah.
With child development see this is something that every person
from infancy goes through. When a child is growing it is a
process that is allowing them to acquire new skills, these skills
include crawling, pulling up on things, talking, walking,

4. jumping, and putting on their own clothes. Now children have to
develop some skills before they are able to learn new skills. We
all know that every child learn in their own special way as well
as their own pace. There are ways that the environment could
have influences that will have great influence in a child’s
development.
Children today attend schools now that have importance of
role socialization of the child, meaning it is very important that
teachers are aware of how to have socialization skills with their
students. (Vercillo, 2012). However, in children’s early years
they are able to gain the knowledge they need and skills they
need for future learning. For instance, children will learn and
understand skills that are taught to them through their teacher’s
interaction with them. We as teachers must also understand it is
our main responsibility to guide, and encourage our students to
learn. We must have a an environment that is geared toward
school readiness that allow our students to be able to respond in
the classroom (e.g., rules and regulations, curriculum,
activities, positive behavior in group settings, and directions
and instructions from teachers and other adults in the school)
(Role of Teachers, 2015).
Now at my current and past early learning jobs, our
classroom had to be set up in areas of learning centers, the must
be geared with age appropriate material for them to play and
manipulate. The most important of them all per the state of
Georgia as I’m sure in other states, is that the classroom has to
be and should be nurturing, supportive and successful for all
students to learn. The best way to make sure this is set into play
is to have us as teachers to continually change the environment
of the class. We as teachers in this day and time are expected to
have diversity geared towards our group of students that make it
more challenging to work such as framing problems; finding ,
integrating and synthesizing information; creating new
solutions; learning on their own; and working cooperatively

5. (Role of Teachers, 2015).
As indicated by Piaget, children experience four phases of what
is called cognitive development, which incorporates:
sensorimotor stage, preoperational organize, concrete
operational stage, and formal operational stage. Sensorimotor
stage is when newborn children starts to respond to the world
that embraces them through their eyes, ears, hands, and mouth.
Preoperational arranges this is when improvement of dialect
will take shape and pretend play will happen. Concrete
operational stage is a point to improvement when a child's
thinking ends up coherent and better composed. Formal
operational stage this is a period that young people will
perceive how to assess the rationale of verbal articulations
without alluding to genuine word conditions.
Piaget was convinced that children are active learners
because their minds consist of rich structures of knowledge
(Berk, 2012). When children are in the developmental stage of
early childhood between the tender ages 3 through 8, they are
considered concrete learners (Active, Engaged, Meaningful
Learning, 2015).
At this age children begin to become active learners. This is
when children start to
find things out for themselves. Children start to gradually focus
on people outside the world, they become fully aware that they
don’t quite have many adult skills. (Active, Engaged,
Meaningful Learning, 2015). When children are in a
environment that they trust they will be encourage trying out
new skills at their own level, but this is when they will embrace
learning. Jean Piaget believed that children learn efficiently
when they are able to take new knowledge and integrate it into
previous knowledge and experiences, constructing a new
knowledge base each day (Active, Engaged, Meaningful

6. Learning, 2015).
I feel that a parent teacher relationship is very important. The
reason for this is that it helps shapes the child’s abilities, and
allows the child not to have materials beyond their level of
expectations. What Piaget believed is that the biological
development of the child drives them to a movement from one
cognitive stage to the next. (Berk, 2012) When children have
learning experiences that help shape them as a whole: cognitive
or intellectual, social, emotional, physical, aesthetic, and
psychomotor (Active, Engaged, Meaningful Learning, 2015).
Based upon Piaget’s observations, he concluded that children
are not less intelligent than adults; they simply think differently
(Cherry, 2015).
The youngster that I chose for my case study project was
Jeremiah Wilson who is an African American little boy, he is
five-years-old and he is a kindergartner. Now Jean Piaget states
that Jeremiah would fall in the preoperational stage of life. With
Piaget’s theory he describes Jeremiah because according to his
theory children should and need to be physically active, and
children should often be engaged in their learning. Per my case
study Jeremiah appears to be a very active little boy who from
time to time becomes aggressive, now when this happens he
often looses control. His doctors have acknowledged that there
is a possibility of ADD/ADHD, but the doctors have decided it
is too soon to make any kind of diagnosis.
Seeing as how Jeremiah is impulsive really does not mean
he has ADHD this could be the reason why his doctors feels that
it is too soon to recognize normal behavior from ADHD. Often
times there are a lot of children at his age that are active, they
are impulsive but they don’t have ADHD. Now Jeremiah who
has often been showing a disruptive behavior because he is
alleged of having ADD/ADHD, which makes him impulsive in
this case, it can be interpreted as aggressive behavior. To me it

7. appears that Jeremiah lashes out because he isn’t able to
maintain the self-control in an effective way.
Let’s remember that as a toddler Jeremiah fell off a ladder,
which resulted in him breaking his arm. Now this could be a
reason that has an impact on Jeremiah’s development overall up
until now. At moments Jeremiah still shows some fear in
physical activities despite the fact the he may have many falls,
bumps, and bruises. The good part is that he never attempts to
hurt any of his friends because of his level of physical activity
can get out of control and it seems to bother his judgment.
Another major factor to take in consideration that could
play as well as contribute to his overall development is that his
dad is in the service and has been deployed overseas, his mom
continually works long hours, and she’s not able to provide the
mother/child bounding time that he needs with his schoolwork.
When school is over Jeremiah is with his aunt, she cares for him
as well as his sister. It’s very difficult for his aunt to give him
the help that he needs with his schoolwork, as she also cares for
other children. She feels that he’s able to care for his own
needs.
I still believe that the best two theories that could possibly
apply to this case study of Jeremiah is behaviorism and social
learning theory, as well as information processing theory. With
behaviorism, this refers to a learning theory that is only
observed through behaviors. Now on the other hand, the social
learning theory applies to a person that can learn from others,
by observing another’s behavior as the outcome of that
particular behavior. The information processing theory refers to
how the mind thinks; it processes the information that we take
in. These theories very much seem to be applicable to his case
study simply because of him and his behavior of losing control
and he becomes very aggressive. This can be observed as well
as the facts that other are able to learn from his behavior by

8. observing him. More importantly, the information processing
theory most definitely applies to his case study because his
schoolwork suffers from his ability to stay focused and on task
to complete what he needs to while in school.
Behaviorism and social learning theory are impacts
expedited by one's on condition. The article expresses that
behaviorism, social learning theory assumes a notable part in
conduct, which they impact, and are affected by, one's
condition. Despite the fact that it is by all accounts some theory
of wild reasons for ADHD, yet there are few activities that can
be added to the current conduct. People only occasionally hold
somebody, including themselves, in charge of activities ascribed
to a wild reason ("I couldn't make a move" or "I have ADHD")
(Bear, Manning and Izard, 2003).
Now with the information processing theory, this seems to be a
good fit for the case study of Jeremiah, simpy because he is at
the preschool age of where the memory isn’t fully developed
through the information processing. After reading the article
children at the age level of preschool age have also developed a
much larger capacity to within take information to process.
(Oswalt, 2008). Let’s keep in mind that he is having a hard time
processing and remembering new information, also old
information intake. When a child is expanding on information of
processing they are able to make the connections between the
old and new information. (Oswalt, 2008). With the attention
span that he has since it is short. The author implies that
children are able to learn how to pay attention and are able to
memorize through the information processing theory. (Oswalt,
2008).
Seeing as how Jeremiah is such an active young boy he needs an
outlet to release his energy in a productive way. During the
preschool years the average preschool age child has a physical
development that is rapidly very functional. Piaget “believed

9. that children’s intellectual growth is based partly on physical
development” (Mooney, 2013, p. 81). Physical development has
very important aspects, this time of the development is
responsible for the changes in the mind of a child, the way that
the child speaks, walks and thinks. There are other changes that
will take place and they are using their gross motor skills, they
are starting to notice they have physical strength.
The possibly benefit of fundamental motivation is young
children are most likely to become actively involved in their
own physical development (Mandigo & Holt, 2000). A
developmentally appropriate for preschool children provides
experiences, which in encourages the development in
psychomotor, affective, and cognitive areas (Early Childhood
Physical Education, 1994). The body movements of Jeremiah at
this stage of life are becoming noticeable as he physically play
with other children as he runs, jumps, and wrestle with the other
children.
Honestly, I believe that Jeremiah won’t have any problems
while in play time because he is able to have interactions with
others, he’s able to express how he does have feelings without
and frustrations of being made to have a seat to be still to
perform his task. Play is emphasized and is very important, we
as teachers teach children how to resolve conflict and how to
use social skills. (Gibbs, 2012). Children often learn through
playing and interacting with other children. “As children engage
in symbolic play (making a cake out of sand, using a garden
hose to be a fire fighter), they are able to have an understanding
of the objects and the activities that are surrounding them.
(Mooney, 2013, p. 80). Now during play Jeremiah is able to
increase his social skills. In this article it discusses how play is
combined through the learning that effects children’s social,
intellectual, and language development, as well as their
imagination and creativity (Stone, 2003).

10. Now with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, this could be a part
of why Jeremiah is showing and expressing aggressive behavior.
According to Laura Berk (2012) she discusses how culture-the
values, beliefs, customs, and skills of social group-is
transmitted to the next generation. When and where a child
grow up, and who their parents are definitely has a major
influence on a child’s cultural values that are passed on to him
or her. When it comes to cultural development there are many
factors that take
place, gender and race have an effect on the development of a
child.
While doing this preschool case study I was focusing Jeremiah
Wilson. He often does his best to keep his hands to himself,
now this doesn’t always work the he plans because of how his
physical activity is a high level. As indicated by Piaget's
personal developmental theory, children effectively build on
learning as they control and investigate the world (Berk, 2012).
Now, not all children adjust, and are able to build information
similarly. "As the mind creates, and children’s encounters
extend, they travel through four wide stages, each described by
subjectively unmistakable mindsets" (Berk, 2012, p.19).
Children go through four stages of development; those stages
include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and
formal, operational. The third stage concrete operational:
children’s reasoning and logic are beginning to develop.
In the past previous case studies, Jeremiah’s physicians
have given acknowledgement that there is a mild case of
ADD/ADHD, and didn’t want to diagnosis him too soon.
Now on the other side of things, since Jeremiah is very
spontaneous, they physicians have made a diagnosis that he is
indeed ADHD. Since he is receiving help from the after school
program at the YMCA, they are doing their best to provide him

11. with the structure as well as exercises geared towards his
hyperactivity. Now let’s keep in mind that Jeremiah is has
always been a very generous and caring, however his ADHD is
still causing him to not stay on task, meaning that he isn’t
completing the daily chores that his mother ask of him as well
as to care for his sister. With all of these things going on, he
often becomes very frustrated. When he gets like this he is truly
missing his father and all of the influence he should be
receiving from his dad, and becomes very inactively stubborn,
therefore he stops and doesn’t finished what he started.
There are a lot of children at his age that are active, and they
are impulsive but they are not ADHD. However, Jeremiah seems
to be a kid who has disruptive behavior because he is suspected
of having ADD/ADHD, which makes him impulsive in this case
it can be interpreted as aggressive behavior. It appears to be
that Jeremiah lashed out because he is unable to maintain self-
control in an effective way.
When he was a toddler he fell off a ladder, and broke his
arm. This could be the reason that could have impacted his
overall development to this date. For example, Jeremiah still
shows a little fear in physical activities despite of the many
falls, bumps, and bruises. Most important, he never tries to hurt
anyone but because of his level of physical activity can get out
of control and it seems to bother his judgment. One more factor
that could be contribute to impact of his overall development is
the fact that his mom is working long hours, and she really does
not have any time to help him with his school work.
The two theories that I believe still best to apply to
Jeremiah’s case study is behaviorism and social learning theory,
and how information is processing theory.
Behaviorism refers to a learning theory that can be observed
only through behaviors. On the other hand, the social learning

12. theory means that you can learn from someone else by studying
other’s behavior and the result of that behavior. The
information processing theory refers to how our mind thinks,
and processes information. These theories are most applicable
to Jeremiah’s case study because his behavior of losing control
when he becomes hostile can be observed, as well as other’s can
learn from his actions by observing him. Most important, the
information processing theory best fits the case study of
Jeremiah because his schoolwork suffers from his ability to
focus.
Behaviorism and social learning theory are influences
brought on by one’s on environment. The article states that
behaviorism, social learning theory plays a major role in
behavior, which they influence, and are influenced by, one’s
environment. Even though it seems to be some speculation of
uncontrollable causes of ADHD, but there is some actions that
can be contribute to the behavior at hand. Individuals seldom
hold someone, including himself or herself, responsible for
actions attributed to an uncontrollable cause (“I couldn’t do
anything about it” or “I have ADHD”) (Bear, Manning & Izard,
2003).
Information processing theory was right for this case study
because Jeremiah is a preschooler who memory is not developed
through information processing. According to the article
children at this age have also developed a larger overall
capacity to process information (Oswalt, 2008). Jeremiah is
having a hard time remembering new information, as well as old
information. This expanding information processing capacity
allows young children to make connections between old and
new information (Oswalt, 2008). His attention span is short.
But, author states that children can learn to pay attention and be
able to memorize through information processing theory
(Oswalt, 2008).

13. Let’s keep in mind that Piaget’s theory stated the support of
principle that should help teachers move from the “concrete” to
the “abstract” per (Egan, 2005) Remember that Jeremiah
couldn’t understand and it is subsequently hard for him to do.
Spencer strayed away from this developmental theory by finding
out and stating that teaching should transition from simple to
complex abstract, to the known to the unknown (Egan, 2005)
He is a physically active little boy, but as I stated before
he is consuming too many foods that causing him to put on too
gain weight. I believe that since his mother isn’t home to
control the horrible eating habits this is the effect of him
gaining the weight. With him gaining the access weight, he is
rather larger then his classmates in his age group. This very
would could put him at risk for obesity.
At this age young children have imaginations and
emotions, that allows them to connect to the real world. (Egan,
2005) Children face a developmental stage of perception as
they start to mature (Terry & Bohneberger, 2004)
For example, Jeremiah knows and understands what he is
doing. When children enter Piaget’s stage of concrete
operations at about age seven, many changes in their thought
patterns are visible (Mooney, 2013). Bandura demonstrates
children’s ability to listen, retain, and abstract general rule from
difficult sets of observed behaviors affects their imitation and
learning (Berk, 2012).
The exclusive issue should contribute to the understanding
of the encompassing role of culture for the development of
human cognition (Keller, 2011). For instance, culture influences
the way we think, the way we talk, how we commemorate
holidays and what food we eat. Psychologists are seeing more
and more how society and culture at large affect growth and
development (Mooney, 2013). I would say it is a possibility that

14. culture influences a child’s development. But, we as adults also
learn certain behaviors from other people.
Now, those same types of behaviors that were put in us
have now been passed on to our children. Young immigrants
sometimes also encounter racial and ethnic prejudices and
experience tensions between family values and new culture
(Berk, 2012). On the other hand, there are many different
factors that contribute to the way a child is developing. But, the
environment that is around where your child lives will have an
effect on how that child is raised.
There are four domains of childhood development. This
includes physical, social, emotional, and cognitive because they
are interrelated. Child development is the way a child grows and
learns. Is there a reason to why one domain influences
development within the other domain? The skills and knowledge
that children develop early in life are the foundation for more
advanced skills and knowledge (Better Brains, 2015). You never
know in what order a child will develop in because it is always
in the easiest form to more difficult skills. However, children
are always learning from their action of doing by participating
in new skills through playing. On the other hand, because these
domains are interrelated, as educators, we should collaborate on
how to get the children’s basic needs met, as well as make sure
they feel safe, and feel valued in order to develop and learn.
As children grow, their abilities to control balance,
movement and fine motor skills become increasingly advanced
(Cherry, 2015). Children are able to acquire abilities through
developmental milestones. Physical milestones are the very first
part of a child’s life because they are learning to master to hold
objects in their hands. You can see children’s development by
how they play, learn, speak, and act (CDC, 2015).
It is imperative for parents to get involved with the way

15. their child is developing. There are ways to check your child’s
development. You can also learn information on development
disabilities, immunization recommendations, and screening.
When talking about physical development in young children,
two things are usually meant by it: the process of how children
grow physically, and their increasing skills at performing a
range of various motor tasks, using their large and small
muscles (DECAL, 2015). As a child grows and become
physically active their motor skills will greatly improve.
Physical factors have the ability to influence different
aspects of child development in different ways. Sometimes the
physical influences on child development are easily controlled,
and in order instances, nature controls the development
(Physical Factors, 2015). Parents’ needs to make sure their
children are given the correct developmental start by promoting
a healthy physical influence and by eliminating detrimental
factors within parents’ control. There times when kids inherit
things though genetics as well as physical traits from their
parents that can hinder overall development (Physical Factors,
2015).
Social emotional development can influence child
development in many different ways. The social emotional
development of a preschool age child influences many attributes
of young life, and parenting plays a role in how each child
obtains developmentally appropriate social and emotional skills
(Brook, 2011). Social and emotional skills are extremely
important to mental health. Developing secure and positive
interactions with others and control over one feelings during the
preschool years is beneficial to future personality development
(Brook, 2011).
The social emotional development is important for growth
and development of a child resulting in the correlation between
positive parenting and appropriate social emotional

16. development (Brook, 2011). The main point of emotional
competence is to send and receive messages that are important
to social interactions. In contrast, social competence refers to
children’s ability to behave effectively in social interactions.
Children’s understanding and regulation of emotional displays
and their associations with children’s social competence have
been given a great deal of attention in literature over the last
decade (Brooks, 2011). Also, Vygotsky affirms that social
interaction forms intellectual development and stressed the
importance of language in the development of thought (Johnson,
2003).
This literature review outlines the challenges and
constraints in which relationships to parents, peers, and friends
offer for children’s emotional development, including the
development of appraisal, experience, expression, and
regulation of emotion (Salisch, 2001). In early childhood,
children begin to learn how to describe their own self-concept
through simple forms of emotional attitudes. Emotional
development with negative influences, such as the
environmental processes could have an effect on young
children’s self-concept. In the course of only a few years
children show amazing growth in their emotional development
(Salisch, 2001).
Cognitive development is when children begin to have the
ability to think and use reasoning for them. Children’s cognitive
thinking will continue to grow throughout childhood. Cognitive
development is part of the mental process that a child needs for
him or her to think, and for the world to make sense around
them. Most important, Piaget believed that infants and toddlers
do have a lot of mental abilities to perceive the world around
them (Berk, 2012). Vygotsky believes that verbal, social,
emotional, and cognitive developments are matching processes
that ultimately work together to shape a child’s literacy growth
(Johnson, 2003).

17. There are environmental and influential factors that can
influence child development, such as family, socioeconomic
status, society and culture. However, the environment around us
is a very fluid thing, always changing. Humans can influence
the environment simply by being present (Environmental
Factors, 2015). Some environmental changes are easily
recognizable, and there some that are not as recognizable.
The purpose of this is to determine the extent of awareness
on well-being of a child (Family Influence, 2014). Researchers
have a belief that the development of a child’s behavior can be
greatly impacted by the way his or her family function. Based
on the information gathered from a review of literature and the
survey instrument, the conclusion was reached that family life
affects the cognitive development of a child (Family, Influence,
2014). Children have the knowledge to cope with, as well as
have the ability to adjust with life problems and demands are
being based on the psychological foundations of early family
experiences. Families, especially parents, play a vital role in
instilling values of children (Family Influence, 2014).
Socio-economic status (SES) on a child development
suggests that these problems do not necessarily arise directly
from a low SES but from the impact it has on the parents of the
children (Kean, 2015). Research has proven that there is
significant amount literature that has been written to determine
the impact of poverty, and low socio-economic status on the
cognitive development in children and adults alike.
Socioeconomic status is based on family income, parental
education level, occupation, and social status in the community
(Socioeconomic Status, 2015). Families with high socio-
economic status often are more successful in preparing their
children for school because they typically have more access to a
wide range of resources to promote and support young
children’s development than that of a family with low socio-

18. economic status (Socioeconomic Status, 2015).
Families with high socioeconomic status are able to
provide their children with the highest-quality childcare.
However, it is very easy for them to gather information on their
children’s health, as well as social, emotional, and cognitive
development. They also will have the ability to reach out to
other people for help them to better prepare their children for
school. “Across all socioeconomic groups, parents face major
challenges when it comes to providing optimal care and
education for their children” (Socioeconomic Status, 2015).
Several cultural factors, such as gender and race, have an
impact on the development of a child across the lifespan
(Cultural, 2015). Children learn very early that there are
different expectations for boys and girls. This is what you call
gender stereotyping; these are the programmed ways in which
members of a particular sex are supposed to act (Cultural,
2015). However, racial stereotypes do exist and will even have
an effect on child’s development. The United States is a highly
segregated society and children-especially children of color-
often become aware of the dynamics of racism from a young age
(Cultural, 2015).
The cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors within a family
all have an impact on early child development (Schreiber,
2009). For instance, there are various reasons as to why and
how a child grows and the kind of person he or she becomes.
Such cultural differences can lead to dramatic variations in how
children are raised (Cherry, 2015). No matter what the child’s
surrounding culture is, the parental approaches used are
designed to produce children who can meet the goals and beliefs
of the culture in which they live (Cherry,2015).
Culture has an influence on three domains of development:
socio-emotional, language and cognitive development (Fierro,

19. 2015). It is important to gain some cultural competence and find
a better strategy to interacting with these families in a culturally
sensitive way (Fierro, 2015). According to the research, it
appears that there is a myth about children being limited to one
area of the house because of the environment. Developmental
screenings is another myth about a social service agency may
result in developmental delays that are also a product of the
family dynamic and culture (Fierro, 2015).
Family engagement and culture will have an effect on the
ethnic background of child development. The literature clearly
supports the importance of strong relationships between
families and early education programs (Stark & Moodie, 2009).
Children’s development and learning that occur within their
culture will have an interactive effect on family engagement
(Stark & Moodie, 2009). All systems influence and are
influenced by cultural and socio-economic status; however, two
of the most influential systems for young children are their
home environment and their early childhood education programs
(Stark & Moodie, 2009).
Promoting optimal development in childhood is very
crucial for social and emotional development. Temperament is a
way that you describe how a child will react to the world that
surrounds him or her. It is the individual’s own way of “style.”
While temperament is not definitive nor can it predict behavior,
understanding a child’s temperament can assist providers and
families better understand how young children react and relate
to the world around them (Allard & Hunter, 2013). Researchers
have explained how young children’s temperament can be
depicted by several different traits. However, these traits
address an infant’s level of activity, his or her adaptability to
routines, how he or she responds to new situations, his or her
mood, the intensity of his or her reactions, his or her sensitivity
to what’s going around him or her, how quickly he or she adapts
to changes, and how distractible and persistent she might be

20. when engaging in an activity (Allard & Hunter, 2013). For
example, all children will not fall in the same temperament of
style.
The optimal development of children is very important to
the society. Just as young children need nourishing and healthy
food to build physical strength, they also need healthy nutrition
for optimal development of language and cognitive abilities
(Bjorn, 2013). Psychologists believe that if parents speak
directly to their toddler this will help in the child’s ability to
speak proficiently. New research from Stanford University
psychologists shows that by talking more to their toddler,
parents help them learn to process language at an accelerated
rate, which, in turn, accelerates vocabulary growth (Bjorn,
2013). It is no fact that socioeconomic status does play a part in
language development. Children who live in lower
socioeconomic environment will have lower language
proficiency scores than children who come from a higher
socioeconomic environment.
A child is more likely to achieve his or her full potential if
he or she experiences consistent, predictable, enriched, and
stimulating interactions in a context of attentive and nurturing
relationships (Perry, 2004). Every child will experience a
challenging new situation once in his or her life. A child’s first
day in kindergarten will be stressful enough for the child. Those
embedded in a safe and stable home base overcome the stress of
this new situation and are able to embrace the challenges of
learning (Perry, 2004). There are some children who will
experience the safe, warm, and loving environment. In contrast,
there are other children’s whose upbringing is not in a safe
environment.
Students who are taught in an optimal learning
environment seem to recognize a certain self-actualization has
taking place. For instance, this could be that their needs are

21. being met in the classroom. Optimal learning allows teachers to
connect learning to students’ real lives and emotional
experiences (Wilson, 2013). The community at large as an
optimal learning environment: Teachers need to find ways to
fully use city space and natural space to use as a primary
learning setting (Wilson, 2013).
It is important to let students brainstorm on ideas so that
they can get the full effect of an optimal learning in order to
succeed in life. However, the classroom environment must make
students believe that their feelings do matter when it comes to
how they interpret their learning. For example, an emphasis
needs to be made to the students to help them understand that
they are safe to share their ideas without being scolded. Most
important, is that students recognize the optimal learning
environment as the teacher created it.
For optimal functioning, you must organize the classroom
(Krych, 2015). Sometimes as educators we wonder where to
place the teacher’s desk once we have prepared the rest of the
classroom. According to the article, it examines and compares
the effects of placing the teacher’s desk in the front of the
room, back of the room, and having no desk at all (Krych,
2015). However, there are several possibilities where to place
the desk in the classroom for the best optimal functioning of the
classroom. Some say front and center, few argued no desk is the
way to go, and others swear by putting in the back room (Krych,
2015). After analyzing numerous sources, it is clear that the
best recommendation is to place the teacher’s desk in the back
of the room (Krych, 2015).
Child development is when changes occur as a child grows
and develops. Development and learning result from an
interaction of maturation and experience (12 Principles, 2015).
Thus, early learning does have a significant effect on the way a
child learns and understands. Even though development and

22. learning matures when children are challenged, their
experiences will shape their motivation as they approach their
learning. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-
regulation, language, cognition, and self-competence (12
Principles, 2015).
[Type text] [Type text] [Type text]
1
Running Head: Case Study Comprehensive Analysis
Charlotte K. Johnson
ED5405
Case Study: Comprehensive Analysis
Instructor Kate Green
September 14, 2018

23. Abstract
So now that this class has come to and end, in this final
paper of my case study on Jeremiah Wilson, I will do to the best
of my ability to explain the development of Jeremiah from being
an infant to an adolescent. My goal in writing this paper is to
inform you with detailed information on what events have taken
place from his infant stage of his life and how they may have an
impacted him up until this point at his age of 8 years old. I will
do my best to describe what are the most important areas that
have had an impact on his development, what includes culture,
the parenting skills and the set up and environment. More
importantly with this paper I will point out the meaningful
socioeconomic issues did have an impact on him. Upon the
research of these events it will have uncovered literature
reviews to better help support my final project. Lastly, I will be
highlighting the recommendation of optimal development of
Jeremiah.

24. With child development see this is something that every person
from infancy goes through. When a child is growing it is a
process that is allowing them to acquire new skills, these skills
include crawling, pulling up on things, talking, walking,
jumping, and putting on their own clothes. Now children have to
develop some skills before they are able to learn new skills. We
all know that every child learn in their own special way as well
as their own pace. There are ways that the environment could
have influences that will have great influence in a child’s
development.
Children today attend schools now that have importance of
role socialization of the child, meaning it is very important that
teachers are aware of how to have socialization skills with their
students. (Vercillo, 2012). However, in children’s early years
they are able to gain the knowledge they need and skills they
need for future learning. For instance, children will learn and
understand skills that are taught to them through their teacher’s
interaction with them. We as teachers must also understand it is
our main responsibility to guide, and encourage our students to
learn. We must have a an environment that is geared toward
school readiness that allow our students to be able to respond in
the classroom (e.g., rules and regulations, curriculum,
activities, positive behavior in group settings, and directions
and instructions from teachers and other adults in the school)
(Role of Teachers, 2015).
Now at my current and past early learning jobs, our
classroom had to be set up in areas of learning centers, the must
be geared with age appropriate material for them to play and
manipulate. The most important of them all per the state of
Georgia as I’m sure in other states, is that the classroom has to
be and should be nurturing, supportive and successful for all
students to learn. The best way to make sure this is set into play
is to have us as teachers to continually change the environment
of the class. We as teachers in this day and time are expected to
have diversity geared towards our group of students that make it
more challenging to work such as framing problems; finding ,

25. integrating and synthesizing information; creating new
solutions; learning on their own; and working cooperatively
(Role of Teachers, 2015).
As indicated by Piaget, children experience four phases of what
is called cognitive development, which incorporates:
sensorimotor stage, preoperational organize, concrete
operational stage, and formal operational stage. Sensorimotor
stage is when newborn children starts to respond to the world
that embraces them through their eyes, ears, hands, and mouth.
Preoperational arranges this is when improvement of dialect
will take shape and pretend play will happen. Concrete
operational stage is a point to improvement when a child's
thinking ends up coherent and better composed. Formal
operational stage this is a period that young people will
perceive how to assess the rationale of verbal articulations
without alluding to genuine word conditions.
Piaget was convinced that children are active learners
because their minds consist of rich structures of knowledge
(Berk, 2012). When children are in the developmental stage of
early childhood between the tender ages 3 through 8, they are
considered concrete learners (Active, Engaged, Meaningful
Learning, 2015).
At this age children begin to become active learners. This is
when children start to
find things out for themselves. Children start to gradually focus
on people outside the world, they become fully aware that they
don’t quite have many adult skills. (Active, Engaged,
Meaningful Learning, 2015). When children are in a
environment that they trust they will be encourage trying out
new skills at their own level, but this is when they will embrace
learning. Jean Piaget believed that children learn efficiently
when they are able to take new knowledge and integrate it into
previous knowledge and experiences, constructing a new
knowledge base each day (Active, Engaged, Meaningful
Learning, 2015).
I feel that a parent teacher relationship is very important. The

26. reason for this is that it helps shapes the child’s abilities, and
allows the child not to have materials beyond their level of
expectations. What Piaget believed is that the biological
development of the child drives them to a movement from one
cognitive stage to the next. (Berk, 2012) When children have
learning experiences that help shape them as a whole: cognitive
or intellectual, social, emotional, physical, aesthetic, and
psychomotor (Active, Engaged, Meaningful Learning, 2015).
Based upon Piaget’s observations, he concluded that children
are not less intelligent than adults; they simply think differently
(Cherry, 2015).
The youngster that I chose for my case study project was
Jeremiah Wilson who is an African American little boy, he is
five-years-old and he is a kindergartner. Now Jean Piaget states
that Jeremiah would fall in the preoperational stage of life. With
Piaget’s theory he describes Jeremiah because according to his
theory children should and need to be physically active, and
children should often be engaged in their learning. Per my case
study Jeremiah appears to be a very active little boy who from
time to time becomes aggressive, now when this happens he
often looses control. His doctors have acknowledged that there
is a possibility of ADD/ADHD, but the doctors have decided it
is too soon to make any kind of diagnosis.
Seeing as how Jeremiah is impulsive really does not mean
he has ADHD this could be the reason why his doctors feels that
it is too soon to recognize normal behavior from ADHD. Often
times there are a lot of children at his age that are active, they
are impulsive but they don’t have ADHD. Now Jeremiah who
has often been showing a disruptive behavior because he is
alleged of having ADD/ADHD, which makes him impulsive in
this case, it can be interpreted as aggressive behavior. To me it
appears that Jeremiah lashes out because he isn’t able to
maintain the self-control in an effective way.
Let’s remember that as a toddler Jeremiah fell off a ladder,
which resulted in him breaking his arm. Now this could be a
reason that has an impact on Jeremiah’s development overall up

27. until now. At moments Jeremiah still shows some fear in
physical activities despite the fact the he may have many falls,
bumps, and bruises. The good part is that he never attempts to
hurt any of his friends because of his level of physical activity
can get out of control and it seems to bother his judgment.
Another major factor to take in consideration that could
play as well as contribute to his overall development is that his
dad is in the service and has been deployed overseas, his mom
continually works long hours, and she’s not able to provide the
mother/child bounding time that he needs with his schoolwork.
When school is over Jeremiah is with his aunt, she cares for him
as well as his sister. It’s very difficult for his aunt to give him
the help that he needs with his schoolwork, as she also cares for
other children. She feels that he’s able to care for his own
needs.
I still believe that the best two theories that could possibly
apply to this case study of Jeremiah is behaviorism and social
learning theory, as well as information processing theory. With
behaviorism, this refers to a learning theory that is only
observed through behaviors. Now on the other hand, the social
learning theory applies to a person that can learn from others,
by observing another’s behavior as the outcome of that
particular behavior. The information processing theory refers to
how the mind thinks; it processes the information that we take
in. These theories very much seem to be applicable to his case
study simply because of him and his behavior of losing control
and he becomes very aggressive. This can be observed as well
as the facts that other are able to learn from his behavior by
observing him. More importantly, the information processing
theory most definitely applies to his case study because his
schoolwork suffers from his ability to stay focused and on task
to complete what he needs to while in school.
Behaviorism and social learning theory are impacts
expedited by one's on condition. The article expresses that
behaviorism, social learning theory assumes a notable part in
conduct, which they impact, and are affected by, one's

28. condition. Despite the fact that it is by all accounts some theory
of wild reasons for ADHD, yet there are few activities that can
be added to the current conduct. People only occasionally hold
somebody, including themselves, in charge of activities ascribed
to a wild reason ("I couldn't make a move" or "I have ADHD")
(Bear, Manning and Izard, 2003).
Now with the information processing theory, this seems to be a
good fit for the case study of Jeremiah, simpy because he is at
the preschool age of where the memory isn’t fully developed
through the information processing. After reading the article
children at the age level of preschool age have also developed a
much larger capacity to within take information to process.
(Oswalt, 2008). Let’s keep in mind that he is having a hard time
processing and remembering new information, also old
information intake. When a child is expanding on information of
processing they are able to make the connections between the
old and new information. (Oswalt, 2008). With the attention
span that he has since it is short. The author implies that
children are able to learn how to pay attention and are able to
memorize through the information processing theory. (Oswalt,
2008).
Seeing as how Jeremiah is such an active young boy he needs an
outlet to release his energy in a productive way. During the
preschool years the average preschool age child has a physical
development that is rapidly very functional. Piaget “believed
that children’s intellectual growth is based partly on physical
development” (Mooney, 2013, p. 81). Physical development has
very important aspects, this time of the development is
responsible for the changes in the mind of a child, the way that
the child speaks, walks and thinks. There are other changes that
will take place and they are using their gross motor skills, they
are starting to notice they have physical strength.
The possibly benefit of fundamental motivation is young
children are most likely to become actively involved in their
own physical development (Mandigo & Holt, 2000). A
developmentally appropriate for preschool children provides

29. experiences, which in encourages the development in
psychomotor, affective, and cognitive areas (Early Childhood
Physical Education, 1994). The body movements of Jeremiah at
this stage of life are becoming noticeable as he physically play
with other children as he runs, jumps, and wrestle with the other
children.
Honestly, I believe that Jeremiah won’t have any problems
while in play time because he is able to have interactions with
others, he’s able to express how he does have feelings without
and frustrations of being made to have a seat to be still to
perform his task. Play is emphasized and is very important, we
as teachers teach children how to resolve conflict and how to
use social skills. (Gibbs, 2012). Children often learn through
playing and interacting with other children. “As children engage
in symbolic play (making a cake out of sand, using a garden
hose to be a fire fighter), they are able to have an understanding
of the objects and the activities that are surrounding them.
(Mooney, 2013, p. 80). Now during play Jeremiah is able to
increase his social skills. In this article it discusses how play is
combined through the learning that effects children’s social,
intellectual, and language development, as well as their
imagination and creativity (Stone, 2003).
Now with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, this could be a part
of why Jeremiah is showing and expressing aggressive behavior.
According to Laura Berk (2012) she discusses how culture-the
values, beliefs, customs, and skills of social group-is
transmitted to the next generation. When and where a child
grow up, and who their parents are definitely has a major
influence on a child’s cultural values that are passed on to him
or her. When it comes to cultural development there are many
factors that take
place, gender and race have an effect on the development of a
child.
While doing this preschool case study I was focusing Jeremiah
Wilson. He often does his best to keep his hands to himself,
now this doesn’t always work the he plans because of how his

30. physical activity is a high level. As indicated by Piaget's
personal developmental theory, children effectively build on
learning as they control and investigate the world (Berk, 2012).
Now, not all children adjust, and are able to build information
similarly. "As the mind creates, and children’s encounters
extend, they travel through four wide stages, each described by
subjectively unmistakable mindsets" (Berk, 2012, p.19).
Children go through four stages of development; those stages
include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and
formal, operational. The third stage concrete operational:
children’s reasoning and logic are beginning to develop.
In the past previous case studies, Jeremiah’s physicians
have given acknowledgement that there is a mild case of
ADD/ADHD, and didn’t want to diagnosis him too soon.
Now on the other side of things, since Jeremiah is very
spontaneous, they physicians have made a diagnosis that he is
indeed ADHD. Since he is receiving help from the after school
program at the YMCA, they are doing their best to provide him
with the structure as well as exercises geared towards his
hyperactivity. Now let’s keep in mind that Jeremiah is has
always been a very generous and caring, however his ADHD is
still causing him to not stay on task, meaning that he isn’t
completing the daily chores that his mother ask of him as well
as to care for his sister. With all of these things going on, he
often becomes very frustrated. When he gets like this he is truly
missing his father and all of the influence he should be
receiving from his dad, and becomes very inactively stubborn,
therefore he stops and doesn’t finished what he started.
There are a lot of children at his age that are active, and they
are impulsive but they are not ADHD. However, Jeremiah seems
to be a kid who has disruptive behavior because he is suspected
of having ADD/ADHD, which makes him impulsive in this case
it can be interpreted as aggressive behavior. It appears to be
that Jeremiah lashed out because he is unable to maintain self-
control in an effective way.
When he was a toddler he fell off a ladder, and broke his

31. arm. This could be the reason that could have impacted his
overall development to this date. For example, Jeremiah still
shows a little fear in physical activities despite of the many
falls, bumps, and bruises. Most important, he never tries to hurt
anyone but because of his level of physical activity can get out
of control and it seems to bother his judgment. One more factor
that could be contribute to impact of his overall development is
the fact that his mom is working long hours, and she really does
not have any time to help him with his school work.
The two theories that I believe still best to apply to
Jeremiah’s case study is behaviorism and social learning theory,
and how information is processing theory.
Behaviorism refers to a learning theory that can be observed
only through behaviors. On the other hand, the social learning
theory means that you can learn from someone else by studying
other’s behavior and the result of that behavior. The
information processing theory refers to how our mind thinks,
and processes information. These theories are most applicable
to Jeremiah’s case study because his behavior of losing control
when he becomes hostile can be observed, as well as other’s can
learn from his actions by observing him. Most important, the
information processing theory best fits the case study of
Jeremiah because his schoolwork suffers from his ability to
focus.
Behaviorism and social learning theory are influences
brought on by one’s on environment. The article states that
behaviorism, social learning theory plays a major role in
behavior, which they influence, and are influenced by, one’s
environment. Even though it seems to be some speculation of
uncontrollable causes of ADHD, but there is some actions that
can be contribute to the behavior at hand. Individuals seldom
hold someone, including himself or herself, responsible for
actions attributed to an uncontrollable cause (“I couldn’t do
anything about it” or “I have ADHD”) (Bear, Manning & Izard,
2003).
Information processing theory was right for this case study

32. because Jeremiah is a preschooler who memory is not developed
through information processing. According to the article
children at this age have also developed a larger overall
capacity to process information (Oswalt, 2008). Jeremiah is
having a hard time remembering new information, as well as old
information. This expanding information processing capacity
allows young children to make connections between old and
new information (Oswalt, 2008). His attention span is short.
But, author states that children can learn to pay attention and be
able to memorize through information processing theory
(Oswalt, 2008).
Let’s keep in mind that Piaget’s theory stated the support of
principle that should help teachers move from the “concrete” to
the “abstract” per (Egan, 2005) Remember that Jeremiah
couldn’t understand and it is subsequently hard for him to do.
Spencer strayed away from this developmental theory by finding
out and stating that teaching should transition from simple to
complex abstract, to the known to the unknown (Egan, 2005)
He is a physically active little boy, but as I stated before
he is consuming too many foods that causing him to put on too
gain weight. I believe that since his mother isn’t home to
control the horrible eating habits this is the effect of him
gaining the weight. With him gaining the access weight, he is
rather larger then his classmates in his age group. This very
would could put him at risk for obesity.
At this age young children have imaginations and
emotions, that allows them to connect to the real world. (Egan,
2005) Children face a developmental stage of perception as
they start to mature (Terry & Bohneberger, 2004)
For example, Jeremiah knows and understands what he is
doing. When children enter Piaget’s stage of concrete
operations at about age seven, many changes in their thought
patterns are visible (Mooney, 2013). Bandura demonstrates
children’s ability to listen, retain, and abstract general rule from
difficult sets of observed behaviors affects their imitation and
learning (Berk, 2012).

33. The exclusive issue should contribute to the understanding
of the encompassing role of culture for the development of
human cognition (Keller, 2011). For instance, culture influences
the way we think, the way we talk, how we commemorate
holidays and what food we eat. Psychologists are seeing more
and more how society and culture at large affect growth and
development (Mooney, 2013). I would say it is a possibility that
culture influences a child’s development. But, we as adults also
learn certain behaviors from other people.
Now, those same types of behaviors that were put in us
have now been passed on to our children. Young immigrants
sometimes also encounter racial and ethnic prejudices and
experience tensions between family values and new culture
(Berk, 2012). On the other hand, there are many different
factors that contribute to the way a child is developing. But, the
environment that is around where your child lives will have an
effect on how that child is raised.
There are four domains of childhood development. This
includes physical, social, emotional, and cognitive because they
are interrelated. Child development is the way a child grows and
learns. Is there a reason to why one domain influences
development within the other domain? The skills and knowledge
that children develop early in life are the foundation for more
advanced skills and knowledge (Better Brains, 2015). You never
know in what order a child will develop in because it is always
in the easiest form to more difficult skills. However, children
are always learning from their action of doing by participating
in new skills through playing. On the other hand, because these
domains are interrelated, as educators, we should collaborate on
how to get the children’s basic needs met, as well as make sure
they feel safe, and feel valued in order to develop and learn.
As children grow, their abilities to control balance,
movement and fine motor skills become increasingly advanced
(Cherry, 2015). Children are able to acquire abilities through
developmental milestones. Physical milestones are the very first
part of a child’s life because they are learning to master to hold

34. objects in their hands. You can see children’s development by
how they play, learn, speak, and act (CDC, 2015).
It is imperative for parents to get involved with the way
their child is developing. There are ways to check your child’s
development. You can also learn information on development
disabilities, immunization recommendations, and screening.
When talking about physical development in young children,
two things are usually meant by it: the process of how children
grow physically, and their increasing skills at performing a
range of various motor tasks, using their large and small
muscles (DECAL, 2015). As a child grows and become
physically active their motor skills will greatly improve.
Physical factors have the ability to influence different
aspects of child development in different ways. Sometimes the
physical influences on child development are easily controlled,
and in order instances, nature controls the development
(Physical Factors, 2015). Parents’ needs to make sure their
children are given the correct developmental start by promoting
a healthy physical influence and by eliminating detrimental
factors within parents’ control. There times when kids inherit
things though genetics as well as physical traits from their
parents that can hinder overall development (Physical Factors,
2015).
Social emotional development can influence child
development in many different ways. The social emotional
development of a preschool age child influences many attributes
of young life, and parenting plays a role in how each child
obtains developmentally appropriate social and emotional skills
(Brook, 2011). Social and emotional skills are extremely
important to mental health. Developing secure and positive
interactions with others and control over one feelings during the
preschool years is beneficial to future personality development
(Brook, 2011).
The social emotional development is important for growth
and development of a child resulting in the correlation between
positive parenting and appropriate social emotional

35. development (Brook, 2011). The main point of emotional
competence is to send and receive messages that are important
to social interactions. In contrast, social competence refers to
children’s ability to behave effectively in social interactions.
Children’s understanding and regulation of emotional displays
and their associations with children’s social competence have
been given a great deal of attention in literature over the last
decade (Brooks, 2011). Also, Vygotsky affirms that social
interaction forms intellectual development and stressed the
importance of language in the development of thought (Johnson,
2003).
This literature review outlines the challenges and
constraints in which relationships to parents, peers, and friends
offer for children’s emotional development, including the
development of appraisal, experience, expression, and
regulation of emotion (Salisch, 2001). In early childhood,
children begin to learn how to describe their own self-concept
through simple forms of emotional attitudes. Emotional
development with negative influences, such as the
environmental processes could have an effect on young
children’s self-concept. In the course of only a few years
children show amazing growth in their emotional development
(Salisch, 2001).
Cognitive development is when children begin to have the
ability to think and use reasoning for them. Children’s cognitive
thinking will continue to grow throughout childhood. Cognitive
development is part of the mental process that a child needs for
him or her to think, and for the world to make sense around
them. Most important, Piaget believed that infants and toddlers
do have a lot of mental abilities to perceive the world around
them (Berk, 2012). Vygotsky believes that verbal, social,
emotional, and cognitive developments are matching processes
that ultimately work together to shape a child’s literacy growth
(Johnson, 2003).
There are environmental and influential factors that can
influence child development, such as family, socioeconomic

36. status, society and culture. However, the environment around us
is a very fluid thing, always changing. Humans can influence
the environment simply by being present (Environmental
Factors, 2015). Some environmental changes are easily
recognizable, and there some that are not as recognizable.
The purpose of this is to determine the extent of awareness
on well-being of a child (Family Influence, 2014). Researchers
have a belief that the development of a child’s behavior can be
greatly impacted by the way his or her family function. Based
on the information gathered from a review of literature and the
survey instrument, the conclusion was reached that family life
affects the cognitive development of a child (Family, Influence,
2014). Children have the knowledge to cope with, as well as
have the ability to adjust with life problems and demands are
being based on the psychological foundations of early family
experiences. Families, especially parents, play a vital role in
instilling values of children (Family Influence, 2014).
Socio-economic status (SES) on a child development
suggests that these problems do not necessarily arise directly
from a low SES but from the impact it has on the parents of the
children (Kean, 2015). Research has proven that there is
significant amount literature that has been written to determine
the impact of poverty, and low socio-economic status on the
cognitive development in children and adults alike.
Socioeconomic status is based on family income, parental
education level, occupation, and social status in the community
(Socioeconomic Status, 2015). Families with high socio-
economic status often are more successful in preparing their
children for school because they typically have more access to a
wide range of resources to promote and support young
children’s development than that of a family with low socio-
economic status (Socioeconomic Status, 2015).
Families with high socioeconomic status are able to
provide their children with the highest-quality childcare.
However, it is very easy for them to gather information on their
children’s health, as well as social, emotional, and cognitive

37. development. They also will have the ability to reach out to
other people for help them to better prepare their children for
school. “Across all socioeconomic groups, parents face major
challenges when it comes to providing optimal care and
education for their children” (Socioeconomic Status, 2015).
Several cultural factors, such as gender and race, have an
impact on the development of a child across the lifespan
(Cultural, 2015). Children learn very early that there are
different expectations for boys and girls. This is what you call
gender stereotyping; these are the programmed ways in which
members of a particular sex are supposed to act (Cultural,
2015). However, racial stereotypes do exist and will even have
an effect on child’s development. The United States is a highly
segregated society and children-especially children of color-
often become aware of the dynamics of racism from a young age
(Cultural, 2015).
The cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors within a family
all have an impact on early child development (Schreiber,
2009). For instance, there are various reasons as to why and
how a child grows and the kind of person he or she becomes.
Such cultural differences can lead to dramatic variations in how
children are raised (Cherry, 2015). No matter what the child’s
surrounding culture is, the parental approaches used are
designed to produce children who can meet the goals and beliefs
of the culture in which they live (Cherry,2015).
Culture has an influence on three domains of development:
socio-emotional, language and cognitive development (Fierro,
2015). It is important to gain some cultural competence and find
a better strategy to interacting with these families in a culturally
sensitive way (Fierro, 2015). According to the research, it
appears that there is a myth about children being limited to one
area of the house because of the environment. Developmental
screenings is another myth about a social service agency may
result in developmental delays that are also a product of the
family dynamic and culture (Fierro, 2015).
Family engagement and culture will have an effect on the

38. ethnic background of child development. The literature clearly
supports the importance of strong relationships between
families and early education programs (Stark & Moodie, 2009).
Children’s development and learning that occur within their
culture will have an interactive effect on family engagement
(Stark & Moodie, 2009). All systems influence and are
influenced by cultural and socio-economic status; however, two
of the most influential systems for young children are their
home environment and their early childhood education programs
(Stark & Moodie, 2009).
Promoting optimal development in childhood is very
crucial for social and emotional development. Temperament is a
way that you describe how a child will react to the world that
surrounds him or her. It is the individual’s own way of “style.”
While temperament is not definitive nor can it predict behavior,
understanding a child’s temperament can assist providers and
families better understand how young children react and relate
to the world around them (Allard & Hunter, 2013). Researchers
have explained how young children’s temperament can be
depicted by several different traits. However, these traits
address an infant’s level of activity, his or her adaptability to
routines, how he or she responds to new situations, his or her
mood, the intensity of his or her reactions, his or her sensitivity
to what’s going around him or her, how quickly he or she adapts
to changes, and how distractible and persistent she might be
when engaging in an activity (Allard & Hunter, 2013). For
example, all children will not fall in the same temperament of
style.
The optimal development of children is very important to
the society. Just as young children need nourishing and healthy
food to build physical strength, they also need healthy nutrition
for optimal development of language and cognitive abilities
(Bjorn, 2013). Psychologists believe that if parents speak
directly to their toddler this will help in the child’s ability to
speak proficiently. New research from Stanford University
psychologists shows that by talking more to their toddler,

39. parents help them learn to process language at an accelerated
rate, which, in turn, accelerates vocabulary growth (Bjorn,
2013). It is no fact that socioeconomic status does play a part in
language development. Children who live in lower
socioeconomic environment will have lower language
proficiency scores than children who come from a higher
socioeconomic environment.
A child is more likely to achieve his or her full potential if
he or she experiences consistent, predictable, enriched, and
stimulating interactions in a context of attentive and nurturing
relationships (Perry, 2004). Every child will experience a
challenging new situation once in his or her life. A child’s first
day in kindergarten will be stressful enough for the child. Those
embedded in a safe and stable home base overcome the stress of
this new situation and are able to embrace the challenges of
learning (Perry, 2004). There are some children who will
experience the safe, warm, and loving environment. In contrast,
there are other children’s whose upbringing is not in a safe
environment.
Students who are taught in an optimal learning
environment seem to recognize a certain self-actualization has
taking place. For instance, this could be that their needs are
being met in the classroom. Optimal learning allows teachers to
connect learning to students’ real lives and emotional
experiences (Wilson, 2013). The community at large as an
optimal learning environment: Teachers need to find ways to
fully use city space and natural space to use as a primary
learning setting (Wilson, 2013).
It is important to let students brainstorm on ideas so that
they can get the full effect of an optimal learning in order to
succeed in life. However, the classroom environment must make
students believe that their feelings do matter when it comes to
how they interpret their learning. For example, an emphasis
needs to be made to the students to help them understand that
they are safe to share their ideas without being scolded. Most
important, is that students recognize the optimal learning

40. environment as the teacher created it.
For optimal functioning, you must organize the classroom
(Krych, 2015). Sometimes as educators we wonder where to
place the teacher’s desk once we have prepared the rest of the
classroom. According to the article, it examines and compares
the effects of placing the teacher’s desk in the front of the
room, back of the room, and having no desk at all (Krych,
2015). However, there are several possibilities where to place
the desk in the classroom for the best optimal functioning of the
classroom. Some say front and center, few argued no desk is the
way to go, and others swear by putting in the back room (Krych,
2015). After analyzing numerous sources, it is clear that the
best recommendation is to place the teacher’s desk in the back
of the room (Krych, 2015).
Child development is when changes occur as a child grows
and develops. Development and learning result from an
interaction of maturation and experience (12 Principles, 2015).
Thus, early learning does have a significant effect on the way a
child learns and understands. Even though development and
learning matures when children are challenged, their
experiences will shape their motivation as they approach their
learning. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-
regulation, language, cognition, and self-competence (12
Principles, 2015).
References
Active, Engaged, Meaningful Learning. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.ncrel.org
Allard, L. T., & Hunter, A. (2013). Understanding temperament
in Infants and Toddlers.
Retrieved from http://www.csef4.vanderbilt.edu
Bear, G. G., Manning, A., & Izard, C. E. (2003). Responsible
behavior: The importance
Of social cognition and emotion. Scholarly Journal, 18(2),
140. Retrieved from

41. http://www.search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docvie
w/195483046
Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, children, and adolescents (7th ed.).
Boston, MA:
Allyn & Bacon
Better Brain for Babies. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.bhhgeorgia.org
Bjorn, C. 92013). Talking directly to toddlers strengthens their
language skills.
Retrieved from http://www.stafforduniversity.edu
Brooks, B. (2011). The Effects of Parenting Styles on a
Preschool Aged Child’s
Social Emotional Development. Retrieved from
http://www.2.uwstout.edu
CDC-Parent-Information-Children-milestone. (2015). Retrieved
from
http://www.cdc.gov
Cherry, K. (2015). Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
Retrieved from
Psychology.about.com
Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2014). Child Development. Principles
and Perspectives.
(2nd ed.). Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall. Retrieved
from
http://www.education.com
Cultural and Societal Influences on Child Development. (2015).
Retrieved from
https://www.boundless.com
DECAL-Physical Development. Retrieved from
http://www.decal.go.gov
Early childhood physical education. (1994). Providing the
foundation. Journal of
Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 65(6), 28.
Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/215
7711417

42. Egan, K. (2005). Student Development in Theory and Practice:
The Doubtful Role of
Research. Scholarly Journal, 75(1), 25-41. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/2122989
65
Environmental factors . (2015). Retrieved from
http;//www.u.s.nationalparkservice.gov
Family Influences on the Development of Child’s Behavior.
(2000). Retrieved from
http://www.kon.org
Fierro, L. D. (2015). Cultural Myths and Their Impact on
Child’s Development in the
At-Risk Family. Retrieved from
http://www.aia.berkeley.edu
Gibbs, L. (2012). Early Childhood Education: History, Theory,
and Practice (2nd ed.).
Trade Journals, 88(2), 135. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1492880
2717
Johnson, c. D. (2003). The role of Child Development and
Social Interaction in
The selection of children’s literature to promote literacy.
Acquisition Multilingual
Journal, 5(2), 25-34. Retrieved from
http://www.ecrp.uicc.edu
Kail, R. V. (2004). Cognitive Development Includes Global and
Domain-Specific
Processes, 50(4), 445-455. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/2301048
95
Kean, D. (2015). The effect of socio-economic characteristics
on parenting
And child. Retrieved from http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu
Keller, H. (2011). Culture and Cognition: Developmental
Perspective. Journal of
Cognitive Education and Psychology, 10(1), 3-8. Retrieved

43. from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/8803900
79
Krych, M. P. (2015). Place of the Teacher’s Desk. Retrieved
from
http://www.teachingonpurpose.org
Mandigo, J. L., & Holt, N. L. (2000). Putting theory into
practice: How cognitive
Education theory can help us motivate children in physical
activity environments.
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 7(1),
44-49. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/215
768030
Mooney, C. G. (2013). Theories of Childhood: An Introduction
to Dewey, Montessori,
Erickson, Piaget, and Vygotsky (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MMN:
Red leaf Professional Library
Oswalt, A. (2008). Early Childhood Cognitive Development.
Information Processing.
Retrieved from http://www.metahelp.net
Physical Factors that Influence Child Development. (2015).
Retrieved from
http://www.everydaylifeglobalpost.com
Roles of teachers child development in school settings. (2015).
Retrieved from
http://www.childsupportin.org
Salisch, M. (2001). Children Emotional Development:
Challenges in their relationships
To parents, peers, and friends. International Journal of
Behavioral Development,
25(4), 310-319. Retrieved from http://www.tantandr.co.uk
Schreiber, K. (2009). Cultural Influence on Child development.
Retrieved from
http;//www.ctf4kids.org
Socioeconomic Status. (2015). Retrieved from

44. http://www.ncrel.org
Stark, D. R., & Moodie, S. (2009). Family Engagement, Diverse
Families, and Early
Childhood Education Programs: An Integrated Review of
the Literature
16(1), 17-22. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org
Stone, S. J. (2003). Play and Meaning in Early Childhood
Education. Trade Journal,
79(3), 183. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/210
3895507
Terry, A., & Bohnenberger, J. E. (2004). Blueprint for
Incorporating Service Learning:
A Basic, Developmental, K-12 Service Learning
Technology.
The Journal of Experiential Education, 27(1), 15-31.
Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/274
926685
Twelve Principles of Child Development and Learning.
Retrieved from
http://www.naceyc.org
Vercillo, K. (2012). Why it is Important for Teachers to
Understand Child
Development Stages. Retrieved from
http://wwwhubpages.com
Wilson, L. O. (2013). Brain Based Education. Retrieved from
http://www.thesesecondprinciples.com