cause study

Case Study

Child Cognitive Development

Pastor, age 9 and in 3rd grade, is the third child in a family of five children (two older brothers, and two younger sisters). His parents, Juanita and Pedro Gonzalez, immigrated about 3 years ago from Guatamala after Pedro’s job working on a sugar plantation was eliminated. Pedro has a high school diploma, and Juanita attended school up to 11th grade.

Pastor is struggling in school. He often makes mistakes spelling and his reading is very slow and laborious. He also makes many mistakes in arithmetic and struggles to understand fractions. He is working below grade level. On the playground, he is friendly and outgoing, hanging out with a group of 4 other boys most of the time, playing soccer/futbol – which he excels at. He has a high level of energy and activity, and sometimes finds it difficult to sit still in the classroom. He is easily distracted, but very compliant when an aide or the teacher redirects his attention.

On the playground he speaks mostly Spanish. He has a certain level of English that allows him to understand most conversational English outside the school, and he seems to understand most of what the teachers and teacher aides tell him in English in the classroom. He sometimes struggles with finding the right word in English, but most of the time he speaks well.

His teacher arranged a meeting with Pastor’s parents, to express her concern over his struggling with reading and math. Juanita and Pedro report that Pastor’s older brothers also struggled with reading, but they made sure all their boys spent time each day reading and doing their homework after dinner. Upon further questioning, Pastor’s parents report that he started talking when he was about 18-19 months old (like his older brothers) but that his younger sisters starting talking about 12-13 months of age. Pastor was relatively sickly as an infant, but by the time he was 2, he was growing rapidly and very active.

Answer the following questions about the case – make sure to quote the textbook to support your answers. Minimum Length : Each answer should be approximately 200 words, about 10-15 sentences, at a minimum to answer the questions adequately.

1. How likely is it that Pastor might have ADHD? What about his case would support the assessment? What about the case would argue against the assessment?

2. What theory of intelligence would you use to think about Pastor’s cognitive development? Why is that theory useful, in thinking about his development?

3. What kind of intervention should the teachers and parents provide Pastor? Ground the actions with a specific theory from our class.