While studies of children who have suffered severe deprivation are generally unpleasant, they provide valuable insight into the impact that environmental experiences have on the development of the individual. There is much evidence to suggest that early learning environments literally shape the developing brain (Nelson, 1999).
Some studies have involved mistreated children who, tragically, have spent their first years in cupboards, attics and other restricted environments. When first discovered, these children are usually mute, retarded and emotionally damaged.
Some suffer from deprivation dwarfism, a condition characterised by stunted physical growth associated with stress, isolation or general deprivation. Efforts to teach such severely deprived children to speak and behave normally rarely succeed.
Case Study: ‘Closet child’ now with loving parents:
Becky’s story began to unfold when the Sheriff’s Department responded to a tip like hundreds of others. They found Becky in urine-soaked clothes, asleep on a hard cot in her parents’ bedroom.
‘She was almost like an animal,’ one of the deputies reported. Her world then was the bedroom and its closet, in which she was kept for untold hours. Now Becky lives in a spacious foster home.
Since Becky’s rescue, she has gained 12 pounds and grown 6 inches. But she is still a mite, for she weighed only 24 pounds and stood only 32 inches tall last April.
When she was found, Becky couldn’t even crawl; now she walks. Then, she knew only a few words – now she speaks in sentences. She is, except for the hurt in her eyes, almost like any toddler.
But Rebecca is no toddler. She is nine years old and her paediatrician says she may never catch up.
Information gathered from:
Van Lersel et al. (2005) Nelson Psychology, Thomson Nelson, pg. 114
Questions:
· If most of our development is due to nature, why didn’t Becky go through the normal stages of development?
· What possible explanations could there be for why Becky’s development hasn’t caught up?
Answer the above question by responding to this post – you may wish to do some additional research regarding the critical and sensitive period.
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Becky had a stunted growth which meant that she was physically unable to complete some things due to bad treatment and up-bringing. She was never able to be a part of her own nature as she was almost like she was disabled. A nine year old with such a past, who is mentally only the age of a toddler.
ReplyDeleteBecky might not be able to catch up as he has missed the 9 years of which a child leans and takes in the most information, including her growth. As Piaget’s studies showed, a child learns through the sensorimotor, Pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational stages, which Becky has skipped.
Becky’s common sense and knowledge of life expectancies will always be most likely be limited and she will have difficulties with many things in life. However, in saying this I don’t believe that it is too late, although she may have problems that cannot be fixed; I believe that if she worked hard and received the support she needed, she would be fine.
ALEX WOODS
This study provides evidence for the nurture vs. nature debate in the support of nurture. It proves that a child is not able to learn even the most basic actions that toddlers learn. For e.g. walking and/or correct speech.
ReplyDelete1. Becky did not develop like any other child because she was not provided with the correct nurturing environment. Nature may play a role in likes or dislikes however, for that to take place, it is necessary to be provided with care, nutrition, hygiene and adequate living space. Nature does not play a role in a child's speed of development however it may play a role in what a child looks like and other genetic traits.
2. If a toddler is not provided with a certain amount of living space, they will not be able to be easily mobile. Thus, they would not grow as much as active toddlers. Becky was not given enough space to live nor the love of her parents during her critical and sensitive period, thus stunting her growth. She suffered from deprivation dwarfism, which is the condition of stunted physical growth which associated with stress, isolation or general deprivation (as mentioned in the article above). However, when she moved into a more caring environment, her growth rate exceeded.
In conclusion, nature may play a role in what a child looks like or how he/she behaves however nuture is the most important aspect of a child's developmental stage.
The case of Becky shows that the 'nature nurture' debate is not completely black and white. Maybe this case suggests than the rate of development is due to nurture? Becky was in an extreme case of deprivation of the necessities of life .Therefore her body was unable to learn most things other children would in the critical period such as learning speech, crawling and walking. The development that Becky is undergoing (such as speech in sentences) should have happened when she was two years of age. As she never went through this absolutely critical period, she may never be able to catch up.
ReplyDeleteJillease
Nature provides the foundations for development, and the capability to develop, whether quickly or slowly, but nurturing builds upon that base, spurring development. For example, a baby will not learn to speak if it is just left to its own devices. Another person must talk to the baby, assisting it to develop and learn words. So Becky is technically going through the natural stages of development, but at an age when she is expected to be at a higher level.
ReplyDeleteIf nature provides an individual's capability for learning and development, and the nurturing to start the process of development is begun later than normal, then a child's ability to develop would have to be far in advance of other children of their age to eventually reach the level of development as their age group. If, for example, a child is stimulated to develop at the age of three, while children of their age have had this stimulation for the past two and a half years, then the child is essentially two and a half years behind other children of their age. Becky's inability to talk is a prime example of this. Other children of her age would have been learning to talk since they were born, with stimulation, in the form of their parents talking to them, spurring their development. Becky, however, was isolated by her parents, and had not recieved this nurturing from her parents, therefore she did not learn to speak until she was put into a foster home and recieved the stimulation necassary for development.
tom
This case, in answer to the first question shows the vital role that love plays in our development. When people speak of us as products of nature they are more referring to the strengths of character rather than the actual development of skills. This case illustrates a lack of development of skills where the child was not in an environment that vital functions could be learnt and tested. The child was left entirely alone in the world so it could not develop. This is more a case of learning than a case of nature vs. nurture.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how much it is in their nature a child will never just pick up a ball and know how to play football: they need to be taught. When psychologists say that we are products of nature, they mean that our character traits, our strengths and weaknesses are products of nature, not our learnings. Every child needs to be taught. Saying that this case is a case of nature vs. nurture is incorrect because this case deals with the vital learnings that would have occurred.
In this case study the child was left alone in the world with nobody to learn from or copy. The child’s parents weren’t around so how could it learn to speak or perform other functions. The child was alone in the world so it could not learn anything.
Ben Heim
This article made no mention of the developmental stages, and also made no mention any cognitive skills possessed by Becky (apart from speaking). There should be some research into her problem solving skills, decentration, etc. If these are normal (or close to) it shows that Piaget’s natural developmental theories apply. If not, it may show that although the theories do apply to most children, normal support of the stages is necessary through contact with people and nurturing. Perhaps there were periods in which Becky could have advanced in her development (e.g. from the sensorimotor stage to the preoperational stage), but as there was no nurturing to aid this development, it did not occur.
ReplyDeleteRyan
Development of a child may be due mostly to nature, however how this is developed further and how it is expressed is due to nurture. Becky’s brain could not develop much further than a toddler because she had no environment to learn from. She was kept locked up for hours on end, and was confined to just a room and cupboard for the early stages of her life. Without social and environmental interaction, Becky could not learn and develop like most healthy children.
ReplyDeleteBecky may have trouble catching up with other children her age as she has suffered significant emotional and physical trauma. Living in such a restricted space for most of her life would have meant that Becky missed the critical period in which her body and mind were to change. If a child does not receive the appropriate stimulus during this period, it may be difficult, or even impossible to develop some functions later in life. For Becky, missing the critical period could explain her lack of ability to develop along with other children of her age.
Caitlin H
It is evident in this case our development is not only due to nature; Becky is (or was) living proof. It shows that a person relies on the nurture that is crucial for a child’s development.
ReplyDeleteIf she is nine years of age, and has only developed to the normal level of a toddler, it would be extremely difficult for one to ‘catch up’ with our peers. This is because Becky had missed out on nine whole years of learning- and in very important learning stages. According to Piaget’s theory of development, by the time a child is nine years old they should be able to carry out mental operations, de-centrate as well as other mental functioning that a child under that age would not be capable of doing. It is obvious that Becky is very incapable of carrying out these functions due to the evidence that she can’t even crawl.
Katy
The circumstances that Becky undertook were inhumane and appalling. The reason that Becky failed to go through the normal stages of development is due to the lack of experiences and learning. A normal child would have had experiences that would have been a stimuli for development stages, however, Becky was confine to limited space and unruly treatment by her parents, and therefore did not have the experience of learning the things that a normal child would have. She has not learnt the everyday basics and practically could not function before being found.
ReplyDeleteThe reason for Becky not being able to catch up in development might be because when we are young, we start to learn things easily, and when we get older, learning new things becomes harder. Subsequently, as Becky has missed the first few critical years of learning, she has, as a result, missed the first prime years of development, and therefore might not be able to learn as fast as a person who was subjected to normal conditions. Becky was also exposed to cruel things that may have scarred her mentally and physically and therefore might find it rather hard to develop.
vicky
Becky went through the normal stages of growing up, though the neglect, because nature development which states that a person’s personality and character is due to their genes meaning that she still grew up without the influence of her environment. Becky’s development has not “caught up” because she did not get to go through the critical period as a baby in which she explored the world around her. There are also many risks linked to early childhood neglect. Some children also exclude themselves because they have had no social interaction with other children and other adults. Some neglected children also do not know the basics such as walking in Becky’s case. Joel .
ReplyDeleteBecky has suffered a lot, by not being nurture by her parent, as most other children are. Every child is different from one another; Becky may not have had the ability to go through the normal stages of development without a supportive environment. Becky’s development may not have caught up because she has had no communication with the outside world and was hardly ever spoken to and only knew a few words. She would have had to start learning as if she had just been born. This would limit her ability of going through the normal stages.
ReplyDeleteI am actually on the Nurture side of the scale anyway, so this story backs up where I am coming from. Becky didn’t go through the normal stages of childhood development because she was neglected or ‘nurtured’ the wrong way. If the normal stages are, say, 1:Crawl, 2:Walk, 3:Talk, just think about how proper, loving parents would help this. 1. They would encourage the child, say, showing it something that it wants (maybe a lolly), but just keeping it out of the child’s reach. This would ENCOURAGE the child to motivate itself to get the lolly. Same thing with walking really, just progressive steps. As to talking, I think that hearing constant chatter – parents and friends, anyone, would rub off on the child, and ‘unlocking’ the talking ability. (in this way I believe somewhat in Nature. We are all born with the ability to talk, and walk. But we can’t do it as soon as we are born – we need to LEARN, through NURTURE.) of course, if there is none of this NURTURE occurs, then how can the child possibly develop at the same rate as normal children. Is it going to teach itself to talk, if it has almost never heard a word said in its life? This is easily applied to Becky’s case. Not much walking to be done in cot is there?
ReplyDeleteAs to the second question, why hasn’t Becky caught up. I honestly don’t know for sure. However I think it might have something to do with the fact that she was already a good way into her childhood before she was actually NURTURED properly. I think she must have missed a couple of vital steps in her development. it may just be as if she was on pause for the time she was neglected – ageing but not growing, in a sense. However I disagree with her paediatrician. everyone knows that there is a certain age where humans stop growing mentally and physically. I think that Becky may just keep going for a few more years after, and ‘hit the wall’ after everyone else.
Alex Ray (yeah, the cool one)10G
Rebecca's case follows on in my belief that nurture is responsible for most of our development. I believe that Becky failed to go through the normal stages of development due to a lack of learning via exploration and relationships.
ReplyDeleteChildren take in stimuli from the environment and use it to grow. In the restrictive environment Becky was placed in, she had no way of interacting with objects and social situations that most children would become a custom to and therefore did not grow mentally/mature until she was taken out of that environment.
Neglect or abuse make it difficult for a child to absorb all the basic building blocks and stimulation they need to gain abilities at certain times in life. When this occurs, the children will have a harder time gaining those abilities even if they later get special attention and resources designed to help them compensate.
Children have a sensitive time period of opportunity when they are ready to reach their developmental potential if they have the right atmosphere and relationships in their environment. When that time period is over, it will never be as easy to grow in those ways again. Not to say that the child can't learn the ability they missed but it would be significantly difficult to gain outside that period of time. That is why Becky's development hasn't caught up to that of a "normal" 9 year old girl.
Izzy.
This case of Rebecca Holmes is a very unfortunate one. Her parents kept her locked away from the world as she was diagnosed with a mild case of cerebral palsy. Friends of her family stated that they had not seen her since soon after her birth. The reason behind why she did not go through the normal stages of development was because she did not have an environment in which her mind could be stimulated and challenged in order for her to grow. Our mind and our body is not only dependant on our genes but also on the world in which we live and the people around us. As her parents had not exposed her to the real world and kept her locked up, she never had a chance to interact with others or explore the world around her. She was instead treated like and animal and left to thrive in her own filth and sleep on a hard cot. Becky has not developed properly because she did not have a foundation on which to start on. It can only be assumed that her parents had not helped her to develop basic skills. This shows that not only nature but nurturing plays a role in our gradual physical and mental development.
ReplyDeleteAlex Reddy 10F
Becky did not go through the normal stages of developement properly because the way she was nurtured, did not allow her to grow as nature intended.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why her developement hasn't caught up is because She was unable to learn when she was at a critical learning stage so she is now trying to learn what she should have been learning at a much earlier age. she was never able to complete the sensorimotor stage like other babies due to the fact that she was kept in a cot and was unable to observe the world around her.
Connor R-J
Development is a process of change that continues throughout our lives. There are many developmental periods and in each period. Humans have a different capacity for physical and mental development which I believe is determined by nature.
ReplyDeleteDespite the set potential of development at different periods, not all children are able to develop certain things during the specific stages. Without the proper nurture and other environmental stimuli, they cannot develop to their full potential.
Rebecca is an example of this. She was obviously undernourished and neglected during her early childhood. Therefore she was not able to reach her full capacity of growth during her critical period in early childhood.
As a young child, language development is learnt through hearing and copying language around them. I believe this is less critical than growth and other development as it is possible for those past the sensitive period for language development to achieve the same results. However this requires much more work.
Even now, Becky may never catch up because of her neglect during the critical or sensitive period for growth and development. Although with proper care she can develop to a certain extent, she still may not be able to achieve the development of an ordinary child.
Oswalt, A. (2005) Sensitive Periods in Child Development. N.p.: Centersite, Viewed 5 May 2009, [http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=7923&cn=28]
cathy
Becky’s story proves that nurture is a lot stronger than nature, because Becky was raised and taught the things a little child would learn at their age. It shows that it is critical for nurture to step in during early learning. Nature does not take you thought the normal stages of development by its self, nature is a main factor of life, it shows that you learn to walk and talk by nature; you will have to learn everything else by nurture. You might have a talent to play cricket but you won’t get that talent if nurture doesn’t step in.
ReplyDeleteAn explanation for why Becky’s development hasn’t caught up is because she missed the basic learning stage when she was younger, where it is easier to learn things. An example of that is that it is easier to learn a second language at a younger age, than learning it when you’re older. The younger mind absorbs things a lot easier because you are learning a lot of different things at once, so the brain is letting more things in. This is based around the critical period, the critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of childhood, there speech and language develops readily and after which is around the years 5 and puberty learning this is more difficult and ultimately less successful.
Nicole:)
This article on Rebecca proves that nurture has some impact on a child’s developmental stage. Rebecca is nine years old so she should be well and truly into the Concrete Operational Stage of development however her stage is clearly a Preoperational stage of development.
ReplyDeleteThe explanation as to why Rebecca failed to go through the normal stages of development is simply that nurturing during early childhood is important factor of development. The lack of nurturing limits the quality and amount of situations that the child can learn through. The conditions that Rebecca was exposed to where inhuman and the lack of good solid parenting is appalling. Rebecca’s world of the bedroom and closet could not have provided her with situations to learn from. She had no way of learning through observation or imitating as her parents were not around for long periods of time and learning through reinforcement and punishment must of been very limited.
The reason Rebecca has not caught up with her stage of development is because she did not receive the information that she needed to learn during the critical period. The critical period is a stage early in development where information is easily absorbed but as the child continues to grow and mature they base their knowledge on what was learned in this period. This is why Rebecca has not yet caught up in her stages of development. She now finds it must more difficult to learn complicated concepts.
Mandy
You cannot say that because Becky did not receive good nurturing, that that means nurture is the cause of development. Nature can still be the cause of development but even with Nature, the skills need to be encouraged and appreciated. Becky can’t magically learn and develop all the skills all by herself, the abilities need support for them to be learned and continued. Also she had not been exposed to any challenges or anything that is learned in the development stages, she did need to learn language, so her mind and body ignored it. She wasn’t faced with any abstract thinking problems or thinking about others. Psychologists everywhere have said that social experiences are just as important on development as physical experiences are. If she was constantly locked in the closet and never interacted with another child and barely with her parents then she didn’t have any social experiences and her development would be stunted immensely.
ReplyDeleteAs Ms O’Neill has said in class, a child need a figure they are attached and feel safe and secure around, then they can start exploring and gaining experimental and developing. If Becky didn’t have this figure they were attached to then she could not develop and it may be too late for her to find this figure and this could be why she may never catch up.
The case study “Closet Child” shows that nurture plays a big role in childhood development. As Becky was mistreated badly at a young age, it has modified her genetic abilities and factors (e.g. height), and also influenced the critical period. If the organism is not prepared when the critical period starts, they will “skip” and miss important human factors (e.g. grammar, growth etc). It is true that an organism contains many genetic (nature) abilities; however they are generally found when the individual is influenced and experiences the outer environment. If the organism lacks experience and influence, then they will miss the important parts of Piaget’s developmental stages and abide the Social Learning Theory.
ReplyDeleteThough Becky’s development has improved excessively, she has not yet caught up to normal 9 year olds as her body has adapted to her earlier environment. When an individual has become comfortable and familiar with a certain environment, it is hard for it to change rapidly. We can see this if we compare two disabled citizens, one with a disability since birth (aka.1) and one with a recent disability (aka. 2), due to an accident, for example. As 1 has been disabled since birth, its body and mind has naturally adapted to it. However, it is difficult for 2 to adjust itself to such sudden and abnormal changes. Therefore, it takes time for an individual to adjust to its new environment and situation (that is why “homesickness” occurs when an individual is in a foreign country).
It is very unlikely Becky will grow much taller however; it is possible for her to improve her grammar skills by training herself very often. She is disabled (due to mistreatment) but she can become normal mentally if she tries hard, though not physically.
Tiffany
Becky's lack of human interaction and treatment may have stunted her growth along with other things. One i factor i believe would have impacted Becky's growth is lack of sleep. Sleep is the period when children and adolescents grow a lot, and in such horrible conditions it may have been near impossible to get decent hours of sleep. Therefore she may have not developed as well as she should have. And now that she has missed out on so much growth time at such a vital age, it may be near impossible for her to catch up.
ReplyDeleteBy Mark
Question 1 - If most of our development is due to nature, why didn’t Becky go through the normal stages of development?
ReplyDeleteI don’t think development is entirely due to nature, but merely provides a basis for maturity and growth. This is evident in Becky’s case as her development was stunted due to deprivation of decent food, exercise and exposure to the outside world, limiting her growth and psychological well-being.
After being exposed to the outside world, Becky grew in size and weight. Her psychological well-being developed and she was even able to walk and speak a few words. This was obviously not due to nature as she was found in her parents bedroom seriously and unusually underdeveloped for a girl of that age, but when she was placed into a healthier environment with greater living conditions; she grew beyond expectation, greatly favouring the nurture side of the debate.
Question 2 - What possible explanations could there be for why Becky’s development hasn’t caught up?
Due to Becky’s deprivation at a young age, she missed out on nutrition at a vital stage in her life. This affects her life-long development, leaving her without the ability to catch up and grow to normal size.
Jordan Raison