Case Study: Josephine

Assignment

You are presented with a case study in the material to follow. Your task is to use all you have learned about development this semester to discuss what has happened to Josephine (Jo) Barnett over the course of her development. You will read about her status at five different ages and write a summary of what is going on at each age in terms of physical, cognitive, communicative, and social development. You will then complete the assignment by writing an interpretation of Jo’s development across the years from 1 to 16. The emphasis here is on normal development, but you should also raise any questions (that could be backed up by evidence in the case study material) about possible problematic aspects of development. The last section should address themes that show developmental stability or developmental change. Your response to the case study will be graded on the basis of your ability to apply course concepts to the material. You should be able to say things in the form of: “Jo’s behavior X was probably due to the fact that children at that age think like Y or interact with others in W and Z ways because of G.” For instance, if we had material on Jo as a five-year old that said she still believed in Santa Claus, you could use the Piagetian concept of preoperational thinking to say that such beliefs were common at that age because children were not constrained by concrete rule-bound thinking.

Format

Your paper is basically an interpretive essay. It should include headings for each of the ages and a heading for the overall developmental summary. Within each age you should consider anything relevant to the major areas of development: physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional. When you are applying concepts you should make it as clear as you can what you are using, by theorist name (e.g., Piaget), concept name (e.g., “permissive parenting style”), or even a chapter or page number from the textbook.

Case Study: Background Information

Josephine (Jo) Barnett was born to African-American parents in Asheville, NC. At the time, her mother Yvette, 26, worked at the local Wal-Mart as a clerk and her father Jeff, also 26, installed and maintained electronic security equipment in banks and other financial institutions. Jo is a first-born child, had a normal birth, and generally was healthy throughout her first year. She and her family lived in a 10-year-old house in the Fairview community of Buncombe County.

Age 1 year

Jo is 29” tall and weighs 20 lbs. She has just begun to walk after crawling for about two months. She pulls herself up on furniture frequently. She takes tentative steps toward her parents if they hold out their arms. Twice in the past week she has pulled herself up on the sofa and then taken steps toward a chair 2 feet away. She smiled broadly both times when she reached the chair. When Yvette leaves the room, Jo usually follows, although if she encounters her new blocks on the way, she stops and plays. When Jeff plays peek-a-boo with her, she squeals and giggles. In her high chair, Jo enjoys putting Cheerios into a plastic cup and taking them out again. Jo regularly imitates her parents’ facial expressions and even some sounds.

When Yvette’s cousin Jackie came to visit, Jo first stayed close to her mother, but gradually began to respond to Jackie’s interactions. By the second day of the visit, Jo was taking books and toys to Jackie. At the mall, an older woman came over to Jo when she was being held by Yvette and tried to get a response from Jo. Jo just turned away. Yvette returned to her job a few months ago and enrolled Jo in day care. There Jo spends most of her time playing with toys, but occasionally stares at other infants, sometimes contacting the same toys as the other infants or even touching or poking the other infant. At home or day care, when Jo wants something she can’t reach, she looks at an adult, points at the object and utters a sound like “eh”. Some of her most recent utterances sound almost like words. Yvette is sure she has heard “mama” and Jeff is sure he has heard “dada.” Jo seems to understand a lot of words, and follows fairly complicated directions like “put the baby doll over by the door.”

Age 4 years

Jo attends Playtime Preschool every morning from 9 to 12 and then goes to day care from 12 until her mother picks her up. She now has a little brother Stephen who is a year old. She is 42 inches tall and weighs 38 lbs. Jo plays ball in the backyard with her father. She is good at kicking and catching a ball, but has trouble throwing it. She likes to watch Sesame St. but also will watch almost any cartoon, will watch game shows and even sports with her parents for a half hour at a time. Jo likes to have her parents read to her. Berenstein Bears and Dr. Seuss are favorites. When reading with her parents she frequently asks questions and “reads” certain sections she has memorized (e.g., “don’t hop on pop”). Her parents often point out pictures in the books and ask her to talk about them. In conversations with Yvette on the way to or from school her sentences are often 7-8 words long and she talks at length about went on at school, including what the teacher did and about problems she is having with her friends, Diamond and Georgia.

At the preschool, Jo has learned to recite the alphabet and days of the week (she sings them), knows the names of the basic shapes and of the basic colors. She colors, but only with the thick crayons. At snack time last week, Jo was out of sorts because Angel’s cookie had broken in two and Jo thought Angel was getting more snack than she was. Jo likes board games like Candyland, but often cheats and sometimes does not finish games. On the phone she tells her grandmother who lives in Michigan what she does in school, demonstrating a highly detailed memory, but when her mother asks her to find her shoes, she often comes back and says she can’t find them.

Jo and her parents generally get along well, but Jo tries to push the limits on going to bed and teasing Stephen. Yvette is clear about the rules and tells Jo why she should behave. Jeff is less likely to hold Jo to the stated rules and leaves any punishment up to Yvette. Jo is popular at school and the teachers often use her as an example of good behavior. Jo’s best friend is Marnie who lives two doors down the street. They like to play with dolls together and also use the swing sets in the local playground. Marnie is several inches shorter than Jo and is quieter. Jo tends to direct their play. In the rare instances when Marnie does not go along with Jo, Jo says things like “humph,” puts her hands on her hips, and spins and walks away.

Age 8

Jo is now living in Tazewell, TN with her mother and brother. When Jo was 6, Yvette and Jeff divorced and Yvette moved to TN to work as the assistant manager at the Wal-Mart there. Jo is now 50” tall and weighs 65 lbs. She has frequent bouts with asthma that began when her parents divorced. The asthma limits her physical activity and she rarely rides her bicycle anymore.

Jo made the transition from 800-student Haw Creek Elementary to the 150-student Cumberland Elementary school outside Tazewell. She is one of only three minority students in her 3rd grade class of 26. Jo reads well and is writing 3-4 sentence paragraphs. Her math skills are below average. She is good at memorizing number facts but has trouble with fractions and word problems that require applications. For hard problems she counts on her fingers. She does better in math when she works in small groups with more advanced children. She also started getting better scores on math tests when her mother began to give her rewards for good performance. Jo still occasionally reads with her mother, but she no longer enjoys the fantasy stories that used to be her favorites when she was 5 and 6. She is more interested in non-fiction books now.

Jo and her family are living in a small house on what two acres and there are no close neighbors. Jo spends a good deal of her time playing with her Barbie dolls in her room. At school Jo’s best friend is Rene who also just moved into the area last year. They talk on the phone frequently and sit with each other in the cafeteria. Jo gets along with her brother but they rarely do things together. Jo and Stephen spend one weekend a month with Jeff. Jo doesn’t like to go there and does not get along with Jeff’s current girlfriend. Jo is close to her mother who confides in Jo about all kinds of things, including job problems. Yvette thinks Jo is mature for her age.

Age 13

Jo now lives in Knoxville with her mother, brother, stepfather George, and stepsister Suzette who is also 13. They moved to Knoxville when Jo was 11. Yvette is working part-time at Target and George is a computer technician at UT. She is now 60” tall and weighs 130 lbs. She has developed allergies in addition to her chronic asthma. Two years ago she had tried out for the school volleyball team but did not make the cut. She rarely gets physical exercise now.

Jo’s grades in most subjects in most subjects are average except in math in which her performance is below average. The only class in school she says she really likes is her introduction to health occupations. There they take trips to health care facilities , discuss jobs in health care, and practice simple first aid. Jo does her homework most of the time, but she does it just well enough to get by. She rarely reads anything that has not been assigned. The essays she writes for her health class now are 5-7 paragraphs long with each paragraph including 5-6 sentences. Her teacher is impressed with her writing. When asked, she indicates she does not really like school and Yvette often has to return to her room 2-3 times to get her going for school. She says the best thing about school is the cafeteria period.

Jo’s best friends are Louise, another African-American student who she rides the school bus with and Salena, a Latina student who has several classes with her. The three of them eat lunch together and spend many hours talking on their cell phones after school and on weekends. They have stayed over at each other’s houses often. They watch the same soap operas on tape and talk about them, about problems with their families, and about boys. Salena is in Jo’s health class and they have worked on projects together. On weekends they go to the mall. They are all up on the latest clothes fashions and press their parents for money to keep up-to-date.

The only contact Jo has with her biological father is a birthday card each year. Jo now has frequent arguments with Yvette about money, clothes, and school performance. Yvette yells at Jo about school work, but George tells Yvette to go easy (George never yells at Suzette). Jo does not like Suzette who is both a model daughter and a model student at Jo’s school (in the academically gifted program). Jo is happiest at home when Suzette is staying with her biological mother.

Age 16

Jo moved back to Asheville at age 15 when her mother divorced George and took a job managing the new Target store. Jo is a junior at Wolfe High, a school of 2000 students. She is now 65” tall and weighs 125 lbs. Her allergies are under control with medication. She is enrolled in a special track at Wolfe for students in health occupations. Her grades in health occupation, biology, computers, and English are all well above average. She talks frequently with her health occupations teacher about going into nursing or physical therapy. She is getting by in her algebra class with the help of a tutor. She is active in the HOSA (Health Occupations of America) club. They participate in monthly regional competitions and go to state and national competitions. Jo’s English teacher has encouraged Jo to maintain a journal about her participation in HOSA because she believes Jo has a real talent for writing. Jo is trying to make consistent contributions.

Jo’s best friends are from her Health Occupation program. Kisha is an African-American from Jo’s neighborhood. Shawna is a Caucasian who lives in a rural part of the county. The three of them talk on the phone, text message, and e-mail all the time. Sometimes they go to movies on weekends, but all three have part-time jobs. Jo is working at McDonald’s 20 hours/week. She has dated an 18 year old she met there, but nothing serious has developed. Jo rarely sees her mother who works 60+ hours per week in the management fast-track. Jo often cooks dinner for her brother and her when she is not working or at HOSA events. Jo has started going to church and youth group activities with Kisha. She has been thinking a lot lately about some pretty heady questions, including ones about the existence of a higher power, about what she is going to do after high school, and what she wants to do for a career. Sometimes she feels overwhelmed by some of these issues and she and Kisha and Shawna have had long talks about them.

Criteria	Above Standard	At Standard	Below Standard	Unsatisfactory
PSY 320 Case Study	Applies the relevant concepts applying to physical, cognitive, social and communicative development to Jo’s behavior at each age level and identifies the themes that characterize her overall development.	Includes many of the relevant conceptual applications, but leaves out some important ones (e.g., Piagetian stages). Provides some description of the overall themes but is not comprehensive.	Applies concepts from several of the behavioral domains, but leaves some domains out. Does not provide a clear interpretation of the overall developmental themes. Provides a few applications to some of the behavioral domains but does not identify themes for overall development.	Repeats information from the case without conceptual interpretation.