Ahmad is now four years of age, and he has met every developmental milestone and then some. Khalid and Sasha are thrilled to be with one another and with Ahmad whenever they are able to be. Ahmad has been attending a local Montessori school since he was 2 1/2, and he has been thriving in that environment. More incredibly, Ahmad signs with ease, and he speaks Arabic and English.
Ahmad has friends at his Montessori school that he gets along with well. His parents decided to sign him up for soccer with the local health club, something that he seemed to enjoy at his young age. It was a hot summer, and the Saturday mornings out on the tennis-court-converted-to-soccer-field were often long. Ahmad loved it, though, and the Fall came quickly that year. It was in September during a bath that Sasha noticed the large, bullseye-like mark on Ahmad's leg. She had never seen such a thing before and called Khalid in to take a look. Khalid had never seen anything like it, and the two decided to take Ahmad to the pediatrician the next day.
Ahmad was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Khalid and Sasha made it a point to check Ahmad for ticks throughout the summer, but they missed the tick that infected Ahmad. Deeply concerned, they were somewhat comforted by the pediatrician who told them that Ahmad should be fine after treatment with antibiotics. Ahmad was strong all the way through the blood test and into the time that he had to take the antibiotic. He experienced some flu-like symptoms during the time he was taken the medication, but those went away after several days. Khalid and Sasha thought that everything was OK, and they went back to their busy Fall schedule.
It was around November that Ahmad began to act differently than he had before. They couldn't put their finger quite on it, but he seemed more irritable than he had in the past. He started complaining about pain in what they thought were his muscles, and they weren't sure what was happening with him. They also noticed that his Arabic wasn't as fluent as it had been, and he seemed to struggle to remember words that he had formerly used for some time. They began to worry and wondered what to do next.
* What are the possible effects of Lyme disease if treatment has been inadequate?
* What kind of testing might be appropriate for Ahmad at this point to rule out any cognitive deficits?
In addition to the questions above, please also answer the following questions posed to you by the other groups (not all questions are included from all groups) :::
From the Lisa Yoo group :::
1) Ahmad has been able to master three languages before some children
can even master one. What does advanced language development predict for
Ahmad’s later cognitive development? Find research that ties early
language abilities to maturing cognitive growth.
From the Thomas Mahoney group :::
1) Has the Khalid’s hearing impairment affected his relationship with
his son in any way? Does Admad understand why he was being taught sign?
From the Wendy Marianna group :::
1) Do you think Ahmad’s use of three different languages will make
it difficult for him to communicate effectively with his peers once he
is old enough to attend school? Do you think his attachment style to his
parents will make it difficult to use anything but Arabic and sign
language when communicating outside of the family? Why or why not?
2) Ahmad’s parents had heated discussions about which religion should the family practice while raising children. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages to be raised in a multiple religion household? Should Ahmad’s parents wait until he is old enough to decide which religion to practice? Why or why not?
2) Ahmad’s parents had heated discussions about which religion should the family practice while raising children. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages to be raised in a multiple religion household? Should Ahmad’s parents wait until he is old enough to decide which religion to practice? Why or why not?
Thomas Question 1:
ReplyDeleteHow has Khalid’s hearing impairment affected his relationship with his son in any way? Does Ahmad understand why he was being taught sign?
Khalid and his father have a relatively normal relationship. Obviously when dealing with a hearing impairment there are accommodations that have to be made when communicating, but since Ahmad grew up with these accommodations, their relationship developed normally. Ahmad understands that his father can’t hear as well as others and that is why he was taught sign. Since he was taught it from birth, he perceives signing as just another normal part of his life.
Wendy Question 1:
Do you think Ahmad’s use of three different languages will make it difficult for him to communicate effectively with his peers once he is old enough to attend school? Do you think his attachment style to his parents will make it difficult to use anything but Arabic and sign language when communicating outside his family? Why or why not?
Since Ahmad’s mother speaks English in the home Ahmad has developed English as well as the other two languages. His day care experiences have also allowed him to develop his verbal skills in English and he has relatively few problems communicating with his peers. Ahmad has a healthy attachment pattern with his parents which allows him to explore the world but still feel connected to them. This pattern of attachment should not hinder his use of English when communicating with people outside of his family, especially since he uses English at his day care.
Lisa Question:
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Linda Silverman , one of the signs that a child is gifted is “early and extensive language development”. This could show a link between early language abilities and maturing cognitive growth because a gifted child is one who excels in a certain subject, meaning they have large cognitive growth in one area.
According to another article by Eve V. Clark from Stanford University Linguistics Department “The conceptual representations they set up in their first year for objects, relations, properties and events provide a broad cognitive basis onto which they can map words from child-directed speech. This speech draws their attention to specific categories and properties of those categories” (2004). What this means for Ahmed and his cognitive growth is that because he is learning a language early, he will be more drawn to items and to think about them, therefore he will be able to cognitively grow at a more rapid growth. Learning a language early also provides the opportunity to “ability to take different perspectives on the same event or the same object” (Clark, 2004). This means that Ahmed is able to broaden his horizons and allow for more opportunities, increasing cognitive growth.
Works Cited
Clark, E. V. (2004). How language acquisition builds on cognitive development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences , 472-478.
Silverman, L. K. (n.d.). Resources for Parents of Gifted Children. Retrieved February 25, 2012, from Child Development Institute Parenting Today: http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/gifted_children.shtml
What are the possible effects of Lyme disease if treatment has been inadequate?
ReplyDeleteDelayed or inadequate treatment may often lead to "late stage" Lyme disease that is disabling
and difficult to treat. Amid great controversy over diagnosis, testing and treatment, two different standards of care for Lyme disease have emerged.
A percentage of patients with Lyme disease have symptoms that last months to years after treatment with antibiotics. It seems likely this is due to inadequate diagnosis and treatment. These symptoms can include muscle and joint pains, arthritis, stiff neck, cognitive defects, neurological complaints or fatigue. The cause of these continuing symptoms is not yet known. There is some evidence that they may result from an autoimmune type of response, in which a person’s immune system continues to respond even
after the infection has been cleared, as well as evidence of ongoing infection with the spirochete. It is common for Lyme patients to develop multiple allergies, sleep problems, and in women, endometriosis.
Trollop.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.trollop.com/lyme.html
Kennedy, R. (n.d.). The doctor's medical library. Retrieved from http://www.medical-library.net/content/view/454/41/
What kind of testing might be appropriate for Ahmad at this point to rule out any cognitive deficits?
-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, IQ tests, learning aptitude tests
-Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Child Development Inventories, Kent Inventory of Developmental Skills (completed by parents)
-Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test, Early Childhood Inventory-4, Early Screening Inventory- Revised (completed by professionals)
All of these tests could be appropriate for Ahmad. They evaluate not only cognitive abilities, but also behavioral, emotional, and motor skills.
Ringwalt , S. (2008, May). National early childhood technical assistance center. Retrieved from http://
www.nectac.org/~pdfs/pubs/screening.pdf
dbpeds.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.aap.org/sections/dbpeds/screening.asp
Wendy Question 2) Ahmad’s parents had heated discussions about which religion should the family practice while raising children. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages to be raised in a multiple religion household? Should Ahmad’s parents wait until he is old enough to decide which religion to practice? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a multiple religion household allows for a lot of cultural diversity. The child is exposed to much more and then in later years is given more opportunity to choose between the religions rather than feeling as though they are "stuck" in the one religion just because their parents chose it. It could be bad however because the child could lack a firm sense of identity when it comes to religion and could be confused about which was more important to them and their family. I think they should decide which religion to raise Ahmad in while he is young so he doesn't know any different as he ages and could be helpful in defining his identity as a person.