M4D1: Special Needs in School Age Children and Intelligence: Nature versus Nurture

Module 4

During the middle school years, differences in learning and cognitive ability become more obvious for some children. It can be helpful to explore some of these differences and begin understanding their impact on all domains of development. To become more comfortable with reading and comprehension of research articles and applying developmental perspectives, you will read an article and provide some evidence for why you think the author(s) is approaching special needs from a specific perspective.

The purposes of this discussion are:

Help you become more familiar with scholarly articles

Learn about special needs

Apply theoretical perspectives of human development

Develop solutions to a real world challenge

Support your thoughts and views on intelligence

By successfully completing this discussion activity, you will demonstrate Module Outcome 2: Describe the special needs that may become apparent during the school years and how can they be met, Module Outcome 3: Summarize cognitive development during the school years, according to the major theoretical approaches, and Module Outcome 4: Discuss the concept of intelligence as it relates to the nature-nurture controversy.

For full credit, please complete both parts of this discussion by replying to both parts.

Part #1:

Read ONE of the following articles:

How physicians support children with disabilities and their families: Roles, responsibilities and collaborative partnerships. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

UTILIZATION OF SCHOOL NURSES DURING THE EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS. [PDF, file size 67 KB] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law: An Innovative Approach to Improving Outcomes for Low-Income Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. [PDF, file size 321 KB] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Next, answer the following questions:

What special needs or challenges were discussed in the article you read?

What aspects of development (physical, cognitive, social/personality) are impacted by the special needs you identified above? Provide examples.

Which theoretical approaches (psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, contextual, evolutionary) are evident in the article you read? Why (give at least one example for each approach you write about)?

What solutions can you identify for effectively meeting the needs identified above?

Part #2:

Mary Jo Bane and Christopher Jencks argue that if intelligence is inherited there is nothing the schools or anyone can do to improve a child’s chances in life. Below are five “myths” Bane and Jencks say are commonly accepted as true.

1. IQ tests are the best measure of human intelligence.

2. The poor are poor because they have low IQs. Those with high IQs end up in well-paid jobs.

3. Your IQ is overwhelmingly determined by your genetic endowment.

4. The main reason African American children and poor, white children have low IQ scores is that they have “bad” genes.

5. Improving the quality of the schools will go a long way toward wiping out the differences in IQ and school achievement and, therefore, in children’s life chances.

Choose two of five statements above. Do you agree or disagree? Respond in writing by sharing your own experiences, and then supporting each of your responses with evidence from a scholarly article published within the last 5 years. Use APA format to properly cite and reference the scholarly articles you use.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.