After reading the William case study, assess and explain William’s behavior based on theories and research related to infant development.
Soon after the birth of William, Melissa met Robert and gave birth to a baby girl named Maya. The couple married shortly after and moved to New York City so that Robert could accept a substantial promotion at work.
2-year old William now attends an early childcare center Monday through Friday for nine hours a day. His mother is concerned that he is not talking as well as he should. William is 25 months old and can say about 25 words that his mother and stepfather can understand, but they are not clear. He points and gestures to get what he wants and has some temper tantrums when he is not understood. He is able to follow short instructions given by his mother or adults at the center. He is very interactive with his mom and stepfather and engages easily with other children, playing mostly alongside his peers, but showing some cooperative play. He particularly likes to play with sand and he gets excited when the sand table is opened up for play. His stepfather thinks that William is a late talker like he was. He thinks William will talk when he is ready. But William’s mother has noticed that his 11-month old sister, Maya, is already babbling, mimicking words and saying a few words and exclamations. This is something William did not do at the same age.
In paragraph form, please address each of the following questions:
1. Which developmental milestones is William “on track” with?
2. Are there any areas of development that you are concerned with? If so, why?
3. Compare William’s development with the development of a “typical” 24-month old.
4. What are William’s strengths? How can you use his strengths to promote his language development?
5. Is William’s sister’s language development “on track”?
6. What are the family’s strengths?
7. What factors could contribute to William’s language and overall development?
8. What would you like to discuss with the family?
All assessments must be substantiated by information from the case study and research. As an example, “Alice does not appear to be meeting physical developmental milestone for infants. At 6 months, Alice has not yet lifted her head or pulled herself up on her elbows. According to the CDC (2018), infants should begin physical lifting themselves around 2 months. Based on Alice’s history, this could have resulted from her mother drinking and smoking during pregnancy (you would then cite research that substantiates drinking and smoking could cause a physical developmental delay).”
