Download file to see previous pages

• Happy With Your Lot In Life

I just wish I could accept my lot in life because I might be happier. I know you are going to tell me something positive and try to make me feel better because that is your job, but I am what I am. It's a Biblical reference. Not to push religious belief, but the saying comes from the story in Genesis where Abraham and Lot part ways and Lot, not believing in Abraham's knowledge of God, seeks.

The blend of cognitive problems and craniofacial concerns will pose a variety of problems as the child advances through various stages of cognitive and behavioral development. Children born with fetal alcohol syndrome maintain specific craniofacial deformations that are apparent upon observation. The philtrum, which is the groove between the upper lip and the nose that is devoted in normally-developed humans, is flattened when exposed to large volumes of alcohol during fetal development (Astley et al. 713). Additionally, there is a marked thinning of the upper lip that occurs with the syndrome which, when combined with the flattened philtrum, creates the appearance of facial deformations akin to an individual with mild Down’s Syndrome. The eyes are also affected in which the child has folds of skin formed around the corner of the eye coupled with eye width reduction (Astley et al. 714). Later in life, when the child becomes engaged with other children in the social environment, social belonging becomes a paramount need. Many respected models of motivation in developmental psychology attest to a primary need for establishment of security, which, when fulfilled, allows a child to build self-esteem based on opinion and sentiment of important social reference groups (Morris and Maisto 254). There is a high probability that other children that do not maintain facial deformations will taunt or tease the adopted child, especially during the concrete operational stage of cognitive development occurring between seven and 11 years of age. When other children do not illustrate a sense of affection, children can become very defensive, suspicious and even begin to doubt their own sense of personal value. Furthermore, if the child maintains a personality construct that works to protect himself, emotionally, from the psychological harm of depleted social belonging, he may have behavioral problems in the school environment. As a parent, the only legitimate parenting methodology in this case would be to establish a very strong infant attachment in order to boost the child’s sense of personal security. By giving a great deal of affection and unconditional love during the earliest years of cognitive development, the child will be able to build much strong attachments both within the home and outside in the social and academic environment. It will be critical, in the formative years before the child is able to abstractly consider their unique craniofacial problems, to ensure that the caregiver work diligently to ensure emotional safekeeping. As the child gets older, ensuring unconditional belonging within the family dynamic will be vital to building self-confidence and self-assurance. As it is likely that the child will begin to recognize their observable facial differences from other humans by the time the child reaches seven years of age, he must understand that the family environment will always be a sanctuary if feelings of emotional uncertainty begin to surface as a result of these malformations. This will assist the adopted child in understanding how to find important social or intimate attachments later in life during adulthood once he has passed the stage in which young children tend to be overtly critical of other youths with observable developmental differences. It is the role of the parent to ensure that the child reaches adulthood with self-assurance so that he will be fully functional socially. It is ...Download file to see next pages

Happy With Your Lot In Life

Read More