Classmate 1: Chapter 1 Having a better understanding of human development, you can better understand your life course

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Classmate 1:

Chapter 1

Having a better understanding of human development, you can better understand your life course. Your personal growth and self-awareness can be enhanced. Social change is beneficial to us as an individual and group. New policies and better social institutions can be established. Teachers and counselors can be change agents challenging the status quo.

It is important to understand children and their point of view. The way that we see and make sense of the world is affected by cognitive developmental factors.  This is also true of adolescents and adults. I believe that physical, social, and cognitive systems are interwoven. In addition, development is affected by social context. Our beliefs of what is expected and what is not is a result of historical and cultural context. Better admiration of human wisdom and fallibility can result from understanding human development. This can also help us be innovative and creative counselors.

 

Chapter 2

Epidemiological studies measure the contribution of genetics as opposed to the environment.

During pregnancy, the following test can be performed to screen for congenital disabilities.

· Maternal serum screen- blood test,

· anomaly ultrasound high-resolution ultrasound,

· fetal echocardiogram- sound waves to evaluate the baby’s heart

· amniocentesis-collects a small amount of amniotic fluid to test the baby protein levels.

· Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) collects a tiny piece of the placenta to check for chromosomal or genetic disorders.

For medical decisions, it is best to speak with your doctor. They know your entire health history and can aid you in making an informed decision. Warning labels are on cigarettes and alcohol. On television, magazines, and the internet are awareness campaigns to inform pregnant women of the dangers of cigarettes and alcohol.

A few health risks are an increase in low birth weight, preterm birth placental abruption, and intrauterine growth restriction. Intrauterine deaths (stillbirths) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are more likely to occur when mothers smoke or drink. It increases more when the mother does both.

Smoking causes increased levels of carbon monoxide to cross the placenta, resulting in a displacement of oxygen from hemoglobin and reduced release of oxygen to tissues. In addition, nicotine decreases blood flow through the uterus, resulting in microscopic vasculature changes in smokers.

 

 

Classmate 2:

Human development in counseling is important because it’s an awareness of the stage of life where the client is currently at. The stage of a client’s development is a huge indicator of how they view life. I wouldn’t talk to a child about the importance of bills like I would a person in their 30’s or 40’s, and vice versa, I wouldn’t talk to a 30- or 40-year-old about the importance of learning how to control their emotions as I would a child. Knowing where a client is developmentally is a tool in understanding what the client needs and where they should be at. Knowing about human development helps us clinicians understand the mind frame of the client in order to help them completely.

 

Human development includes nature verse nurture, both play an equal part in human growth. This is important because as a clinician asking the right questions to understand where learned behaviors come from can be a huge aid for a person to recognize and understand things for themselves. Another aide for knowing about human development would be to understand continuity and discontinuity growth. With this, we can ask about traits that aren’t going anywhere and traits that can be fixed or altered. Important to understand this aspect because it's very telling on traits of a person that are who they are and traits that have been influenced along the way.

 

Human development is a complex topic and isn’t black and white. For clinicians to be the best at helping others we need to understand all aspects of development and apply it case by case. I believe each individual will have biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life cycle forces that affect their lives in one way or another. It’s our job to understand how each affects our clients and meets them where they are at. Understanding all forces and how they affect a person is expanding our realm of assistance. Knowing these developmental factors will guide clinicians into asking the right questions to provoke thought and processing their life for positive changes.

 

 

 

Chapter 2 Biological Foundations: Heredity, Prenatal Development, and Birth

 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using twin and adoption studies to assess the relative effects of genetic and environmental factors?

 

The advantage of studying twins and adopted children is to see the difference between biological and environmental influences. These experiments can tell a lot by genetic influence and environmental influence has given the nature of the test. With that, the disadvantage can be that if the twins are fraternal the parents might treat them differently, and that will alter the test results.

 

 

 

If you were a genetic counselor helping a couple determine if their unborn child is healthy, what techniques could you use to screen for birth defects during pregnancy, starting with the least invasive technique?

 

I would ask for a history of both sides of the family. Also, a simple blood sample from each parent to test and determine the baby's genetic makeup.

 

Your friend, Shannon, is pregnant for the first time and asks you about smoking cigarettes and drinking a glass of wine to unwind during her pregnancy. Her husband is concerned but cannot convince her that it is important to stop smoking and drinking, even though it is only a few cigarettes and one glass of wine per week. Offer your girlfriend a research-informed answer so that she can better understand why it is important not to smoke or drink during pregnancy.

 

The first thing I would tell Shannon is a 9-to-10-month sacrifice is nothing compared to a lifetime worth of defects for her child. Then I’d give her our textbook and show her these facts about smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. “Cigarette smoking is typical of the potential harm from teratogenic drugs (Cornelius et al., 1995; Espy et al., 2011). The nicotine in cigarette smoke constricts blood vessels and thus reduces the oxygen and nutrients that can reach the fetus through the placenta. There- fore, pregnant women who smoke are more likely to miscarry (abort the fetus spontane- ously) and to bear children who are smaller than average at birth (D’Onofrio et al., 2014). Most of these harmful effects depend on degree of exposure—heavy smoking is more harmful than moderate smoking—and on the fetal genotype: Some children inherit genes that are more effective in defending, in utero, against the toxins in cigarette smoke (Price et al., 2010).

 

Even secondhand smoke is harmful: When pregnant women don’t smoke but their environment is filled with tobacco smoke, their babies tend to be smaller at birth, to be born early, and to be at risk for birth defects such as cleft palate or spina bifida (Hoyt et al., 2016; Meeker & Benedict, 2013). These harmful effects are reduced when smoking is banned in public places and workplaces (Bakolis et al., 2016).

 

Alcohol also carries serious risk. Pregnant women who regu- larly consume alcoholic beverages may give birth to babies with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FaSD). The most extreme form, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), is most likely in pregnant women who are heavy drinkers—for example, they drink 15 or more cans of beer over a weekend (May et al., 2013). Chil- dren with FAS usually grow more slowly than normal and have heart problems and misshapen faces.” ( Robert, 2018).