2020-21
Developmental Psychology
(PSYC11010)
Assessment 2
Individual presentation
Assessment 2: Individual Presentation (40%)
For this assessment, you are required to produce an individual presentation. Each presentation should last for 10 minutes. Presentations should be presented on narrated slides using power point/prezzi or any other suitable presentation format that can be presented on University computers. The general topic of the presentation is atypical development. You will be required to present information related to one atypical developmental disorder, and you will need to describe the disorder with reference to the impact it has on children’s cognitive, social and physical development. You should also reflect on some of the psychological theories and fundamental issues in Child Development (e.g., nature versus nurture debate) and how knowledge of these can help us understand these disorders better. You should also refer to some of the intervention strategies used to support children with their chosen atypical developmental disorder, and critically evaluate these strategies.
Students can choose from, but are not restricted to the following list of atypical disorders:
Autistic Spectrum Disorder
William’s Syndrome
Attention Deficit Disorder
Down Syndrome
Turner Syndrome
Fragile X syndrome
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Students will be assessed on the quality of the presentation (delivery), the academic quality of the PowerPoint slides and talk (content), and the overall quality of the PowerPoint (slides). The marking grid, indicating the range of performance criteria, is located in Appendix A of this document. The marking scale for Psychology is in Appendix B.
Introductory Reading/Preparation
Chapter 16 in Gillibrand et al (2011) will get you started on most atypical development topics but you will need to read more widely. We expect you to read textbooks and especially journal articles.
There are many relevant medical and psychology websites but be cautious in your use of these as they may not be academic or accurate. (Remember, sites like Wiki and Simply Psychology are useful resources, but terrible sources.) You must include academic and psychological sources of information.
A note on the assessment
Please note: All assessments are subject to formal approval from our External Examiner and may be subject to minor changes.
Extensions
Requests for extensions must be addressed to the Module Coordinator (MC) (Dr Robertson) via email at least 48 hours prior to the deadline.
Considerations for the presentation
The following list shows some of the issues that you could consider in your presentation.
The suggested issues may not all be relevant to the disorder that you are speaking about; you need to pick the most appropriate aspects to discuss.
(a) Definition and explanation of the atypical development that you are looking at
• What is the medical/psychological definition of the condition?
• What are the main symptoms of the condition?
• What characteristics of children make them susceptible e.g. gender
• Are there any other childhood developmental problems or illnesses which might have a similar symptomology?
• What is the root cause of the condition? Is the condition a result of mainly biological/genetic problems or are they more rooted in a child’s specific environment? If there is an interaction between these two factors, then this should also be considered.
(b) Specific physical, psychological, behavioural, social, emotional and cognitive problems or deficits which are associated with this form of atypical development
• Are there any physical or physiological problems associated with the disorder?
• Are there any unusual behaviours associated with this disorder?
• How frequently might these behaviours occur during a half hour observation? If the behaviours are infrequent, or are likely to occur only under specific circumstances, e.g. under stress, or when strangers are present, then this should also be noted and explained.
• What (if any) are the typical social, emotional or cognitive deficits or difficulties that a child suffering from this atypical development might exhibit? Consider for example:
o Language comprehension/Language production/Reading
o Thinking and Reasoning
o Memory and Attention
o Perception and Intelligence
o Social functioning
• Are there likely to be problems with attachment for the child? If so how might these manifest themselves?
• Is the child likely to have problems interacting with siblings or other children when e.g. playing or in a classroom? What types of problems are they likely to have and why?
(c) Testing and Assessment of cognitive and behavioural problems
• If you have noted any issues in (B) then you should consider how a particular problem or deficiency could be tested or measured.
• What are the best standard tests for a particular ability?
• Are different tests needed e.g. a different ages, for different severities
(d) Intervention, Therapy and Prognosis
• Are the problems likely to gradually improve with time, (e.g. many children go through a stage when they stutter, but for most children this is a phase they pass through) or are they likely to continue to be problematic throughout the life of the child?
• What are the recommended interventions or therapies that could be used to help this child? This might involve comparing and contrasting the pros and cons of various therapies.
• What is the typical prognosis for a child who has the atypical development you are presenting on?
