Running head: DRAFT SECTIONS 1 AND 2 1

Assignment 3: Section One and Section Two Draft

Angela L. Solomon
Walden University

Dr. Maryanne Longo

EDSD 7081 The Language/Literacy Continuum from Birth through Age 8

March 17, 2017
DRAFT SECTIONS 1 AND 2 2

Section 1: Introducing Your Child

My childs name is Jason. He is African American and comes from a two parent

household. His father received a four-year college degree and his mother has a two-year college

education. She was unable to obtain a degree due to unexpected circumstances. Both mother and

father work full-time. The father works for an extermination company as a home inspector. He

also pastors over two churches. The mother works as a customer service representatives. She also

has several side businesses such as a travel agent and the CEO of a non-profit organization in

their home town. Jason is the youngest son of the four children. He has two older brothers. The

oldest brother is 16 years his senior, while the other is 11 years his senior. The sister is 10 years

his senior. As a result of both parents working full-time jobs, the family has great medical

insurance. This medical insurance allows for the mother to receive prenatal care from the first

day that she learned of the pregnancy. All of the family members receive medical care as needed.

Each year, each member of the family takes part in annual well-care visits, twice-yearly dental

exams, and annual eye exams. The parents take part in all school-related events and activities.

Each child knows that they can depend on their parents and do not hesitate to go the parents if

necessary. No need or want is neglected in this household. In addition to living with loving

parents and siblings, he has an additional caretaker in his great-aunt. The great-aunt came from

Chicago to help take care of the children because of the parents work schedules. The great-aunt

is a key component to this family because she assists in taking care of the children and the home.

The great-aunt will play a major role in how Jason develops throughout his childhood.
Family bonds and relationships are very important to Jasons parents. The parents make it

their mission to revel in all accomplishments big or small. The parents celebrate and reward the

children because they want the children to understand that their efforts do not go unnoticed. The

children were rewarded for academic and athletic accomplishments. Every summer the parents
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would plan a summer vacation to travel for one to two weeks. They would sight see and immerse

the children in the cultures and ways of that city, state, or country. The family experienced

Broadway shows, amusement parks, and adventurous activities such as parasailing, jet skiing,

kayaking, and cruising. The parents did not want the children to settle for the small town that

they lived and wanted them to experience more. They did not want the children to be afraid to

venture out and live life. The dad had chosen to live in the town in which he was born and raised.

The mother had relocated for marriage from Illinois. Both parents grew up with close family ties

and wanted to continue stressing the importance with their four children. Each holiday and every

Sunday, the aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and family friends got together for a Sunday

dinner or barbeque. This was a way to ensure that the younger generations knew who their

family members were outside of the immediate family. The adults wanted to ensure that the

children would keep the traditions going. When the parents were not taking part in extended trips

or big family dinners, Jasons parents were trying to provide their children with a stable

household. Each night, the family ate dinner together, prayed together, and the children were

tucked into their beds. Two nights a week, the family played board games or video games

together. Though the parents had been in two-parent households growing up, times were different

when they had been children in the 1960s and 1970s.

Jasons family from a rural town in Georgia. Until the last few years, it was a small town

not on anyones radar. The town was 45 minutes from Atlanta and one hour from Augusta. The

town was not very diverse. There was a large population of Caucasian families. There was not a

lot of crime, however there was an increase in drug sale, drug usage, and gang related activities

in the 1990s and early 2000s. Certain neighborhoods were considered more dangerous to visit

and less desirable to live within. Jasons family had bought a house within one of the less

desirable neighborhoods before gang affiliates moved in. The family lived on a good block, away
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from the drug dealing and gang activity. Even though things seemed uncertain at times, the

parents found a way to create a comfortable, and secure environment for the children. For

example, the parents became close to the surrounding neighbors to build relationships. Those

relationships and bond, later helped the family to create a neighborhood watch program. The

parents fenced in the yard to ensure that random people would not enter the yard and the children

would have a safe place to play with friends. Also, the parents barred the windows not visible

from the front and the main doors. They also installed a security system. The parents chose not to

move because they had just bought the house and finances were tied up with other expenses.

With all that was around them, the good still outweighed the bad and they had a great community

with the positive families around them that were also working to ensure the success of their

children.
The sole language spoken by the family is English. Both parents come from African-

American backgrounds and only speak English. The city is made up of majority Caucasians, with

the next largest group being African-American, and a small percentage of Hispanics. English is

the primary language across the town. Foreign language programs in middle and high schools,

offer students to opportunity to learn to speak a different language of their choice. If an adult

seeks to learn an additional language, they have to seek out the program or instructor on their

own time.
Jasons family lives in Covington, Georgia. It is not a diverse city. Jasons father had

started picking up on the Spanish language at work in the 1980s. Coworkers had slowly been

teaching him how to say common phrases. Over the years, he continued to add on slowly. He

was a nowhere near fluent. As the older children reached middle school and high school, they all

settled on learning Spanish because there was a large Hispanic population in the surrounding

cities. Teachers suggested that the Spanish speakers were the next biggest language after English.
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The parents agreed that the acquisition of Spanish as a second language would get them further

in adulthood. The children had to complete all foreign language projects at home because the

parents were not familiar enough with Spanish to assist.

In Covington, there were hardly any opportunities for the children to be exposed to other

languages or literacy-rich environments. In order for the children to experience literacy-rich

experiences, various family members would have to take the children to the library. At the

library, they could take part in story times and summer reading programs. There were puppet

shows and movie days. Then, there were opportunities to make text connections. There were

school initiatives that allowed parents to come into the classes and read books to students and

opportunities for students to go to work with parents. This gave students the chance to observe

the career fields of their parents to decide if they wanted to go that career route. With the parents

working full-time, sometimes they could not make it. The great-aunt would attend in their place.

Other cultural exposure, came from church excursions and programs. The church often took the

youth group on bible retreats and team-building exercises. On these trips, the children would

meet other people from various backgrounds. Being from a small country town, seemingly did

not affect Jason or his siblings. The parents provided as many opportunities as they could to

ensure that the children got exposure to cultures and people different than their own.
More information to help to understand Jason, is that he loves history. Jasons maternal

and paternal grandfathers were in the military and fought in world wars. Jason took an interest

early in age to understanding why the United States had been embroiled in so many wars and

wanted to know the causes of each. He spent his time reading above level books about wars

dating back to the 1700s and 1800s. Any conversation with Jason somehow turned to history

each time. He likes to quiz everyone about their understanding of choices made by world leaders.

He likes to know how outcomes would be different given different circumstances and choices.
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Jason is also very family oriented. He enjoys spending time with his parents, nieces, nephews,

and great-aunt. He will do anything to ensure his great-aunts comfort and satisfaction. The

biggest influences on Jasons language development was his time spent with older siblings. The

relationship between Jason and the older siblings, was not that of siblings because he was so

much younger. He was everyones baby. He spent a lot of time with his sister. She spent most of

her time babysitting him and taking him out with her because he was so inquisitive. From the

beginning, everyone set out to ensure Jason would not fail. Throughout this major assessment,

you will learn how the key players in Jasons life took part in his development.
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Section 2: Prenatal and Infancy

When Jasons mother, Sarah, was pregnant with him, she took every precaution to eat

healthy and live a clean lifestyle. Sarah followed the doctors instructions to a T and took the

vitamins she was prescribed. She took walks and completed lite workouts. She also made it a

mission to read books geared toward educating and informing expectant mothers. Many things

had changed since she had last given birth. It was in these books, that she learned the importance

of reading to the baby while in the womb and how playing classical music would help in the

babys development. Sarah began reading to Jason nightly while pregnant. She encouraged his

siblings to read to him as well. In one of the many books that she read, she learned that a baby

could begin to distinguish between the voices it heard most often. Because Sarah read to Jason in

the womb nightly, at birth, he clearly desired her voice more than the father or siblings. At night,

while sleeping, she played music through headphones for Jason to get used to. All of the choices

that Sarah made while pregnant, led to an easy and uncomplicated delivery of a healthy baby

boy.
As a baby, Jason was considered very observant of his surroundings. Due to the age gap

in the siblings, he quickly developed a big vocabulary. For instance, during breaks and on the

weekends, Jason would want lunch. Many times he did not know the name of a food and would

point to its location. However, Ramen noodles were a quick meal for teenagers and they cooked

them often. In an attempt to let his siblings know that he wanted to eat noodles, he would yell out

eat nooda, eat nooda. Nooda is an example of jargon. According to Pence-Turnbull and

Justice, jargon is babbling that contains at least two syllables and two consonants. The babbling

also contains different intonation and stress patterns (2017, p. 132). As he got older and

developed better speech patterns, it was evident to everyone that Jason was requesting noodles.
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He learned about noodles and became fascinated with Ramen noodles through interactions with

his sister and brothers.

Before arriving at the age required to attend school in Georgia, Jason was cared for by his

great-aunt. She tended to his every need on a daily basis while his parents worked and siblings

attended school. The great-aunt spent her days reading to him, flashing alphabet, number, and

sight word cards to Jason, and ensuring that he was not watching too much television. She

encouraged his attempts and talking. Naomi, the great-aunt, would point to things throughout the

house or outside and name them aloud for Jason. She did this every day. Naomi was the ideal

caretaker for a developing child. According to Pence-Turnbull and Justice, the way a caregiver

responds to an infants actions and behaviors teaches them that other individuals value their

attempts at communicating (2017, p.140). The confidence boost provided by Aunt Naomi,

encouraged Jason to continue with his efforts to talk.

During the infancy stage, Jason learned to crawl with no issues. He was developing as

expected with learning to talk, walk, and work through the minor problems that he encountered.

Because everyone around him was so much older, he wanted to keep up with those around him.

Jason was walking before ten months and attempting to talk by eight months. Throughout their

days, Aunt Naomi would talk to him to encourage his speaking. It was her goal to have him

speaking sight words. Aside from outdoor time, she allowed Jason to watch Blues Clues and

other educational shows on Nick Jr. A lot of his toys were V-Tech and toys that his parents had

heard would boost his development. Grandparents and aunts had bought Jason infant sized

cardboard books with flaps and bright colors. He also had books that would make sounds and

light up. Every day before nap time, Aunt Naomi would read to Jason before he drifted off to

sleep. That early reading made a difference as he continued to grow.

Jasons language development was heavily affected by his social and emotional

development. Because he had someone in his life that showed him constant love and encouraged
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his behaviors, Jason felt a high level of confidence. As his parents arrived home, they followed

up the Aunts attention and played with him and asked him about his day. All the while,

encouraging his attempts to speak. As he babbled to them, they continued the conversation as

though they understood him. Jason always had someone paying him attention because he was the

baby of the entire family. Jason was an emotionally well-rounded toddler because he had a close

family bond throughout his infant months. Jason had no doubts in himself. He was highly

confident. He was willing to take chances because he knew his family was there to comfort him

if something went wrong.

Cortazar and Herreros (2010) believe that children develop attachments to those that take

care of them during the beginning years of life. Those attachments formed during the early years

will go on to determine a childs social-emotional development. Jasons early years were spent

with his great-aunt. Aunt Naomi fortified a strong basis for his social-emotional development.

This solid foundation will go on to be the footing of Jasons success.

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References
Cortazar, A., & Herreros, F. (2010). Early Attachment Relationships and the Early Childhood
Curriculum. Contemporary Issues In Early Childhood, 11(2), 192-202.
Pence Turnbull, K. L., & Justice, L. M. (2017). Language development from theory to practice
(3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Inc.