Developmental Psychopathology Case Study

1. Developmental psychopathology is “the field that uses insights into typical development to understand, and remediate developmental disorders”. (Stassen, Berger, 2012, pg. 337) There are four general principles of developmental psychopathology that need to be accentuated. 1). When an abnormality is normal. Sometimes most children will act strangely, making it seem like children have a serious disorder, when they actually are just like everyone else. 2). Disability changes year by year. When there is one or more problem that is evident in the same person their disorder is comorbid. The particular disorder and the degree of impairment is most disabling. 3). Will life be better or worse in adulthood? Getting a prognosis is very difficult.

4). When you have a diagnosis and your treatment reflects the social context. Using the dynamic system, the individual interacts in a surrounding setting such as, their family, school, community, or culture, by creating psychopathology. Middle childhood when the children are grouped by age, and they are expected to learn on a schedule, developmental psychopathology is relevant. Disorders can be mitigated in middle childhood if treatment is early and targeted. Multifinality and equifinality are two basic principles of developmental psychopathology. Multifinality is “a basic principle of developmental psychopathology that hold that one cause can have many (multiple) final manifestations. (Pg. 338). With equifinality you have one symptom, but you may have many causes. Developmental psychopathology helps us have a better understanding of what is normal development so that we can understand unusual development with children who have special needs. The prognosis is hard to determine, but with developmental psychopathology we learn the distinct between the different disorders such as: attention deficit, bipolar, learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorder. It helps us give children the correct treatment that they

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavior changes. About “1 in every 110 children (three times as many boys as girls have autism spectrum disorder”. (Stassen, Berger, 2012, pg. 342) When looking for signs of an autism spectrum disorder, there are three you need to look for delayed language, impaired social responses, unusual repetitive, play. Just because a child has autism spectrum disorder does not mean that they are mentally retarded. If a child has autism spectrum disorder, it’s not their looks that set them apart from others. It is difficult for a child who has autism spectrum order to understand emotions of others. They do not want to interact, play, talk with anyone, and are delayed in developing a theory of mind. Rarely smiling, never speaking, a child may play with the same object for hours, these are some of the symptoms a child with autism spectrum disorder may experience. Environmental, biologic and genetics are different factors that make a child more likely to have it. Children are at a higher risk of getting the disorder if they have a sibling who already has it. Autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, and Asperger syndrome are the three main types of autism spectrum disorder. Rett Syndrome, and childhood disintegrative are a rare form and more severe form of Autism Spectrum Disorder. There is no medical test to diagnose a child with autism spectrum disorder,