Divorced Parents Impact on Childs Cognitive Development in Case Study

Abstract

Course name Instructor’s name Assignment due date Case Study Interview Assignment Part I: Family Context and Child Development Section 1: Family Context Family contexts have a significant impact on a child’s development and determine the support the parents and other caregivers are able to provide. The interview for this case study was with a family that has been divorced for the past five years and the parents are living in separate homes. For the purpose of this study, the child’s name is Mary and she is ten years old. Mary spends her school days with her mother and lives at her father’s home on the weekends and during the holidays. Her mother provides the primary support to help her child in school activities since her father is unable to provide any meaningful support. The interview with the mother revealed that Mary’s parents are estranged and unable to agree on most issues on her development including her school work. While they are willing to talk about the child’s schoolwork, they often engage in arguments and do not agree on the best approach for an intervention. I know Mary’s family from my work where one of my colleagues was Mary’s teacher in the second grade. He is still in contact with the family since her parents believe he had a major positive impact on her cognitive development. Mary’s parents have disagreed on most issues concerning her education as long as her mother can remember. She noted that when they were together, she played the role of primary caretaker while her ex-husband was mostly uninvolved in her education. Their disagreements on the child and other issues ultimately led to their separation and Mary’s father moved out of the house. She has received some support taking care of Mary from her grandmother who moved into their home three years ago. Mary’s mother works two jobs to support the family despite receiving some financial support from her ex-husband. She reported to be tired most of the time and was often unable to help her child in reading activities at home. I scheduled an interview with Mary’s mother at her home for the purpose of the case study. Additionally, I observed the child on two occasions at school and at home to collect data for the case study. I interviewed Mary’s teacher to speak about her classwork and cognitive development over the past year and the extent to which her parents were involved in the child’s education. Section 2: Domain of Development I chose the child’s cognitive development as the domain for the case study with the objective of determining how family factors influenced its outcome. Numerous family factors influence the child’s development including the capacity and availability of the parents to help with the child’s school activities. During the interview, I focused on the progress the child had made over the past year based on school reports and interviewing her teacher (Apata et al., 2023). Additionally, I spoke with the child’s mother over the academic performance of the child and how she had made progress in the past. Data from Mary’s home and school revealed significant delays in cognitive development that manifested in her performance in the classroom. Her teacher’s notes and reports indicated that the child was falling behind her peers despite receiving special classes to help her navigate to the next grade. Mary has challenges paying attention in the classroom and is often distracted when asked to complete tasks and assignments by her teacher. During my observation, I noted that Mary was unable to answer questions during an individual tasks on storytelling in her class. She had difficulties remembering the characters in the story and explaining the setting when prompted by her teacher. Her reading levels are the lowest in the classroom and her teacher feels she might not go to the next grade as a result of her cognitive abilities (Laletas & Khasin, 2021). Mary’s teacher has encouraged her mother to assist the child in reading and math skills at home to improve her skills. The teacher has observed Mary’s previous performance and has offered separate instruction and testing materials to help the child improve her performance. Mary lacks the problem-solving skills to complete the math problems at her grade level and relies on additional assistance from her teacher. She fails to complete many tasks required for her grade in math, English language arts, and science. Mary’s teacher feels that her most significant problem in the classroom is that her reading level is too low for her grade and she requires additional support. Section 3: Family Factor and Impact on Development Divorce and family separation has a significant negative impact on Mary’s cognitive development since the parents are unable to agree on how to support their child’s learning. Mary is an only child at home and her father moved out five years ago after their divorce. The parents’ disagreement on matters concerning her education has caused delays in any significant attempt to facilitate an intervention (Apata et al., 2023). Additionally, the divorce had a significant emotional impact on the child since she is unable to receive support from her two parents. Mary relies primarily on her mother as the primary caregiver and for support on learning activities at home. The child does not have access to the support that two parents would be in a position to provide as caretakers and educators at home. Despite Mary being able to live with her father at his house, he does not participate in facilitating the child’s education. The family factor has forced Mary to rely on one parent as the only source of support for reading and learning at home (Laletas & Khasin, 2021). Moreover, the parents’ estranged relationship makes it difficult for them to work together during school visits to improve the child’s performance. The family context presents challenges to the capacity of the child to receive support from both of her parents to improve on her cognitive skills. Since the divorce, Mary’s mother has experienced socioeconomic challenges supporting her child and mother. While she received financial support from Mary’s father, she has to work two jobs to provide for the family and is often unable to help her child with school activities (Iqbal et al., 2021). Mary’s grandmother helps the child’s mother take care of her at home but is unable to provide...