Parental Involvement and Cognitive Development in a Divorced Family

Abstract

Assignment 2 Case Study Parental Involvement in Learning and the Cognitive Development of a Seven-Year-Old Institutional Affiliation Course name Instructor’s name Assignment due date Parental Involvement in Learning and the Cognitive Development of a Seven-Year-Old Note: Names changes to protect the participants’ privacy. Family and Child Background Henry is seven years old and he lives with his older brother Liam, their mother Mary, and grandmother Esther in the same household. His brother is ten years old and they attend the same public school in the suburbs of Chicago. Henry is in the first grade and he depends on his brother, mother, and grandmother to prepare him for school every morning. During the interview, Mary said that she has been staying at her mother’s home for the past three years since her divorce with Henry’s father. Her ex-husband is not Liam’s father and she has been providing for the household since the children’s grandmother became sick two years ago. In addition to working two jobs, Mary has to take care of her mother and make sure she takes her medication and attends the doctor’s appointments. Sometimes, Henry’s grandmother is able to help with household chores when she is well enough and has assisted the children with the homework. The divorce had a significant impact on the family’s financial wellbeing and has affected Mary’s ability to become fully involved with his learning. She has to work more to provide for the family while taking care of the family on her own. She had to stay with Henry’s grandmother who would help with the children but her illness has significantly affected her physically over the past two years. Henry’s parents do not speak much after the divorce and her mother says she is the only one who takes care of his education and school appointments. The children take the bus together to school each morning but their mother is mostly at work when they get home. Under the supervision of their grandmother, Henry and his brother complete their homework before they are allowed to play. Mary helps Henry with his schoolwork only when she is available since she has to work and take care of the children’s grandmother’s treatment. She has limited contact with her ex-husband and they are unable to agree on matters involving the child’s education. She has assumed all the responsibilities that she shared with her ex-husband including the matters involving school and Henry’s education at home. Family Factor: Parent Involvement with Learning Mary has to balance between providing for the family and attending to her chores at home which includes her involvement with Henry’s learning. The family is dependent on her to work and keep both jobs to provide for their needs since their grandmother is unable to work. At his age, Henry’s homework requires the assistance of a parent to ensure that it is complete and provide any needed help (Liao et al., 2021). In most cases, Henry completes his homework alone or with the help of his grandmother by the time his mother gets home from work. From the interview, Mary admitted that in most cases, she is too tired to supervise his work or help him complete the school assignments. She noted that Henry’s father did most of the work with children’s assignments before the divorce and she did not have to work as much as she does today to provide for the children. She sometimes supervises Henry’s homework and is able to help occasionally when he faces a difficult problem in school assignments. Mary describes the divorce as a significant emotional event in her life that affected her wellbeing and caused a distraction in the family’s dynamics. Henry was close with his father and relied on him for most of the school projects and play activities at home. During the divorce, the parents were in constant disagreement and have been unable to define the best approach to support the children’s education. One of the challenges that Mary faces is attending to school activities and meeting the child’s teachers while maintaining two jobs. It was much easier before the divorce since she did not have to work as much as she does and Henry’s father was assisting with most tasks involving learning. She says, “I have talked to teachers about being more involved in his education but I can only help when I am available at home.” She reports that she has limited time to physically meet Henry’s teachers but she has contacted them occasionally on how to improve the child’s performance at school. She has postponed or totally missed important appointments at school but the teachers are always willing to rearrange the sessions since they understand the burden of her work. Child’s Cognitive Development Mary plays the greatest role in Henry’s education outside his school and she reports that she has noted some challenges with his cognitive development. Having raised Liam through the same level of education, she notes that Henry’s cognitive development is below his peers in various areas. He says that Henry has been good in numbers since an early age and it is no surprise that his counting and math skills are excellent for his age. When she assists him with homework, Mary notes that he finds Henry capable of completing tasks at his first-grade level with limited assistance. However, the child faces difficulty in language and arts tasks with his reading skills being the weakest area in his education. Mary has talked with Henry’s teachers about his challenges with reading and they have provided various insights on how she could help more at home. She knows that Henry struggles attempting to read new words and she feels he is afraid to attempt and fail. Mary has talked with Henry’s teacher about books that would help them practice more at home so that he can attain the reading level required for his grade by the end of the year. She has encouraged his son to try reading more with interesting books during bedtime and she hopes her strategy will be sufficient for the child. A key issue with Henry’s cognitive development is his problem-solving skills that would empower him to build resilience in learning. At his age, Henry is unable to think critically and solve problems that children encounter during their first-grade education. Mary says that Henry is behind in building jigsaw puzzles and using blocks to recreate features he sees in the real world. She has hoped that his grandmother would be helpful with Henry’s education when she has to work but Mary says she still has to do most of the work. Henry’s teacher recommended that Mary assigns more responsibilities to the child at home and allow him to attempt tasks before requesting assistance. Mary noted that the teachers report that the child seeks assistance school before attempting to solve complex problems She has made adjustments to the children’s routines to ensure they are more responsible but Henry always forgets to complete simple tasks. He has to be reminded to check that has his homework before leaving for school and sometimes loses his belongings. Mary reports that Henry is sometimes forgetful and has to be reminded of the tasks and routines at home from time to time. Impact of Family Factor on Development Henry is dependent on herb devoted mother for assistance with his homework and play activities at home. However, the divorce and busy schedule have made it challenging for Mary to provide the optimum attention the child needs to complete her learning activities after school. Henry has failed to successfully complete some of the homework tasks since his mother has been unable to supervise or assist when she has to work. Parental involvement in learning plays an important role in facilitating the continuity of education after the child leaves the classroom (Lanjekar et al., 2022). Mary understands that she has an impact on the cognitive development of the child since she has to help with homework and motivate Henry to read more. Additionally, some of the tasks assigned to Henry require the involvement of a parent to guide the child and intervene when they encounter difficult problems. Mary is often at work when Henry arrives home from school and does not help as often as the child needs her to assist with school-related activities. The changes in the household since the parents’ divorce and their grandmother’s illness leave little room for parental involvement in learning. By reading more with Henry, the teachers feel that Mary could play a greater role with the child’s cognitive development. Mary understands the strong and weak areas of Henry’s cognitive development by observing the child and speaking with his teachers on how to improve his learning outcomes. While she attempts to attend all scheduled meetings, she often has to work and...