Special Needs in School Age Children and Intelligence: Nature versus Nurture

During the middle school years, differences in learning and cognitive ability become more obvious for some children. It can be helpful to explore some of these differences and begin understanding their impact on all domains of development. To become more comfortable with reading and comprehension of research articles and applying developmental perspectives, you will read an article and provide some evidence for why you think the author(s) is approaching special needs from a specific perspective.

The purposes of this discussion are:

Help you become more familiar with scholarly articles

Learn about special needs

Apply theoretical perspectives of human development

Develop solutions to a real world challenge

Support your thoughts and views on intelligence

By successfully completing this discussion activity, you will demonstrate Module Outcome 2: Describe the special needs that may become apparent during the school years and how can they be met, Module Outcome 3: Summarize cognitive development during the school years, according to the major theoretical approaches, and Module Outcome 4: Discuss the concept of intelligence as it relates to the nature-nurture controversy.

For full credit, please complete both parts of this discussion by replying to both parts.

Part #1:

Read ONE of the following articles:

How physicians support children with disabilities and their families: Roles, responsibilities and collaborative partnerships. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

UTILIZATION OF SCHOOL NURSES DURING THE EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS. [PDF, file size 67 KB] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law: An Innovative Approach to Improving Outcomes for Low-Income Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. [PDF, file size 321 KB] (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Next, answer the following questions:

What special needs or challenges were discussed in the article you read?

What aspects of development (physical, cognitive, social/personality) are impacted by the special needs you identified above? Provide examples.

Which theoretical approaches (psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, contextual, evolutionary) are evident in the article you read? Why (give at least one example for each approach you write about)?

What solutions can you identify for effectively meeting the needs identified above?

Part #2:

Mary Jo Bane and Christopher Jencks argue that if intelligence is inherited there is nothing the schools or anyone can do to improve a child’s chances in life. Below are five “myths” Bane and Jencks say are commonly accepted as true.

1. IQ tests are the best measure of human intelligence.

2. The poor are poor because they have low IQs. Those with high IQs end up in well-paid jobs.

3. Your IQ is overwhelmingly determined by your genetic endowment.

4. The main reason African American children and poor, white children have low IQ scores is that they have “bad” genes.

5. Improving the quality of the schools will go a long way toward wiping out the differences in IQ and school achievement and, therefore, in children’s life chances.

Choose two of five statements above. Do you agree or disagree? Respond in writing by sharing your own experiences, and then supporting each of your responses with evidence from a scholarly article published within the last 5 years. Use APA format to properly cite and reference the scholarly articles you use.