Arturo has grown into a kind and gentle boy in late childhood. Just after he turned 9, his parents had scheduled him to get a cochlear implant, but the doctors found problems associated with some specific part of his aural anatomy. He was unable to get the implants and was on antibiotics for several months. Though disappointed, Arturo did fine with signing and lip-reading.
Arturo was a boy who enjoyed the movies - he couldn't get enough of them! He was able to read the subtitles and follow along; he was particularly fond of movies from the 50s and 60s. He watched everything he could, and Tina was often seen leaving the public library with stacks of movies. In addition, Arturo was a generous child - he was always looking out for others. He was well-liked at school, and other kids tended to look after him. He just had that kind of personality that was simply likable. People seemed to want to be around him, and he was able to find ways to communicate with the variety of friends he had.
At age 11, Arturo had already started to show some signs of puberty. His parents were not expecting him to start adolescence so soon, but there it was. By the time he was 12, Arturo had gotten much taller and looked like he might benefit from learning to shave.
For his part, Arturo began to take an interest in his quickly-developing sexuality in ways that were surprising to Tina, and particularly Joel. Arturo mentioned often that he was interested in boys, and Tina welcomed him and his burgeoning sexuality. Joel, on the other hand, was not happy. Not only had he had to "deal with" the fact that Arturo was from another country, now he was going to have to cope with Arturo possibly being gay.
Joel's work had slowed down gradually over the last few years, placing the household on a slim financial footing and increasing the stress that all experienced. While the family had never been wealthy by income or assets standards, their situation was particularly precarious now. Joel had little by way of a safety net, and the family had nothing in savings. The stress continued to increase as Joel and Tina tried to figure out how to keep making house payments.
Arturo's pre-adolescent adolescence was another challenge for Joel and Tina, and the two were increasingly unable to contain their differences with regard to Arturo. As an outgoing and relatively confident adolescent, Arturo did not need to hear in order to feel the tension in the home. In fact, many days, he was glad he couldn't hear the specifics of the verbal fights that he could discern.
1) How unusual is Arturo's early puberty? Provide statistics regarding the start of puberty for children in the United States.
2) Provide information regarding early-developing boys and social expectation. Are boys like Arturo likely to have an easy time or a difficult time with peers? Why?
3) When do most children "come out" with regard to a different-from-the-majority sexual orientation? On what factors does this depend?
4) Describe accommodations Arturo has in school as a child with a hearing impairment. What is found in his IEP?
1. Arturo’s early puberty is surprisingly not very uncommon. Puberty is said to be early for boys, if signs are shown before age 9. Puberty is average in boys from age 10-14, so the fact that Arturo is showing signs of puberty at age 11 is very normal. In girls, puberty usually starts around 11 years of age, but it may start as early as 6 or 7 years of age. In boys, puberty begins around 12 years as age, but may start as early as 9 years of age.
ReplyDelete2. Early puberty is sometimes called precocious or premature puberty. In most cases, early puberty is just a variation of normal puberty. In a few cases, there may be a medical reason for early puberty. precocious puberty starts in boys under 9 years old. Overall, this early start of puberty only occurs in 1 out of every 5,000 to 10,000 children and is more common in girls. One side effect of early puberty in boys is that they undergo behavioral changes. Some boys may become more aggressive than their peers. Boys showing early signs of puberty also may become self conscious about their looks and physical changes. SO, because of this, boys like Arturo will have a more difficult time with other peers. They might feel more comfortable around older children, but are not mature enough to hang with them. Boys undergoing precocious puberty feel “different” and left out, and are often teased by other peers. Many also have low self esteem because they are developing adult looking bodies earlier than their peers.
3. The average age for children to begin to come out is now 16, compared to 19 in the 1980’s (“Coming out”, 2012). A child is more likely to come out if they live in an accepting house and have an accepting social life (“Sexual orientation and homosexuality”, 2008). Many adolescents go through an experimental phase which is full of questioning their own sexuality (“Sexual orientation and homosexuality”, 2008). Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are more likely to face problems in their social lives and school (“Sexual orientation and homosexuality”, 2008). They are more likely to be bullied and more likely to engage in high risk activities, such as unprotected sex and drugs and alcohol (“Sexual orientation and homosexuality”, 2012). Support in the family, school and society helps reduce these risks (“Sexual orientation and homosexuality”, 2008).
ReplyDelete4. Generally, students constraints typically involve impaired language developing that may eaffect comprehension of written materials, test questions, and speaking, dependence on visual clues, reluctance to ask for assistance if something needs to be repeated, misinterpretation of assignments, difficulty participating in group discussions, inability to participate independently in class without an interpreter and reduced comprehension for individuals with hearing aides (“Hearing impaired”, 2012) General accommodations that are made in IEPs for children with hearing impairments are note taking assistance, front row seating in classrooms, sign language interpreters, visual aids, visual warning systems for emergencies, auditory trainers, testing adaptations, more time on tests, oral exams and a quiet place to take an exam (“Hearing impaired”, 2012).
Coming out. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.avert.org/coming-out.htm
ReplyDeleteSexual orientation and homosexuality. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx
Hearing impaired. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.nhj.k12.in.us/nhj/specialservices/HI.htm.
Puberty: What to expect when your child goes through puberty. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/teens/puberty-sexuality/puberty-what-to-expect-when-your-child-goes-through-puberty.html
Parent, A. S., Teilmann, G., Juul, A., Skakkebaek, N. E., Toppari, J., & Bourguignon, J. (2003, October 1). The timing of normal puberty and the age limits of sexual precocity: Variations around the world, secular trends, and changes after migration. Retrieved from http://edrv.endojournals.org/content/24/5/668.full