This class emphasized childhood development, which includes mental, social, and physical development. These developmental changes were talked about from conception to around the age of twenty-one.
Throughout the course, each student had to think back to a point in their life that was applicable to the scenario or question depicted, which made this class more reflective than I thought. However, after reflecting I felt like I understood the material more because I was able to apply the lessons to a portion of my life.
For example, I had to look at my parent’s parenting style and deduce whether or not it was good for me in the long run, and if I would use the same style on my potential kids. To answer the prompt, yes, my parents did a good job and I would teach my potential kids the same way.
The main project, which was worked on throughout the entirety of the semester, was a ten paged paper where the students got to pick the subject, as long as it had something to do with childhood development. My topic was the mostly unknown mental disorder known as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS). This disorder causes visual distortions much like the ones described in Alice in Wonderland. Below is the research paper I did talking about whether or not this disorder is early diagnosable.
This paper was challenging to create because of the lack of information encountered about this syndrome. It is misunderstood and rare enough in adults that not enough research has been put into studying this syndrome. It is fascinating to study because of how strange it is. Many believe that the creator of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, had such an affliction that allowed him to describe himself the way he did, as he was not known to take drugs and presented side effects that can be associated with AIWS. It is mostly experienced through children and fades away as they grow up, but when it does not fade away, it can lead to serious issues. This project helped me figure out how the scavenge for information on a topic that I needed to research, as it required extensive digging to discover the sources required to back up my statements.