Person Paper

Section 1& 2 Person Paper

Steven Buchanan
PSY-1100-Sp16
Pamela Lemons
April 22, 2016

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Person Paper
Chapter One
The commencement of a new life, and the development of that
individual throughout his life, has a beginning that starts long before the
conception of the childs body in his mothers womb. I would like to introduce
you to a young man who just had his eighteenth birthday, and give you a brief
overview of what his life has been like, and the influences that helped form the
experience that he has called life. His name is Dallin, and the factors that
influenced Dallin started happening decades before his birth.
Dallins mother was born in a small town in northern Alaska, and it
seemed at first that her life would be the perfect example of the American
dream. Both of her parents started out in a social and income status that
would be described as average. This quickly changed however when the oil
boom hit the region, and money was earned in much higher amounts than they
had ever imagined. Although this provided for many more privileges
financially, it put a greater burden on the family, which now consisted of seven
children, due to the time commitment required by her fathers work. The first
major difficulty came when the economy crashed, and left her father without
any work, a large new home, several new vehicles, and a family in great need.
Over a period of several years, her father fell into a deep inability to function in
normal daily life, which eventually resulted in separation, then divorce, and the
loss of almost everything they owned. Her perfect world was quickly disrupted,
causing a sense of insecurity, and the beginning of a search for stability that
she remembered, but no longer had. One powerful advantage she had gained
though, was a bond between her mother and siblings, that could only be

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grasped by some one who had gone through the emotional trials of loosing so
much of what they had considered valuable, and finding that the real blessing
was in each other, and enjoying what parts of life you could enjoy.
Dallins father had a very different environment that he grew up in.
Coming from a small farming community in the west, he also grew up in what
would be called a middle-income family. His family worked hard every day, and
everyone who was part of the household was expected to do their part.
Nothing really ever changed for him, the daily work, the average income his
family made throughout his life, the circumstances surrounding all aspects of
interaction between people, never changed, creating an overwhelming ability
to create a stable environment. As he grew up, he recognized that the family
he was growing up in provided as safe an experience in a childs life that could
ever be expected. He learned how to work, and persist in completing the dailyrequired tasks, to accomplish an end goal. However, he also recognized that
there were things that seemed to be lacking. In growing up in a lifestyle that
required such consistent daily work, there was very little time left to expand or
stretch into other hobbies or desires; dreams were just that, dreams with
almost no time to find out if they could ever become reality. Fortunately, he
was able to get the opportunity to leave home to attend college, and got to
experience a life where you could have the time to try and make your hopes
turn into a life that was a little different than what he grew up in.
The differences found in the lives of these two people played a powerful
role in shaping the environment that Dallin would grow up in. When these two
people met, and eventually got married, they created a unique mixture of both
lives that merged into one. He had a father, who was able to provide a very

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stable environment for his mother, which in turn allowed his mother to
blossom, and become a wonderful example of how to live and love life and
people. They each brought a complex series of experiences, and combined
them to create what they hoped would be the best home available for raising
children.
The first thing these two people did when they found out they were
going to become parents, was go buy a book that explained all the major
milestones that would happen during the pregnancy, and the first couple years
of life. These milestones are described as critical and sensitive periods. A
critical period is a time when certain parts of development absolutely must
occur for the baby to develop in a normal way, whether this is the development
of different parts of the body, or the development of the mind. If these periods
are disrupted or missed, nothing can be done to correct it. A sensitive period is
the time when certain developments can happen the easiest. If these periods
are missed, there is still hope that it can be rectified, but it will require more
work on the parents part. The early stages of a childs life are considered to
be a sensitive period for many parts of learning behaviors and actions. (Berger,
(2010). ch.1, p. 5)
Dallins mother was acutely aware of the effect that she, as the mother could
have on her developing baby, especially the impact of proper nutrition during
the pregnancy. At the first indication that she was pregnant, she immediately
got into a doctor, and started taking any and all supplements that were
recommended to produce a healthy child. Both parents had been to college
and were fairly well educated, and in doing a significant amount of research
had learned to some degree the relationship between nature and nurture.

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They realized that the formation of the childs phenotype, which is a persons
genetic makeup, was primarily decided by genes, but that they could affect
how some of the development would happen by creating an prenatal
environment with proper vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and parental behaviors
that would promote proper development. (Berger, (2010). ch. 2, p. 71)
When Dallin was born, it was an exciting time for the new parents. They
arrived at the hospital early in the evening to prepare for the big event. In the
early hours of the next morning, his mother finally went into labor, and Dallin
was born within 45 minutes. It was fast and amazing experience, but
everything went as planned, and in all the scoring and tests, the only thing
wrong with this new baby boy, was a little jaundice.
During the first few weeks there were so many new things to see, and do
with this new baby that there were no real problems that came up. However,
as time passed, this new family started to experience some of their own
difficulties. His dad was working a full time job, and going to school full time at
nights to complete his degree, which took him away from home for extended
periods during the day. There was the loss of the mothers income that now
had to be dealt with, along with the new expenses of a baby. His mother
started to experience her first signs of postpartum depression. This depression
is seen as a feeling of sadness, and the feeling that you have an inability to be
a good mother, which can affect up to 15% of new mothers. This has a
potential to cause some long term problems to a baby if it is not addressed and
handled in a timely manner. (Berger, (2010), ch. 2, p. 70). A combination of
these problems caused an increased amount of stress in the home, in dealing

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with both the emotional needs of Dallin and his mother, and also the new
financial needs.
This was one of the times when Dallins father was able to use some of
the skills that he had learned growing up to help create an environment in the
home that allowed for healing and stability. It has been shown that a father
can have a large impact on reducing the stress felt in a home. In participating
in a active role of care giving for the new baby, it provides the mother a chance
to recover and heal both physically and emotionally, and helps the new baby
continue to thrive. His treatment of the mother and the baby also affects the
stress level in the home. (Berger, (2010), ch. 4, p.128).
As the family adjusted to the new experiences they were having, Dallin
continued to grow as a happy, healthy baby. However, as he approached his
12 month, and then 18 month marks, there started to be a few sensitive
periods that were not being achieved as was to be expected. Language was
the biggest factor that seemed to be lagging. Babbling is when a new baby
starts to repeat certain syllables, usually around the 6-9 month range. As they
are responded to, their language will continue to improve. (Berger, (2010), ch.
3, p. 113). Dallin seemed to be faltering in advancing beyond the basic babble
sounds. At a dinner one night with several families, one of the guests
happened to be a speech therapist, and after spending a few minutes playing
with Dallin, she had the courage to tell these new parents, that they might
want to consider getting some additional testing done on him. This began a
process that would take several years to fully complete, but after reaching the
appropriate testing age, and multiple rounds of tests; Dallin was diagnosed
with high functioning Autism.

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This diagnosis was difficult to accept at first, no parent wants to know

that their child is going to struggle in life due to circumstances beyond their
control. These parents decided to learn all they could about autism, and found
that along with many of the difficulties, there were going to be a lot of special
abilities as well. This is referred to as the difference or deficit principle. It is
inaccurate for people to assume that because people are different in behavior,
and in the reaching of developmental milestones, that they are inferior. In
many cases the differences provide a strength in areas that other people
struggle with. (Berger, (2010), ch.1, p. 6). This is the case with several types of
autism, which fall under the diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder.
Individuals with many of these disorders struggle to develop emotionally on the
same level as their peers. They will have difficulty understanding and
expressing emotion, and will struggle in social situations. However, they will
also have the ability to focus in on extreme detail, and spend virtually
unlimited amounts of time working on things. (Berger, (2010), ch. 7, p. 267)
This gives them the ability to often create and build amazing things, that most
people would not have been able to succeed at.
With such a major diagnosis, Dallin obviously had many difficulties
ahead of him. But as was referenced earlier, his parents knew that nurture,
could have a huge influence on nature. They sought out the best information
they could find, both in the medical field, and in the school systems. The
immediate problems had to do with language development, and gross and fine
motor skills. Gross motor skills are the large, major body movements that
must use several parts of the body. These movements will be essential to
continuing physical development. Fine motor skills are defined as small

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intricate movements, especially involving fingers and hands. (Berger, (2010),

ch. 3, p. 95-96). Dallin seemed to hit the first major gross and fine motor skills
tests, but as time went on, it became obvious that things like throwing a ball,
running, and writing were extremely difficult. Because of these difficulties he
started at this part of his life with the help of many occupational and speech
therapists.
With the knowledge his parents continually gained, and years of
patience and work, Dallin moved from class to class, year to year in school with
a slow but steady improvement. Socially has been the hardest part of growing
up through the teenage years. He recognizes that he doesnt fit in with other
kids his age, and this has caused him to have difficulty with feelings of self
worth and mild depression. However, along the way he has also been taught
the reasons why he has struggled with this, and that understanding has helped
him have a desire to change many behaviors that have made it difficult for him
to fit in. He finished his junior year of high school without any special
education assistance at all, and is now one quarter from graduation in his
senior year. He has small group of good friends, and is included in a much
larger group of other youth who accept him for who he is. There is no question
it has been a challenging and difficult time through his teenage years, but with
the help of his family, friends, and many others, he has lived a happy and
successful life.

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Chapter Two
In the last year of high school Dallin had made a few major
changes in his life. He had started doing better in school, not because
he was being forced to by his parents, but because he wanted to
succeed. He also started doing things in his religious and social
community that started to establish his identity, and not the identity
that he was taught by his parents. Knowing that he still had several
years to make a decision on his vocation, he started to apply to colleges
that focused on computer programming. He had been advised by
several people including his parents on how to choose a vocation, but
had also understood that times and needed skills would constantly
change(Berger, (2010), ch. 10, p. 352-353). He also decided that he
was going to serve a mission for his church, and started to do the things
he needed to prepare. He understood that it would not be a fulltime
mission like so many of his friends had served, but would instead be a
mission where he would be asked to serve in different capacities. This
experience not only strengthened his confidence in himself, but also
established a secure peer group that lasted throughout a major portion
of his adult life. This was a group that in many ways had more influence
even that his family, and they encouraged strong social growth and
behaviors, and played a major role in teaching him how to deal with
many situations that naturally came difficult to him(Berger, (2010), ch.
10, p. 356-57).
One thing that Dallin always struggled with throughout his life was
his physical health. There were two primary reasons for this, one was

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that his natural inclinations were not geared toward physical activities,
but more computer related. The second difficulty came through his
physical build and genetic traits. He had always struggled with physical
movements, and had receive therapy all his life to help with gross motor
skills. He understood however the importance of physical health. The
reason our societys healthy living age has continued to increase, and
the rate of disease and happiness with health has increased is due to the
increased learning about the importance of a good diet and exercise. He
also understood that physical health is part of a dynamic system, and
that health of each individual part of the body plays a part in the health
of the other parts, and the mind as well(Berger, (2010), ch. 11, p. 38687). Through several years of continuous effort Dallin eventually was
able to become a fairly good runner, and found that he enjoyed the
activity. It was something that he had worked on through adolescence
without success, but found that with practice, he slowly learned proper
techniques and endurance that allowed him to function at a good level.
Dallin always struggled with stereotype threat. He always
struggled with the ability to understand why some people behaved the
way they did, and as a result this impacted the way he perceived others.
Because he was aware of his autism, he was also aware that he was the
possible target of certain prejudice behavior, and he often prepared for
this type of bias, even thought it rarely came out in peoples
actions(Berger, (2010), ch. 11, p. 398-99). There was a time in school
where this effected his cognitive and social abilities, but with continued
help from advisors, family, and counselors, he was able to work through

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these feelings, and eventually he became secure in his feelings of who

he was. He was able to use these experiences when he became a
father, and leader in his local religious group to teach and show other
people who struggled with these difficulties to overcome and work
through them, and what had originally been a difficulty in his life,
became a great strength in helping others.
Dallin had always been behind a few years socially from his peers,
whatever age he was, he usually acted several years behind that age.
College was the cause of a major change in his cognitive development.
He had found a great love for wanting to learn to program, and it was a
good means to provide for his future. It also however was a stabilizing
point in his cognitive development. In college, he was finally in an
atmosphere where some mental stability was common. Unlike his
earlier school years, where there were always changes in both physical
and mental development, his college years showed a stabilizing in that
process of his peers, which also allowed him to catch up socially and
emotionally, and then he also began to stabilize(Berger, (2010), ch. 12,
p. 401). He began to finally be able to embrace some of the differences
that made him who he was, and found that he had some unique talents
in his ability to focus on particular subjects. Because of this unique
focusing ability, it allowed him to delve into subject areas farther than
the average student would, and helped him to achieve a higher level of
output in his career.
As he moved forward in his career and family life, this extreme
focus had both positive and negative influences in his life. Professionally

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speaking, this focus helped him become highly successful in his career.
He became as it is called, a selective expert in his area. Although he
had never tested well, and didnt graduate from college with amazing
grades, he became extremely competent and knowledgeable in his field
of study. As he continued to focus and grow in this area, his background
knowledge continued to grow, giving him an exceptionally large pool of
information to draw from(Berger, (2010), ch. 12, p. 444). However, in
his family, this could tend to cause problems if it was not watched
carefully. He could tend to start to spend to much time in his work, and
not spend the adequate time with his wife and family. Through out the
years this caused stress both in his marriage and with his children.
However, because his family was aware of his situation and tendencies
related to autism, they constantly sought help from professional
counselors to guide them on how to deal with, and cause change in each
member of the family that would eventually lead to developing stronger
relationships, and gaining the ability to change and grow as individuals.
As Dallin reached the later years in life, he continued to find great
support from both his immediate family, and his siblings. It has been
shown that adults thrive when there is a committed partner who is
willing to share resources, help and support through difficult times, raise
children, and provide care(Berger, (2010), ch. 13, p. 437-68). He also
had developed strong and loving relationships with is brothers, and they
became a powerful support group to him. As the years progressed, he
found that the family vacations with his family and his brothers families,
began to replace the need for external friends. His family was

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supportive, and honest enough to help him through difficult changes

over the years(Berger, (2010), ch. 3, p. 467).
Over time, work became quite a bit more than just earning money
for his family, it became a way for him to express his unique
individuality, and he thrived in the environment. Work provided the
daily routine and structure that were so important to him. Over the
years he changed from someone learning skills, to mastering them, to
being able to teach and share his knowledge and love of the things he
made. It provided a security that he knew he could provide the things
his family needed, and was one of the few ways that he could express
himself(Berger, (2010), ch. 13, p. 480).
As with many after retirement, he found that many of his routines
and focuses had to change. Fortunately Dallin had found a great love of
gardening, and was able to use this as an outlet for his focus. It was a
great way for him to continue to express his aesthetic and creative
sense. It gave him the opportunities to not let his cognitive
development slip, by continuing to make something grow, and along
with the necessary upkeep kept him busy. He was also able in his later
years to relax on some of his rigid expectations he held for others, which
allowed him to reach a higher level of understanding about others needs
and feelings(Berger, (2010), ch. 14, p. 523). Due to his experiences
with people often treating him differently throughout his life, Dallin was
not affected nearly as much by the ageism that is often shown to older
individuals. He had already learned how to deal with other peoples
biases, and was thus able to move through this period without incurring

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some of the negative impacts like depression and anxiety. He had even
learned how to deal with his own perceptions about how others saw him,
and the stereotype threat that some associate with getting older was not
an issue(Berger, (2010), ch. 4, p. 498-501).
As a whole, Dallins life was full of many difficulties, and many
great joys. He learned to rely on the help of others to learn about how to
deal with problems, and how to change throughout the years to become
more like the person he wanted to be. He recognized the importance of
having something he loves to do in his career, and especially to make
sure that everything he truly valued, like his family and friends were
treated in way that they knew the type of person he was, even after he
was gone.

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Work Cited
Berger, K. S. (2010). Invitation to the life span. New York: Worth.