A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer Essay

Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model explores the relationship between a child's environment and that child's development. In his theory, Urie Bronfenbrenner defines several layers that make up the overall system in which the child functions. These layers are known as the Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, and Chronosystem. Each of these layers plays a role in influencing the development of the child as well as each other and the child, in turn, has an impact on these layers. This process is referred to as a bi-directional influence. The actions of the parent affect the behavior and beliefs of the child while the behavior of the child affects

This paper evaluates how David Pelzer develops in his memoir, A Child Called “It”. Pelzer is evaluated using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model demonstrates how Pelzer’s environment impacted his development greatly. Pelzer is greatly influenced through others by how they treat him. Throughout this memoir, Pelzer is in the concrete operations stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The reader is also able to see Pelzer’s development from preconventional morality to conventional morality using Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.

In this paper, I will be talking about how an individual develops throughout their life and the many changes they go through while still maintain the skills they’ve learned. Human Development is very important for a person’s emotional and physical growth. In this paper, I will be discussing Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model, providing examples of Mesosystem, Ecosystem, and Microsystems. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning will be addressed by giving examples of what stage of cognitive development Harry shows and what stages of Kohlberg’s theory he represents. This paper will further the understanding of the different developments a person goes through to reach their fullest potential of

The Ecological Systems Theory was founded by Urie Bronfenbrenner. This theory focuses on the impact of the environment on a child’s overall development. The identifying characteristics of Bronfenbrenner’s theory are the five systems used to organize external influences within a child’s development. These systems are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Each system is aligned with specific interaction levels. The microsystem is considered to be the most intimate of the levels, in which development is dependent on the immediate environment. The immediate environment would include adults, peers, and siblings with influence to learning new behaviors and the environment in which the

Child development is the genetic and internal changes that occur in children during early years. There are many internal and external factors that affect a child 's growth and development. The connection between a child’s environment and a child’s development are explored in Heather O 'Neill 's lullabies for little criminals where a child named Baby becomes a product of her environment. This is explored through the early death of Baby’s mother, her being raised by a young father and her father 's drug addiction. Baby’s bad decisions and choices come from a lack of guidance necessary for a child’s social growth and development.

Through the Exosystem, Bronfenbrenner includes the economic system, political system, education system, government system, religious system, neighbors, social services, and mass media into the mix of systems that can influence a child’s development and can be held responsible for a child’s upbringing. In Dave’s memoir, there are many examples of this part of Bronfenbrenner’s model, one example of a neighbor that could have offered aide to Dave would have been Dave’s Boy Scout Den Mother. It would have been clear to the Den Mother that Dave was in utter distress and torment when he ran up to her door to explain why he could not make it to the troop meeting. However, the Den Mother did not seem phased by Dave’s appearance and simply told him she would see him at the next meeting.

In the book A child called "it": One child's courage to survive, David fights for his survival. David’s mother refers to David as a “bad boy” for her explanation as why he is punished. In the early stages of the maltreatment David was placed in the corner of his room for his punishment. However, things escalated quickly. The next form of punishment was physical violence, such as smashing his head against the mirror and throwing punches at him. There was one incident where the mother grabbed David’s arm so hard that she pulled his arm out of its socket. She took him the hospital the next day telling the Doctor that David had fallen from the top bunk, and David went along with the story. The next form of punishment was not feeding David. He was

    Have you ever had someone switch up on you that you never believed would? In the novel by Dave Pelzer, A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer, a young boy who is beaten and starved by his alcoholic mother (Catherine Roerva), must learn how to survive off of nothing. Dave who at one point was once loved goes through a struggle that he never thought he would go through. Dave’s mother puts him up to a numerous amount of games very life threatening and the older he got the more torture he went through. Dave Pelzer dreams and does all he can to survive his mother's “tortuous games”. Dave Pelzer is a brave young boy who acquire faith in order to get through the neglect and death tactics that he have to face.

As a child, Dave Pelzer was abused by his mother. For a period of six years, she deprived him of food, neglected his feelings, forced him to complete chores in a time limit that was near-impossible, enforced her rules of sitting in the prisoner of war position in the garage, sleeping in the bunk in the garage, and made him sit in the bathroom with a mustard gas mixture (Pelzer, 1995). Dave was resilient, standing up to his mother, and overcoming his struggles. Dave was also mentally developing during this time, therefor he was developing in his cognitive development, where his ecological systems failed, and where his moral reasoning is throughout this time period.

The novel, The Child Called “It”, a true story by David Pelzer who presented the idea that hope and patience can get you through the toughest times of your life, including the times where you want to give up. Pelzer was forced to become the victim of his mother’s abuse after a drastic change in his family. March 5th, 1973 in Daly City, California is where the book starts, and where David’s life changes. He’s taken to the nurse after he arrives late to school to talk about the new marks his mother gave him, and as usual he is forced make fables about how he got each scar. The nurse starts to realize that he keeps using the same lies to protect himself, knowing if he told the truth, there would be a cruel consequence behind it. That’s when the school staff takes actions and helps David escape his mother’s abuse.

The Lost Boy was written by David Pelzer. David pelzer was born in California and was abused by his Mother in childhood, he is currently 55 years old. The genre of this book is an autobiography because it is written by David Pelzer himself. The age group of this book is anywhere from about 13-18 the years of your life where you begin to mature. Dave is rescued from his mother. He makes a

"Ecological systems theory is an approach to study of human development that consists of the 'scientific study of the progressive, mutual accommodation, throughout the life course, between an active, growing human being, and the changing properties of the immediate settings in which the developing person lives, as this process is affected by the relations between these settings, and by the larger contexts in which the settings are embedded'" (Bronfenbrenner, 1989, page or #). When reading and researching to gain deeper understanding and

Developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner first introduced the Ecologicial Systems model in the 1970’s. Bronfenbrenner argued that to understand human development, the environment in which the person belongs must be understood (Bronfenbrenner, U.1979). The Ecological Systems model concentrically depicts how a person’s development is influenced by their wider environment. In the original model there were four ecological levels in the system, however in 1979 Bronfenbrenner added an additional fifth level (Bronfenbrenner, U. 1994). With the developing person in the centre, the five progressive levels of environment include the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, marcosystem and the chronosystem.

Childhood development encompasses the cognitive, physical, social, moral and emotional changes from birth until the end of adolescence (White, Hayes & Livesey, 2013). Throughout childhood, environment and genetics promote or discourage growth and development. This essay will analyse the cognitive, physical, social, moral and emotional domains in relativity to my own development from the prenatal stage until adolescence. Psychological and environmental theories are used to develop the understanding and connection between each domain and stage of development. Lastly, this essay will address the controversial nature verses nurture debate and its relevance to my childhood development.

Kohlberg (1963, 1981, 1984; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987) expanded Piaget’s work, developing a most influential cognitive developmental theory of moral development. Kohlberg proposed the progression through the invariant, universal sequence of three moral levels each composed of two distinct stages. According to Kohlberg, no stage can be skipped, neither will there be a regression to an earlier stage.