John Schwartz's Oddly Normal

any positive influences in his early years of development and as a result he suffered to have an abnormal life (Perry 2013).

Jacob’s preferential treatment towards Joseph was destructive, and created dissension among Joseph’s brothers (fueled sibling rivalry –

Joseph learns from his father, Elias’ faults in both his community leadership and personal life. Joseph is a more powerful leader as well as a family member because of this. At the beginning of the novel, Elias is introduced as the former leader of Waknuk the community they live in. He teaches and inspires Joseph to lead the community, but he is also a good example for Joseph to learn how to alter his leadership styles to be more effective. At the beginning of the novel, there is a jump back in time to explain Joseph's childhood:

The issues in this case study involve Melinda Smith, a veteran special education teacher, Derrick Yate, a student with behavioral disorder, Greg, the school principal, Barba Cole, the school social worker, Mrs. Yates, Derrick’s mom and Mr. Douglas, a general education teacher. Besides being a student with behavioral disorder, Derrick was low achieving and had developed a notorious reputation around school. According to Karen, one of the fifth-grade teachers, “Derrick has terrorized everyone”. Despites all the putdowns on Derrick, Mrs. Smith decides to take on the challenge to straighten his behavior.

Adolescents are very unlikely to reach their full potential without the guidance of an adult figure, such as a mother, father, sibling, or guardian. Adult figures are essential to a growing child because they exemplify decision making, wisdom, and overall life lessons on how to grow up. Although some children do have an adult figure in their life, they aren’t always the best influences for their children, adults also face their own battles which can reflect upon their exterior, ultimately having a critical effect on a child’s development. For example, in “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs, the main character Augusten lives with his mother who suffers from a mental disorder who guides him into a pathway of chaos and disorder. Augusten learns to cope with no guidance, but still faces many issues that could have been resolved with a reassuring adult figure.

These curiosities should have been answer by a parent, Victor Frankenstein. However, Victor never put any effort in guiding the poor and innocent child. Evelyn Yeo in “How Does Emotional Abuse Affect Self- Esteem,” concludes that from the time of infant-hood to childhood, a child’s sense of self is defined by how he was treated and what he was told by his parents and primary caregivers. Infants especially, have no knowledge of who they are as a separate person so they rely heavily on their parents’ feedback. From parents’ trust, affection, and encouragement, the child will eventually grow up with confidence and achieve potential to make him or her parents’ proud. Overtime, self esteem will soon build upon them so they are prepared to be set in the real world (1).

The lives of children are greatly influenced by the environment they grow up in, and the people they come in contact with. For years, psychologists, researchers, and social workers have studied children, and why they do what they do. All have developed many different perspectives on how to view social problems and the development of individuals.

of his capabilities. Similarly, Joseph is able to establish himself as a superior to his

I had my mom read this book to give me some feedback and about half way through it, she’d stated that she’d read it once before. She was about 16 years old in 1978 and her mother was reading it for a college class. They would read it aloud to her and her siblings after dinners during her semester. She recalled how uncomfortable she felt hearing the book. “In those days, you didn’t talk to people who had children like Dibs. You didn’t look them in the eye, you didn’t ask them anything. You avoided them like a disease, because that’s almost what they were. When people would converse about them, it was always in hushed tones. We would always hear how bad people felt because the child was retarded or manic.”

The upbringing of a child is no small task. Parents have the responsibility to form a loving relationship with their child and raise the child to be a functional adult. Unfortunately, many times parents do not see the need to have these close relationships with their offspring. A perfect example of the negative effects that this neglect can have on the child can be found in the book “Speak”. Even though Melinda's parents showed her attention at times, Melinda's detached family life caused her to develop more slowly in a social aspect, made it difficult for her to form relationships, and has slowed her recovery from sexual assault.

The story of Joseph in the Bible begins with explanations of Joseph’s youth and innocence and how his brothers were jealous of him because he was the “blessed son”. It involves a lot of specifics, like it mentions that Joseph was seventeen years

She touches on the cases of Kip Kinkel, Sam Manzie, and the movie “The Bad Seed”. Kinkel and Manzie received help at a younger age before they committed their crimes; there is irony that lies in that. The fact that Kinkel had been hearing voices or that Manzie’s Sega Genesis couldn’t be reached are not excuses to Quindlen. Through the author’s use of logos and ethos, she allows the audience to view the situation differently. Her logos is seen through a cause and effect dynamic. In both cases of the boys’ crimes, their psychological problems were the reason of their actions. Ironically enough, when the parents spent too much time focusing on the psychologist and not their child, the treatment did not work. When neither the parents nor the psychologist cared enough about the child’s mental health state, the treatment did not work either. This highlights the importance of the needed balance between home and doctor care. Both cases show ethos, along with “The Bad Seed”. Quindlen possess a disturbed attitude towards this movie. The movie portrays the punishment of children in this case for having struggles. This creates another reason why teenagers silence their problems; to avoid further negativity from those who

The child I observed was a seven-year-old girl in Year 2 who sat on the second highest ability table in a mixed class. While not in school, she lived a substantial distance away meaning she travelled to and from school by car and was often the first child to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the afternoon. I will focus on the social and emotional development of this child who, from now onwards, will be referred to as C.

One of the inherent conflicts in the story of Joseph is the tension between Joseph and his brothers. The tension between them is caused by both Jacob and Joseph. First, Jacob shows favoritism toward Joseph, because he is the son of his favorite wife Rachel. Second, Joseph brings back bad reports when he is out pasturing with his brothers. However, what truly increased the hatred and jealousy was the Joseph’s dreams. The author notes that when Joseph recounts the dreams, “they hated him even more (Gen. 37:8).” Their jealousy for Joseph is strong enough that they are willing to murder him. However, they decide to instead sell him into slavery, and convince Jacob that he was killed.

Bee H., & Boyd D. ( 2003). The Developing Child, 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.