Human Development Matches vs Mismatches Questions

In chapter 8, Davies (2011) recalled his experience with toddler Marcel. Marcel struggled to regulate his emotions, and lacked the communication skills to be understood by others. He was easily distressed and often physically and emotionally explosive. Although he demonstrated disorganized behavior, he also showed a clear secure attachment to his mother. Despite this attachment, he and his mother regularly experienced what Davies refers to as interactional mismatches (Tronick, 2006). Although his mother desperately wanted to find the root of Marcel’s tantrums, (and seems to be a caring and attentive mother), she was unable to identify various triggers. Marcel’s inability to communicate his needs or desires, and his mothers inability to understand them exacerbated his behavioral problems.

• a. Which do you think is more important to child development—attachment style, or interactional matches vs. mismatches?
• b. According to Fox, Levitt, and Nelson (2010), what would enrichment look like for Marcel? Would the authors think that enhanced enrichment would help in this case? Why or why not?
  c. How might parents be educated or trained to better spot antecedents for problematic behavior like Marcel’s tantrums?
  d. What role did culture have in Marcel’s case?

2.Consider the assessment and intervention of 1 year old Julie, and her parents, as described in Davies (2004) chapter 6. Particularly, consider Julie’s parental and general environmental context.

-Fox, Levitt, and Nelson (2010) discuss experiences during sensitive developmental stages (e.g., deprivation). Is Julie’s context severe enough that, without “enrichment,” development of brain function would suffer (i.e., the scaffolding needed for higher level functioning later in life)?

-Is “enhanced enrichment” a better suited intervention given the context? Why/why not? What developmental outcomes would you expect, if any?