Adolescences

Adolescence Physical Development-

Physical development: during this development, both boys and girls undergo puberty and
growth of spurts. Girls tend to experience these two occurrences much earlier than the boys. Girls start
to experience monthly periods and boys have wet dreams and their voice breaks into the base. Growth
spurts are a milestone that happen during this age, and it usually happens for girls before boys. There is
a rapid acceleration of skeletal growth. Adolescent children go through much more changes than just
the common physical, language, and cognitive changes. The teens go through social and emotional
changes that also risk their development. Sexual activity that can lead to teen pregnancy, peer pressure
to use drugs or drink, and even opening the door for eating disorders. “The rapid, complex physical and
psychological changes of puberty make teenagers vulnerable to certain problems. Yet adolescents’
unhealthy behaviors are not an irrational response to inner turmoil, as theorists once believed. Rather,
every level of the ecological system affects teenagers’ well-being” (Berk, 2013).

Adolescence Language Development-

In the adolescence stage of development children should be reaching several milestones. As

most language aspects are nearly are already completed for some children they may be behind and
continuing to catch up. Structural knowledge and pragmatics are being learned and are a milestone in
the stage. “They comprehend abstract language, such as idioms, figurative language, and metaphors.
Explanations may become more figurative and less literal” (Gavin, 2014). Children should be able to
understand the metaphor “bundle of joy”. Children should also be able to understand and use idioms,
puns, and similes.
Adolescence Cognitive Development-
There are three areas of cognitive development in this stage of development. The first being the
child’s reasoning skills. They should be able to explore a full range of possibilities while thinking
hypothetically. “This allows adolescents to have the capacity to love, think about spirituality, and
participate in more advanced mathematics” (Sanders, 2013). Next, they think abstractly and become
more concrete thinkers. Lastly, they should have strong moral intuition and be able to think about and
plan their future.

Adolescence Atypical Development Signals-

If a male adolescence isn’t growing body hair and his voice is not changing by the end of the
adolescent stage this be may signal atypical development, and seeing a doctor is important to make sure
that is all is okay. They doctor may do a series of blood tests to see check hormone levels. If a female is
not starting her menstrual cycle during this stage of development this may also be a sign of atypical
development and will need to be referred to the doctor for further testing as well.
Adolescence Strategies that Influence Development-

Culture is learned and socially shared. Culture affects all aspects of an individual's life. Social
responsibilities, sexual expression, and belief-system development are all things that are likely to vary by
culture. What responsibilities a child has can be a cultural influence. Families can use this strategy to
influence their teen’s development by consulting a specialist to help the teen control this anger and pull
them out of the withdrawal. Parents too need to understand that this is a normal occurrence and they
should not disregard them. They should encourage their peers to share their ideas and thoughts with
them and they can also help their teens on how the can make their goals and achieve them.

Two Play-Based Strategies

One strategies that families can use to influence their child’s development at this stage would
be to always be there emotionally to support and talk with the child about their developmental changes
they are experiencing. For children experiencing starting their period parents can talk to them about
why girls menstruating and how to take care of themselves while on their period. Explaining things to
teenager and being there for support is the most important thing parents can do. Two Play-Based
strategies that parents or families can use to influence their adolescents learning and development are
to participate in physical activities such as sports. Families can play basketball and kickball as a group
that will polish their physical development. Another strategy for families is for families to have game
night with their child. The games need to be age appropriate that can aid in their learning or
development, such as trivial pursuit, or card games that will strengthen the child's cognitive
development.