Required

Create and analyze a 1–2-page simulated case study of a child with developmental challenges,
aged 2–5 years old. Then, create a 5–7-page intervention plan based on evidence-based
strategies that have proven effective in similar cases and make projections of possible long-term
impacts that current challenges may produce across the individual’s lifespan.
Part 1: Create the Case: Early Childhood
Create a simulated case study, relevant to your area of specialization, of a pre-school child, 2–5
years of age, who presents developmental challenges related to factors described by Piaget’s or
Vygotsky’s developmental milestones and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory.

Your case study should be 1–2 pages in length and it should describe:
The child’s strengths and challenges.
The medical, family, and social context.
The developmental challenges evident in the behavior of the child.
Individual and cultural factors that theory and/or research indicate could impact the child’s
development.
Any other factors you deem appropriate based on your understanding of the theory and related
research.
To develop this case, you should:
Explore theory and research related to early childhood development in the cognitive domain.
Use either Piaget or Vygotsky to describe those age- or stage-related milestones expected at the
age of your selected child.
Develop your case by creating a challenge for the child in the cognitive domain in early
childhood. Describe what the child struggles with in not meeting the expected theoretical
milestones in the cognitive domain.
Explore, through theory and research, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of the various systems
that can influence development. Describe the typical influences in those systems that would
likely be most evident for a child in the preschool years.
Develop your case study further by creating an environmental context for the child in specific
systems in Bronfenbrenner’s theory. Include any specific issues that you want to explore through research, such as influences of a specific culture or ethnicity, specific socioeconomic status,
family structure, attachment issues, and neighborhood context.
Maintain a resource list of the materials you consulted to build your case.
Follow current APA guidelines for style and formatting, as well as for citing your resources.
Include a reference list of the scholarly resources you use.
Part 2: Case Intervention Analysis: Early Childhood
Research
Complete the following:
Research evidence-based interventions that have been effective in meeting the challenges of the
child you described in your case study, from the perspective of your own professional
specialization (as far as possible).
Explain how the deficits in the cognitive and other developmental domains affect development in
early childhood.
Explain how the environmental contexts impact development and functioning.
State the recommended interventions that align with your specialization.
Include evidence for those outcomes from the professional literature.
Explore briefly the literature on cognitive development over time, considering that early
influences can impact development across the lifespan.
Explain, from the perspective of your specialization, how the early cognitive challenges could be manifested across the lifespan.

Explain how (or whether) this might help in understanding and determining an approach to
working with an individual who had early cognitive challenges.
Structure of the Report
Use the following format to structure your report:
Title page.
A descriptive title of 5–15 words that concisely communicates the purpose of your report and
includes the name of the fictional subject. Be sure to follow Capella’s suggested format for title
pages on course papers.
Introduction.
An overview of the paper contents, including a brief summary (approximately half a page) of the
background information regarding the case study. (The complete 1–2-page case you developed
will be included as an appendix.)
Body of the report.
The presenting challenges and primary issues.
An analysis of how lifespan development theory and research may account for the presenting
cognitive challenges. Highlight why the child is developing as described.
A description of your selected child with attention to age-expected outcomes in cognitive
development, as well as specific challenges the child has in not meeting those milestones.
A description of the factors in the child’s environment linked to Bronfenbrenner’s theory that have
an impact on his or her overall development.
An assessment of the potential impact of individual and cultural differences on development for  the current age and context described in the case study.
Evidence-based interventions that have been effective in meeting the described challenges of
your selected child, from the perspective of your own professional specialization.
An explanation of how the deficits in the cognitive domain or environmental contexts impact
functioning in other domains, such as social or emotional development (considering that in
developing your case, the theoretical emphasis was on the cognitive domain).
Recommended interventions that align with your specialization. Include evidence for those
outcomes from the professional literature.
Projections, based on research and/or theory, of possible long-term impacts that the current
challenges may produce across the individual’s lifespan.
Conclusion.
A summary of what was introduced in the body of the paper with respect to the case study
context, challenges, and interventions.
Reference page.
A minimum of five scholarly sources from current peer-reviewed journals, formatted in current
APA style.
Appendix.
The simulated case study you created in Part 1.
Your paper should meet the following requirements:
Written communication: Write coherently to support central ideas, in appropriate APA format, and with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
Length of paper: 5–7 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the title page, references page,
or case study appendix.
References: At least five scholarly resources (peer-reviewed journals).
APA format: Follow current APA guidelines for style and formatting, as well as for citing your
resources in the body of your paper and in alphabetical order on the references page.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 points.
Note: In graduate-level writing, you should minimize the use of direct quotes. Lengthy quotes do
not count toward assessment minimums. It is your interpretation of the material and its
application to practice that is assessed.