Classifications of Life-Span Development

Classifications of Life-Span Development

Classifications of Life-Span Development

When did you become an adult? Was it the day you graduated from high school? Or, was it the day you moved out of your parents’ or caregivers’ home? Your description of what it means to be an adult and how and when an adolescent transitions into adulthood may differ from that of your colleagues.

The authors of your course text, Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, use the term young and middle adulthood to identify the life-span time period between age 18 and 65. This classification distinguishes this time in the life of an individual from childhood and adolescence and from the later years of adulthood.

Is the authors’ young and middle adulthood classification a useful one? What is especially useful and not useful about the classification? What changes would you make to the authors’ classification to make it more applicable to your role as a social worker?

For this Discussion, you analyze the author’s life-span classification and suggest ways to improve it.

Post:

o   A new classification (or possibly multiple classifications) to replace the authors’ young and middle adulthood classification

o   A definition of your new classification(s)

o   Support for your new classification(s). for example, this support may include references to theory and empirical research findings and should reflect the current understanding of biological, psychological, and social development

o   An implication your new classification might have regarding social work practice

Be sure to support your posts with specific references to the resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.

References (use 2 or more)

Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston, MA:  Cengage Learning.

Chapter 10, “Biological Aspects of Young and Middle Adulthood” (pp. 469-497

Discussion 2: Policy Development

Often, policymakers develop policies in response to a recent societal problem or event. Whereas some societal problems, such as homelessness, unemployment, and poverty, require long-term policy development and refinement, society sometimes demands immediate policy implementation in response to events or problems that proved dangerous for society at large. For example, the U.S. terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent terrorist threats heightened airport security and created item restrictions for airplane carry-on luggage. Over time, policymakers adjusted these policies as the danger appeared less imminent due to the development of other policies. What policies are you aware of that policymakers developed in response to a societal problem or event? Are those policies effective responses to the problems or events? If not, how might you change them in order to make them more effective?

For this Discussion, review this week’s resources. Using reputable news and education sources, search for an event that led to the formation of a social policy. Then, consider what changes you might make to the policy that resulted from this event. Finally, think about the role of social work (as a profession and political lobby) in the formation of the policy.

•     Post a brief explanation of the event you selected that led to the formation of a social policy.

• ·      Then, explain what changes you would make to the policy that resulted from this event and why.

• ·      Finally, explain the role of social work (as a profession and political lobby) in the formation of the policy.

Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

References (use 2 or more)

Popple, P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2015). The policy-based profession: An introduction to social welfare policy analysis for social workers. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Chapter 11, “Politics and Social Welfare Policy” (pp. 245-261)

Discussion 3: Ideological Perspectives of Population-Specific Policy

Social workers often are very aware of and informed about the needs of the specific populations with which they work. As a result, it is important that social workers get involved in the policy-creation process by sharing their experiences and perspectives with others, including policymakers.

For this Discussion, select a population of particular interest to you. Then, select three to five policies (including two to three state-level and two to three federal-level policies) related to that population. Finally, subscribe to a variety of blog alerts concerning the population and the policies you selected. Note that you will be discussing about these policies throughout the course. You will also critically review the published opinions of bloggers outside of this course, who write about the policies you identified.

• ·      Post a brief description of the population you selected.

• ·      Then, provide a description of three to five policies (including two to three state-level and two to three federal-level policies) related to that population.

• ·      Finally, explain the relationship between the policies and the population you selected.

Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

References (use 2 or more)

Popple, P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2015). The policy-based profession: An introduction to social welfare policy analysis for social workers. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

The Library of Congress: Thomas. (n.d.). How our laws are made. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.