Human Development Essay

Physical, cognitive, and psychosocial human development continues over the span of the lifetime.   Everyone is continually developing throughout his or her life.   “There are certain normative influences that shape many people at a certain age, or within a certain generation.   There are also nonnormative influences, or unusual event that only effect individual lives” (pg. 19, POF).   A few things which have shaped me through my development were my enrollment in the Gifted and Talented program, my great-grandmother’s (Mema’s) death, my adoption, the birth of my sister and brother, and my adolescent struggle with depression, cutting, and sexual identity.
When I was eight years old, at the beginning of third grade, a few other kids in my class and I were given the opportunity to be pulled out of our normal classes once a week and shuffled into another room filled with the few, the proud, the Gifted and Talented.   “About 68 percent of public elementary and secondary schools have special programs for the gifted” (pg. 350, POF).   The year before, I took what I know in retrospect to be some type of IQ test, which determined my placement in my school’s Gifted and Talented program.   Programs for gifted children “generally follow one of two approaches: enrichment or acceleration.   Acceleration programs, often recommended for highly gifted children, speed up a child’s education through placement in fast-paced classes” (pg. 351, POF).   Being deemed a “gifted” child helped me grow a good self-concept and reinforced my desire to achieve academically. My Gifted and Talented class also engaged my interests much more than my regular school classes because it challenged me in a way I never felt school did.
My fourth grade year was a big one in which I experienced a lot of change and growth.   I experienced my great-grandmother’s death, my sister’s birth, and my own adoption all within a few months.   Prior to December 6, 2001, I had lost several people to death, but none that effected...