Typical And A Typical Behaviour

1175 Words5 Pages
This essay describes atypical development and keeps in line with the typical development section. It will be clearly evaluated that typical and atypical development exist on a continuum and what may appear as atypical development in one situation may be perfectly typical in another. This essay also keeps in mind that each individual and family situation is unique. Each individual should, indeed can only be viewed accurately, if viewed through the family and environmental system in which he/she lives. According to Malim & Birch (2005) typical behaviour means a normal process of development are genetically programmed and subject to social and emotional influences. Atypical means “not typical” or not belonging to a class, group, or type. It may also be called abnormal and/or unusual and a development which is not typical of the human species. Atypical development may occur at various times or for a number of reasons such as, the genetic structure, pre-natal damage, birth process problems, biochemical abnormalities, and adverse social and emotional environment. In terms of statistics, atypical behaviour includes any behaviour that is significantly different from the norm. In a normal distribution of characteristics or qualities, both very high scores and very low scores are considered statistically abnormal. For example, in terms of intelligence only "average" intelligence is considered statistically typical. Significantly below-average intelligence is considered atypical, but so is significantly above-average intelligence. Thus in the statistical sense, unusually well-adjusted behaviour might be considered atypical, just as disordered behaviour would be. A person's thinking or behaviour is classified as atypical if it violates the (unwritten) rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a social environment. Their behaviour may be incomprehensible to

More about Typical And A Typical Behaviour

Open Document