SYLLABUS

Course Number:        COUN 506

Course Title:              Lifespan Development

Course Time:             TuTh 5:00 pm-8:00 pm, 6/10/08 – 7/10/08

This class meets June 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 & July 1, 3, 8, 10

Course Location:       E329

Semester:                   Summer 2008, 1st Five Week Session

Credits:                       2 credits

Instructor:                  Dr. Mike Cutler, LPC, NCC

                                    Assistant Professor

                                    Counselor Education Department

                                    Office Phone: (208)426-1307

                                    E-mail: martincutler@boisestate.edu

                                    Office Hours: T-Th, 4-5:00pm(or by appointment)

Course Description

This course will examine theoretical constructs related to developmental process, both typical and atypical, and analyze developmentally based behavior patterns across the age spectrum (birth to death) through a variety of contemporary cultures and beliefs.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:

·        To understand and apply, stage models, incremental models, and

multidimensional models of development.

·        To gain understanding of how heredity and environment affect human

development.

·        To gain understanding of key theoretical constructs of cognitive, emotional

and social development.

·        To understand the major theories and their application in working with

people across the lifespan.

·        To gain understanding of multicultural implications (including issues of race,

ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, immigrant status, history, trauma, etc.) of applying life span development theories with clients/students dealing with these issues.

·        To understand physical, cognitive and personality development across the

lifespan.

·        To explore grief and loss issues as they apply to developmental theory.

·        To explore self and family as it relates to professional and personal

development.

Methods of Practice

·        Lecture

·        Cooperative Learning

·        Visual Media (video/DVD/power point)

·        Student Presentation

Required Text

Broderick, P., & Blewitt, P. (2006). The Life Span: Human development for helping

            professionals.(2^nd Ed.). Pearson Education Inc., NJ.

Additional readings as provided by the instructor.

1.      Read the contents of this syllabus and complete the required assignments.

2.      Ask necessary question the first part of class.

3.      Participate – your voice is important and your input is valuable.

Readings:  It is expected that you will come to class having read the chapters assigned in order to facilitate discussion. Your opinions are important to both the class and your experience in the program, so please bring to the class discussions your comments and reactions to the reading.

Attendance and Participation:  A rich and healthy exchange of ideas, reading, and feedback is essential to your growth as a counselor in terms of your theoretical thinking, conceptualization skills, and actual counseling skills.  You are expected to be an active speaker as well as an active listener, contributing usefully to class discussions.  Learning to be an effective counselor involves assessing one’s personal values and assumptions and learning to understand the values and assumptions of others.  Therefore, students will be expected to discuss their personal values and assumptions in class.  Wise students will avoid missing class; participation is an opportunity to gain additional insight into concepts and to share ideas.  Absences will be detrimental to the understanding of the course and, therefore, detrimental to the student’s grade.  It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor prior to an absence you know will occur.  Cell phones are to be left off during class time. 

Computer Use in Class: Some professors do not allow the use of personal laptop computers by students in class. While this is not the case in this course, it is expected by the professor that students’ use of the laptops during active class time will be restricted to note-taking and course-related activities.

Assignments:

1. Lifespan Reports: Students will be divided into small groups to report on a lifespan developmental level using sources from both inside and outside of class. Final reports will be distributed to the rest of the class. Reports will include an overview of the characteristics of the level in question using Piaget, Erickson, Kohlberg, et al, as well as a discussion of counseling theories appropriate to this developmental level and appropriate attitudes, skills, and techniques appropriate to working with the developmental level. Groups will be assigned the following developmental levels:
   1. Early Childhood/Middle Childhood
   2. Early Adolescence/Adolescence
   3. Young Adulthood
   4. Middle Adulthood
   5. Late Adulthood

Each group will provide a brief (well, we’ll see…) presentation using power point, the internet, and/or any other media appropriate to the presentation.

Lifespan Reports will comprise 40% of your total grade and are due the last three class meetings, July 3, 8, 10.

Choose ONE (1) of the following:

2. Developmental Interviews: Record and transcribe a 10-question interview with a minimum of two family members, friends, or acquaintances. Each person interviewed by each student needs to represent a different development level (see above assignment). The purpose of the interviews will be to determine the developmental hallmarks unique to the individual interviewee in an effort to see how well this fits into her/his real or imagined level of development as described by the text. There are many possibilities for this exercise – interviewing a newly sober addict and an addict with 20+years of sobriety, or interviewing to see the differences between a 6-year-old and a 12-year-old, or someone who grew up in the 1960s as opposed to the 1990s. The final project must include the interview itself followed by a discussion of what the student discovered. The interview protocol will be determined on the first day of class.  

OR

3. The Good/Bad Old Days Assignment: Write a 5-6 page paper reviewing your experiences during adolescence. Your paper should address significant issues and life events that you experienced during adolescence and the effect these events and issues had on you at the time and may currently still have. (Issues that should be addressed include sexuality, drugs, peer pressure, body image and family dynamics.) How did issues of diversity affect your adolescence? Discussion of at least 3 developmental Theories (Freud, Erickson, Piaget, Bandura, Kohlberg, Gilligan) must be integrated into your paper. Show how the theories can be used to explain your behavior. For example, you may want to discuss how social learning theory may explain your involvement with certain friends. References should be used in regard to your discussion of theories. Use APA style of referencing. A reference list must be included.

OR

4. Adlerian Lifestyle Assessment: Complete an Adlerian Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire and respond, in 5 or 6 pages, to the Summary Statements section of the Assessment.

Your completion of one of these assignments will comprise 40% of your total grade with the due date being July 3, 2008.

Performance Evaluation:

            Attendance and participation                 20 points

            Lifespan Report                                    40 points

            Developmental Interviews                     40 points                     

                                                Total               100 points

            91-100 = A

             81-90  = B

             71-80  = C

Disability Statement:

If there is someone in the class who has a special need that may be the result of a disability or alternative learning style, I would appreciate hearing from you.  I am reasonably certain that we can make the appropriate arrangements if necessary to assist you.  The accommodations can take many forms, whether it is seating, testing, or the like.  Please see me after class, or during my office hours.

Academic Integrity Statement:

Academic misconduct or dishonesty such as cheating and plagiarism is unacceptable and appropriate penalties will be imposed.  This includes referencing material that has not been read by you, such as secondary references.