I feel that my niece suffered from (and still does) isolation. When she was born, she has spina bifida, scoliosis, and a tethered cord. Spina bifida is a birth defect, it is when the spinal cord has a split or an opening in it, scoliosis is a condition when the spine bends either to the right or to the left. My niece's condition is severe. She's had many different surgeries to try and help this. The one she had for her scoliosis, it was necessary that she have it, if not the curve to her spine was so severe that it would end up smashing all of her insides. She has always walked different, she sometimes uses a walker, she cannot sit or stand like everybody else,among other things she has to have surgery at least once every 3 years.
Usually children who are born with spina bifida also suffer from a tether cord. The cord becomes tethered because of the surgically closing of the spine and the extra scar tissue. When dealing with a tethered cord, when a child stretches usually the spine is free to move, with this condition it is not. It can damage muscles as well as bladder and bowl problems, orthopedic problems such as loss of sensation in legs and feet. My sister actually has to buy my niece two different pairs of shoes because her feet are different sizes.
My niece has always felt different from other children. She is unable to do the things that others' can do. She can't ride a bike, she can't try outfor sports, or even go on longer walks. As much as other's try, she doesn't feel that she fits. My sister has put her in different groups. Actually, when she has her surgery, the hospital that she goes to specializes in these surgergies. There are many other kids there, that feel the same way as she. They exchange phone numbers, and emails. I think that this helps my niece a lot. Although, my sister and the rest of our family tries to understand what she is going through, we are never going to be able too. Having somebody her age, understanding most of what she is going through, helps her because they are able to share stories with each other. My niece also sings and is very big in many different types of music. She goes to a charter school and specializes in signing. I think this helps her relax her mind.

The middle eastren country and the effects the violence has on it's children.
I think my background in criminal justice is one of the reasons why I would like to find out more about this. When I was in class we would often talk about the war and the violence that is going on in middle eastren countries.
When dealing with violent acts such as war, intrusion of homes, schools and other personal places by soliders children are more likely engaged in antisocial behavior, more likely to be involved in violent acts.(Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).
Researchers are concerned with a child's emotional and congnitive development and how violence intereferes with it.(Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).
It can and most likely will lead to aggressive behavior. Severly traumatized children, had lower letter grades in school.(Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).
Many children that have been subjected to severe violence feel that they are included in it and view themselves as "freedom fighters". (Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).

Researchers feel that the community should provide the children with postiive and supportive settings from all levels of the community-family, peers.(Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).
They feel that in doing so it protects the children from all the negative influence that occurs from violence and war. (Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).

This is a continuing study. The researchers are unsure about how well the support settings will work. But they feel that at least it is something more positive to show the children of communities that only see war and violence.(Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).
They feel as long as there is some kind of positive interaction, the children have the ability to see that their is another way other than violence. (Boxer, Dubow, Huesmann, 2009).

References:
Dubow, E., Huesmann, R. L., & Boxer, P. (2009). A Social-Cognitive-Ecological Framework for Understanding. Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 12(2), 113-126. Retrieved November 26, 2010, from Education Research Complete

Child Development and Public Health

For this blog assignment I chose breastfeeding. This is a meaningful topic to me because, well when my son was born, I was 21, I didn't know the importance of breatstfeeding. It gives the baby nutrion that he wouldn't get otherwise. Not only is nutrion an importance but it also allows for a bonding experience between the mother and the baby. This is something that I feel I lacked with my son when he was an infant.
In many other parts of the world breastfeeding is common. Depending on the area of the country it is sometimes like the united states where, depending on the situation, it is frowned upon (like doing it in public). But in other areas, such as Africa this is a very common practice.
In the United States, breastfeeding is becoming more acceptable. A mother does not recieve "bad looks" if it is done in public, as she did in the past.
There has been much research done in breastfeeding for the baby and for the mother. Like I said before it is important for bonding and nutrion values. The mother is more likely to get the pregnancy weight off easier when she breastfeeds. I also believe (I didnot read this) that the mother will not suffer from postpartum depression if she breastfeeds.
If I could go back to when I gave birth, I definitely would have chose to breastfeed instead of bottle feed my son, at least for the first few months. I really feel that would have helped me bond with my son much easier.

Birthing Experience

I actually did not find out that I was pregnant with my son, until I was about 5 months pregnant. I was 21 years old, and I was very scared. I wasn't so much afraid of becoming a mother, I was afraid of the fact that I partied a lot when I was pregnant before I found out.

There wasn't much I could do by the time I found out, I was going to keep him either way, so I did not do the tests to determine anything.

I went to the hospital at 3:30 in the morning. I had him at 3:39 pm the following day. I had all back labor. I was 9 days late compared to my due date. I did have the the epidural, before that I tried demerol, but that did not help the pain at all. It just made me loopy. After the epidural I was so relaxed that they gave me Pitocin to help me have contractions again.
In between the contractions, I played "gameboy". I probably had the easiest pregnancy and delivery. I did not get sick once during pregnancy and I didn't start showing until I was about 7 months. I even wore the same size clothes until about that time.
Although, somehow during my pregnancy I ended up gaining 50 pounds. I now have a very intelligent fully healthy 8 year old son, and I thank God every day for allowing me to have a healthy son, despite the things I did before I knew I was pregant.