Development from conception through adolescence: Physiological and psychosocial factors impacting children with special health care needs

Abstract

Human development for children with special health care needs (CSHCN) can be approached from purely psychological/psychosocial or physiological perspectives. Nevertheless, both of these developmental perspectives are rooted in the combined genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors that uniquely shape each individual. With advances in genomics, we are finding that every person experiences disability and special needs, whether major or minor in extent, and that childhood and adolescent physiology and behaviors derive from events in utero and even earlier in the individual's ancestry. Therefore, we start with theories of psychosocial development, mostly nonbiological in scope, then trace back to physical development from conception to birth, and conclude with a summary of "birth defects," that is, conditions monitored by public health systems and that arise from genetic, cell division, or environmental exposures in utero that impact later physical and psychosocial development. The ultimate goals are to illustrate Wilson's consilience concept as applied to human development as well as contextual, biopsychosocial approaches (e.g., the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) towards improving CSHCN life outcomes from social and community perspectives.