4	Development Across the Life Span

WHO ARE YOU RIGHT NOW? Are you the same person you were at 13, and 8, and 3? Almost certainly the answer is no. As virtually all people do, you have changed in many ways over the years.

Now look at Figure 4.1. How old do you think the infant was? Her name was Brooke Greenberg, and in this photo she was 19 years old. She was being held by her younger sister, 16-year-old Carly. In 1993, Brooke was born prematurely. At first, she seemed to develop normally. But at about the age of 19 months, after various medical problems, Brooke stopped growing. Her brain also seemed to stop changing developmentally. In lots of ways, Brooke seemed to be “frozen” as a toddler.

 

Brooke was happy and laughed a lot. She enjoyed music and shopping trips to the mall, but she refused to engage in activities she didn’t like. At such times, Brooke’s family thought of her as a typically rebellious teenager. However, she couldn’t speak, so she expressed herself with sounds like those an infant would make. She couldn’t walk, so she traveled in a stroller. She had the bone development of a 10-year-old, but she still had all of her baby teeth. She wore diapers. Her family took care of Brooke her entire life. When she died, in 2013, she was 20 years old but still looked like a toddler.

Brooke’s stalled development in many, but not all, areas baffled doctors over the years. They named the unknown cause of Brooke’s disjointed development Syndrome X. Her condition was extremely rare, but by working to understand why Brooke did not develop and age, scientists may have begun to better understand the changes that occur throughout all of our lives.