Observation Report Child Development

Toddlers and preschoolers are at different developmental stages, and therefore require their teachers to use different approaches and techniques to further learning. I completed my observations at the Bright and Early Children’s Learning Center where I observed a toddler classroom and a preschool classroom. My observations took place from 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. on the 21st and 28th of September. The first day that I observed I was placed in the toddler classroom which had two teachers, Miss Ashlynn and Miss Miranda, and six students, most of whom were two years old. In the preschool classroom there was one teacher, Miss Stephanie, and eight students, each of whom were 3 years old or 4 years old. While the rooms were physically similar, the teachers used different strategies and activities to appeal to the different age groups.

"Ever since I was a child, I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one 's potential"(Bruce Lee). I think this quote pertains greatly to how children grow up. The Assignment purpose was to observe a child between the ages of 2 and 16. Human Development is important because it shows what you can identify. For example, if there is anything wrong with your child or if your child is more developed than others. Plus, there is so much that you can learn from observing the child from how they react in their environment and around people. If you know what to look for in human develop it greatly helps in knowing what to do with a child when you least expect it.

1.1 Describe the expected pattern of children and young people’s development from birth – 19 years.

The child I observed was a four year old boy. My Child's weight is 39.6 pounds. His height is 42.1 inches. My child lands on the 75 percentile. The child's body mass is 15.62. He landed on the 50 percentile for his body mass. My child's height, weight and body mass is a typical for a four year old.

Observer visited a play place of a restaurant in New Jersey, Hackensack. Why I have chosen the place is easy to observe every part of child development such as cognitive, social emotional, language as well as physical at the same time. Observer performed the observation on April 28 from 1 pm to 3pm. The child was an Asian boy. He has strait short black hair with dark brown eyes and thin black eye brows. His height looked around 37 inches that he may be a little smaller than other early childhood children. He looks thin and has a full set of teeth inside his mouth, full cheeks, and a small button nose.

G.J is about a 4-year-old girl who looks like she weighs about 30-40 pounds, and she looks like she has no known physical or cognitive disorders. According to the textbook the brain matures at about age 4 that enables children to switch from one way of sorting objects to another. This observation took place at church which lasted about an hour.

A unique opportunity was presented to me as I prepared to complete the observation or interview paper for HDFS 225. We have close friends who have a fourteen year old son with Down syndrome and I was given permission to spend time with Jason (not his real name) over a weekend and this enabled me to observe an adolescent male who happens to be a special needs child. The adolescent period of human development interests me since this stage in life presents significant changes and is considered to be some of the most critical and challenging years in human development. The addition of the documented special need made the opportunity very intriguing and I thought it created an excellent learning opportunity. Not only would I be digging into the development of a 14 year old, I would also be gaining knowledge about the impact or effects of Down syndrome on development. Jason is 14 years old, short but heavy set for his age and height. He is typically in a very good mood and happy to have a friend to spend time with and this day as I visited him at his home was no different.

This worker met with Amanada Thomas at the Broadway office. Privacy practices and Tennessen notices were reviewed verbally. The interview was recorded.

Donna, a 32 year old African American female, lives in a rural Texas town of eight thousand. She lives with her husband of ten years, Mark, and their two children. John is eight and in third grade; Crystal is six and in kindergarten. Mark is a schoolteacher at the local high school and the primary provider. Donna quit her job as a teacher three years ago and began giving music lessons part-time at the elementary school so that she would have more time to spend with her children.

When we first meet Suzy at 7, we saw a very sheltered girl. She was brought up in a prep school which occupied most of her time. Suzy had a privileged childhood because her parents had a lot of money. Suzy did not act like any normal child would; she was quite and reserved, and very mature for her age. At the young age of 7, Suzy had a boyfriend that was 13 years old. When asked how she felt about marriage and children, she stated that she did want to get married one day and that she wanted to have two children and have a nanny around to help her care for them.

In this assignment I am going to describe a child observation that I have done in a nursery for twenty minutes in a play setting. I will explain the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observation through the key developmental milestones based in Mary Sheridan (2005) check-list and provide a theoretical explanation to support the naturalistic observation.

The child I observed was a seven-year-old girl in Year 2 who sat on the second highest ability table in a mixed class. While not in school, she lived a substantial distance away meaning she travelled to and from school by car and was often the first child to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the afternoon. I will focus on the social and emotional development of this child who, from now onwards, will be referred to as C.

Children’s attitude, emotions, innocence and vulnerability are one of the rarest things on this Earth. Every moment something is changing inside them. At any moment they could do something will make you laugh so hard you feel like you are going to piss your pants and in the next moment they could do something that makes you want to crawl into a hole and disappear from the embarrassment they just caused you. Children are such wonderful beings and they are very near and dear to my heart that is why I am doing my paper on them.

Taking a step back to observe a child’s physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and moral development gives great insight into the mind of a child. I observed nine year old, soon to be ten, Abigail. Although small in stature, Abigail meets the physical developmental tasks for her age. As reported by the University of Washington's Child Development Guide, normal physical characteristics for nine to ten year old children include, “Engaging in active, rough-and-tumble play (especially boys); great interest in team games; good body control; interested in developing strength, skill, and speed; likes more complicated crafts and work-related tasks” (1993). Although, Abigail does not appear to meet one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) milestones for physical characteristics of children nine to eleven years old, which states “physical changes of puberty might be showing by now” (2017); overall, Abigail meets the physical developmental tasks for children nine to ten years old.

Archie is a 10 year old in the fifth grade class here at Friends' School. He’s attended this school from preschool until now, a total of seven years. He lives in the neighborhood and tends to be one of the first kids in the classroom every morning. In general he seems to be a happy child, smiling often. He has a tendency to be quite goofy at times and struggles with impulse control, often speaking out in class or being disruptive by talking or making jokes. This seems to stem from his ADHD, which he is on medication for. Though he has many challenges related to his ADHD, he displays an aptitude for math, enjoys reading, loves computers and is full of random facts that he adores to contribute.