Observing Children's Behavior

Our Life-span Development class observed a child in class for his social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development on October 2nd, 2017. The child observed for this report was almost seven months old at the time of the observation. His name is Maddox and he seems to be a very happy baby and developing at a normal rate. He was observed in classroom 1143 on Dordt College’s campus. His mother gave consent for this observation and both his mother and grandmother were present for the observation and answered questions about his behavior and development outside of what was observed in the classroom.

This paper contains observations of a preschool classroom in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The observation was conducted in a Pre-K classroom with approximately ten students present. Observations are presented with regard to dramatic play, the presence of gender roles, and themes that emerge during preschool play. Peer relationships and levels of friendship between students will also be discussed. Relationships with adults in the classroom with in terms of attachment styles and general interactions involving teachers and parents will be reviewed. Observations are also described in relation to self-control, self-regulation, aggression,

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.

This literature review of the emergence of empathy does not adhere to any particular theoretical models, but to summarize research findings about what contributes to empathic responses. Firstly, we will focus on infants’ early social interactions. We focus on imitation, emotion matching, and emotional contagion as precursors of empathy. These support the formation of strong bonds of attachment with primary caregivers. This relationship promotes reciprocal responsiveness in the infant. Following a section on emotional attunement, we discuss research relating to infants’ abilities to discriminate emotions. Responses to other people’s displays of emotion are discussed and associated with prosocial behaviour and the cognitive skills that support its development. While there is little research addressing the neurobiology of empathy during infancy, links are proposed between studies of infant behaviour and neurospscyhology studies.

An individual can always learn new aspects of life when they are observing an infant. This observation took place in the home of the participant. The participant is familiar with the house. During the observation the child played with her toys in the living room. The participant was a 12-month-old girl who is cared for by both her mother and father. Other participant included the child's mother and the child's aunt. The mother is a teacher, so during this observation and in the summer, they both stay at home. The participant is the only child in the household. After an afternoon nap and snack, the child sat in her mother's lap on the couch in the living room. While she was with her mother, she stayed close to her mother and made eye contact with everyone in the room. The child then got down and played with her toys in the floor of the living room. She began with the toy closest to her and began pushing the buttons while singing along with the different rhythms. The next toy she found was a child's magazine and she quickly flipped through the pages and found pictures of other infants similar to her. After a quick look around the room, she proceeded to crawl over to the nearest shelf in the living room. She began to pull her self up to a standing position and began pulling items off of the shelf and putting them on the floor. The mother quickly diverted her attention by

For this research project, I chose to interview my very own daughter (Alaina). She is a 7-year-old first grader who lives with her mother full-time. She has one older sister who lives in another state. Alaina is an active and inquisitive young lady. She attends year-round schooling and in her free time, she participates in Tae Kwon Do and basketball.

Observation: Yesterday, in the morning, I was sitting on the floor, pretending that I was cooking something on the pot as I stir. “Child A” saw what I was doing and walked towards me. “Child A, come and see what I am cooking”, I said. She took the saucepan with the lid that was on the stove, sat down on the floor and put the saucepan down. She held on to the lid, opened it and closed it. I handed her the spoon that I was using and I took the pot and the spatula and showed her how to stir. “This is how we stir, “Child A”, I said. She started pounding the saucepan using the spoon that I gave her, making sounds. “Child B” heard the sound that “Child A” was making and saw what we are doing. “Child B” was looking at the pot and the saucepan that was on the floor as she crawls toward us. She sat on the floor beside me and opened and closed the pot twice. I opened my eyes wide and smiled, “Wow ‘Child B’ you are making sounds!”, I said. “Child B” looked at me and smiled back. I gave her the spatula and assisted her hand on how to stir. I took the kettle and the cups and put it on the floor. I sang, “This is the way we pour our drink” and pretended that I was from the cup. “Child A” took the other cup and drank from it. “Uh- oh! Out of your mouth, “Child A”, I said. Later that day, after their lunch, “Child C” went to the dramatic area and played with the kitchenware. I went to her and sang, “This is the way we stir our food” as I use the spoon to stir. She moved her head from left

| |2. Vygotsky’s theory believed that economic and cultural forces were very influential in child development. |

For my Child observation, I did a little girl named Bryntlie. Bryntlie has an older sister, along with a mom and dad. Bryantlie doesn’t have a cat or a dog, but she loves her cows. She said she has a hundred black ones. When I asked her what her favorite food was, she didn’t even hesitate, she smiled and said, “cheese pizza”, and she eats it every night. Bryntlie likes to play Barbie’s with her sister and her favorite color is light blue like the sky. She explained to me that she has a huge 6-foot doll house and she has a smaller one too. She went into detail about her doll house, it has 3 rooms, a bathroom, kitchen and a huge porch. Bryntlie loves to read, her favorite book is Brown Bear Brown Bear. She said her mother reads her the story every night before she goes to bed. Her favorite character in the story is the fish, because she likes to swim. Her favorite song is Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star, she said she likes the song because she likes watching the stars at night. Bryntlie was telling me a story about how her sister and herself went to help dad feed the cows. Big sister got in the fence with the cows to go pet the baby calf and got chased by the momma cow. But she went on to explain to me that it wasn’t the momma cows fault because she was trying to protect her baby. Bryntlie likes to drawl. If you set a piece of paper down in front of her, she will write her name really big on the right-hand side and then begins to draw. She mostly drawls flowers, hearts and

An unannounced monitoring inspection was conducted on 1/6/2016. I arrived at the operation which is located at 3422 Richmond Rd, Texarkana about 12:57 pm. I was greeted by Comekia Island, the person in charge while director was at lunch. I handed her business card and then explained the purpose of my inspection and reviewed the subchapters I would be observing. Roshonda Epps the director arrived approximately a hour later. When Epps arrived I handed her business card and then explained the purpose of my inspection and reviewed the subchapters I would be observing.

Subject “Chris” is a 7 year old middle class Caucasian male. Observation is taking place in the child’s home over the course of two separate afternoons. Chris is a friendly and well spoken child who is small for his age. Chris is the youngest child in his family and both observations take place while his siblings are home. In each case one or both parents are absent.

While observing a child practitioners need to take into consideration the different relationships the child has with adults and children within the setting and in their home environment to gain a full picture. All practitioners within the setting should be involved In observing behavioural issues even if it is not always written down. Practitioners should record significant information throughout the day so that a more accurate picture of a child's behavioural issue is gathered from different areas of a child's day.

Behavior Observed: Upon entering the house Abby politely took my jacket and hung it up on a chair. She then ran up the stairs and asked me to come see her dollhouse. She identified every little thing in her dollhouse as she was showing it to me. She showed me the “windows”, “stove”, “soap”, “mantel”,

At the snack table “L” was sitting and eating cereal. And “A” was playing with the stuffed animal. “L” got up from the chair and grabbed the toy from “A” and threw the toy across the classroom. “A” started to cry. The teacher saw what happened and went over to them. And she said to ”L” is throwing a good thing. And she made “L” go pick the toy up and bring it to “A”.

For this child observation, I decided to observe my younger brother Jacob. Jacob is 5 years old, but he insisted that I write that he is almost 6. He is also in kindergarten this year and loving every second of being a loud, rowdy boy. I suppose I am at an advantage in this observation since I have seen the numerous developments in Jacob’s life thus far.