Sample Observation

Sample Observation

Observation #1

Background Information

Biological Development

The first thing that I noticed about Bree was that she had excellent gross motor skills, which are “Deliberate actions that coordinate many parts of the body, producing large movements, are called gross motor skills”(Berger, 2014, p. 103). I observed her walking, climbing, running, and jumping, each of which involves large movements. As noted in the textbook, 90% of children can run by 20 months of age so it is no surprise that Bree, a 24-month old, can run well. Her ability to jump, though, is advanced. The norm (the 50th percentile) for jumping up is 26 months (Berger, 2014, p. 104), which means that only half of children have acquired the skill by then. Bree is only 24 months old, and is already jumping: I watched as she played a game where she hopped between different colored tiles on the floor, trying not to touch the tiles in between. This would not have been possible for her just a few months ago.

Bree has also mastered fine motor skills: skills involving small muscle movement(Berger, 2014, p. 104). She was eating olives and started putting them on her fingers. She was also had some string cheese, which she peeled off in pieces to eat. I was shocked when I saw her do this, because I didn’t know that children her age would know how to perfectly peel string cheese, but just as the textbook says, “Toward the end of the first year and throughout the second, finger skills improve as babies master the pincer movement (using thumb and forefinger to pick up tiny objects) and self-feeding” (Berger, 2014, p. 105). Putting the olives on her fingers and peeling the string cheese shows she is right on track with her fine motor skills.

Cognitive Development

Bree’s cognition development (Berger, 2014, p. 114) was right on track as well. She could understand everything that was said to her, and she knew what to do with objects around the classroom. For instance, before her snack, when children were asked to wash up, she went to the sink, used the soap, turned the water, rinsed her hands, and turned the water off, without any specific instructions. Then, while she was eating her snack, she was holding a toy pony. She constantly turned her attention to the pony and would move it across the table in the way that an actual pony or horse would walk. She would say “neigh” while playing with the pony.

Bree’s language development was outstanding for her age. She was able to fully speak sentences with correct grammar. As the book describes, a 24-month old child is able to speak more than one-word sentences, and half of everything they say is more than two words (Berger, 2014, p. 122). I found Bree to be well above the norm on this. Almost everything she said was a complete sentence, with proper grammar. For instance, she was having a full conversation with her dad when he came to sit by her. She was asking him questions and responding with complete sentences. This amazes me that her speech is so clear. Because her language development is so advanced, I have no doubt that her parents and caregivers have invested a lot in teaching her, maybe even without realizing it. It reminds me of what was described in the textbook: “Parents of the most verbal children teach language throughout infancy—singing, explaining, listening, responding, and reading to them every day, even before age 1” (Berger, 2014, p. 124).

Psychosocial Development

Bree’s emotional development is track for her age. For example, when one of her classmates came and took her pony, Bree started crying. That is completely normal for 24 months. As the textbook explains, “[t]he new strength of emotions is apparent in temper tantrums. Toddlers are famous for fury, when something angers them so much that they yell, scream, cry, and do something physical” (Berger, 2014, p. 134).

Another example of her emotional development is that she is past stranger wariness (Berger, 2014, p. 133), as she should be. When I, a stranger, walked into the room and sat down, she kept looking at me and smiling. She was very aware of me, but not scared of me. In the textbook it explains that at age 1, fear takes place in those situations (Berger, 2014, p.134). Bree, being 24 months, has gotten past that stage of being afraid of strangers.

Bree displayed a secure attachment style (Berger, 2014, p. 142). This means that the child “feel[s] comfortable and confident” in his or her relationships. (Berger, 2014, p. 143). She seemed to have warm relationships with both teachers in the room and I observed her interaction with her father, who came into the room during my observation and came to sit by her. As discussed above, Bree quickly engaged in conversation with him: she was excited to see him and clearly has a close bond with him.

While her father was there, I could tell, by the way they were interacting, that he played a significant role in her development at home. This reminded me of the section in the textbook that talks about the role a father should have on their child. “Synchrony, attachment, and social referencing are all apparent with fathers, sometimes even more than with mothers” (Berger, 2014, p. 148). There was a lot of synchrony and interaction between them, suggesting that he was an important part of her home life.

Reference List

Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.