Child Development Observation

In only forty-five minutes of observing a child a significant amount can be determined about their personality and skill sets. More specifically, their physical and motor development, cognitive and language processes, social and emotional skills, and the environment they could be surrounded by outside the observation time. The development of these processes can be observed through the actions and interactions a individual does or does not have with other people. The environment of which the child I observed occurred in a controlled area with other children and teachers to play with called the Child Development Lab. The time of day was morning where they had time for free play allowing them to use toys and other objects as they wish. The
children were ages three to four and boys and girls were in the same room. As far as the relationship goes with the child, I had no connection to him allowing the observation to come from an unbiased standpoint. The actions observed were those that are expected from a hyper, four year-old, Caucasian boy who had the freedom to play as he wished. Never once did he act irrationally towards one person and only became rough with his toys a handful of times. For the most part he played by himself, but would join in every now and then with the other kids. At this age the boys and girls did not interact much. However, at one point they were interacting and the girl started yelling only to get the boy in trouble even though he was not doing anything wrong. The girl was yelling “stop” over and over again until the teacher took the boy away and proceeded to tell him to turn his “listening ears on”. Not phased by the teacher, he returns to his Legos where he was once before and enjoys being alone. One thing the child continues to do is play with the teacher’s hair. He will go from one activity to the next, and then stop and head straight to play with her hair. Even when they all formed a group he made sure she was near by so he could play with her hair. After they sat down, he crawled over and asked to sit in her lap, which she allowed him to do. One of the times when he was rough with his toys was when he had built a car out of Legos, showed the teacher and said “I have a cool car!” and then breaks the car apart immediately. Following that, he screams and yells “runaway!” To me, this was him playing out a scenario in his head without letting anyone else know what was going on. Another time where he was rough with his toys was when he pulled out a video camera slings it around his neck, and practically places the tip of the lens on the teachers face. His actions here were very excessive and unnecessary, but that is part of growing up and finding what is right and wrong. Once he pulled away from her face, he proceeded to rip off the camera and threw it on the ground out of frustration. After he got away with that maneuver, it was time for clean up and he was of great help. In thinking he could do more than what his body size allowed, he would pick up too many blocks to put away for them only to fall on the floor. Not realizing what was happening, he continued to pick them up and watch them fall over and over. The teacher finally noticed what was happening and offered to help him carry the blocks. Next on the list was group time, as they gathered around the screen to imitate the dance of the day he proceeded to do his own moves at his own timing. Standing at the back of the room, he decided he was not enjoying that and it was time for a bathroom break. He was gone to the bathroom for a while, then decided to get a drink, but when he returned he danced with the kids like he was instructed to do. After the dancing was over he found the teacher he enjoyed and sat next to her while playing with her hair. All of these skills and personality traits that he has come from what he observes from family and friends within his environment.
As the brain development increases from 70% - 90% of its adult weight the body needs enough nutrition and energy to stay caught up with the process. (Ch. 8) This is why the early ages of four to five years old are the perfect habitat for brain growth. The children are high energy as the boy I observed showed more than once. The physical growth of a child includes more than just the length of their legs and the size of their hands. Moreover, it includes heredity and hormones, emotional well-being, sleep habits and problems, nutrition, infectious disease, and childhood injuries (Ch. 8). From what was observed by the little boy, he seems to be on the right track with his physical and motor development. However, when he was picking up the blocks he could not yet determine how his small arms cannot carry every big block, but that is quite normal for his stage of development. His gross-motor skills as in jumping, throwing, and skipping are smooth and easy to transition too and his fine-motor skills as in building and organizing are in the correct stage of development for his age. When it comes to cognitive development and language processing the mastering of symbolism occurs around age three. Therefore, the boy I observed is in the prime time of learning symbolism. For example, he was able to see a video camera and knew how to use it and what it was used
for. He also saw Legos and knew how to make a car out of it and proceeded to make car noises. Also in cognitive development, make-believe play becomes a major role in the life of a child as we can see through the making of car noises and explosion of Legos (Ch. 9). Social and emotional development are clearly in play starting at the the age of three, even linking how they feel in general to who they are as a person (Ch.
9). The emotional side of the boy I observed is shown in how he acts towards one of his teachers. She gives him the attention he wants and needs and he reciprocates that through wanting to sit on her lap and playing with her hair. This could be because he doesn’t have attachment towards his mother at home or he just is an emotional boy. He was social at times, but mainly kept to himself. With both of these instances put together he could be used to having to be by himself and so he entertains himself easily and likes the attention from other woman because he doesn’t get it all from his mom. This is not a fact by any mean, just an
observation. The overall development of this child I would say is fairly normal. Physically, cognitively, and socially he seems to be on track with the rest of his peers. I see no problem in him reaching the milestones needed to accomplish each year at its best. The only possible delays I see have to do with attachment issues with other woman, but that is nothing that can not be overcome. I thoroughly enjoyed observing in the child development learning center, it is very cool we have the resources available to observe from a closed door perspective. It would be interesting to see how my observations line up with his real life scenarios and how accurate his actions line up with what he is surrounded by. It was evident before, but through observation it was encouraging to see how play is a really good indicator of the child’s temperament and skills they possess (Ch. 8).