Social Care Training: Social Development Observation

Child Care Training – Social Development Observation Sample
Date of observation: 26 March 2011
Time observation started and finished: 14:20 to 14:50
Number of children present: Three children present
Number of adults present: 2 Adults present. (1) Mother, (1) Student(observer)
Description of setting: TC home is set in a rural area, it is a large detached house with large landscaped gardens surrounding the house, there are swings, slides and a playhouse in the garden. There are neighbouring houses with children living in them also.
Immediate context: This observation took place at dinner time in the kitchen of TC home. There is a large table and TC is sitting at the end of it with her dinner in a plastic plate and a plastic spoon to eat
it with. She is strapped into a high chair while she eats. The family dog walks freely around the house. During dinner he waits under TC high chair for food. The other two children sit on the bench at the side of the table eating their dinner. The mother is pottering around and feeding TC intermittently.

Brief description of the child observed:

TC is 18 months and has a brother aged 4 and a sister aged 6. TC mom and dad live together in the family home. TC likes to play with her siblings and her toys. She is very friendly with the house pet Sparkle (the dog).
Aim of observation: The aim of the observation is to assess the TC social development. This observation is done for 5 minutes interval over a period of 30 minutes.
Rationale: To develop my observational techniques. Then to apply what I have learnt in the work place.
Method: Time sample
Observation
Time
Actions
Social group
Language
14:20
TC is sitting at table in high chair, eating her dinner.
Her brother and sister are sitting at table eating their dinner.
Not speaking
14:25
TC turns and give some of her dinner to the dog.
The other children alert the mother to the actions of TC.
TC looks towards mother and say Bow Wow. Mother says don’t give your dinner to Sparkle, good girl.
14:30
TC puts some mash potato in her mouth using her hands.
Mother says; ‘There’s a great girl eating her dinner’. Child A says; ‘Am I finished, I have eaten enough’. Mother says;’Okay, good girl for eating your dinner.’
TC looks towards mother and giggles.
14:35
TC takes some dinner in her hand leans over the high chair and offers it to the dog.
Mother says;’Ah Ah’. Nooo. Eat your dinner yourself. Child B says;’Sparkle is always under TC high chair, because she is always throughingher food to her. Mother repeats herself to the TC.
TC says;’Noooo’ and shakes her head from side to side.
14:40
TC refuses to take a spoonful of dinner from the Mother
Child B says; ‘Can I have it?’
Mother asks TC; ‘Will I give it to Child B?’
TC says ‘Yes’ and shakes head up and down.
14:45
TC rubs some of the dinner onto the table top and rubs it around
Mother says;’Come on baby eat your dinner’. Child B says;’I ate mine, can I have a treat now.’
TC says;’Treat, Treat’
14:50
TC takes some more dinner.
Mother says;’You can have a treat when you eat two more spoonfuls of dinner’.
TC says;’Treat, Treat’
Evaluation:
The aim of this observation was to observe TC during dinner time and observe how she interacts with her family. TC is 18 months and has limited speech 2 word sentences (this is normal for this age group). ‘Around 18 months to 2 years is when toddlers begin interacting with peers, and even then, parallel play still predominates, whereby the toddler will play happily alongside peers but not with them ‘(Flood,2010). I did not observe TC at parallel play in this observation.. I observed her socialising with her family at dinner
time.
TC’s siblings tell their mother that TC is trying to give her dinner to the dog, the mother’s reaction is to say ‘No’ and to reinforce that TC is to eat the dinner herself. ‘When siblings fight, parents tend to deal with it in one of three ways: intervene and help siblings sort out differences; give out and threaten; or do nothing and let them sort it out themselves. In terms of learning social skills, the first strategy is considered best, as it allows children to practise the skills needed to effectively resolve conflict situations in a calm and respectful manner ‘(Kramer and Radley 1997). TC is too young to understand that her siblings are telling on her and she does not react in a negative way, she says ‘Bow Wow’ and looks towards her mother, as if to explain what she is doing.
TC’s siblings understand two things about the rules of the house; (1) is that the dog is not to be feed from the table and (2) is that you have to eat a certain amount of your dinner before you can leave the table. Both, children tell the mother when TC is feeding the dog from the table and Child A; asks her mother if she can leave because she has eaten enough, which the mother replies ‘yes’ because she is satisfied that the child ate a sufficient amount. I observed what I understand to be social modelling; ‘social modelling proposes that people learn through observing others’ behaviour and attitudes and the outcomes of those behaviours and attitudes. This is why it is vital that children are exposed to good role models from early on and why behaviours and attitudes learned in childhood through social modelling are so difficult to change.(Flood, 2010). TC will learn that the behaviour she is displaying now is wrong and will slowly learn the rules of the home from observing the role models around her.
This leads on to Sigmund Freud’s theory on the id, ego, and superego. We are only concern with the ‘id’ as this is the stage TC is at. Freud said that the ‘id’ is the selfish, pleasure-seeking part of the personality. The id encourages the individual to satisfy its needs and does not consider consequences. During the first two years of life, a child’s actions are almost exclusively governed by the id.(Flood,2010). We see here that TC is doing what is pleasurable to her rubbing her dinner on the table, not considering the mess she is making and who will have to clean it up. Also, when child B seeks to have a treat because he has eaten enough dinner, TC also looks for a treat though she has not eaten enough healthy food to warrant a small treat.
The mother tells TC to eat her dinner with positive reinforcement by saying ‘good girl’ at the end of her command in a calm tone of voice.
‘Behaviourists believe that positive reinforcements are much stronger and more effective learning tools than negative.(Flood, 2010)’.
I observed that TC has good social skills for an 18month old, she smiles at people in order for them to smile and understand what she is doing is funny. She is calm, relaxed and behaving in way one would expect a healthy 18 month old to behave. TC seems to be securely attached to her mother, therefore paving the way to developing very good social skills as she grows up.
Personal learning gained:
I can identify the norms to expect the varying ages in terms of social development.
Social development milestones are a good way of identifying a child who is having problems mixing with their peers and therefore being able to work to resolve problems within a childcare workers capacity.
Social development is one of the most important learning experience a child will have as it will determine the success they will have in their future in many realms of their life.
References:
*Murray, Lynne and Andrews, Liz 2000 The social baby. Richmond; The Children’s
Project.
*Lindon, Jennie 2010 Understanding child development 2nd edition; Linking theory and practice.
*Flood, Eilis 2010 Child Development; For students in Ireland
*Donohoe, Josephine and Gaynor, Frances, 2007 Education and Care in the Early years 3rd edition