Observation and Assessment of Anna at the Child Care Center Analysis

 

 

I attached my paper which I just finished the introduction and the first behavior record. The first behavior needs some analysis. The first one I focused on the physical and motor development. I still need the other three development. Every behavior needs a observation record and a analysis. I attached the rubric below. I know this is complicated, please feel free to ask me any questions. The paper needs around 8-10 pages in total. The pages are not a problem, you just need to cover all the developments. I observed a 4 years old girl in a pre-school. I can give you my observation or you can make up the behavior as well. For references, please refer to the sample essay’s reference. I found the pdf of the lifespan book online, but it’s too big to share on this website. The sample essay is not the same format of mine, but I wanted the analysis part be similar. Thank you very much.

Be brief as you comment on how the child “is doing” developmentally speaking in the characteristics mentioned below. Please remember that you are not expected to have information about each of these characteristics; just a few per domain. I am including them to help you decide what to focus on. You don’t need to address each characteristic in each domain, but you must address each of the 4 domains.

Physical and Motor Development

Height and Weight

Gross-motor skills

Fine-motor skills

Balance and coordination

Perceptual motor development

Evidence of patterns of proximo-distal and cephalo-caudal development (only if relevant)

• Cognitive Development

Stage of cognitive development  according to Piaget and evidence to support your assessment

• If sensory-motor stage: senses? Motor skills? Circular reactions? Exploration? Object permanence? Experimentation?
• If transitioning to the next stage (pre-operational stage): Evidence the child is able to represent, how? What makes you think the child is transitioning to the next stage?
• Memory

Attention

• Language Development (this section will be short as we have not discussed language development in class yet, but do discuss what you observed):
• Stage of language development (as part of general statement)

Phonology (pronunciation / articulation, intonation)

Semantics (vocabulary, overextensions? Underextensions?)

Grammar (grammatical rules for verb-tense, negatives, plurals, contractions, questions, order of words in a sentence, any over-regularizations?)

Pragmatics (conversational acts, other rules)

Psycho-social development (include emotional and social development)

Stage of Psycho-social development according to Erikson’s theory

Emotional development

Emotions expressed by the child

• How were they expressed (facial expressions, language, posture, etc.)

Were they expressed appropriately to the situation

• Were they basic emotions or self-conscious emotions?
• Use of social referencing

Sense of self

• Self-esteem
• Does the child seem to have an attachment figure in the setting?

Any information about relationship with parents?

Social development

How does the child initiate, sustain, and end interactions with others?

Are interactions with adults and children different?

Has the child shown aggression? Is it instrumental or hostile aggression?

Has the child shown pro-social behavior?

• Any evidence that the child has an understanding of:  Gender
•       Race and ethnicity
•       Social class
• 4) Conclusions
• Write a short conclusion that addresses the following questions:

Based on your current knowledge of what is typical behavior for a child the age of the child you observed, do you think the behaviors reported in your observation records match the typical behavior expected at that age according to what we have been studying in class? Please explain.

Do you think that the setting or context where you completed your observations influenced in any way the behaviors the child showed? Please explain

5) References

Include all references you used in the paper in APA style. Check that you included proper citations in the paper itself as well.

ANALYZING A BEHAVIORAL EVENT

Paper # 1 will require you to analyze the behavioral events you have observed and recorded.  Analyzing a behavioral event involves applying your learning about developmental theory and research in order to assess whether a child’s development is progressing in the manner in which theories and research say is typical for a child of that age. That will require that you present and explain the relevant aspects of the theory that help you explain the child’s behavior, and offer direct evidence of the behavior you are referring to.

• For example, if you were to analyze Behavioral Event # 1 (the example above), and the focus of your analysis were Physical and Motor Development, you would start the analysis sections of your paper identifying what you are going to discuss, for example, by saying that in this paper you are going to discuss the child’s gross and fine motor skills, and also his perceptual-motor development as a way of assessing his overall development in these areas. You would then devote one paragraph to each of these aspects; let’s assume you start with fine motor skills. You would:

Identify what fine motor skills are (from readings, you may quote or paraphrase)

Share information about what kind of fine motor skills are expected of a child at this age (from readings, again you may quote or paraphrase)

Give examples from this specific behavioral event (for example: the way he was holding the spoon, the fact that he is right handed, the way he held and opened the envelope, the way he held the coupon when showing it to his mother) that illustrate his development of fine motor skills.

End with a sentence that says whether this evidence is enough to conclude whether his fine motor skills are developing as expected of a child his age as described in theories and research. If you have other behaviors you have observed at other times (not included in this specific behavioral event record) that you want to use to further show evidence, you may, as long as you are clear that this behavior was observed at other times and explain both the circumstances in which the behavior was observed and whether it was a formal record or you are describing the behavior from memory (which would indicate something about the objectivity and reliability of the data).

Then you will follow the same format for gross motor skills and for perceptual motor development, each time giving a definition, information about what is expected at the child’s age, and whether the evidence shows the child is developing as a typical child in his age group.

Your thoughts about the intentions of the focus child and the nature of the emotions the child displays, as well as your ideas about the causes of the behavior within the event, may be included in the analysis –if your thoughts and ideas can be supported by developmental theory and research.