Method: Narrative/Note taking
Age of the child: 3 years, 25 days
The communicational/language observation also took place within the playroom. I was observing a male who was 3 years and 25 days of age. The child I observed had speech difficulties and is currently being put onto a program to help him. The aim of my observation was to observe the communicational skills of a child with speech difficulties through the use of language. The method I used to carry out my observation was narrative and note taking which enabled me to record the different ways in which the child communicated including both verbal and non verbal communication. The observation was carried out over three hours.
As the child I was observing has speech difficulties he is unable to communicate, however, he is still able to communicate his needs through sounds and non-verbal communication such as body language and gestures. Like children at the age of three years he is able to understand lots of word but is unable to speak.
According to Carolyn Meggit from the age of three years children remember and repeat songs and nursery rhymes. They use personal pronouns correctly and can give their own name and sex, and sometimes age. They are able to carry on simple conversations, often missing link words such as “the” and “is”. Children from the age of three years also learn to speak more than one language if they hear more than one language spoken around them as they grow. [Book: “Child development: An illustrated guide, 2nd Edition by Carolyn Meggit, pages 74 published by Pearson Education Limited in 2006]
Before carrying out my observation I also consulted my practitioner again whilst asking for approval of it being okay to be carried out. I informed the practitioner of how the observation was going to be carried out as well as its relevance. Whilst I was carrying out my observation I made sure I wasn’t standing over the child as this is