observation paper

Observation Paper

Working within our human behavior and social environment class this year, I expected to learn a lot about the behavior of many adults and a lot about the social environment around us. I was surprised to know that we would learn about the process that adolescents take to begin to understand the world. Learning and observing the process involves taking a look the different stages in the development milestone. On December 6, 2013 from 12:30 to 2:30, I visited the child development center to observe a child’s developmental milestone behavior. The child I observed was a four-year-old, Caucasian female with short blonde hair and glasses. Observation of the child’s motor skills showed that she was very active and physical and did lots of running and skipping. She displayed many leadership skills such as showing the other kids where to put their coats and also ensuring that they all washed their hands after putting their coats away. This sort of behavior is appropriate for a child her age. As I examined her motor skills I also took at how she plays and how she plays with other children. I noticed that she liked to play with toys that you could construct and put together such as building blocks and play dough. She played with only one other child at a time and seemed to stray away from playing with the boys. During my visit the class was having show and tell and my child displayed her favorite teddy bear. The bear was grey with pink eyes and matching pink bow. She had a huge smile on her face as she spoke about her bear and who gave it to her. I then noticed her allowing the other kids in her group to hug and play with her favorite toy. That displayed to me very good trust and sharing skills because she allowed the other kids to play with her bear and also trusted that they would respect him. This sort of play is appropriate for a child her age especially with her being able to share.
Studying the child’s adaptive behavior shown her ability to unzip her own jacket and to responsibly put away her hat and scarf so that she wouldn’t lose them. She also showed that she could use the bathroom and wash her hands without supervision but still alerted her teacher. The child insisted on taking her play friend with her to the bathroom as many girls do but she assisted the other child in proper hand washing. She was also able to help the teacher pass out bags of pretzels and juice boxes during snack time. This activity tied in well with her social development. A child her age is normally at displeasure with adults, but she was very helpful and cooperative towards her teachers, which is a proper behavior for her age. Although she interacted well with her teachers, she showed shyness when interacting with the entire class. During my visit the class was practicing for their annual Christmas sing along. She showed great pleasure in participating and actually began to open up to other children during this activity. Listening to her participate in the sing along allowed me to make a connection with her language development. Her voice was very soft and pleasant and she didn’t speak unless she was spoken too. She listens to the teacher thoroughly and then responds after the teacher is done addressing her. I noticed that she spoke very clear except when saying longer words such as astronaut and bathroom. I also noticed a small amount of stuttering when she said the more difficult words. The word misuse and speech is normal for her age and I was told that she speaks clearer then a lot of the other kids. Through out my entire observation I noticed that she was a very cooperative child and she takes direction very well. She stays quiet and follows rules like she is supposed to. Towards the end of the day she actually began to play with more students in the class. I also could see her learning patterns as she chose to play counting and alphabet games instead of playing with a baby doll. My observation proved that she was actually right where she needs to be for her age and her developmental process is a great success.