Child Observation

CHILD DEVELOPMENT OBSERVATION
OF PETER PAN-AGE 3

Jacqueline L. Montgomery
4/23/08

Table of Contents

1. Permission slip 3
2. Developmental Checklist 4-5
3. Journal Entry #1 6-8
4. Report on Journal Entry #1 8-9
5. Journal Entry #2 10-13

6. Report on Journal Entry #2 13-14

7. Evaluation Report 15-18

8. Results/Summary 19-20

9. Suggestions for further development 21

10. Drawings 22

Permission slip:

Developmental Checklist (page 1):

Developmental checklist (page 2):

Journal Entry #1:

2/10/08
1-4:00pm

Peter Pan (not real name) is a 3 ½ year old child of average or a little above in height and in weight. I observed him at his home on February 10th beginning at 1:00pm and lasting until 4:00pm. When I arrived at his home he was shoveling snow with his dad, and he was using a little red shovel that was just his size. I waved to him and said “hi!” and he leaned on his shovel with his left hand and waved to me with his right hand, like he was a “cool guy.” He showed me inside, and we got all of our snow gear off and went up the stairs. He kind of walked and crawled up the stairs, but I think he was just trying to show off. He brought me right to a computer key board that wasn’t attached to a computer or anything; it was just there for him to play with. His mom says he likes to pretend he is sending people messages. He sat me down on the couch and said, “You have this side of da tailboard and I have dis side.” We played on that for awhile, pretending that we were sending mail, but then we got talking about lions and he said, “lions roar really loud, but I tant show you how loud cause my brover is sleeping.” His brother was taking a nap, so we couldn’t be too loud. After we talked about lions for a little while, he got really scared and said, “Oh no! There’s a lion in do they board!” He threw the keyboard down and took me to his room where he got a toy gun out and said, “We dot to go get him! You fodow me and I will protet you wid dis (he held up his gun)!” I said, “Ok”, and we stealthily walked out of his bedroom to go find the lion. Later we went outside to play in the snow. He enjoyed picking up the snow with his shovel and throwing it at me. All of us got cold very quickly though, and we went inside after about 15-20 min. When we got back inside we started coloring and drawing. He said, “You draw what I draw, ok?” I said “Ok.” I noticed that he always started out with a diagonal short line, but by the time he was done the page was covered with circles, squares, and many other odd looking lines and shapes. After we finished with his paper, I asked him if he would copy the things that I drew, and he said yes. He was able to draw the capital letters B, L, and C, but his attention span ended very quickly. We started to read books after he was done drawing. He picked out a couple of his favorite books, and he was able to read some of them from memory. The last book that we read was one about a snow day. The child in the book decided to put snow in his pocket and save it so it wouldn’t ever go away. When I asked Peter pan what he thought would happen to the snow, he replied with, “Tourn into chocolate!” I started to giggle, but then I figured it was a very imaginative assumption. The last thing we did was play the Pass the Pigs game. I did not think that Peter Pan was going to play for very long, but he was actually very into the game. He made decisions on whether to roll again or pass the pigs on, and he remained very attentive until the game was over.

Report on Peter Pan for 2/10/08:
Social: As soon as I arrived to observe Peter Pan, I saw him helping his dad shovel snow, showing appropriate helping skills, but I also observed him trying to be like his dad, which, according to Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development, is Peter pan’s way of discovering who he is. As we walked inside, he kindly welcomed me into his home. Physical: As we walked up the stairs he was showing excellent coordination of his arms and legs. He used his fine motor skills later while we were playing with the key board. And while we were coloring superb use of his drawing materials. Language: Throughout the day he told many stories (lion in the keyboard), and he communicated his ideas very well. When I asked him to draw the things that I drew he understood and followed my directions wonderfully. These behaviors concur with Erickson’s third stage of psychosocial development. Intellectual: As we were playing on the keyboard he was counting and labeling (a, b, c…) the keys. When we were drawing lines and shapes he was comparing and contrasting the differences between his drawings and mine. When we played the game “Pass the Pigs” he made many correct decisions on whether to pass or stay. According to Piaget’s theory on cognitive development, Peter pan was developing his cognitive abilities through active interaction with the environment. Creative: While we were playing with the keyboard he very dramatically represented his idea of the lion that lived inside of the keyboard. Emotional: While we were coloring he showed pride in all of his finished drawings.

Journal Entry #2:
4/12/08
10:00am-2:00pm When I arrived at Peter Pan’s home his family was out working in the garden. Peter Pan was pretending to be a superhero. He had a “superhero shirt” on, a superhero ring, superhero glasses, and a superhero hook (a plastic hook from “Peter Pan”). We ran around and played in the yard for a little while. Peter Pan went over to the swing set and started to play on it. He pretended he was flying like a superhero. He enjoyed swinging up and touching my hands with his feet when he swung. After we finished with the swing set we went back to the garden and played in the greenhouse. He said, “This is my superhero prison!” We crawled all over the greenhouse and got all muddy. After we all got cleaned off, we ran over their barn to see the cows. Peter pan pretended that he was wearing ice skates and “skated” through the barn. He said, “Come over here cause I want to sow you Spidermanz hide out!” We walked over to see it, but he got distracted by frog eggs in a little pond. He knew what they were, which surprised me. He said, “They look weally gross!” After looking at the eggs we went over to the creek and skipped some rocks. He said, “Do you won to see how I det from dis wock to dis wock?” I said yes and he jumped really high from one big rock to the other. We decided to go inside and get ready for lunch. Before we had lunch Peter pan wanted to play pirates. He said, “You wear dis belt.” I said that I couldn’t fit into it, and he said, “But my mommy does!” I told him that his mommy is much smaller than me, so he asked his mom to wear it. We turned on some music and played Ring-around-the-Rosy. Peter pan’s mom told me to hold his hand with mine on top and when I did he said, “No! That’s not how you hold hands! You have to do it dis way.” He switched his hand to the top and said, “This is how you do it.” After we went around many times and fell down many more times, we played Hide-n-go-seek. He said, “You hide n heawr, ok?” So I hid in his closet. Of course he found me, but than he wanted to play with his little brother. We looked at some books and than the boys wrestled for a little while. Peter pan found his little toy car and started riding around. He said, “Open your legs so I tan dwive under dem!” I spread out my legs and stood on my toes so that he could ride under me. After Peter pan’s mom got lunch ready we all went outside and sat on the porch to eat. Peter pan wanted to sit next to his dad while he ate. After we finished eating Peter pan wanted to play “mother-may-I.” He said, “Raschel, take two wiggly worm steps.” So I did, and we went on playing for a little while, until he got a look at his shadow. We made different figures with our shadows for awhile and then it got chilly so we went inside to color. Peter pan wanted to use glitter to color. He drew some clouds and trees with his glitter sticks. I asked him if he could do a maze, and he said, “Sure!” I drew a maze and he did very well in following it and staying in the lines, and he finished fairly quickly. After he finished my maze he made a maze for me. His maze was a little different than mine; he had me go around everything that he drew rather than me drawing through it. After we had drawn on a lot of paper his mom got out some color identifying cards for us. We played a game where one person would take away one card while the other person closed their eyes and they would open their eyes and see which color card was missing. He did very well! After a little while he said, “I don’t want you to pick dis won or dis won. You can only picked dis won and dis won.” I think he was getting tired of trying to remember which card was missing. We decided to go outside before I had to leave to play some ball. Peter pan and I walked down the stairs and just as we got to the lawn one of their roosters started to chase after him and he got really scared. I kicked at the rooster and it ran away. He didn’t get hurt, but he was definitely shaken up (I was too!). His dad tried to comfort him and told him that they were going to get rid of the chicken. After a few minutes, we got him settled down enough to play some ball. We bounced, kicked, and threw the ball until I had to leave.

Report on Peter Pan for 4/12/08:
Social: When I arrived at his house, he was helping his parents plant their garden. When we were coloring, he listened respectfully and followed my directions when I asked him to complete the maze that I drew. He enjoyed pretending to be a superhero all day long, which, according to Bandura’s social cognitive theory, is fabulous observational learning. Physical: As we were playing in the greenhouse, he enjoyed balancing on a beam and he was able to balance on it for quite some time. While we were playing Ring-around-the-rosy, he showed superior flexibility. As we were coloring, he showed excellent fine motor skills while using the drawing tools. When we played ball he had very well developed throwing and catching skills. Language: While we were playing the color identifying card game, he showed excellent skills in identifying which colors were missing and which were not, but I noticed that he was relying more on the appearance of the cards that were in front of him rather than the card that was missing, which, according to Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development, is a sign of preconceptual thinking. Intellectual: When he asked me to put on the pirate belt and I told him it was too small, he didn’t understand because he knew it fit his mother (why didn’t it fit her?). I tried to explain it to him, but according to Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development children at Peter pan’s age rely on perception rather than on logic. Creative: He invented his own prison using an object (greenhouse) that he was familiar with and then made it into something new. He performed very well in dramatic play while we were pretending to be pirates. He expressed much creativity in dancing while we were playing Ring-around-the-rosy. Emotional: While we were playing by the creek, he set a goal for himself by planning to jump from one big rock to the other and then he accomplished that goal by performing it for me. He showed pride in his ability to find the missing cards in the color identifying card game we played. During the incident with the rooster, Peter pan showed trust in his parents and me to protect him from the rooster.
Evaluation Report

Name: Peter Pan Dates of Observation: 2/10/08, 4/12/08
Date of Birth: 07/23/04
Evaluator: Jacqueline L. Montgomery

Background Information: Peter pan lives with both his mother and father, and his little brother. They live in a very rural setting outside a small village.

Medical History: His prenatal and postnatal status was very normal, and he has retained very good health since he was born.

Developmental History: Peter pan’s delivery was fairly easy, though he was a little jaundiced. He received an 8 on his apgar scores. Throughout his infancy he had a very easy-going temperament, but he was very attached to his mother early into his infancy. Many of his developmental milestones came at appropriate times for his age.

Assessment Tools: * Parental Report * Observations * Developmental Checklist

DEVELOPMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Vision Screening: His parent reported that his vision screening was normal.

Hearing Screening: His parent reported that his hearing screening was normal.

Adaptive Development:

Strengths: When he wants to do something he will do it no matter what. He is doing excellent in his toilet training-sometimes he wants help just to be close to his mother and father.

Areas to focus on for continued development: Sometimes at the dinner table he refuses to eat with a fork.

Cognitive Development:

Strengths: He has a very imaginative mind. He comes up with very fascinating ideas! According to Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development he has a very perceptive nature.

Areas to focus on for continued development: When he is trying to solve a problem, he sometimes does not agree to let anyone help him with it if he is having trouble.

Communication Development:
Receptive Language

Strengths: He understands the English language very well, and can appreciate humor.

Areas to focus on for continued development:
He knows where to use specific words in his sentences, but can not always define them.

Expressive Language

Strengths: He is very inventive with the use of his words-“of course, actually, basically, etc.” He will often narrate what he is doing out loud, which, according to Vygotsky’s theory on the role of Language, is his egocentric speech.

Areas to focus on for continued development: Sometimes he makes up the wrong words for the particular thing he is trying to define.

Oral Motor Skills

Strengths: He is a very polite eater.

Areas to focus on for continued development: He cannot pronounce “c’s” or “f’s” very well and he rushes “just” when he is speaking.

Articulation Skills: He tends to mumble and not annunciate correctly; his mother says that he forms the wrong shape of the mouth for blowing out a candle.

Personal Social/Emotional Development:

Strengths: He has very good eye contact with people; he acts very kindly towards others, and has very good self-concept and esteem. According to Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development, he is developing a very good sense of initiative.

Areas to focus on for continued development: He experiences some self-control issues; sometimes he goes through frustration with himself or objects (his mother says that it is inherited).

Physical/Motor Development:
Fine Motor

Strengths: He has always been above average in his fine motor skills; he holds a pencil very well, and he loves to help his dad with projects around the house.

Areas to focus on for continued development: He is very well developed in this area.

Gross Motor

Strengths: He is fairly well coordinated. He loves to find new things to do with his body. He enjoys running really fast! His mother has even taught him how to dance ballet, tap, and jazz.

Areas to focus on for continued development: Even though his gross motor development is very high, his motivation to perform things the correct way (walking up the stairs) is sometimes very low.

RESULTS/SUMMARY Peter pan is at an appropriate developmental age level of 3 ½ years old in his abilities to; hop and stand on one foot up to 5 seconds, go up and down stairs without support, kick, throw and catch a ball, move forward and backward, use a riding toy, draw circles and squares, copy capital letters, feed himself with a spoon, understand the concept of “same” and “different”, use basic rules of grammar, speak in sentences of 5-6 words, ask questions, speak clearly enough for strangers to understand him, tell many stories (real and make believe), correctly name colors, understand the concept of counting, identify the numbers 1-10, recall parts of stories, engage in fantasy play, understand causality (“I can make things happen”), cooperate with other children, play the part of “mom” or “dad”, invent fantasy play, dress and undress himself, distinguish between fantasy play and reality, and in his ability to create imaginary friends. Peter pan possess many abilities that exceed his developmental age; he is able to swing and climb, he can correctly name more than 4 colors, he is knowledgeable about many things that are used everyday (food, money, etc.), he loves to sing, dance, and act, and is a blissful, happy child most of the time. Peter pan is developing very well! As I was observing him over this seven hour period, I thought about what a relief he will be for school teachers when he enters school. He knows so many colors and numbers for his developmental age, and he is a very kind and obeying child. His language, even though he experiences trouble in pronouncing some words, is well structured and understandable. He takes in so much from his environment; at his home and outside of his home. I believe much of his cognitive abilities and creative thought come from his experiences at home and in the observation of his parents. I enjoyed observing this child for the short period of time that I could.

SUGGESTIONS TO FURTHER CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT

I do not believe that Peter pan struggles in many areas of his development, but I do feel that he has not discovered the extent of his many abilities. His language development is probably the skill that is developing the slowest, but I have no doubt that he will strengthen that ability with the right amount of assistance fairly quickly. His emotional development is nearly on tract, but his capability to use self-control is at times deficient. The frustration he experiences with himself and other objects could be the cause of some of his self-control issues (which are few). Encouraging him to show pride in all of his accomplishments is one way to aid him in this developmental area.