Developmental Observation



Child Development 1

Developmental Observation

Developed by Professor Malati Singh and adapted & Revised by Professor Lilamani de Silva

Written Observation & Oral Presentation -

Due - Monday Class –April 30th, 2016 & Wednesday Class –April 27th, 2016

➢ Student Learning Outcome: Student will relate child observations to the four domains of development.

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➢ Introduction:

It is fascinating to observe children and to understand their developmental journey! Life begins as a tiny speck, and after a period of miraculous biological transformation in the womb, the amazing newborn baby enters this world ready to experience whatever the world around has to offer! As time goes by, the amazing infant grows and develops physically, cognitively socially, and emotionally into an eager toddler, a playful preschooler, an expanding school age child, and then as an adolescent, struggling to form his/her own individual identity. Simultaneously, language development helps the child understand and interact with people and objects in the surrounding environment. Each individual child’s developmental track is unique. Children with atypical developmental characteristics may differ from normal course of development depending on the unique characteristics of the child.

➢ Purpose:

The purpose of developmental observation assignment is to synthesize and apply the theoretical concepts of child development to acquire an understanding of the developmental characteristics of a child or an adolescent in the biological, cognitive, language, and social and emotional domains of development. The approach is multi-sensory and holistic. The broader goal is to enable the student to better understand the changing developmental characteristics in the four domains of development as children move on through childhood and adolescence.

➢ Objectives: The child/adolescent observation assignment will enable a student to:

1. To apply child development theories and concepts included in CD1 to interpret and synthesize information acquired by the observation of a child/adolescent.

2. To apply child development knowledge of CD1 course to describe and explain the general characteristics of the child/adolescent observed.

3. To identify problem situations, questions and issues related to the developmental characteristics of the observed child in the biological, cognitive, language, and social and emotional domains of development.

➢ Assignment: The observation assignment has three components:

1. Observation: Observe and/or interview a child or an adolescent (newborn – 18 years) for four weeks in a home, school or any other community organization serving children and adolescents. Record your observations based on the guidelines provided. If the child can talk, interview the child/adolescent asking age appropriate questions. In your interview, as appropriate, you may ask the child/adolescent about his or her likes, dislikes, interests or hobbies, role models, hopes and fears, attitude towards parents, teachers, school, friends, society, influence of the media, internet and the social media, and culture. Recognize atypical developmental characteristics, if any.

1. Written Report: Write a written report following the guidelines provided.

2. Oral Presentation: Make a 5-minute class presentation summarizing your report.

➢ Grading Criteria:

The developmental observation assignment is graded according to the following criteria:-

1. Information processing skills: Effectively interprets and synthesizes information obtained through child/adolescent observation.

2. Knowledge of child development concepts: Able to access, process, and utilize child development knowledge.

3. Evaluation of observation: Effectively identifies and explores problems, situations, questions, and issues.

➢ Grading Rubric: See Below

|  |[pic]Poor |[pic]Fair |[pic]Good |[pic]Proficient |

| |1.00 pts. |2.00 pts. |3.00 pts. |4.00 pts. |

[pic]Information processing skills

Effectively interprets and synthesizes information. |[pic]

Poor

Does not make connections.

Accepts or discards information without evaluating its usefulness in describing the child's development. |[pic]

Fair

Has basic conceptual knowledge, lacks the ability to interpret the information with clear connections to the child's development. |[pic]

Good

Interprets information accurately and makes connections regarding child's development. |[pic]

Proficient

Interprets information gathered accurately and provides insightful connections to the child's development. |0.0 (0 %) | |[pic]Knowledge of Child Development

Ability to access, process, and utilize relevant concepts of development |[pic]

Poor

Shows little interest in acquiring and applying knowledge to understand the developmental characteristics of the child. |[pic]

Fair

Demonstrates interest, but needs direction. Does not fully interpret the child's developmental characteristics. |[pic]

Good

Demonstrates ability to apply knowledge within the concepts of child development. |[pic]

Proficient

Effectively applies a multi-sensory approach to acquiring and synthesizing the developmental characteristics of children. |0.0 (0 %) | |[pic]Evaluation of Observation

Effectively explores and identifies problems, situations, questions, and issues. |[pic]

Poor

Does not make appropriate suggestions about the child's development. |[pic]

Fair

Makes some connections and describes the child's developmental characteristics. |[pic]

Good

Makes connections and provides clear examples of the child's development. |[pic]

Proficient

Demonstrates a clear understanding of the objectives and thoughtfully describes the child's development. |0.0 (0 %) | |[pic]Performance

A, B, C, D, F |[pic]

Poor

D = 1-3 points

D = 50-65 point

F = 1-2 points

F = less than 50 points |[pic]

Fair

C = 4-6 points

C = 65-80 points |[pic]

Good

B = 7-9 points

B = 81-90 points |[pic]

Proficient

A = 10-12 points

A = 91-100 points |0.0 (0 %) | |Grading: Assignment ( 100 points (25% of Total Course points)

A. Written Report (90 course points):

↓Evaluation ( According to the grading rubric & according to the guidelines provided

B. Oral Presentation (10 course points) ( Effectiveness of oral communication

➢ Achievement & Performance: (RP ( Rubric Points)

A-, A, A+ ( 91 – 100 pts (10 – 12 RP) B-, B, B+ ( 81 – 90 points (7 – 9 RP)

C-, C, C+ ( 65 – 80 pts (4 – 6 RP) D-, D, D+ ( 50 – 65 points (1 – 3 RP)

U (Unsatisfactory) ( Less than 50 points

Guidelines and Format for Developmental Observations Report

READ THE APPROPRIATE CHAPTERS OF YOUR TEXT BOOK

Your assignment begins by reading the chapters of your text that relates to the age of the child that you will observe:

Chapter 4: Infancy (Birth 2 years)

Chapter 5: Toddlerhood (2 - 3 years)

Chapter 6: Early Childhood (3 - 6 years)

Chapter 7: Middle Childhood (7 - 11 years)

Chapter 8: Adolescence (12 years and beyond)

A. Cover page: Your name; Title of the Assignment

Age of the child; Gender of the child

B. Introduction: ( 5 points

a. Name of the child/adolescent, age and gender

b. Family characteristics: Social and cultural contexts (Urie Bronfenbrenner’s model) (chapter 1- pages 26-28)

c. Siblings and their ages

d. Cultural background and socioeconomic status

C. Developmental characteristics (depending on the age of the child or adolescent) ( 80 pts.

Biological Domain (Physical Development): ( 20 points

Describe the child’s physical characteristics and motor abilities.

Identify any problems or issues, if any.

i. Physical appearance:

a. Child’s approximate height and weight

b. Does the child appear healthy or not? What makes you think so?

ii. Child’s nutritional habits and eating patterns

iii. Child’s sleeping patterns

iv. Child’s movement and activities:

a. For infants (newborn – 6 months), check for newborn reflexes.

b. How does the child move or how does the child use his/her body?

c. Does the child appear to be comfortable with his/her physical abilities?

d. Does the child prefer mostly high energy activities or quiet activities?

e. Give examples of child’s gross motor skills – are they age appropriate? How do they compare with what the textbook identifies as age-typical?

f. Give examples of child’s fine motor skills – are they age appropriate? How do they compare with what the textbook identifies as age-typical?

Cognitive Domain (Cognitive Development) (Jean Piaget, Howard Gardner) ( 20 points

i. According to Jean Piaget’s cognitive development stages, which stage would you place the child? Why? Give two examples to support/explain your answer.

ii. For children of ages four to eight years, verify Piaget’s conservation tasks (page 249). State the results and conclusion. If necessary, apply Vygotsky’s concepts to explain conservation.

iii. For school age children and adolescents (ages six years and above), apply Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences by identifying the child’s strengths (pages 313-314).

Language Domain (Language Development): ( 20 points

For children 3 – 5 years of age, ask three to five questions; For children 6 – 10 years of age, ask six to ten questions; For children 11 – 18 years of age, ask ten to fifteen questions.

i. Describe the child/adolescent’s language and thinking abilities.

ii. Ask age appropriate questions as applicable. Include the child’s responses.

iii. What is your conclusion about the child’s language development, or adolescent’s thoughts and ideas? Is the child/adolescent expressive or reserved?

Social and Emotional Domain (Social and Emotional Development): ( 20 points

(Thomas and Chess, Erik Erikson, James Marcia, Phinney’s Model of Ethnic Identity)

i. Temperament and personality traits:

a. Based on Thomas and Chess classification of infant temperament, describe the child’s temperament characteristics for children of ages – newborn to six years.

b. For children older than six years, apply the concepts of higher-order personality traits.

ii. Sociability:

a. For infants only: Is the infant attached mainly to a parent or primary care giver, or is the infant attached to more than one parent or caregivers?

b. Does the child make friends easily? Is the child shy or quiet; cooperative or prefers to be alone?

c. How does the child communicate his/her wants or needs?

d. How does the child relate and interact with other people? Give two examples of child’s interactions with family members/peers and friends/teacher/coach, or with you.

e. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages: Which stage would this child be according to Erik Erikson? Give one reason for your answer.

f. James Marcia’s identity statuses: For high school age adolescents only.

Which identity status do you think the adolescent is in? Find out by asking relevant questions about career exploration and choices.

iii. Gender: Does the child’s behavior reflect any specific gender characteristics?

Give two examples to support your answer.

iv. Ethnic identity: For adolescents 12 – 18 years of age, and of other than Caucasian heritage,

apply Phinney’s model of ethnic identity development and state the identity status.

D. Conclusion: ( 5 points

Write a brief conclusion about the child’s developmental characteristics. You may also ask parents/caregivers/teachers for their comments about the child/adolescent.

➢ Please note: If you observe a child with atypical characteristics then apply relevant concepts, as appropriate.

➢ Oral Presentation: A five-minute class presentation of a summary of your report. ( 10 pts.

In order to better understand the changing developmental characteristics as children grow from newborn – infancy – toddlerhood – early childhood – middle childhood – adolescence, the oral presentation is done in a chronological order of the children/adolescents being presented in class.

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• Observation Report Requirements and Evaluation – Your report must be:

a. Written according to the guidelines provided.

b. Complete with all the relevant concepts clearly described or applied.

• Points will be deducted for incomplete reports and/or lacking clarity.

• Your report should be double spaced, normal font size, and have 1” left and right margins.

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Child Development 1 – Professor: Lilamani de Silva

Developmental Observation

Student/s Name/s: __________________________________________________

Title Page & Introduction ________/5

Developmental Characteristics ________/80

Biological (physical) Domain ________/20

Cognitive Domain ________/20

Language Domain ________/20

Social/Emotional Domain ________/20

Conclusion ________/5

Oral Presentation ________/10

Total Points ________/100

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