The observer will either mimic or avoid the actions based on the consequences that the person who initially performed the action received. This can be a very useful tool in the development of child rearing. Through observational learning, children learn valuable life-skills at a very young age. Child rearing, otherwise known as parenting, is teaching and nurturing of a child from birth until adulthood. Children learn a lot during this time from watching others, especially their parents.
They studied Swedish children who had attended day-care between the ages of 18months – 3 and half years old. 9 0f the children involved had family based care. 30 of them attended nurseries.at 18months, children were observed whilst playing with peers in their home. The standard of care received at home was also assessed. Once the children started day-care, the children were observed playing with other children in the nursery.
symbols, mental representation), and (4) Categorizes these meanings and makes connections between them. Simply watching how a child acts in his/her natural setting can tell a lot about the child developmentally. Potential growth delays with respect to motor skills, processing abilities, and social interactions can sometimes be identified during observation of a child. During spring break I had the pleasure of interviewing a former coworker “Jeanette” and observing her child “Anise”. Before observing her daughter, I interviewed Jeanette about her pregnancy with Anise and about her continuing development till present.
Mental representation enables children to rely on memory, perception and repetition in order to solve problems. Through mental representation children associate symbols and objects with other forms of information that is related. Toddlers are interested in playing “make believe”, often imitating others or imagining they are somewhere else using associations with objects or symbols. Piaget’s believes that children develop in a stage like process, others believe developmental flows. There are some infants that are capable in surpassing stages well before Piaget’s
Data Collection Teachers write down their observations in a notebook after the class is over, they write down which students are showing some behavior problems that might need an intervention, they can classify these records according to the nature of the function they belong too (attention, avoidance, escape, etc). This record is actualized every day so the evolution of individual cases can be followed and later it can be presented to the parents or behavior specialist. Another way to collect data in an indirect way is though the reports of other students that feel that the behavior of a particular student (or group of students) is limiting or threatening the free flow of the academic activities or the peaceful development of recreation activities. These indirect reports need to be written down. Another way to collect data is to talk to the parents of the students when they arrive to pick up their kids or in the school meeting for parents, then the teacher can inquire if the student is also showing behavioral problems at home or if the problems only occur in the academic context.
Each aspect is important and all have impact on each other. To better explain the sequence and rate of each aspect of development, the development will be divided into age groups: ZERO TO SIX MONTHS BABY Physical Development: • From the birth each month we can see the changes in the weight of the baby and the growth of the body parts • It will be able to turn its head to sound and movement • Watch the parent’s face while feeding • Smile at familiar faces and voices • stretches to reach its feet while lying down • tries to reach for and grab objects • keeps things in its mouth independently. Social and emotional development: • A six month old baby will respond to their mother’s face, smile. • Needs comfort and cuddles from their parents. Language development: • A six month old baby will be able to make a variety of happy sounds.
| Question 1.2 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of case studies when researching child development? An advantage of a case study, allows the child to freely display their thoughts as close as possible to the way they think every day (Berk 2005, p.37). Another advantage includes a large amount of information that can be obtained in a short period of time, with the potential for the researcher to develop a hypothesis for later testing. Thirdly, the detailed accounts often produced in case studies not only help to explore or describe the data in real-life environment, but also help to explain the complexities of real life situations which may not be captured through experimental or survey research.
The tools created enables a team “to create an accurate, intricate, dynamic portrait of a child, using play as a medium for the observation and assessment of cognitive, socio-emotional, communication, language, and sensorimotor skills and performance"(Linder, 1993, p.43). Similar ideas have led to the creation of a number of play scales and the use of play as a medium in which to gauge child development. The goal of a play-based assessment is to encourage children to verbalize their thoughts, perceptions and feelings. During a play-based assessment, teams provide children with toys, ask them to describe pictures or retell stories, or otherwise express themselves freely. The result is a spontaneous language sample that allows clinicians to "analyze a child’s syntactic, semantic and discourse regulation skills" (Linder, 1993, p.44).
Observing the child will help give you a better idea on what toys they like and what would be suitable. Young children need toys that fit with their developing abilities and stages of development, which brings me to my next guideline. Will the toy be stimulating? Does the toy look like it would be appealing to a child? Look for toys that can be used in a variety of ways, with simple designs that allow the child to be creative and use their imagination.
Through my studying in early childhood education I have learned many many things and one was about how children are still learning when they are sleep or napping. A lot is happening in the brain of a slumbering preschooler, including processing and storing memories that are the foundation for learning. That makes naptime as important as programs focused on fighting bullying or learning to wait their turn. Some children display behavioral problem due to lack of sleep or no nap like impatience and an explosive temper are noted as characteristics to look for in interactions with friends or siblings. Academically, when the child starts to receive notes from the teacher about a child regressing in skills or displaying a sudden indifference to learning, a lack of rest might be the answer.