Developmental Observation and Interview - Essay Example

When first observing “M” who is seven years old, female, and the first child in the “V” family, she appears quite shy and reserved, especially when Iam speaking to her parents. Our meeting is in a family room of the “V” household, and there are toys strewn around and baby things. “M” has a 2-month-old brother. After five minutes, she figures the adults are going to talk, and from my position, I am able to watch her play with the toys on the ground. Picking up a doll, bending the knees, she sits it down next to her. According to her parents, her new love is chapter books. “M” picks one up and begins to read to the doll. From my vantage point, I can watch her while still speaking to the adults. Twenty minutes pass, and the parents excuse themselves, but not before I have asked “M” to come sit on the sofa with me. She looks to her mother and father to make sure it is ok, and they tell her to sit down. Informing “M” I am going to ask her some questions, she sits. We talk about her baby brother “CJ” and how he doesn’t like “M” – according to her viewpoint since he doesn’t smile when she’s near, like her cousin does, he must not like her. I let her know he is still young but most likely loves her quite a bit. Holding her book, “M”, I ask her about the story and if she would like to read it to me. She loves to read and is well above her reading comprehension for her age. Reading at what seems a fourth grade level, her word pronunciation is excellent. “M” is a typical girl, who loves dressing up and brushing hair – playing stylist to anyone who will let her braid, brush or style their hair. I allow her to brush my hair and sit on the floor to allow her better access. She begins pretending she is a hairdresser, telling me her baby brother is her own and that she doesn’t have a husband. I ask her why she doesn’t have a husband, and she states she doesn’t need one. Says it matter-of-fact. Playing hairdresser is her favorite game, and asking her if we can play another one – and that I brought some items I would like her assistance. I bring out the items – beads, glasses, and bowls, and set them on the coffee table. They immediately intrigue “M”. When I tell her there are going to be no wrong or right answers for these questions she seems overjoyed. I ask her if she has a hard time in school. She becomes a bit reserved again, and shakes her head yes. Her teacher picks on her on the time to answer really hard questions, and then tells her she is wrong when she gives an incorrect answer. I tell her again, there are no right and no wrong answers with this game. She seems relieved. When asking her the questions, I noticed with the volume (bottle, water), distance, and any type of comparison, “M” took a longer time than what I expected for her age. The second time I asked her about why she was taking a while to choose her answer. I question her on the time it took for her to match the pictures, and she tells me she has an eye problem. What type of eye problem does she have, I say, and then I realize her right eye is dilated more than her left, causing her distortions in her view. I factor this note into my documentation in case it affects other answers. While asking her the questions and showing her the pictures in the book, she appears an avid learner. However, she squirms a lot and is distracted. Wanting to go into another room, play another game, or read a story, her focus is drawn away if you take too much time getting to the next set of questions. I have to keep bringing her attention back to the task. I ask again about her brother, and if she likes being a new sister. She says yes, and that she baby-sits him a lot. Her explanation of why is because her mother is always tired and lies down in the day. “CJ” cries and “M” picks him up out of his infant seat. Observing her body language while she says this, I note her head nods up and down. Does it happen often? She shrugs her shoulders and moves her eyes away from me down toward the coffee table. Her little back curves down as she puts her elbows on her knees. My impression is she is a young girl who is beginning to take on the mother duties of the house, and that she is feeling a bit like her mother does not care about her. Not wanting to say that her mother is incorrect in this, I ask her what else she does around the house. She says she fixes meals for herself when her parents are asleep, but that sometimes she cannot get to the food because they put it in the top shelf of the cabinet. She sits up and tells me proudly her grandmother fixes her really good meals when she is over there. How many times are you over there? Four days a week and she also visits with her great-grandmother. I notice in her demeanor and how her eyes light up she really loves spending time where she is the only grandchild, or even child in the house. I feel she is being neglected or at least feeling that way with the new baby in the house, and has not been included as much as she would like to be. The time I spent with “M” was about two hours, and I noted her comprehension levels are above normal. Her eyesight, while troubling in some ways, has not hindered her learning ability. The attention span she has is normal for someone who doesn’t have a lot of attention, and is craving abnormal amounts in a short time frame. I believe there are some emotionally stunted development which may need to be addressed, as she is given responsibilities above her age level, and that she does not understand that the love her mother has for her is not divided between siblings. Taking into account that there is a new child in the house, “M” has begun to relish the time away from home and in the presence of her grandmother. This relationship is of good benefit; however, setting a pattern of running away to grandmother’s house or away from home period will not be beneficial in the long run. “M” is tall for her age, and expressed some trouble with boys and girls teasing her about her height – being almost 4’6” at seven years. She also has many aunts who teach her new words, talk to her, and engage her intellect – which explains the upper level comprehension. A talker about many things, she does not hold any secrets, which revealed her babysitting job to a stranger. Her friendly and trusting of strangers will have to be tempered, and may be an incorrect judgment of observations while “M’ spoke to me. Body language is not a quite aspect with this young lady; she is very expressive, noting she wants to dance and sing when she grows up. Her love of the theatre is an unusual facet of one as young as she, but her mother and grandmothers nurture it. A typical girl – and who knows exactly what typical is – she loves to dress up, put on performances (she sang three songs for me), and play with makeup. In my observations, there were times when I could see things bothered her, like the teasing, and she would become stoic for a child. Almost as if she has been conditioned to not feel. She can be happy, but not sad or upset. That concerns me for her emotional development as I mentioned above. With as quickly as she could transform her feelings of being sad to happy, she has practice withholding her emotions. Other than the emotional development, she is on target for a well-educated girl. I noticed when I arrived, the pizza box on the table showing her nutritional intake is not the best for her growing body. Though she told me her grandmother makes “real food” all the time from scratch. At least I know she is eating well somewhere. This observer believes she is on her way for a normal childhood full of school, friends (she says she has tons), and fighting with her baby brother. Her ability to adapt is shown in her moving easily from one subject and situation to the next. Concrete-Operational Reasoning Test 1. The following box contains wooden beads. Fourteen beads are black and four are white. Are there more black beads then wooden beads? more black beads 2. If the bottle is tipped as shown, which figure shows the correct water line? bottle 3 3. All the water from the short, fat bowl is poured into the tall, narrow glass. Which of these statements is true? The water takes up less space now than it did in the bowl. 4. Playing with blocks, a girl builds a make-believe birdcage for a canary. Using all of the same blocks, she later makes a second cage. Which of these statements is true about the amount of room that the canary will have for walking and flying? The second cage has more space. 5. Sue likes candy better than ice cream. She likes ice cream better than soda pop. And she likes soda pop better than popcorn. Which of these statements is true? Sue likes popcorn better than candy. 6. Which two lines in the box below run in the direction and would never meet if they were drawn longer? Impossible to say. 7. The cook had two pieces of cookie dough of the same size and weight. With one piece of dough she makes a boy cookie, and with the other piece she makes a football cookie. Which of these statements is true? The boy cookie and the football cookie weigh the same. 8. Linda and Cindy are going to paint the shapes drawn in the following boxes. Linda will paint the shapes in the box on the aft and Cindy will paint those on the right. Which of these statements is true? Cindy will have to do more painting. 9. With a train set a boy sets the tracks as shown in figure A. Next, using all of the same sections of tracks, he sets them as shown in Figure B. Which of these statements is true? Impossible to say. 10. Two cars, called Betty and Jane, are traveling along two roads side by side. In twenty minutes. Betty goes six miles. In forty minutes, Jane travels ten miles. The figure following describes the distance each care traveled. Which of these statements is true? Impossible to say. Read More