Infant Observation (The Infant Care Environment, Developmental Milestones) - Research Paper Example

? Infant Observation Research The Infant Care Environment A. Location visited: The Veema Daycare center B. and time of visit:Tuesday, November 6, 2012 – 10:00 A.M C. Number of children at the center: 182: 8 infants, 16 Toddlers, and 158 Pre School D. Age of subject: 6 months E. Activity centers available at the center during visit: Blocks and manipulative, Science, Playdoh, Art, Snack, and Puzzles. At the outdoors playground: swings, wagons, climbing structures, tricycles, and large construction blocks. 1. The number of infants at the infant’s room was 8. The adults at the room were 2, female caregivers: one, the head caregiver and the other was her assistant. 2. The age range of the children was between three months to one and half years. The head caregiver emphasized that infants born during the same time may seem very different. For instance, one may be very quiet, and they may tend to sleep a lot, while another may be very active. Therefore, taking note of these differences aids the caregivers at the center, in administering care to the infants. Children of ages: 4 to 8 months: program range The daily activities of the children are spread across the five days of the week (Monday to Friday). Activities include the picture range, where for different days; children are exposed to a cat, rabbit, dog, bird and a fish. Under the song/rhyme activity (words to rhymes or songs), children are exposed to the cat and the own, Little Bunny Fu, Fu; Look at the Doggie at the window; Three birds and one fish, two fish, three and four fish. Under the language development activity, children learn pat the cat, the bunny hops, the doggy barking, this is the way the bird flies, and the fish swim. The activity on exercise/stimulation features tummy time boost, push the feet, roll over, jingle feet, and the gentle stretch. For the activity today’s music, children are taken through lullabies, soft rock music, easy listening music, classical music, and country music. During the massage time, children are massaged on the forehead, on the forehead and cheek, the eyebrows, the shoulders and the chin and ears. During playtime, children are taken through the cat is up and down, bunny hoping, doggie to the right and left, bird say tweet, tweet and the gold fish. For fun activities, children are taken through copy me, I love to dance, shake the rattle, and flashlight fun (Forman & Hall, 2005). Children of ages: 9 to 15 months: program range This program offers the infants with a fun-filled learning experience. The program offers heuristic play items, blended in preschool themes and inspired by a touch of Montessori. The lessons are grouped into weekly packages, all including group time exercises, sign language lessons (five taught in a month), language development exercises, words to rhymes and songs; and fun-filled learning exercises. 3. The room’s painting is based on a simple color scheme. Furniture are arranged in a manner that large, open spaces are available for activity sessions and smaller, containing spaces are available, which are best for social interactions and group work. On the floor were 4 by 4 feet rugs, which are used as leaning areas for the infants. Spaces are left for large block plays, book areas, and stacking and nesting play toys. Child-safe mirrors are useful to children and they also improve the supervision of the two caregivers (Moreno & Klute, 2011). Different rugs and large pillows, which offer protection when children fall, were also available. The larger pillows are placed at the spaces for older infants, as they can interfere with the sitting and crawling of younger infants. The shelves are low, as they are used as the display area for different toys. The toys are changed after every two days, to ensure that children remain interested and learning. The children’s baby-beds are personalized by the teacher, adding mobiles above different cribs. Others had homey touches, and a family photo, to bring familiarity to the spaces. The furniture at the infant center are low (short from the ground) and able to support an infant trying to stand. The exception comes in the furniture used by the care givers, who are supplied with adult chairs and a table. The shelves and the tables are also short, so that the children can access the books, other supplies and use them during activities. The kinds of toys at the center include ride-on toys, musical sound producing like drums; creating kind, like finger paints and fat crayons; filling and emptying, for example a fishbowl; sorting shapes, and books with touchy patches and flip-able pictures. 4. Effective interaction of caregivers with infants is characterized by one-on-one conversations. The caregivers often label the things around the infant, for example, telling them, “This is your ball.” Reading and singing form a major part of the communication between the caregiver and the infant. The caregivers talk to the children with a cooing intonation, which is normally high in pitch and characteristic with many glissandos. Many times, they shortening and simplifying spoken words. Such intonation is used to express affection for the child and to build their confidence in the caregiver (Thompson & Russell, 2004). The guidance and communication techniques used by the caregivers were primarily centered on play and art therapy. For example, the teacher often observed the play and artistic behaviors of the children, recommending changes and expressing confidence in what they were doing. For example, the teacher encouraged left-handed infants to work using their left hand. The technique is basically demonstrative. At the infant center, problems of behavior – for instance when infants throw things at one another or pull each other’s hair, was handled immediately. This involved a clear setting of boundaries, where any negative behavior of problematic interaction was discouraged immediately. Especially among the older infants, distancing them with others helped address behavior problems. Friendly behavior was encouraged, as evident from the interaction while learning on the floor. Unexpected behavior from any infant followed a checkup to ensure that the child was not uncomfortable or in need of anything. For example, a child in need of a diaper change can cry or act restless (Thompson & Russell, 2004). At the care center, caregivers and the infants often interact in a number of ways, especially during play, when the caregiver offers new options to play or engages in the activity of the child, in a way that will encourage their creativity. Other forms of cooperative roles include practicing rhymes, singing, rocking younger ones, hugging as expression of encouragement, and relationship building, where the teacher may encourage it among two infants. Other activities they do together include coloring, experimenting with different music, and reading texture books (Thompson & Russell, 2004). 5. Upon seeing the caregiver, the infants became excited, and tended to move in her direction. In one particular case, the caregiver took one girl up and hugged her. She put her back onto the floor and then she moved back to her play: the activity she was previously engaged in, before the caregiver stepped in after leaving the room briefly. That was a sign that she had developed trust in the caregiver. While playing, she fell down, hitting her head. As a result, she started crying, and immediately, the caregiver went to her, massaged the forehead, and she responded positively; she stopped crying. The caregiver seemed to know exactly what she could do to calm her down. After that, she put her down, and surprisingly she went back to playing. After a few minutes, she started climbing the high chair, and in response, the caregiver helped her up, and gave her a toy to play with. After about 10 minutes, she started crying, and surprisingly, the caregiver understood that something was making her feel uncomfortable: she understood that the girl was not crying due to hunger or because she was angry. Immediately, she checked her, and changed her diapers. Not long after that, she started looking sleepy, and the caregiver put her to sleep on her crib. The activity of the infant showed some level of bonding and communication with the caregiver. I was observing the infant after she was fed, at around 2:00 pm. That was after all her activities for the day had been completed (Moreno & Klute, 2011). Developmental Milestones For the last 45 minutes, observation was focused on one boy, aged 6 months. Following the 45-minute observation, it was clear that the baby was more conscious of the surrounding environment, as he constantly explored the things around him. Developing motor skills His legs and arms seemed to kick and wiggle more purposely. For instance, I remember a case when another child threw a ball close to him, and he tried to pick it using his hands. After he was not able to reach it, he tried to move his legs; so that he could follow it. Unfortunately, he fell onto the floor, but did not cry. When he was placed on his crib, he rocked on his stomach, and was able to roll over. When lying with his face, on the floor, he could raise his head – trying to see what other children were doing. In a few times, he tried pushing himself up, and after it felt difficult, he would crawl towards objects that caught his attention (Thompson & Russell, 2004). His hand-eye body coordination seemed developed, as he would grasp the caregiver’s finger or a rattle – often times, taking it to the mouth. The baby was pulling the objects around him close to himself using his hands, and he could transfer objects held in one hand to the other. His vision was evidently clearer, as he showed a sense of familiarity when he saw the caregiver coming towards him. Upon seeing non-familiar faces, for instance, a case when the caretaker of the center moved in to see the caregiver, he did not seem to embrace him; instead he seemed apprehensive. Often times, he would show concentration – like he was studying his toes, fingers, or a toy in his hand. Upon looking at the mirror, he would stare at his image, and in times raise his hand and appear excited by the reflection. He seemed to pursue brightly colored objects – for example balls and other toys (Moreno & Klute, 2011). Under language development, he could babble, laugh, gurgle or squeal. He also seemed to imitate the facial expression and the sounds of the caregiver. For instance, when the caregiver laughed after demonstrating how to use a new toy, he could take-on the laugh and imitate her sounds. In one particular case, after the caregiver drew close to her on the floor, he could babble – then pause to hear or see her response. After she showed an expression, he would bubble again, and then await her reaction. Due to his relatively developed memory and attention span, he could turn after the caregiver called his name. He showed clear changes in inflection – when babbling and when cooing (Thompson & Russell, 2004). Under social-emotional development, he seemed not to understand specific words, but he clearly comprehended the use of a different tone – and to associate the given tone with new ideas or emotions. For example, in a case when the caregiver was commanding a pre-school child out of the class, he turned to face her, and showed a change of mood, probably assuming that the caregiver was shouting at her. After that, she had to lower her tone, before he seemed at ease next to her. He also could show dislike when the caregiver wore an angry face, but then smile after she expressed a happy face. For example, the child seemed supportive of a girl close to him: she came close to him – following her rolling ball, a number of times. Upon seeing her close to him, he seemed interested in playing with her, although the girl took her ball and went back to her play. On one occasion, he crawled, in an attempt to follow her (Eisenberg, Valiente & Eggum, 2010). 3. In the area of language development, he seems to be developing at a pace, faster than that of the average infant. This is the case, as he could imitate the sounds of the caregiver skillfully, which is not the case with many infants aged 6 months. He also seemed to understanding the words used by the caregiver very well, which is not the case with many children aged six. For instance, when she told him that she was going out, he seemed to crawl, showing signs of also moving. In using expressive language to attract her attention, he seemed to make sounds to trigger the care givers reaction, and could respond very fast – when she stuck her tongue out; he could also stick he’s out. He also seemed quite capable of concentrating on the language games played by the teacher (Forman & Hall, 2005). In the area of developing motor skills, the boy seems quite exceptionally developed, as he can roll over and grasp things tightly. He could also shift objects from one hand to the other, showing that his fine motor skills were almost fully developed. However, as expected from a 6 month old child, he was not able to hit two objects held in the different hands together, like many infants of 6 months can do. For example, in one case, when the older infants were clapping their hands, he had problems linking his two arms together. This could show that his fine motor skills were not yet fully developed, to the level expected of a 6 month old, although he was not too slow in that area of development. This clearly shows a disconnect between his development of motor skills and language skills, as in the area of language he is beyond the average level of development (Moreno & Klute, 2011). References Eisenberg, N., Valiente, C., & Eggum, N. (2010). Self-Regulation and School Readiness. Early education and development, 21 (5), 681-698. Forman, G., & Hall, E. (2005). Wondering with children: The importance of observation in early education. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 7 (2). Retrieved Nov 6, 2012, from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v7n2/forman.html Moreno, A., & Klute, M. (2011). Infant–toddler teachers can successfully employ authentic assessment: The Learning through relating system. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26 (4), 484–496. Thompson, D., & Russell, J. (2004). The 'ghost condition': imitation versus emulation in toddlers' observational learning. Developmental Psychology, 40, 882-889. Read More