Observing a Pre-Schooler - Case Study Example

Observing a Pre – Schooler Order No: 225449 No. of pages: 7 Premium 6530 The pre- schooling age is an age of wonder and surprises. It is a kind of fantasy age where the child lives in a world of its own. It is an age of curiosity where the child constantly explores his environment and tries to come upon new things that interest him. As he gains awareness, he keeps examining everything he comes across in his environment. It is impossible to perceive things in our environment without making use of our senses. But our senses too work within limits and cannot go beyond it. For a toddler anything new and novel catches his attention and kindles his curiosity – such as objects around him, nature, other toddlers around him and even his own body. At this stage parents and care- givers have to give their undivided attention in looking after an infant who is a pre- schooler. Good parenting includes being available to your child whenever he or she needs you. The parent should set a special time for the kid where they could meet one on one on a regular basis. This builds the child’s confidence level and helps him understand that he has someone who he could rely on at all times. I once had an opportunity of having a wonderful couple as a neighbor. They had one of the cutest kids I had ever seen. She was a baby girl between 2 to 3 years of age, whose name was Petrina, but they fondly called her Pettu. She had golden locks that crowned her head, deep blue eyes and an angelic smile. From the day I set eyes on Pettu, I loved her and found myself visiting my neighbors just to play with Pettu. Pettu’s parents just doted on their kid and were concerned parents who encouraged their child from all quarters. They not only encouraged their child in academics but also in sports, creative arts, music and other related activities. It was real fun watching all that Petrina did. She had so many things to amuse her, that she did not stay with one thing for long, but on the other hand kept passing from one to the other to keep herself amused. Through Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive development, we come to understand about the different stages of development, the child has to go through. Piaget has divided a child’s cognitive development into four stages – which are as follow – 1. First stage: This is the sensor- motor stage which is from 0 – 2 years. (Infant stage) In this stage a child learns from its reflexes and actions in the environment. During this stage (8 months) the child learns about object permanence where it understands that the object still exists even when removed from sight. 2. Second stage: This stage is between 2 to 7 years where a child learns through symbols. This is called the pre-operational stage where symbols such as words stand for physical phenomena such as book, doll, water etc… and the symbols of numbers are used to denote different amounts. What I realized was that Pettu had already passed through the infant stage and was now in the second stage that Piaget called the pre-operational stage. She used signs and symbols when speaking. For example when she wanted water, she either reached for a mug or said the word “water”. If she felt hot, she took a paper or anything in front of her and waved it in front of her saying “hot”, “hot”. Another time when I went to visit her, I took along some sweets which I offered her. Her mother who was near by watching us told her, “Pettu, only one, only one”. Without hesitation the child took only one sweet from my palm. A concerned parent is one who encourages his child from all quarters but yet keeps the child’s health as the prime concern, just like Pettu’s parents who did not want her to eat too many sweets and then becoming sick. To keep fit they encourage her to eat the right foods and get enough of exercise by allowing her to play with her friends. On one such occasion I happened to be present when many of Pettu’s friends came to her house to play. In casting light on Piaget’s theory Beilin (1992) explains that Piaget also included the concepts of assimilation and accommodation. By assimilation we mean using the information one already possess to make sense of the world around us. Accommodation means altering our pattern of perception, (or schemas, Piaget’s term) to add new information to the knowledge already acquired. At most times, we are selective in our perception and give our attention to only those things that really matter to us and discard the other things. This is what we call selective attention. While watching Pettu and her friends play, I observed that each of them took turns in describing their toy to the other children who listened carefully and also added a little more information to it. Both assimilation and accommodation were taking place without the children knowing what it was. It was very interesting to hear them exchange ideas and thoughts in their own baby language. After a while, one or two of them trailed away because it no longer caught their attention for they felt bored and went to play with something else. There is also a flip side to the coin, in the sense, if the parents neglect children especially in their formative years, children are likely to grow up and be attracted to an anti- social environment which is not only dangerous but very difficult to handle later on in the child’s life. Parents who don’t show concern for their wards or who push them too hard against the wall, would have to face great difficulties later on. The child who is abused or neglected would also exhibit unconcern for the parent’s words and would become stubborn and obstinate when a parent puts some pressure. Piaget’s theory greatly helped in planning because of the right picture he had of pre- school children. He describes children in the pre- operational stage as being greatly affected by physical appearances of their environment and had their own way of looking at the world. A child is inquisitive and is constantly motivated to find out more about its environment through interaction. I noted this to be quite true, when I took Pettu one day for a walk in the garden. She was fascinated by the trees, shrubs, grass, butterflies and beetles we came across. She could not stop asking questions. In her own baby way she would ask “What’s this? For each and everything we came across and by the end of it, I was exhausted answering her questions. She was so happy that day because she had learned so many things. According to Piaget, the more a child interacts with its environment and learns new things, the easier it would be to create, alter, and organize things when it grew older. But though Piaget revolutionized the understanding of a child’s cognitive capacity, yet he failed to focus on other external factors that assisted in a child’s growth. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky created a developmental theory which he based on the social interactions of a child with their peers and other adults. His theory helped in understanding parental responses towards their children and greatly helped the parents to understand their role towards their children. Vygotsky truly believed that personal dialogue was indispensable where a child’s development was concerned. Vygotsky, in addition to psychological tools also determined that two forces were also responsible for the development of a child. These forces were internal as well as external. He based his theory on the concept of the zone of proximal development (zpd) He referred to this zone as the distance between how the child accomplishes things without assistance from an adult and the things he accomplishes with an adult’s assistance. Vygotsky’s scaffolding theory takes place when any expert or adult imparts knowledge to the child and raising it to the next level of understanding. Chak (2001) described Vygotsky’s theory as justifying the concept of adult intervention towards a child to help that child grow developmentally. Rogoff (1990) and Schaffer (1991) both say that parents and other care –givers should be attuned to the needs of their children and sensitively impart the right amount of information to ensure the proper growth of the child. In the case of Petrina, her parents were very interested in the proper growth of their child and hence saw to it that what was taught or spoken to her was within the understanding of the child. There are many ways in which to prepare a child to go to school without any strain or stress. For example there are real – life video clips that show children in the natural setting of a school which could be used as a very effective tool in preparing a child for school. Children could get a clear picture of what it would be like in school and learn to like it even before they could attend. This exercise would help the child to accept school as a second home and he would willingly go there happily and without any problem. References: L. Mullins, (2002) Management and Organizational Behavior Chapter 11, 6th Edition. Good Parenting Skill www.parenting-child-development.com/good-parenting-skill.html Pre – school Children. www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi?akron1153327964 Read More