Studies in Cognitive Development - Assignment Example

Observation Assignment Introduction: The observation based on video no in which mother and child interaction is showed, is made on a four-year oldboy of a native African-American family. Mother’s name is Fatima Hashim and the boy is David, he is the elder between the two. His younger brother’s name is Daniel Gibson and he is two-years old, although the younger sibling was not present, but his voice could be heard in the second video. The observation depicted that he belonged to a close knitted family, due to his reference of good time with his cousins. The observation place is TV lounge, where he and his mother had a fun learning game session of alphabets. He had alphabet blocks and a toy car. He used television as a board to write letters. The observational video 1, showed the child and mother in lounge. The alphabetic blocks, toy car and television were there. The boy showed a very pleasant disposition and talked confidently with his mother, though he didn’t remember most of what he learnt before. Child and Parent: Time Observed behaviors Inference/Questions First 2 minute observation Child touches her face and shoulder when he couldn’t recall his mother’s surname, to diminish her annoyance of his forgetfulness regarding the names. He suggested another letter rightly after, as a new option to please and continue with the guessing game. The boy is moving merrily around her, making direct eye contact, questioning her and smiling. The child seems to enjoy every moment of his mother’s company. Though he isn’t getting the right answers for her, but he wants to continue the learning with her. The mother isn’t smiling much but the boy is happy to answer her and spend time with her. This attitude shows how much the boy prefers to stay with his mother than the care giver. And his bonding with mother is very evident which shows her influence on his development. Is this attitude persistent? Does the boy prefer company rather staying alone or with a care giver at times? Is he intentionally prolonging the game to spend time with her? Or his mother’s disappointment is less effecting his playful disposition? Next 2 minutes of 5 minutes video Pleasantly answering and trying to recall, showing her he can draw/write letters, if couldn’t recall what they stands for. Though the mother sounds a bit stern, when he makes a mistake, but the child seems to take it positively. Child is losing his concentration and interest due to repeated mistakes and lack of encouragement. He still seems eager to go about with the activity with her. Sometimes children call their mothers just to show affection. Here the child keeps calling her” mommy”, which shows that he wants to show her that he wants to be with her. The time and effort the mother is putting in his learning is appreciable. Which shows how much he can learn with her, but can she possibly do it every day? The quality time given to children can be of maximum 20 minutes, but it sustains their learning and bond. Child and care giver: The observation is based on video no. 2 where the child is in his room with the female caregiver. She is initiating the chat but he seems distant and answers her briefly. He does not make an eye contact, continues his play with blocks and keeps his distance. However, after a while answers her, but not frankly and openly like it was observed with the parent, avoids body gestures and eye contact. Time Observed Behaviors Inference/ questions First 2 minutes of 4 minutes observation She asked questions related to his interest but he answered in “yeah” to show his discomfort to talk to a stranger. Reference to his mother made him talk a bit about his routine, which is a sign that child accepts the presence of care giver. He ignores her request of being close and making eye contact. A preschooler ready to go to school and trust his mother’s decision for selecting the best for him. The child is distant, not ready to open up and does talk only when the reference is made about his mother. The closest association has a deep impact on his choice and he agrees to go along with her decisions. Showing no tantrums and signs of misbehavior in front of the care giver regarding the school or his routine. His voice isn’t much clear and talks while playing, which is a sign of hesitancy and reluctance. Thus, this child is seen to progress with the mother more than anyone else. Next 2 minutes He talks and shares his school search story with her, which primarily includes his mother. He went to school in Calgary, which might be a daycare center. Talks about his favorite food “cheerios” and lets her play with the blocks while building a house. The care giver is patiently making him comfortable with her presence, not interfering in his play and not commenting personally to offend him as well. Does it happen with all the caregiver presence or only she has an effect on him? He seems comfortable after a while. Child and My observation: Time Observation behavior Inference/Questions 3 p.m The child was asked to take care of his belonging and clean up the blocks and toys he played with; he ignored the instruction and continued with his play. Did he feel insignificant or insecure in my presence to obey his mother or does he not like cleaning up? Some children tend to ignore their parents while in a social surrounding or in a stranger’s presence. It is their discomfort. Although, tone of the caregiver or parent matter a lot, children disobey if told stiffly or sternly, but tend to obey if requested. 3:37 p.m Mother changed her tone and asked him again to clean up the mess, he obeyed but very reluctantly leaving the blocks scattered here and there. The child felt uncomfortable in my presence and the stern commanding tone of the mother can be one of the reasons. I felt uncomfortable because the child didn’t appreciate my presence though; I never communicated with him or interfered in his play. Does that mean children behave differently with strangers’ presence? How do parents tackle their new behavior? Attachment/Bonding: Child with his mother, showed the following proximities touch, eye-contact, satisfactory and confident tone of voice, concentration and interest in fun learning process. He exhibited physical closeness and showed a good gross motor development although his eye-hand coordination while writing on the screen required practice and time to groom. He was very enthusiastic about learning though he made mistakes repeatedly. He tried to relieve her anger (parent) when he couldn’t recall the name of things from letters; instead he gave her an alternative of writing those letters on the television screen. Mother seemed equally involved; however, she didn’t encourage much, but enjoyed his physical touch and bonding. She was annoyed with his failure, but the child’s touch and alternate choice of writing made her feel normal again. She didn’t smile much, although seemed eager to teach him through facilitating him with clues and hints to remember. Eventually the boy gave up answering; he wanted her to recall all of it for him, which annoyed her again. Although, her effective strategy of learning through play engaged the child positively and the child showed enthusiasm with mother, was attentive and participated willingly. Mother was engaged in the play, but was disappointed simultaneously and she did comment on his failure to remember things well. Child with the care giver stayed non vocal initially, but afterwards shared his stories when gained some confidence and with continuous appreciation. Although, he avoided eye contact and maintained his distance, but started to show comfort sign after some time. For example; letting her build the blocks, asking for help to hold the house he made. Care giver understood his reluctance and asked a variety of questions related to his life which were easily answered, did not question his learning and commented positively after listening to him. Raising a child was considered a natural process, which was assumed to be inculcated in the biological parents after the birth. However, research in child development has shown contrary results to it. Since the birth of a child and until his adulthood cognitive, social and emotional development were given minute attention and the development process was considered insignificant. The language development, social and emotional growth of a child is highly influenced by his surrounding and especially from the parents, who act as role models according to Albert Bandura’s theory of social learning. They tend to learn to imitate from their surroundings, peers, social gatherings, televisions. Like the child in the observational video, responded to the attention, behaved cheerily with mother and teased her a bit purposely to enjoy her presence. The child was in the second stage of development according to Bandura’s theory; which is retention, where he required support to learn the same skill through a different style or mechanism. Though the child; replicated his mother while they were making an alphabet N, but was not successful due to lack of motivation. And with the care giver reluctant initially, but with her direct motivational comments proceeded in his play and hence, gained confidence and described his experiences well. The child learned to stable the block house when he observed the care giver playfully sustaining it and learnt it instantly due to her affectionate tone (Bandura, 2009). According to Erickson’s theory of initiative vs. guilt applies in this scenario, where child felt guilt and took initiative when he was unable to recognize the name of things beginning with certain letters, he tried to provide an alternative developed skill (writing), to avoid disappointment from parent. The expectations of parent from the child developed a sense of responsibility in the child. Erickson identified that children learn through the perspective of society’s expectations, exclusions and discrimination (Spano, 2010). According to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development the child in the observational video was in Preoperational stage of development, he imagined blocks for a house, imagined the letter sounds for a boy (which was corrected by his mother). Though he didn’t seem egocentric, while learning, but was distracted after a while. His classification with the letters was limited he imagined all the letters are for a word “boy”, the growth of his cognitive skills could be seen when he described his favorites and talked about school, his mother and along with it made a block house along with the distinction of rooms (Piaget, 1996). Implications for Social Work Practice: Lately, child observation practice has become mandatory for the social workers to have better understanding of human behavior according to the given circumstances. It gives a clear vision of child’s place in a family and through child’s communications; a better hypothesis is conducted. It develops a skill of understanding and teaches the art of assessment. Due to lack of understanding related to assessing the children’s experience, many cases of child abuse and inadequate care went unnoticed. Child observation experience provides an opportunity to understand the development process and progression of a child in a certain scenario (McMahon, 1994). References: Top of Form Top of Form Bandura, A., Davidson, F. W., & Davidson Films. (2009).Banduras social cognitive theory: An introduction. Bendigo, Vic: Video Education Australasia. Top of Form McMahon, L., & Farnfield, S. (January 01, 1994). Infant and child observation as preparation for social work practice. Social Work Education, 13, 3, 81-98. Bottom of Form Michelle (2012, June 7). Observation video 1. YouTube. Retrieved June 9, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3kw2fomAo&feature=plcp Michelle (2012, June 7). Observation video 2. YouTube. Retrieved June 9, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-ptYVHuWY&feature=plcp Top of Form Piaget, J., In Elkind, D., & In Flavell, J. H. (1969). Studies in cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jean Piaget. New York: Oxford University Press.Bottom of Form Bottom of FormTop of Form Spano, R., Koenig, T. L., Hudson, J. W., & Leiste, M. R. (April 01, 2010). Theoretical paradigms, eastern and western worldviews: East meets west: A nonlinear model for understanding human growth and development. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 80,198-214. Read More