– Observations can be used to identify individual needs by using milestones or criteria’s. These observations are mainly for intellectual development, social development, physical development and communicational development. If a child is not reaching their age and stage milestone, a number of observations can be used to identify if there is a barrier stopping the child’s development. A barrier can include an additional need. This can range from hard of hearing to autism and so on. Things such as hard of hearing can be corrected by hearing aids and autism can be helped by being a part of a one-to-one plan, but some may need help for the rest of their lives. Observations taken early in children’s developments can help identify a child’s individual …show more content…
Narrative observations/free descriptions are complex but this is one of the best ways to observe a child’s social development. A narrative observation includes writing a detailed piece of work that normally lasts for about 2/3 min’s. This observation enables practitioners and parents to get a better understanding as to why the child is acting a certain way. Target Child observations are similar to this as it is very detailed. This observes all aspects that a child does daily. Another form of observations are time samples, these are good for observing children’s behaviours if there is a concern. An event sample would be an observation to confirm a child’s behaviour, different methods can then be trailed to see if the child’s behaviour changes. Lastly the anecdotal records are written in the past tense, these are also written in great detail, and this is the best observation to see how a child has developed over an amount of time. This observation should be made at different times and situations. CAT tests (cognitive ability tests) are for children in secondary schools (yr7 and yr9) to help understand what class groups to be in and what tests to take as part of their …show more content…
Things like ill health and hospital appoints have an effect on a child’s development for example, due to a diagnosis of diabetes, which requires a number of hospital appointments. Every child is unique and some children’s development may be delayed due to a pre-existing health condition. An additional need a child may be affected by is Foetal alcohol syndrome where the child has been exposed to large amounts of alcohol during their mother’s pregnancies. This condition varies due to the stage the child was at during the womb and how much and when the mother was drinking. This can make a child have memory difficulties and difficulty communicating along with the condition cerebral palsy, another neurological condition. Learning disabilities can have an impact on children’s intellectual development; this may be because of dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. Each school has a SENCO (special educational needs co-ordinator) which will help the child/family to ensure that a IEP (individual education plan) will be put in to place for any addition need that the child may have. Children with additional needs may be affected by peers that think they are ‘different’ affecting the child’s social and emotional development. Cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects the movement, co-ordination and gross motor skills
Child observation is relevant in social work because social workers deal with problematic situations, in which students have the opportunity to observe and reflect the characteristics of a child’s development in terms of physical and mental change. Observation has an important role in children’s play it shows the development progress as well as the child’s thinking about events.
Observations are most used when a child’s development is causing concern. These can be taken during lesson time and in the playground and record what the child is doing in an informative way.
Living in a healthy, happy environment is crucial for preschoolers as this could influence them later in life, causing them to miss certain milestones in their development. Theorist Erikson believes that there is a task that must be reached before they move on to the next stage of development, Erickson, E (1950) 1963. Development is important in preschoolers as this is when they learn their social skills, language skills and both their fine and gross motor abilities. Many hurdles can be put in place when it comes to determining a preschooler’s health such as; low economic status, lack of childhood education and not having the health model Te Whare Tapa Whā in place as these can all have a detrimental impact on a preschooler’s development in
For less than two hours, I observed the grandson of a visitor at my aunt’s home.
The child I observed is Lucy, she is three years old, weighs about 30 lbs, and is 35.5 inches tall. Lucy is white, has blonde hair and blue eyes. In her usual household Lucy lives with her mother, father, older brother and older sister. Due to some flooding in the basement, the family had to temporarily move out of their home and into the father’s parents’ house. At the time of the observation the members in the house hold consisted of Lucy, her brother, sister, mother, father and paternal grandmother and grandfather.
For 12 weeks I observed a young pre-schooler Child C aged 31/2 years old, through my account I would give an observer’s view of Child C, three theories peculiar to Child C and my the emotions evoked in me as an observer. My observation assisted in my understanding of the changes in Child C as the week progressed over the 12 weeks.
Another rather consistent observation I saw was the indication that most children used their parent as a secure base. A secure base is provided through a relationship that harbors one or more responsive caregivers who meets the child’s needs and to whom the child can turn to as a safe haven, when upset or distraught. This relationship can be seen in many of the observations I made. The one that stands out the most and that clearly depicts how a child uses a secure base is Susy. Susy used her parents as secure base when she was frightened by the boy that was older than her and whom she didn’t know. She ran to her parents for protection and comfort from the stranger. Another clear depiction of a secure base was when Susy demonstrated separation
Plan for when and where observations will be conducted. Observation will take place at the child’s home with another child and then with parents, out in public that allows interaction with different children, at a family event with a larger group of children and caregivers. These observations will be conducted at different times of the day to allow a variety of interactions and non-repetitive interactions, different times of the day can affect how tired the child is, whether the child interacts better in the morning first thing or the afternoon and how it affects her emotional mood. These different observation locations allow the child to be observed in different situations with one on one play, interactions with adults, interacting with groups of children in new environments and to see how well the child relates to other
I carried out two types of observation: these being narrative observation and time sampling. I chose to do both because the strengths of each help to support the weaknesses of the other. The main weaknesses of time sampling are that it causes the observer to miss potentially important behaviours that occur between the times the child is being observed and that the context of the behaviour is not recorded meaning that no cause and effect can be seen. It is because of these weaknesses that I chose to perform a narrative observation as well; this type of observation has ample detail and focuses on the whole of a scenario: that being the cause of a behaviour, the behaviour itself and the result of the behaviour. These strengths make up for the weaknesses of time sampling however, narrative observation also has weaknesses. Narrative observation is very time consuming and, especially when done for short periods, can be limited in the breadth of information gained.
The child I observed was born on February 21st, so the baby that I observed is just weeks old. The baby is white and a male. The baby is a friend’s child and I observed him in the living room of their home and in his personal bedroom while he was in his crib. There was two couches in the living room, a television, two end tables, and a big sectional rug which was where the child was most of the time. There was 4 adults. The mom, the dad, my mom, and I. There were no other children in the house at this time.
As children are growing up, they are changing rapidly in terms of their physical, emotional, and mental development. It is difficult to identify the changes children go through. The best way is by taking the time to observe them and closely recognize the developmental changes. The author had to observe a four year and seven-month-old girl named Giss. She is currently a kindergartener in a public school.
The areas that cover learning in the preschool classroom differ from nation to nation. Whether you are looking for preschool for 3 year olds or preschool for 2 year olds,you can look for certain general themes like knowledge and understanding of the world, communication that comprises listening and talking, social, personal and emotional development, physical development, and math development and awareness. It's crucial to select the preschool that's appropriate for your children so that their mind is stimulated properly. The base for developmental education of preschool aged children is established on these principles. Preschool is for the children between two to five years of age, and throughout this developmental phase, they learn & absorb the information quite quickly.
The fourth consideration is to research, plan, and match the type of assessment to what you are assessing in the child. Taking multiple assessments, or using too many different tools, could result in less accurate data. The fifth consideration focuses on the tool used, professional development, and the quality of the information that was gathered during the assessment. The assessment should focus on benefitting the child, family, and the programs. Two types of informal assessments typically used in early childhood are naturalistic observation and anecdotal records, with both focusing on observing in a child’s natural settings.
Observation is important as the practitioner can find out what the child is interested in and what motivates them to learn alongside their progress and how they behave in certain situations, additionally at the same time it identifies if children need assistance within certain areas of learning or socially (DCSF, 2008). Furthermore the observations check that the child is safe, contented, healthy and developing normally within the classroom or early years setting, over time the observations can be given to parents as they show a record of progress which helps to settle the parent and feel more comfortable about their child’s education. Observations are not only constructive within learning about an individual child, they can be used to see how different groups of children behave in the same situation and how adults communicate and deal with children’s behaviour (Meggitt and Walker, 2004). Overall observations should always look at the positives of what children can complete within education and not look at the negatives and all observations should become a fundamental part of all practitioners work alongside reflection (Smidt, 2009).
Observation, combined with anecdotal records, is essential, especially in the early grades. By observing and keeping track of these observations, teachers are able to tell a lot about their students. For example, they can see how they interact socially with other peers as well as how well they carry out a given task. I am inclined to be an early elementary teacher, in grades K-3. The first years of school are my ideal age group. The early childhood stage is a time when children develop the most. They are developi...