Child Observations at the Child Development Center

Level of Functioning
Based on the observations I have taken from the last six weeks and the
human development tables from class and from online sources, I am able to
determine that Tyler appears to be typically developing and on level for his
age.
Beginning with motor development, I noted many actions that would
match up with the milestone chart for three year olds. Most of the gross
motor development that I observed was during circle time with dancing and
exercises. On the first observation day, I observed Tyler participate in the
hokey pokey by using his arms, and legs, and turning around. He took
distinct steps while walking around the room, which can be described as
walking with agile in a milestone list for three year olds at GreatSchools
website. Other motor activities that he participated in that align with typical
three year old development were running smoothly with changes in speed
(during circle time they ran in place), he was wobbly on one foot, but still
able to balance, and was able to wiggle and shake his hips. An action that he
was not able to do was to walk to the rhythm of music like some of his
classmates. This would make sense because this behavior is typical for four
year olds like many of his classmates were while he is behind them as a
three year old. As for fine motor development, I noticed his skills improved
within the six weeks. These would include handwriting and the use of his
fingers. It is typical for a child of three to hold a pencil like an adult. In the

beginning, Tyler was unable to write his name by himself, but after six
weeks, he was able to control his pencil and write at least the first few letters
of his name independently. He was also able to lift up one pinky to use for a
finger play when he had difficulty earlier.
I noticed improvement in Tylers cognitive development throughout my
observation periods. First off, however, Tyler demonstrated behaviors typical
for a three year old such as counting to three orally and completing 10% of a
task with little supervision, which he exhibited when completing crafts. I
noticed that once in circle time, after counting up to 5 and then he began
skipping number and saying them out of order, which is normal for his age.
He was able to recite the alphabet, which is also typical according to
GreatSchools The area in which he most improved was remembering and
recognizing his name and the letters in it. At first, he needed assistance in
spelling his name and didnt even recognize it without hints, but after six
weeks, he was able to orally recite his name to the class independently. He
was also able to recognize colors and assemble simple puzzles, both typical
cognitive behaviors for children from age two to three, according to the
human development table.
Tylers social development with his peers was definitely right on target.
He played cooperatively with one or two other children during free play. He
made verbal greetings to children in the class, particularly his one friend. I
noticed he did not volunteer to answer questions during circle time and
looking at the development tables this would make sense because that is

typical for a four year old. He was very influenced by his peers as he often
repeated what they did. In particular, his one friend began to pout when it
wasnt his turn so Tyler did the exact same thing and crossed his arms and
refused to participate. Babycenter.com calls this negative peer pressure
and states that it is common for three and four year olds to do things they
know arent right simply because theyre friends do it. They realize that there
are other people besides just their family with different opinions and values.
It is normal for a preschool child to challenge authority and want to impress
their new friends. Tyler did have a lot of behavior problems. His emotional
development seemed on target when he would get frustrated when he
couldnt have his way, but he seemed less mature then his peers in this
sense. While the other students would participate and follow directions he
was often staring into space and being told to sit back down. I think was
because Tyler younger than his peers that were four or almost four.
Language development was on level with his rs not completely
clear, but still decipherable. He was able to carry on a conversation with
sentences of at least four words. I was often unable to observe language
development from afar because he either did not have the opportunity to
talk a lot during circle time or it was loud during playtime, but generally he
seemed typical in speaking to others.
A concern that I had a couple of times was that Tyler may have
exhibited behavior similar to children with ADHD that we discussed in class
presentations. I noticed he had trouble sitting still and during circle time

while the other children were sitting patiently, Tyler would be lying on the
ground or staring off into space. He often had to be instructed to listen and
sit down. According to the mayo clinic, ADHD can develop in children as
young as two or three. The behaviors should be watched for more than six
months. The site states, however, that it is typical for preschool children to
have a short-attention span, which may be mistaken as ADHD. Based on my
short time of observation and a typical preschool childs attention span, I am
not able to make this assumption.
Based on my observations, I would conclude that Tyler is on target with
development in all domains. The comparison between him and his peers
made it difficult, however, because they were older than he was causing me
to think he was delayed at points. The class and online milestone charts and
websites listed below were very helpful in helping me make this
determination. To gain a more accurate picture of his development, however,
I would need to see more of his day other than just the activities at school. I
wasnt able to gather enough information about Tylers language
development or his spiritual development through my time observing him. In
addition, I only observed Thursday afternoons so Tyler could be more tired in
the afternoons than other times of the day, which could change my views on
his development.

Works Cited
Destefanis, Joyce, and Nancy Firchow. "Developmental Milestones: Ages 3

through 5."
GreatSchools. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.greatschools.org/specialeducation/health/724-developmental-milestones-ages-3-through5.gs>.
Henry, Sarah. "The Power of Peers." BabyCenter. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov.
2012.
<http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-power-of-peers_65565.bc?
page=2>.
Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Definition." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and
Research, 10 Feb. 2011. Web. 07 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/adhd/DS00275/DSECTION=symptoms>.
Lesson
Today the class was learning about the letter G. I assisted with a lesson
that went along with the learning of the letter G. A story on the letter G was
read to the children and then objects starting with the letter G were shown to
the children. To reinforce this concept, the children were to decorate their
letter G with glitter because it was a word that starts with the letter G. I
began by helping Tyler turn over his paper letter G that was pre-made and
wrote his name. I asked him the letters in his name and he was able to write
the first two by himself. I put my hand over his and we traced the letters on
his name card and then wrote them on his letter together. Next, Tyler put
glue on his letter to get ready for the glitter. He then carefully sprinkled

glitter on top of the glue and dumped the excess glitter into a pan. He set
the letter in his locker to dry. To assess his learning, I asked him a word that
he learned today that began with the letter G. He was unable to come up
with one so I gave him a hint by asking what color his shirt was. Tyler said
green.
This lesson strengthened the six domains. Fine motor development was
evident because Tyler held a pencil in his right hand and wrote his name on
paper. Also, squeezing and placing the glue and sprinkling the glitter also are
fine motor skills. This activity was social because we communicated by
asking questions to Tyler. Cognitive and language development was evident
in asking Tyler what he learned that day and also when the children were
practicing the sounds of the letter G. Lastly, this lesson promoted spiritual
development because it allowed Tyler to be creative and decorate his G in
any design he wanted by making the glue pattern.
Overall, this lesson went well. Tyler is use to doing a lesson similar to
this every week just with a different letter and different decorating materials.
I was happy with how Tyler and I went about writing his name. He was able to
write the letters he knew and then see how to write the ones he didnt.
Something that I would have changed is I would have demonstrated how to
put glue on the letter because Tyler put really large glue dots randomly on
the letter instead of making it a line design like in the example. Also, while
he was decorating his letter I could have reinforced words that started with G
such as glitter, glue, and green so he could have answered my assessment

question at the end. In the future I will keep in mind to use repetition and
demonstrations so the lesson will go as smoothly as possible and the child
will have an optimal learning experience.