General Information

Name:
Im going to call my child by a pseudonym- Simone

Age:
10 years and 8 months

Grade:
5th

Birth date:
March 17, 1999

Resides with:
Mom

Siblings:
None

Physical Description:
5 foot and 5 inches, and weighs about 135

Background (I interviewed her mother)

Birth weight:
5 lbs.

Pregnancy and labor (problems or complications):

When I asked her mom about problems or complications, she said that
there were none during the pregnancy, but when she was in labor, she had a
C-section, and when they opened her up, Simone had a bowel movement
and got sick, so she had to stay in the hospital for a few days. She was also
very tiny. Her mom said that they believe she was early but they arent 100
percent sure because the conception date was unknown.

Age for developmental firsts

Crawling

Around 6-7 months

Sitting

Around 4-5 months

Walking

About 9-10 months

Talking

Was babbling about 5-6 months

Toilet Trained

About 2-2 years old

Pre-school History (I interviewed her mother)

Readiness skills (cognitive, academic, social, emotional, motor
skills)
Her mom said that she was very smart, and had no problems with
learning whatever she was asked to learn. She said that she was very smart
for her age, especially in pre-school. When I asked her about socially, she
said that she kept to herself mainly, and when she sensed trouble, she would
move to the corner away from it. She also said that she was well
coordinated.

School History
I talked to the childs mom, her teacher, and I also talked to Simone.
Her mom said that Simone is about the same now as she was in pre-school
academically- very smart, not a lot of problems, and works very hard at it.
Simones teacher said the same thing, but did say that Simones weak area
in school would probably be reading, but she did have to think really hard
about it, and that her strength would have to be between writing and math.
As for learning problems, she said that she could think of none. She also
went on to say that she would be a great leader and that shes not afraid to
try. Upon observation, it seems there is a strong relationship between
Simone and her instructor. Simone said that her favorite class is history, but
this year it is math because they dont teach history in 5th grade. She said
that she feels she does so-so in math. She said that her least favorite class is
language because of the punctuations and factors such as pronouns and
adjectives. I asked her how she did in school and she said that she had all As
and Ss on her last report card. Socially, she has many friends and talks to
everyone. She doesnt seem to argue or fight, and she talks to everybody.

Observations of child
I observed Simone at home and in school. At school, she seems to pay
attention to everything. She always raises her hand if she has a question,
and she volunteers often to answer questions. She gets along with all of her
classmates, doesnt fight or argue. She especially likes her teacher. At home,
I observed her and interviewed her. She does her homework in front of the
television, and when I asked her about it, she said she does it out of habit.
She also plays outside before she does homework for the most part, but she
does get her homework done. Simone and her mom seem to have a very
close relationship with one another. Her mother is also very strict when it
comes to responsibility, and Simone seems to have a lot of that. She also
seems very mature for her age. I asked her if she got to see a lot of her mom
with her mom having to work until 5 and sometimes even later and she said
she does. She seemed very shy but does appear to have confidence in
herself. Mom is also very concerned with homework, and makes sure that it
is done and asks what she had to do for homework. She also asks how her
day was at school. Simone said that shes nervous about middle school
because of getting to class on time and having to remember numbers for
main locker, gym locker, plus her lunch number.

Conclusion
With Freuds five stages of psychosexual development, Simones
babbling and her toilet training were both in the same time frames as oral
and anal development. The development of her fine motor skills did follow
the cephalocaudal pattern because she was sitting at around 4-5 months,
which is close to when the book predicts an infant can begin to sit by
themselves. Then she was crawling about around 6-7 months, which the
book projects to happen at around the average age of 7 months. At about 910 months, Simone was walking, which is a little earlier than what the book
projects to be the average age, which is around the time of their first
birthday. Simones behavior in pre-school to avoid trouble behavior would fall
under Piagets belief that childs efforts to adapt cognitively to situations
they are in, and to understand and succeed in these situations. Theres
Vygotskys theory of scaffolding. This is just providing a support for when a
child is developing a specific mental function or to do a particular task, and I
found this in Simones home. Her mother was very concerned with her work,
and willing to help her with whatever it is that she needed help with. With
Simones metacognition, she really seems to understand what takes longer

to learn or remember and what she can spend a little less time on. She
definitely seems intelligent, even a little beyond her years.

Works Cited
Cook, Joan, and Greg Cook. Child Development Principles and Perspectives. Second.
Boston: Pearson

Education, Inc., 2009. Print.