FHS 1500-705

Jada Brown
Observation #1
Background information
Age: 4 months old
Name: Jennifer Rodriquez
Location: Aunt's house.
Brief description: She was observed in her home, somewhere where she was
comfortable and happy with the mother not present. This observation will show the
movement and sounds that can be found around this age.
Physical Development
At the age of 4 months the infant cannot do many physical movements or gestures but
they can do a select few. As I observed jeniffer I did see that she had already developed
some kind of handedness. She would only put her right hand in her mouth so this could
show that her dominant hand is the right one, being the one that she kept putting in her
mouth. Handedness starts very young but grows as the child gets older. This skill should
be mostly developed by the time the child is around the age of 5 or 6. As I observed i
saw that jennifer showed understanding in the idea of fine motor exploration. She was
able to grab at the objects connected to her play mat and hold the objects. This activity
did take a tremendous amount of effort but she showed that she could, by 4 months,
infants sometimes grab, but there timing is off (Berger 2013 105). Jennifer is showing
great timing in her fine motor skills and is progressing at a usual rate. I also noticed that
she tried to hold herself up without pillows or support. In the book i found a great statistic
about the skill of sitting up, 50% of all babies master the skill of sitting by 3 months. But
the majority being 90% master this skill at the age of 4 months (Berger 2013 104). This
statement from the book can tell us and mothers that jennifer's rate at mastering this skill
is great. Another thing that i noticed while observing was jennifer's size. She is a pretty
large baby and appears to be really healthy. Since birth she has been breastfed and has
not gotten sick once because of the antibodies that can be found in the milk. These
physical developments are important in jennifer's growth.
Cognitive Development
The development of the mind is necessary during this time in an infant's life. Jennifer will
be going through the stages of sensorimotor intelligence in the next two year. Currently
she is finishing the stages one and two of piaget's model. Jennifer shows a part of this
stage everyday by rooting as well as sucking on her fingers and putting things in her
mouth. infants attempt to produce exciting experiences, making interesting sights last
(Berger 2013 114). This is what jennifer's mind is going through right now, she is trying to
make all the images last. Another complex idea that is happening in her mind is object
permanence this the idea that, an object or people continue to exist when they are no
longer in sight (Berger 2013 114). Infants do not understand this concept. Once the
object leaves their sight they do not look for it they just believe that it is gone. These are
ideas are very perplexing, jennifer will understand this by the time she is 2 years old.

Infants begin language development when they are born. Currently with Jennifer she is
going through the Responding stage. This is characterised by responding to the sounds
and lights that she can see. Jennifer gurgles and coos which is a form of the responding
stage. The sounds that are heard she tries to repeat. Thus the sounds that she vocalizes
are just sounds and not words. By the time Jennifer is 1 year old she will be in the first
word stage. This is a stage where holograms are spoken. Holograms being one word
phrases. Other aspects in cognitive development is exploration. Jennifer has not
adopted this skill yet but she will soon. She does play with her smaller infant toys
easelessly. The cognitive development of Jennifer's brain is very important during her
first year.
Psychosocial Development
This is the development of Jennifer's emotions. At first, there is pleasure and pain
(Berger 2013 132). This is emotion is developed at birth and is present our entire life, but
they become more complex from this very basic emotion. A statistic that was in the book
says at Jennifer's age she should have a Full, responsive smile (Berger 2013 132).
This is very true because as I observed Jennifer i noticed that she would smile and
motion towards people, sounds, or lights. These things had to be known though.
Because if she had never encountered it she was standoffish. Which is a sign of
attachment as well. Infants at this age have a great attachment to their mothers because
of many different things like, the smell that their mother holds, or the motherease that
they hear. Jennifer shows that she does have a attachment to her mother but is fine if
she is left with anyone else in the family. She doesn't fuss or scream when her mother
isn't present. Many babies have separation anxiety from their mothers crying and
clinging to the mother. Children that have this problem experience some type of trauma.
Another thing that is being developed is her temperament. As an infant frustration is a
common emotion because they can't express themselves and they don't fully understand
what is going on. Jennifer is not as ill tempered like other infants but, she does get upset
sometimes. Which is very normal for any baby at her age. Infants have been known for
their excessive crying and frustration due to the mother leaving but jennifer is great in
the fact that she never acts poorly, based on what i observed. Psychosocially i think that
Jennifer has shown to be advanced in this development from what i have observed.