Name: Michelle Beck

Date: 12/02/2014

Bluefield State College

EDUC 200 Child Adolescent Growth and Development
Case Study
I.

General Information
Name: Amber Smith
Age: 7
Grade: 2nd
Birth Date: 08/22/2007
Resides With: Mother, Grandmother, and Grandfather
(Maternal)
Siblings: None that she interacts with
Physical Description: 51 tall and 87# weight, Tall and
mature-looking for her age with well-kept hair and pretty
accessoriesseemed to care about her appearance and
clothes very much.

II.

Background (Interviewed Mother)

Birth Weight: 7 lbs. 12 oz. (20 long)
Pregnancy and labor: Quick on both, since the Mother
was unaware she was pregnant until the end of the 3 rd
trimestershe actually lost weight during her pregnancy.
Mother reports that even though she was without prenatal
care (simply by virtue of not knowing) that Amber has
shown no signs of complications or birth defects.
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Age for Development First

Crawling: 5 mos.
Sitting: 7 mos.
Walking: 10 mos.
Talking: 8 mos.
Toilet Training: 18 mos.

III.

Pre-School History (Interviewed Mother)

Amber attended Bland Street Preschool when she was
3, and the Mother reported that there were no separation
issues at this time, or when she transitioned to
Kindergarten at age 5. Her mother indicates that the
preschool experience was definitely beneficial to Ambers
Kindergarten readiness. She had social skills upon
entering Kindergarten that were not as prominent when
she started Preschool, due to the largely adult home
environment.
The Mother indicated that Amber has never enjoyed
Reading and that they still spend extra time on her
Reading homework to make sure she is where she needs
to be.

IV.

School History (Interviewed Teacher- Ms. Bluewell

Seashell)
Ms. Seashell reported that Amber is a very social child,
who doesnt like to be alone.

Ms. Seashell kept Amber in her group to do other work

until it was time for her to go to Title I group. She
indicated that being in the group keeps Amber on task,
and since she already knows what she is to be working on,
she works quietly in the group without losing focus. This
explains why she wasnt reading along with the original
group. I noticed that while the other children in the group
were reading, that since Amber was working on something
different, she seemed to stay on track using social speech
internalized as private speech, which is reminiscent of
Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory.

V.

Observations of Child
I purposely waited for Reading and Title I Groups to
begin before entering the classroom. Having known
Amber from working with her Mother, I felt that it would
be less distracting if I came in quietly after everything was
in motion. Since the class was 2nd graders, they seemed to
be able to stay on task much better than younger groups I
have observed in the past.
As I took a chair on the outside of Ambers reading
table, all the children acknowledged me but went back to
reading. Amber waved but went back to her work, for
which I was thankful. I didnt want to be an interruption to
the process while observing.
The observation itself was very structured and highpaced. It seemed to me that the reading groups just
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flowed and worked like a well-oiled machine. Ms. Gilpin

had a table of Title I Reading set up in the corner, and
there were four other tables with independent or teacherguided reading being conducted simultaneously.
Amber was at the table with the teacher, Ms. Seashell,
awaiting her tables turn to go to the Title I table. I noticed
almost immediately that Amber seemed distracted
almost bored from under-stimulationshe looked around,
not always on task, as if something other than work was
on her mind. However, after talking with Ms. Seashell, I
understood more why Amber wasnt focusing on the group
it was because she was working on her own work while
waitingshe wasnt an active participant in the
independent reading group. My interpretation was that
Amber was included in the group where the teacher was
in order to help her focus and stay on task. Amber seemed
to find her work easy and not very challenging, thus the
daydreaming-type behavior.
While listening to the groups, broken down in groups of
5,5,6, and 2 (excluding the Title I table), I noticed that
they were writing fairly large words like harvesting and
that while reading the story about fall and harvesting,
many of the kids other than Amber seemed to have
trouble staying on task, as well. Ms. Seashell explained to
me later that her class has a high number of ADD children,
and that it may be a big contributor to the lack of focus.
Once Ambers group moved to the Title I table, the
engagement level picked up tremendously. I found this to
be somewhat like the Social Learning Theory of Bandura,
where children learn by observing and imitating others
behavior. It seemed that if the majority in the group
focused and became engaged, then the whole group
started to follow suit. At the Title I table, Ms. Gilmore
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would quiz the students by saying word, very and they

would repeat. Amber seemed to be much more productive
when the teacher was directing questions to her that
required a response. She seemed to be very actively
thinking and responding when engaged properly, based
on her learning style. Ms. Gilmore moved on to phonics
and their sounds in words, and Amber continued to be
highly involved. I noticed that as long as she could be
vocal and continually challenged, she didnt get bored and
wander.
I noticed that when it came time to read from the
previous days lesson, Amber even remembered on what
page they stopped. They read aloud as a group, and after
that, one boy broke out in song, Yeah yeah Im a rock
star!! and I noticed Amber (who was right beside the boy)
politely tuned him out and focused. Later, when asked
about a real-life situation that related to the story they
were reading, Amber told a story about her pawpaw using
their generator. I believe that her pawpaw is the strongest
male role model in Ambers life, with the lack of father of
any kind in her life. I believe that her home life, which
consists of her Mother, her Grandmother, and
Grandfather, forms her mature personality and traits that
are apparent in the classroom. I noticed that Amber
perked up and showed her competitive nature when the
Title I teacher told them their reading scores counted
toward a reward. This seemed to be a big motivator for
someone who is outgoing like Amber. She read with the
group with great confidence and enthusiasm.
The final activity I observed was part of a Bible lesson.
This male teacher came in and immediately gained control
of the group with his presence and vivacious descriptions
of the story he was telling. Amber was again very
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engaged since this was an interactive lesson. She

answered questions insightfully and immediately. At times,
Amber seemed so eager to answer that she would answer
incorrectly. In some ways, this reminded me of the
Classical Conditioning that Pavlov and Watson referred to
regarding behavior being controlled by stimulus-response
connections. It seemed that the back-and-forth, high
energy type of question and answer sessions got Amber in
such a frenzy that she felt she had to answer something,
even if wrong, to be the first to answer, as if on command.

VI.

Summary
I feel that Amber is developing at a normal to abovenormal rate as a student. I think that the constant
interaction with adults in her home life has contributed to
her mature demeanor and highly social personality. This
relates back, again, to Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory
and how children adopt the psychological tools created
and encouraged by their culture, Ambers home culture in
particular has made her very mature for her age, but not
inappropriately so. She seems to have natural leadership
tendencies which help her in the classroom, and will be of
great benefit later in life, as well.
Ambers home life is not typical Mother-Father, but the
structure of Mother and two loving Grandparents seems to
work toward her well-being. Amber doesnt know any
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other style, as she has lived in this environment since she

was a baby. This further solidifies the theory of culture as
mentioned beforeI believe wholeheartedly that it takes
many positive, loving influences to make a child whole
and strong. It really does take a village. I think that Amber
will continue to be a strong student, as long as one key
factor is recognized and managedthat she needs verbal
and social interaction to learn, much more than individual,
busy-type work. If we continue as educators to try and
reach and teach our children in the manner they best
respond to, then our chances of producing successful
adults will greatly increase.