Luz E Singh

Cognitive Observation

Part A – Sabrina 7 months

1. a. Caregiver sits Sabrina on the matted floor, shows Sabrina a rattle in the shape of a
giraffe, she shakes the rattle and places the rattle between Sabrina’s legs and sits next to
her. Sabrina stares at the rattle for several seconds, bends over and taps the rattle. She
then proceeds to pick up the rattle with her right hand. Sabrina moves her right hand
closer towards her chest, then begins moving both hands back and forth. Sabrina
continues to shake the rattle as she makes the sound of a long “a.” Sabrina places the
rattle on the floor and puts both hands above her head sounding a long “a” once again.
The care giver approaches her and removes the rattle from in-between her legs and places
Sabrina’s blanket, she then lays down on top the blanket and puts her right thumb in her
mouth.
Sabrina is laying down on her stomach with a cloth book on her hand. She squishes the
book and smiles after the book produce a squeaking sound. The caregiver kneels next to
Sabrina extending her arms towards the child and says, “Sabrina, Sabrina it is lunch time,
are you ready?” Sabrina turns and looks at the caregiver with a smile. The caregiver picks
her up and seats her on the high chair. Sabrina stares closely at the caregiver as she
approaches her with a plate and a spoon. Sabrina moves her hands and feet as she hums.
The care giver sits in front of her and begins feeding Sabrina.
b. I believe Sabrina is on the third substage, second circular reactions. My conclusion to
this substage is due to Sabrina’s knowledge of the cause of her repetitive movements. For
example she was aware that as she moved her hands back and forth the rattle created a
sound. As well she conducted the same situation while using the cloth book. She
continued to squish the book to obtain the sound.

2. A toy that will help foster Sabrina’s development will be a busy board which could be
hanged on the wall at her eye level. The board should have parts that move and spin,
should create music, have items that close and or twist. This will help her to foster and
continue her development.

3. The caregivers helps Sabrina with her development and curiosity by allowing her to
explore new materials, toys and objects given to her. As well the caregiver models what
could be done with a toy with the goal of having Sabrina develop an interest for the
object. The caregiver tries to encourage Sabrina to explore new toys that she has
available for her, many of which create sounds or emit a light.
 Part B – Camilla 18 months

1. a. Camilla enters her playroom with a medium size ball, as she approaches the center of
the room her older sister calls her name. Camilla’s sister is sitting on top of a castle
shaped bunk bed. Camilla looks up and smiles as she approaches the bunkbed ladder.
Camilla stepped onto the first step of the ladder hold on for a couple of seconds and
stepped back down. Camilla kept looking at her sister who is on top of the bunk bed. She
approaches the bunk bed ladder and steps onto the first step she holds on and begins to
climb slowly one foot at a time as her mother stands at about four feet away from her.
Camilla reaches the top of the bunk bed and sits down as she begins clapping with a big
smile on her face. Her mother says “Wow, great job mami.”
Camilla is on top of the bunkbed and calls her mother “ Ma ma ball” as she grasped both
of her hands. Her mother reaches the ball and hands it to her. Camilla holds the ball with
both of her hands and moves it above her head. Camilla looks at her mom, smiles and
throws the ball to the ground. She laughs and says “Ma ma go” as she points at the ball.
Her mother reaches for the ball and hands it to her once again. Camilla smiles and throws
the ball. The mother reached for the ball and handed it to Camilla. They played with the
ball for about five minutes. Camilla throws the ball one last time and says “ Ma ma” as
she holds her hands up towards her mother. Camilla’s mother helped her get off the
bunkbed.

b. I believe Camilla is on the sixth substage; beginnings of thought. Camilla took the time to
explore the ladder of the bunkbed before climbing it. As well she knew that by calling her
mother she would obtain the ball which was the toy she was interested in.

2. I believe that Camilla will benefit from a slide or outdoor toys that she would be able to
climb since this will allow her further develop her physically and as well expand her
exploration and interest in her own limits. As well pretend toys such as broom, vacuum,
or pretend kitchen with toy dishes will be helpful as she will be able to mimic an
everyday life scenario.
3. The mother helps foster the child’s growth by giving her independence in several areas
such as exploration and actions. The mother as well encourages her to continue with her
curiosity by positive acknowledgements as she accomplishes her goals.
 4.
Part C – Valerie 23 months

1. SCALE III: DEVELOPMENT OF SCHEMAS IN RELATION TO OBJECTS

SCHEMAS
1. Holds the object for more than 30 seconds- Yes, Valerie was given a small piece of thin
fabric with sparkles. She held the fabric on one hand for a couple of seconds then proceed to
pinch on the sparkles.
2. Brings the object to the mouth- No, Valerie held a rattle on her hand and shake it several
times, stopped looked at the rattle and continued shaking. However when offered the
aluminum paper (Valerie’s first experience with aluminum paper) she placed in her mouth.
(Trial #11)
3. Brings the object before the eyes or holds and looks at it- Yes, Valerie held the necklace
close to her body as she touched and stare closely at it.
4. Hits the object with his hand- No, Valerie held the balloon close to her body and hugged it
several times.
5. Hits the object on a surface- Yes, I provided Valerie with a tambourine and she immediately
began hitting the object against the floor and then against her hand.
6. Shakes or waves the object- Yes, Valerie held a handkerchief on her hands for a couple of
seconds and then held it from a corner and waved it from side to side.
7. Hits two objects together-Yes, I placed a pan and a spoon next to Valerie. She immediately
reached for the spoon and began hitting the pan with it. Valerie stopped hitting the pan with
the spoon, stood and went to her toy box and pulled a drum and stick. She placed the drum
next to the pan and began hitting both with the drum stick.
8. Pats the object- Yes, Valerie held a stuffed animal (dog) with her right hand as she patted its
head with her right while says “doggy.”
9. Examines the object - Yes, Valerie stood next to the music table. She passed her hand over
each gadget of the music table and stops on the piano. She presses down on a key and moves
her hand over the table. She then turns the page of a book on the middle of the table and gets
closer towards the book. Valerie kneels next to the music table and begins moving and
pressing on the keys and gadgets creating music.
10. Slides the object on some surface- Yes, Valerie kneeled next to the pink doll car and began
pushing the car sliding it on the floor back and forth without moving from her kneeling
position.
11. Crumples the object- Yes, I placed the aluminum paper on Valerie’s right side and placed a
teddy bear on her left. Valerie changed positions from standing to sitting down on her
stomach. She reached for the aluminum paper and held it close to her face. She then began
crumbling the paper and when it was completely crumbled she moved the paper towards her
mouth. She began to move the crumbled paper on her mouth, then she threw it on the floor
and picked up the teddy bear.
12. Stretches the object out- Yes, I offered Valerie a cotton ball, she took the cotton ball from my
hand and began crumbling it with one hand and then began stretching it by pieces until the
ball was completely spread out.
13. Attempts to tear object- Yes, she teared the cotton ball. As well I gave Valerie a Kleenex at
which she immediately placed on her nose and then began tearing it.
14. Drops the object systematically- Yes, Valerie dropped balls in an orderly manner as she saw
them fall through the ball sorter.
15. Throws the object- Yes, Valerie picked up a medium size ball and threw it several times. She
held the ball with both of her hands as she twisted her body towards the right, swinging it
back and releasing the ball.
16. Puts another object into it- Yes, Valerie is sitting on the floor, in front of her is a small
bucket, beads and a doll. Valerie reaches for the beads and places them in the bucket. When
all ten beads are in the bucket she turns it over making the beads fall out. She continued to
put in the beads in the cup. She then reached in the bucket and took out the beds one by one.
17. Demonstrates drinking from cup- No, on a small table I placed a cup with drinking water and
next to it a small piano. Valerie reached over the cup and put her hand in the cup. She took
her hand out and looked at her hand then she turned back to the cup and put her hand back in
the cup.
18. Wears necklace- Yes, Valerie successfully places a necklace over her head every time she
was given one.
19. Builds something with blocks- Yes, Valerie stuck six blocks one above the other. She then
removed the blocks one by one.
20. Drives car on some surface- Yes, Valerie is able to drive a doll car.
21. Makes doll or animal walk- No, Valerie lays down the dolls or hugs them. Valerie was
handed a giraffe and she was not interested in the toy.
22. Hugs doll or animal- Yes, Valerie hugs dolls and stuffed animals.
23. Listens to sound of musical toy-No, Valerie prefers to press on the buttons that create music
to obtain different or new sounds.
24. Shows the object to another person-Yes, Valerie will show an object to a known person when
really interested or when told to do so.
25. Points to one object in association with another one-Yes, Valerie recognized the materials
used for coloring, such as coloring book and crayons.
26. Names or labels the object- Yes, Valerie most common names or labels used are; ball, shoes,
bebe (doll), clothes.

2. The two top toys I believe will help Valerie further her development for the next stage will be
blocks and any toys involving dramatic play. Both of this toys will foster her imagination and
curiosity. The use of blocks will as well allow her to better understand how to manipulate space
and objects. The opportunity of dramatic play will allow her to learn how to solve problems
independently while nurturing her imagination.