Observation of Learning Scenarios

Melanie Spotten

Brigham Young University-Idaho

CHILD 350: Observation and Assessment

Becky Parker
 Observation of Development and Learning

Kaden is the 24 month old son of two married college students. He is their first and only child. Parents have arranged their class
schedules so that they are the primary care givers, only occasionally needing to acquire additional assistance, a babysitter who comes
to their home. Kaden has had an opportunity to occasionally interact with other children between the ages of 1 month and 3 years of
age, when his parent’s friends bring their children to their home, and when they have visited friends and relatives. He has just begun
to participate in a group experience with children his age, once a week at his parents’ church. When his mother leaves him at the
church group, (which primarily consists of playing, singing, and listening to stories) he cries, screams, and clings to her vocalizing
“ma, ma, ma” over and over. If his mother leaves him there, he will stop crying after about 10 minutes. Kaden usually plays alone,
but seems interested in other children. He will watch them play, but doesn’t generally interact with them. Kaden is possessive of his
toys. When other children are at his home he will take toys from them and refuses to share. When Kaden’s mother asks him to do a
simple direction (“put your car in the box”, or “shut the drawer”) he will generally comply. He will walk up and down the three steps
entering their apartment (holding onto the hand rail or an adult’s hand), runs, and likes to climb on top of the table, pulling himself
from a stool, to a chair, to the table top. Kaden vocalizes sounds, jabbers, and produces single syllables, but does not say any
identifiable words. Kaden is not toilet trained, and does not seem interested in learning. He does not show an interest in the toilet or
give any cues that he needs to urinate, although sometimes after he has soiled his diaper he will hide from his parents.

Behavior/Skill Little or Moderate Great Comments

no Concern Concern
concern

Social skills - X
sharing

Social skills - X Kaden seems to be falling in the 18-24 month range in regards to playing
playing with other children. According to the Early Childhood Development
Chart, children at this age usually play alone, even when other children
are present (Voress & Pearson, 2006). However, the CDC website says
that by two years children should be beginning to include other children
in their play . So if he doesn’t begin to play with other children in the
next few months, it could become a reason for great concern.
Separating from X According to the Developmental Milestones list, it is normal for children
mother between the ages of 18-24 months to experience episodes of separation
anxiety. However, children between 24-30 months should be starting to
separate from their parents in familiar situations without crying (Voress &
Pearson, 2006). Because Kaden is barely entering the second of these
two stages, it is not a great concern that he is still showing some difficulty
with separating from his parents. However, it is something that should be
improving in the near future, so his parents should keep an eye on it to
make sure it happens.

Responding to oral X
language

Gross motor skills X

Expressive X According to the CDC website, at the age of two, children should be
language skills saying sentences with 2-4 words and repeating the words they hear in the
conversations of others. According to the Early Childhood Development
Chart, a two year old should have a minimum of 50 words that they say
and should be progressing toward a vocabulary of 200 words by the time
they are two and a half. Kaden’s expressive language skills fall in the
12-18 month range on this chart, meaning he is 6-12 months behind in his
expressive language development (Voress & Pearson, 2006). This is a
cause for great concern.

Toilet training X At this age, Kaden should be giving some signal that he needs to urinate
or have a bowel movement more than half of the time. He also should be
progressing toward sitting on the toilet for one minute while supervised
(Voress & Pearson, 2006). At first it might sound like this is an area for
great concern, but according to the Toileting Milestones chart, a child
should show interest in toileting by 2 years but they may not have the
bladder control necessary to begin until 30 months. So the fact that
Kaden shows no interest in toileting is a moderate concern, but the fact
 that he is not sitting on the toilet or communicating that he needs to toilet
is not an area of concern yet.
Observer: _____________________________

Observation of Development and Learning

Holly is 4 ½. It is her first semester in preschool. She has younger siblings and some friends who come to play. When at preschool
Holly likes to play in the dramatic play area where she wants to play by herself. She will tell the other children “no” when they try to
enter the area. When prompted to include others, she will grab things from children and say “that’s mine”. She uses 4-5 word
sentences, “Look I made a apple pie”, “These are my babies”. When asked to draw herself, she draws a person with arms and legs
coming out of the head. She can rote count to 10. She counted some plastic bears “one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight/nine,
(while touching one bear), ten.” She does not name any numerals. Holly can put her coat on and zip it herself. She can hop on one
foot, but does not skip. Holly went to the bathroom area to wash up for snack after the teacher told the children to wash their hands
and sit down at the snack table. She needed two prompts and a physical assist to go to the area and then just rinsed her hands, shook
the water off, and went to look out the window.

Behavior/Skill Little or Moderate Great Comments

no Concern Concern
concern

Following verbal X Although it is normal at this age for Holly to have a short attention span
directions and become distracted, she should be able to two-step directions
successfully.

Playing X I believe this is an area of great concern for Holly because she is behind
cooperatively in multiple ways. She should both be showing a preference for playing
with others at this age, and cooperating with children while she plays
(CDC).

Counting objects X
 Naming numerals X According to the CDC website, Holly should have been able to name
some numerals by the time she turned 4. I would consider this a
moderate concern because she is only 6 months behind in this skill, but it
is definitely something that she should be helped with.

Transitioning from X
one activity to
another

Dressing skills X

Drawing a person X

Using words in a X
sentence

Observation of Development and Learning

Kendrick is 7 years old, approximately 50 inches tall and weighs 75 lbs. He was anxious about starting second grade, but has made
some friends and is not resistant to going to school. He independently get himself ready for school, but has a difficult time getting up
in the mornings, and must frequently be reminded. He generally gets eight hours of sleep each night, but will sometimes wake up
during the night because he has had a bad dream. Once he is up, Kendrick selects what to wear to school, dresses himself, and can tie
his own shoes. He likes to read simple books, especially about sports and animals. He can write simple text, but letters are not always
formed correctly and sometimes he misjudges how much space is needed and crowds the letters to get them all on the page. When
this happens he is frustrated with himself and will sometimes say, “I can’t write good,” then rips up the paper. He is a cub scout and
enjoys spending time with the boys his age. He will come home from a scout activity and tell his parents stories, in great detail, about
what they did at scouts that evening. Kendrick wants to be helpful, and likes to help his mother make dinner. He likes to play
computer games, will brag about his scores, and sometimes exaggerates his skill. He has stopped riding his bicycle, because he is
unable to balance on it without still needing training wheels. He cannot skip and misses more often than catches a ball thrown to him
from four feet away. He does not enjoy outdoor physical activities, but prefers to play computer and video games with his friends.
 Behavior/Skill Little or Moderate Great Comments
no Concern Concern
concern

Physical Skills – X According to the CDC website, Kendrick has a BMI of 21, which
height/weight falls in the 98th percentile and is considered obese at his age. This
is an area of great concern because his weight is so far out of the
healthy range. The CDC recommends he be seen by a medical
provider.

Sleeping routines X This is a moderate concern, because he is getting one hour less than
the recommended minimum on the CDC website. His parents
should also keep an eye on how frequently he is waking up in the
night and if he is tired after getting the recommended 9 hours, in
case there is need for greater concern.

Gross motor skills –
riding a bike, catching a
ball
X This is an area of great concern because according to the CDC,
children at this age should be able to catch a ball using only their
hands, and according to Stanford Children’s Health, children at this
age should be able to ride a bike and enjoy a variety of activities.
However, it is normal that Kendrick is not able to skip. Because he
is lacking two developmental skills and is not inclined to participate
in gross motor activities, this is an area of moderate concern.

Dressing independently X

Reading skills X

Writing skills X

Expressive language X
skills
Regulating X According to Stanford Children’s Health, children Kendrick’s age
emotions/understanding should be practicing skills to become better. Although he
self sometimes becomes frustrated and gives up when writing, according
to the Developmental Milestones chart, it is normal for children this
age to criticize their own performance, so this is an area of moderate
concern.

Interactions with family X

members

Interactions with peers X

 References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/

Stanford Children's Health. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2020, from

https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=the-growing-child-school-age-6-to-12-years-90-P02278

Voress, J. K., & Pearson, N. A. (2006). Early Childhood Development Chart (Second ed.). PRO-ED.

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://m1.wyanokecdn.com/02d1a9e04cf15fade0bc908414cf4dfd.PDF

(n.d.). Developmental Milestones

Pages Used From cdc.gov:

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/middle.html
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/bmi/result.html?&method=english&gender=m&age_y=7&age_m=0&hinches=50&twp=75