Temperament: Happy and Engaged

Examples: Jane Student spent on average 17-20 minutes doing work that she chose

within the classroom environment. The time span that Jane Student is able to spend on

work is more than double that of her age average. This shows exceptional attention and

engagement for a child Jane Student’s age and displays Jane Student’s ability to focus on,

and remain engaged with a task until it is completed or until she feels she has explored it

fully. Gray, 1991; Rothbart & Bates, 1998 did a study which showed children who feel

emotionally supported and comfortable are able to engage in an activity far longer than

children who are in less supportive environments. I saw multiple examples of Jane

Student being so engaged in her work that even when peers would attempt to extract her

attention, she would remain absolutely focused on what she was doing. There was one

instance where the young girl sitting across from her stood up and walked over to Jane

Student in order to show off her work and Jane Student was so engaged in her own

coloring that she did not even seem to notice this peer speaking with her.

Jane Student seems extremely comfortable, confident and happy in the classroom

environment. One example I observed on multiple occasions was that Jane Student would

be singing while working or while filing her work away. At one-point Jane Student was

walking around the classroom and she stopped next to a table where two older children

were working and she just began smiling while observing them. It was wonderful to see.

She seems to enjoy very much watching older children work on more challenging

materials like the maps, or language work. Jane Student seems very happy and
comfortable observing older children and engaging with the adults in the classroom. This

is very typical for some children because of their exposure to adults for a majority home

life.

I observed that Jane Student sits with her left leg off to the side of her chair, this is

something she did at Lullaby school as well and displays her ability to ground herself

while working. For adults this is equivalent to having the music, cup of coffee or

environment we need most to work as best we can. I noticed that after 45 minutes in the

work cycle Jane Student sat straight in her chair, letting her feet dangle and at this point

she began engaging in social conversation more, looking around the room more and

engaging in social behavior more regularly. I believe that Jane Student is so engaged with

her work that she sets herself up for absolute focus and success by grounding her feet,

holding her head close to the desk and engaging 100% in what she is doing. At some

point she breaks this engagement and allows herself to absorb the environment around

her. Jane Student seems very happy with all of her teachers. I observed Jane Student walk

up to one of the teachers, show them her coloring work, explain what it was a picture of,

gift the coloring work and then give the teacher a hug. Her comfort level is exactly where

it should be for a first-year child in a new environment. She appears to be acclimated,

comfortable and trusting of the environment and adults around her.

When I am observing a child in a classroom environment, I look for signs of insecurity,

edginess, restlessness, or frustration. These elements of a child’s temperament can be

signs that a child is not acclimating well to the environment around them. I did not see

any of these red flags with Jane Student.

Strengths: Task Completion and Attention to Order and Detail

Examples: When I first walked into the classroom Jane Student was sitting at a table

doing sorting work. Sorting is something that children with a love for organization and

detail with gravitate towards because of the ability to organize materials again and again

with control. I was observing Jane Student doing cutting work; she was very focused on

cutting directly on the lines of the paper. A small scrap of paper flew to the ground. Jane

Student immediately stood up, pushed her chair in, picked up the scrap of paper, placed it

on her work tray, pulled her chair out, sat back down and began right where she left off

with cutting. Jane Student’s attention towards every aspect of the work she is doing is

beyond average for her age. Another example was that Jane Student was sitting at her

table doing coloring work. Her jar of pencils tipped over and fell on the ground. Jane

Student did not ignore the mess, as many children her age might do. Jane Student did not

get upset at this disruption. Rather Jane Student stood right up, organized all her pencils

back in her jar and began coloring right where she left off. Jane Student’s attention to

order is outstanding. Many children her age would not have the awareness of order and

would be disrupted my messes, noises or peers. I watched Jane Student complete three

materials during my observation. Jane Student completed cutting work, coloring and play

dough.
Conclusion the session concerned with child’s development in the areas of creativity and

literacy, my observations were that; Eaglet is developing well, but the process seems to

be structured in a sense that creative development has not been let to grow naturally by

subtle suggestions by her tutor, rather her creativity is directional through suggestion of

topics and categories on which to write about.

Session two looked into the cognitive part and literacy. Eaglet was fully engaged in the

reading session, she is able to go through sentences again to make sure she understands

what information is being relayed from the texts provided. She was also able to notice a

mistake and correct the mistakes in the texts, when coming across words that are not

familiar, she was able to sound them out and sometimes was even able to substitute the

unfamiliar words with their synonyms. Eaglet from my analysis is a fluent reader, and

has an understanding of the information in which she is reading. From the questioning,

she had pointed out that reading is boring and did not like it very much.

Education:

The child joined the nursery school at the age of three and has never repeated a class. He

is currently attending a nursery school in Athens, Greece. He comprehends, remembers

and follows oral instructions or orders. He also remembers things in the right sequential

order. He learns better by listening to the person and he can discriminate between the left
and right. He also finds the right lexis in order to express himself, but he has difficulty in

organizing his thoughts and expressing himself correctly.

Medical history since infancy:

The child is generally in good health and is not under any medication at the present time.

He has never been checked for visual problems or hearing problems. However, his vision

and hearing appear normal and unaffected. The SLT suggested ENT check-up, but his

mother is afraid of anesthesia. The child’s tooth condition is very good. He has never

undergone any surgery or admission to hospital, accidents or illnesses and he has never

suffered any psychological disorders. The child is often affected with frequent sore throat

and laryngitis and his parents denied his having earache and otitis (although he often

has). His vaccinations are valid.

Prenatal history:

This was the mother’s first pregnancy. During pregnancy she didn’t experience or suffer

any of the following:

excess weight, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, diabetes, chickenpox or mumps, high

fever, anemia, limbs swelling, Rh negative, dietician insufficiency and renal infections.

The baby came to life via caesarian section. It was a 39week incubation and the baby

weighed 3,150kg. The baby cried by the time he came to life and he didn’t need any

oxygen supply. He didn’t receive any special medication or therapy during birth and he

didn’t stay in the maternity ward longer than his mother.

Results of previous observations/assessments

Cognitive development
Regarding the child's cognitive development, it has not been assessed, but there are no

worries. The same applies to his perceptual skills.

Motor skills

The child used the spoon in order to eat on his own when he was 7-8 months and walked

without assistance at the age of 10 ½ months. He climbed up stairs (assisted) at the age of

11-12 months and at the age of 2 years old (unassisted). He rode a three-wheel bicycle

using the pedals when he was three years old. He is left-handed, but he uses his right

hand in activities such as playing and sometimes in his eating habits. Regarding his body

coordination (stability, graceful movements, walking), it is good. He holds the cutlery

steadily and he has a good grasp of his pencil.

Speech and language history

The child’s phonological ability as an infant was moderate. He babbled as an infant and

he expressed his first words at the end of his first year. Two-word and three-word

combinations took place quite later. He already uses words in order to express himself.

Moreover, he always maintained interest when playing games, watching TV, looked at

illustrated books and being read to by somebody else. He never turns up the TV volume

more than the usual one. His speech is comprehensible by his parents, but with difficulty

by strangers, friends and relatives.

The therapist has used various techniques in order to guide the child through the

acquisition of phonemes that were not included in his phonetic repertoire. She guided the

child to produce /θ/ (dental), for instance, by asking him to twist his tongue in a

“sandwich” position. Moreover, her use of kinesthetic and tactile approaches was evident.
She used the child’s hand on his throat in order to feel the sound for /j/. The phonemes /θ/

and /δ/ are not yet generalised. The therapist concluded that the child is affected by a

general immaturity (behavioural, psychological) and his speech difficulties are just part

of his general immaturity

Characteristics of the child’s behaviour:

He is not characterized by anxiousness, stress, destructiveness, hyperactivity, insomnia,

irritability, withdrawal or any other problematic and awkward kind of behaviour. He

loves playing with other children, peers, older and younger ones. He has no difficulty in

standing still for specific temporal spans in order to complete a task.

The child’s strengths can be summarized in being smart, having a solid memory, being

outspoken, easy-going and protective. Regarding his weaknesses, parents or specialists

have to often remind him of his limits and limitations, and specific activities cannot be

planned beforehand, especially his sleep pattern.

Suggestions for Further Investigation

My suggestions rely on the hypothesis that the child may probably face phonological

immaturity, since there are not any findings in the background information and history

that justifies his impairment.

The child should be assessed related to all aspects of speech and language. An ore-motor

assessment should take place along with a phonological one and connected speech

samples should be taken, in order to investigate the articulatory or phonological

impairment this child might be affected with and in order to focus on a specific target and

achieve it through the right intervention approach.