Preschool Observation Essay

There is growth and development in a child if he or she shows the necessary skills or milestones for his or her age. This essay is a case study of a pre-school child. An observation was done to determine whether the child has matured intellectually, emotionally and physically with her age. The child, who is two years and nine months old, was observed while she was in her play room with her mother one hour before her bed time. Below is an account of the observation. The child is kneeling on the floor and is opening a box of toys. She places blocks and cubes on the floor. Her mother joins to play with her. When her mother asks her what she is taking out of the box, she answers, â€Å"Toys. † After emptying the box, she chooses blocks with colors yellow, orange and red and she starts to form objects out of it. First, she lines up the longer orange blocks. Then, she stacks these blocks together by putting shorter blocks which are colored yellow and red on top of the orange blocks. The resulting object is like a train. Afterwards, she disassembles it and creates another object which looks like a phone and she pretends to talk to someone else with it. Next, she takes the red and orange blocks and forms a square using three longer blocks supported by one longer block and two shorter blocks underneath. The shape is not recognized by her mother so she asks her, to which she replies â€Å"toys. † Then she tries to tell a story as she makes gestures and actions and she tries to explain but only the words â€Å"she,† â€Å"ride,† and â€Å"ice cream† are intelligible. After explaining, she says, â€Å"Look at this†¦ These are toys†¦ Place this here† as she places a cube on top of the object. After a few minutes, a cat’s cry is heard from another room. She recognizes it and says â€Å"Cat†¦ Cat meow. † A little later, she gets a cloth and wipes her nose. Her mother asks what is wrong and she says, â€Å"Mommy, nose† to probably mean that she has a running nose. After a while, she counts from one to ten the blocks she formed into an object. Then, her mother asks her the color of a block and she answers â€Å"red† but she cannot recognize the colors pink and blue when she was asked. After that, her mother asks how old she is and she quickly answers â€Å"Two† and shows her two fingers. By and by, she sees a picture book, which is an atlas for children, on the shelf. She points at it and articulates â€Å"Book†¦ Read book. † Her mother gives her the book. She starts to turn the pages one by one and she recognizes pictures of a cow, earth, water, stars, bird, fish, and a dog especially when her mother points out a picture and asks her the names for those pictures. Her mother also teaches her the names of a few of the pictures such as a whale and a bear. She is quick to remember the image of a bear because when she was near the end of the book, she suddenly asks, â€Å"Where bear? † and she turns back the pages of the book to find it. She exclaims, â€Å"It’s here! † when she found it. Her mother tries to help her turn the pages of the book but she exclaims, â€Å"Wait! † and continues to turn the pages on her own. There was a time when she mentions the word â€Å"heavy† referring to the heavy pages of the book. She pretends to read the words written on paper and looks at the pictures most of the time. Furthermore, she turns back to the pages she has already seen again and again. She also recognizes pictures of babies because when her mother asked her what can be seen on the page with baby pictures, she responds, â€Å"Baby. † Her mother then asks her how many babies there are and she accurately counts from one to three. Since it was almost her bedtime, her mother tells her to go to sleep, she says, â€Å"Wait. No sleep† but yawns. Then, she stands up, says â€Å"Me sleep,† goes to the door of her bedroom and opens it. Once inside the bedroom, her mother undresses her and dresses her up for sleeping. While dressing up, she tries to help by lifting her arms to fit to the sleeves of the shirt and lifting her legs to put on the pajamas. After that she says, â€Å"Mommy, milk. † So, her mother gets her milk, gives it to her and she drinks it from a cup. Based on the observation, the child displays the common developmental milestones of a two to three-year old preschool in terms of her cognitive, socio-emotional and motor skills. These are enumerated below: Primarily, the child exhibits the following cognitive skills of most two-year old children: (1) uses more than 100 words; (2) likes to take things apart; (3) uses 2 to 3 word sentences; (4) refers to self as â€Å"me†; (5) verbalizes desires; (6) enjoys looking at one book over and over; (7) points to body parts (Powell & Smith); (8) recognizes familiar pictures; and (9) asks for items by name (Developmental Checklist). Moreover, she demonstrates what other three-year children can do such as: (1) naming pictures of a book; (2) naming at least one color; and (3) knowing and telling her age (Goodbye Babyhood). Aside from these skills, it is observed that she can recognize animal sounds and she can already count from numbers one to ten. Furthermore, the child demonstrates the following socio-emotional skills: (1) shows awareness of parental approval; (2) displays independence to do things on her own; and (3) likes to imitate adult activities such as talking on the phone (Miss Independent). In addition to this, she can already perform motor skills such as: (1) opening a box; (2) building or stacking up small blocks; (3) using toys appropriately; (4) using a cup well; (4) dresses up with help (Miss Independent); and (5) turning pages of a book two to three at a time (Developmental Checklist). In conclusion, the preschool child who has been observed is on the right track in the growth milestones children of her age range develop. She has progressed in her cognitive, socio-emotional and motor skills as a two-year old child. Works Cited â€Å"Developmental Checklist for Infants and Toddlers. † Jacksonville Medicine. March 2000. University of Florida, Jacksonville Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers. 11 March 2009.