Part (A) Case Study – Analysis and Interpretation of Running Record The most important point to consider in analyzing Jane’s case is the developmental stage she is in as well as the environmental factors which could be influencing some of her unusual traits, according to behavioral theories of child development (Pinder, 2008). She presents a rare case asynchronous development. After carefully studying and analyzing Jane’s case, the developmental domains that are displayed include;
The physical domain The cognitive and creative domains The social domain and The language domain. Judging from her asynchronous development traits, it is certain that Jane has for some time during her past undergone a not very conducive environment which has made her somewhat docile and withdrawn, unable to adjust to her immediate environment with relative ease contrary to expectations from a girl child of five years. This can be explained using Jean Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development whereby he suggests that children think differently from adults. Jane’s has been affected by the influence of her caregiver because they can not think the same way (Rice et al, 2006).
The fact that she has to be prodded by child B to join in the play and even after agreeing to play, she displays signs of disorientation is a pointer to an uneventful past which has contributed to her asynchronous development traits which can be blamed mostly on the caregiver(s) she may have had. According to the social development theory by Bowbly, the caregiver Jane has had could be the cause for her social behavior (Rice et al, 2006). This is a case of asynchronous development as Jane clearly can not with children her age (Vialle et al 2008). Jane seems lonely in her group with which she is supposed to be comfortable.
This is not until child B prevails upon her to join in the play does she liven up and join her in making cakes. She feels intimidated by the play group. She not confident and would prefer to play alone. Child B gives her the “clearance” to play, something she does hesitatingly for fear of the unknown as children her age are supposed to enjoy their play together as they try out new things in the process of play and development. Jane’s delayed development traits are caused mainly by her inability to mix well with her peers with which she can learn new things as they try out new discoveries.
Children aged five mostly learn things through group play and these learning experiences leave a lasting impression on them as they are in the motor development stage. What is stored in the brain shapes the future of the child as they are encoded in the long-term memory and can not be erased. Jane displays both delayed and advanced developmental traits. The source of her lack of connection with the play group can be traced to this trait as it is evident that her caregiver has had a great influence on her.
Research on child development has identified that children who display such character traits are dominated upon by their caregivers and tend to sometimes behave much older than they actually are (Rice et al, 2006). Jane shows some traits of delayed development. This is due to the fact that she derives pleasure in creating strange language as she converses with child B. They both get into a conversation concerning their play and eventually Jane familiarizes herself with the play tools, picks some play tools and starts to play on her own (Rice et al, 2006).
She displays signs of unsociability as she isolates herself from the rest of her colleagues who are playing a distance away. These are signs of poor social development as she is unable to make herself fit into their group and play with them. It is also a result of delayed development as by the age of five, she should be able to mix freely with other children and engage in their play activities. Her level of social development is not at the level of a child who is five years of age as she is supposed to participate in group play and cooperate with the other children.
Jane takes her sand cakes to the ‘oven’ and after some time she takes them out and finds some sticks which she inserts to the large cake to pretend that they are candles for a birthday cake, then offers it to child B. This is a pointer to social as well as cognitive development. She interacts with child B using the social domain. She is learning to assign meaning to things through the cognitive domain. She is trying to put what she has learnt into practice by making a birthday cake for her playmate and putting candles into it to resemble the real birthday cake.
She seems to enjoy teasing child B as she puts sticks into the toy birthday cake and jokingly presents it to child B as a real one in the process of social development. The social behavior displayed by Jane when she takes herself through the play is characteristic of six year-olds. She does not seem bothered to follow the established rules and indeed proceeds to make the cakes in her own new ways which is not the procedure with other children. This is advanced development. She has problems with emotional development as she loses concentration very easily.
She abandons making cakes; which is supposed to be enjoyable play with child B, and goes over to the other children to watch what they are doing. This should not be the case as her colleagues are still enjoying group play while she does not care to join them. She is not as active as a five year-old is supposed to be (Pinder, 2008). Jane displays cases of physical development when she goes to the sand pit and dips her feet into the sand to feel it while other children go straight to play. This is delayed development as this kind of behavior is not supposed to be present in five year-olds.
Instead, it is exhibited by much younger children. She should also be able to concentrate her efforts and attention on what she is supposed to be doing at that moment, but she seems to have problems with concentration. Her inconsistency in concentration and attention is a sign of asynchronous development. Jane is not as attentive as she is supposed to be. She does not seem to care much about what is happening around her. While her partner, child B, shows a lot of attention to detail, Jane does not seem to care a lot about what is going on. Jane is excellent in terms of cognitive development.
She is able to reason more than child B as she suggests putting the cakes into the oven. She also very creative as she makes five holes on the large cake puts five sticks into it and gives it to child B as a birthday cake to indicate that she is five, the number of sticks she put into the cake. Her level of thinking is evidently higher compared to her age. This is logical and it is a pointer that level of reasoning is higher than that of her colleagues. She is creative as she tries to imagine a real birthday cake complete with candles totaling the number of years her playmate is about to have.
This is high-level cognition for a child of five years like Jane. Part (B) Where to from here for this child? It is still very early to rule out the possibility of extending Jane’s play and development. There are several ways in which adults can help this girl child to grow into a normal adult. Her case can become a permanent condition, probably worsening at adolescence where there are cases of identity crisis and therefore urgent intervention is required. She needs to be taken through confidence-building exercises so as to develop social skills to enable her to mix well with fellow children at school.
Her parents should organize for an expert caregiver who can organize for her some plays with other children to improve her play and development. This is the most effective way of bringing her to learn how to live with other children as equals without feeling intimidated and out of place. Jane is in a very crucial stage in child development which will greatly determine her future character hence the need to help her improve her play and development (Pinder, 2008). The caregiver should emphasize most on Jane’s motor development, more specifically learning and play development as this is where she is headed when she reaches six years.
This will include activities such as vigorous running, climbing and jumping. At this stage, her span of attention is bound to increase and thus she should be able to display increased activity especially by working on tasks for longer hours. She will be able to concentrate effort although not with remarkable consistency. At six, Jane will enjoy solving problems as well as sorting activities such as stacking, solving puzzles and mazes which are part of motor development characteristic of children at this age.
At age six, Jane is expected to take joy in the challenges posed by puzzles, sorting activities and counting as well as matching letters with heir corresponding pictures. The adult caregiver should capitalize on this stage of motor development to help Jane develop traits that can enable her acquire a positive attitude and reshape her future and to comfortably coexist with her peers. The caregiver should encourage her to go out and play by giving her the necessary toys. This will make her develop an interest to interact with other children while playing with her most favorite toys and games.
The caregiver has to be selective in the kind of games that Jane will play. They have to be suitable for girls so that she can develop traits that are compatible with her gender. This is the most suitable way in which a girl child with asynchronous development traits in terms of delayed development can be helped to catch up with her age mates. To help her with difficulties in development, the caregiver should give her as many challenging puzzles as possible so that she can sharpen her problem solving skills (Pinder, 2008).
This is very important when it comes to quick thinking in situations which are difficult, especially when she is in the company of strangers. Jane should be encouraged to concentrate her efforts in her play and develop interest in it. At this stage of motor development, Jane can be helped to develop interest in some subject areas such as arithmetic and learn grammatical rules so as to avoid overgeneralizations for effective communication. She will still be at the stage of language development and she can be helped to develop effective communication skills.
The caregiver should put more effort on her language, social and emotional development during this stage. According to the theory of language development, children who do not undergo full language, social and emotional development at this stage have problems relating with other people in adulthood (Berk, 2008). This will include taking her on to social places where she can interact with other children to facilitate her play and social development. Story telling sessions are the ideal task to engage Jane in to sharpen her language skills.
Given the fact that children become friendly, trusting as well as cooperative towards adults at age 6, it will be very easy to handle Jane’s case because she will be receptive to the new ideas and concepts that are introduced to her by the adult caregiver. This aspect of motor development will enable her adjust and become social depending on how the adult will treat her and the thing that the adult teaches Jane. Jane will start to develop her own interests. She will be able to read. She will also be able to write her own name, put her own ideas and words on paper.
She will be able to form new concepts concerning distance, weight and size. The adult should seize the opportunity presented by this developmental stage and instill new concepts about play in the Jane. Toys, numbers and writing materials will be of great help to Jane as she can keep herself busy arranging them and writing down things in play and learning process. Physically, she will begin to lose her teeth and this presents the caregiver the opportunity to make her develop a positive attitude as she gets exited because she can realize that she is growing.
This is the time for the caregiver to mould Jane’s attitude to extent her play and development. The adult can help Jane with her learning development by encouraging her to write several words correctly as she learns how to write. The adult can encourage her to read short stories and watch pictures which stimulate her thinking. According to the social development theory by Bowbly, the caregiver can help Jane greatly in her social development (Hendrick & Weissman, 2006).
The adult can read the stories to her first then she can follow by imitating the caregiver as children at this age tend to copy adults. She will also undertake drawing images and assign meaning to them which will be very useful for her learning development. Jane will start to behave carelessly in the company of her peers. She will also begin assigning roles to other children and engage in role-play and as such the adult should keep a close eye on her to ensure that she does not acquire negative traits. The caregiver should give her an opportunity to engage in physical play.
She should be allowed to try out new activities and plays like story telling and dancing. The adult will facilitate this by creating a supporting environment by providing her with the necessary tools and equipment and involving her in a lot of talk concerning the stories that she is telling. Memory games are also very important in her play and learning development and as such the adult should try and play memory games with her for motor development. She should be taken through writing exercises to further her learning development (Vialle et al 2008).
The role of play in a child’s development is important to the mental and muscular development of a child. It will help Jane in her social development as she interacts with other children. She should be encouraged to interact with other children by engaging in role-play which will also help her develop emotionally (Berk, 2008). The adult should give her pictures to draw so as to fine-tune her manipulative skills due to the nature of movement that is involved. The adult should give Jane large toys to help her in muscular development while carrying, lifting and stretching them.
