After observing a nine month old child for this Child Observation paper, the author of this paper has taken copious notes during the session. The purpose of this paper is recognizing the biological, cognitive and psychosocial development of the child. The author of this paper identified the background history of the child, the observation made and the development process of the child. BACKGROUND The child chosen for this child observation paper is a nine month old male, who appears to a healthy normal child. His mother is Caucasian and father is half Caucasian and half Hispanic.
Mother and father are together however, are not married. He lives in the home with grandmother, mother, father, aunt, uncle a older female cousin who is three. He comes from a middle class background and has no siblings. The author of this paper observed him in the living room of his home. His mother kept all of his toys spread out on the floor in the middle of the room so that the author of this paper could observe him while he plays. The child had many toys such as blocks, plush toys, rings, keys, a stationary jumper and a toy that is designed to help the child learn to walk OBSERVATION.
The child is able to crawl across the room. He is able to stand and walk with the assistance of a piece of furniture. He is able to pull himself up from the sitting position holding on to the coffee table. Once he stands straight up he is able to walk around the table while holding on. He is able walk around the room if he is holding on to the toy that is designed to help a infant learn to walk. The child is able to wave good bye make face expressions, and able to say “dada”. He is able to understand the word no, but doesn’t always seem to obey it.
When his name is called is responds to it. He will respond to nick names as well. He can drink from a bottle and a Sippy Cup independently. He plays patty cake, and gives kisses. At the end of the session the child was ready for a nap, he crawled over to the grandmother and wimpered knowing that she would pick up and sing him to sleep. CHILDS BIOLOGICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Each of the observations above is part of the child’s biological, cognitive and psychosocial development. Learning to crawl is a classic example of cognitive learning.
The child learned how to crawl from his parents working with him. The parents would lay him on his stomach place a toy in front of him and make him reach for it. This is could be considered classical conditioning. The child wants the toy and he first gets it by reaching for it; he reaches for it, grabs and then he has it. Next the toy is placed out of his reach. He reaches and can’t get it, so he scoots to reach it. This process teaches him to crawl. Another example of behaviorism learning is learning to understand the word no.
Child A reaches for something he is not supposed to have, the parent states no in a stern voice and gives a smack on his hand. After a couple of times reaching and hearing the word no followed with a smack on the hand, child A associates the word no with pain, he then learns that no means stop what he’s doing otherwise pain will be inflicted, this is operant conditioning. “John B. Watson conditioned an 11-month-old infant to fear furry animals by showing the baby, who was easily frightened by noises, a white rat and simultaneously making a loud noise” (Parke & Gauvain, 2009, p.
Ch. 1). This can be compared to the process of nap taking for the child. When the child is tired his grandmother sings him to sleep. He hears the soft tone of his grandmother voice and he falls asleep. The psychosocial aspect of this learning process is the child instilling trust in his parents, Eric Erickson’s stage one, trust vs. mistrust. “The first stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and one year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life”(Cherry, n. d. )
OBSERVATION OF CHILD ‘S INTERACTION WITH ANOTHER CHILD. During the session, the child older three year old female cousin was in the room. The child interacts with her by following her around the room and tries to mimic her. At one point the older female cousin had her own Sippy Cup and the child tried to bully her for it. He pulled her hair while reaching for the cup. The child plays patty cake with the older cousin. Another point in the session he cried because she left the room. He grabs her face pulls her towards him and kisses her face. It seems as if the nine month old is fascinated with what the older cousin can do.
The two children play with toy cars with each other. The older cousin rolls the car to the infant the infant grabs and tries to roll it back. THEROIES The nine month old mimicking what the older cousin does can be compared to Albert Banduras example of Bobo doll, “group of nursery school children watched an adult punch a large Bobo doll (an inflated rubber doll that pops back up after being pushed), the children were more likely to attack and play aggressively with the doll than were a group of children who had not seen the model” (Parke & Gauvain, 2009, p. Ch. 1). CONCLUSION The developmental process of children is such an amazing process. Although all three of the theories mentioned were described, cognitive theory seems to be the most realistic theory for the author of this paper to talk about. Cognitive theory explains a child behavior by understanding the thought process. A child learns from his or her parents. Although the biological theory plays a big factor such as different milestones a child reaches by certain ages, the cognitive part of it is what makes a child learn an grow.
Reference
Cherry, K. (n. d. ). Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Retrieved 8/28/2010, from http://psychology. about. com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/psychosocial. htm Parke, R. D. , & Gauvain, M. (2009). Child psychology. A contemporary viewpoint (7th ed. ). : McGraw-Hill, a business unit of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
