jenniferreneecollins.weebly.com · Web viewPhysical and Motor Development. Bentley is in the in-between stages of a child and adolescents. He is just beginning to hit puberty, showing

Running Head: CHILD STUDY INVESTIGATION

Child Study Investigation

Educational Psychology 250

Jennifer Collins

September 18, 2017

CHILD STUDY INVESTIGATION 2

Bentley

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General Background Information

Bentley is 10 years old and in the 5th grade. He lives at home with his mother, father, his step-

brother who is 17 and a Junior in high school, and his other brother who is 12 years old and in

the 6th grade. Bentley is in great health and currently not taking any medications. He begins a

typical school day by waking up at 6:30 A.M. He is not morning person so it can be a struggle at

times to get him up and going. Once out of bed, he independently dresses himself. Bentley

usually wears basketball shorts with a t-shirt or a hooded sweatshirt. He then heads to the kitchen

to eat something for breakfast that is quick and simple. He prefers Reese’s cereal or pop-tarts

with a glass of milk. After breakfast, Bentley brushes his teeth and returns to his room to make

his bed. He and his brother get on the school bus around 7:25 A.M. Bentley arrives at school

around 8 o’clock and walks to his classroom. His teacher, Mr. Sankey teaches all subjects in his

classroom, as they are still elementary level. Bentley describes his days at school as fun and very

busy. He said they do reading first thing in the morning, followed by math and spelling. After

spelling it is time for lunch. I asked Bentley what his favorite food was, he replied “pizza.” He is

not a meticulous eater at all, pizza days just excite him! Once lunch is over they all go outside for

recess. Bentley enjoys to play kickball, basketball, and tag. Recess ends and he returns to his

classroom for science, social studies, and specials. The special schedule depends on what day of

the week it is. Monday and Thursday, he has P.E., Tuesday he has art, and Wednesday he goes to

music. He doesn’t have specials on Friday, so his teacher implements craft activities during this

timeframe. The school day ends with a bus ride home where Bentley comes in to eat a snack

while waiting for his older brothers to get home. After all homework is completed, he has the

choice of watching T.V. or playing the X-box for 2 hours. It does not matter if he chooses to do

both, the timeframe of 2 hours does not change.

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Dinner time is around 6 p.m. most evenings. Bentley and his family all eat dinner

together at the table. After dinner, he and his brothers must do their chores. Bentley is

responsible for feeding the dog, taking the trash out to the barn, and putting away his laundry

daily. On occasion, he helps with washing dishes, running the sweeper, and mowing the yard.

Our visits occurred at his house or on the football field. I watched Bentley a little closer on

our gatherings so I could observe his developmental abilities. Bentley is a sweet child who is full

of life.

Physical and Motor Development

Bentley is in the in-between stages of a child and adolescents. He is just beginning to hit

puberty, showing signs of arm-pit/leg hair growth, body odor after playing hard, and facial acne.

Bentley has a thin build and is rather tall. His mother takes him to scheduled well-check

appointments and confirms that he is above average in the height percentile and normal for his

weight.

Bentley has well developed gross-motor skills, he enjoys riding ATVs, bikes, scooters,

and is an avid athlete. He plays basketball, baseball, and football. He has made the all-stars team

in baseball multiple times. I observed him throwing/catching a football and baseball, his hand

and eye coordination movements are very strong. He is quick with his movements such as

running, catching a ball, throwing a ball, base sliding, and tackling. Bentley can skip, jump, stand

on one foot, and climb stairs without any issues.

Bentley appears to be physically fit, he has a thin build, strong muscles, and strong

endurance. He paces his breathing well when participating in anaerobic events, and does not tire

very easily. I did observe a physical difference in the child from being on the field to casual play

at home. While walking around at home, he walks on his tip-toes. I did ask Bentley if he does

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this for a reason or if it was out of habit. He said “it’s a habit because most of the time he doesn’t

realize that he is doing it.” There are no known physical issues to date to cause this behavior.

Bentley’s fine-motor skills appear to be strong as well. He can manipulate a cell phone,

tablet, and his x-box game controller. I observed Bentley draw a picture of a grassy area with

trees and a small stream. His drawing skills are good, even though he feels he is a terrible at it.

His pencil lines were very neat and I could identify what it was he was drawing. He does enjoy

technology time, but would prefer to be physically doing something.

After doing further research of developmental milestones for 10-year-olds, I have

determined that Bentley is growing appropriately for his age. Physical developments for 10 and

11-year-olds are very similar, therefore by age, Bentley could be considered slightly advanced

(Miller, 2017) (Tennessee Children’s Cabinet, 2017)

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Cognitive Development

Per Piaget, there are four cognitive developmental stages. They include sensorimotor,

preoperational, concrete, and formal stages. I will go into specific detail for each stage with some

of Bentley’s development.

Bentley and I were sitting downstairs in his living room when I asked him to categorize

objects in that room. He classified the couch and chair as furniture to sit on, the television and

computer stands were classified as furniture that held stuff, he classified the computer, television,

and his x-box into a technology category.

Conservation ability is where a child can understand that changing the form of an object

does not change the amount (Ormrod, 2014). For this activity, Bentley and I went into the

kitchen, “I asked him to get 2 cups of water, 1 large cup, and one small cup. I asked him to dump

a cup of water into each cup and tell me which cup had the most water.” Bentley replied with

“they both have the same amount of water it’s just the cups are different sizes which makes the

water sit at different levels.”

To test Bentley’s attention and memory skills I wrote down a list of 6 items for him to get

out of the refrigerator. The list included 2 slices of cheese, mustard, ketchup, 1 egg, and ranch

dressing. I gave him about 30 seconds to look over the list, and then changed the subject to sports

After 2 minutes, I asked him to get the items that were on my list from the refrigerator.

Surprisingly enough, he remembered all 6 items. The next round, I picked 1 object for him to

remember from each room in their house. The bathroom was a comb, the kitchen was a cup, the

living room was the remote, his room was a pair of socks, and a pillow from his mom and dad’s

room. I repeated the process by letting him look at my list and then changed the subject to his

favorite game to play on Xbox. Bentley talked about Minecraft and the worlds he has built with

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such detail that he had forgotten me asking him to get the items out of the refrigerator during our

in-depth conversation. I asked him once more to get the items from the list and said “I was trying

to trick him because I had not told him to go get anything yet during this round.” The last two

items, being the socks from his room and the pillow from mom and dad’s room he could not

remember. The time span between looking at the list of items was much longer in round 2 than

round 3. Bentley’s attention became focused on Minecraft, therefore he seemed to block

everything else out. This is typical for a 10-year-old. Their attention spans have increased since

kindergarten, but this supports why keeping a child engaged will benefit their learning (Center

for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).

I asked Bentley if he used any type of thinking strategy to help him better understand

things. The child responded with “I guess trial and error?” I asked him what he meant by that and

he said “I’m the type of person who never gives up on things. I may get mad, but I will find a

way to make something work.” I asked him to give me an example and he chose math. Bentley is

very strong in math and becomes discouraged if he is unable to solve a problem. Story problems

seem to be the most challenging because of the detailed information. He said there have been

times where he has used cereal, coins, pencil marks on paper etc. to get his thoughts all together.

Sometimes having a visual for more challenging story problems enhances the child’s learning

ability. Bentley’s reasoning for this basically stems from organization. If there is too much

information that is difficult to keep straight, the best way is to create visuals. I find the Bentley is

developing appropriately as the CDC confirms that more academic challenges are typical at

school (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015).

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Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Abilities

Age Onset

Bentley’s Acquired Abilities During the Four Different Stages.

Stage 1- Sensorimotor

Sensorimotor stage is where a child explores and becomes familiar with his/her surrounding environments.

Starts at birth

3 months- sat up 4-6 months learned to crawl 9 months began walking stacked blocks filled small bucket with balls just to

dump them out finger fed himself loved playing with pots and pans remembered the bowl of candy though

it was hidden. single words began to form began teething

Stage 2- Preoperational Stage

Children can think and communicate about things beyond their immediate experience but lack the ability to think logically

Around 2 years of age

With taking turns Tying his shoes Differentiating left and right Bowl and bladder trained Learned to ride a bike without training

wheels Eats with a fork Imaginative play with brother Michael Followed simple directions Small word phrases began Counted well but would use fingers to

point if he lost his place.Stage 3 Concrete Operational

The concrete operational stage is where adultlike logic appears but is limited to reasoning about concrete or real-life situations (pysch text).

Around 6 to 7

years of age

Used coins or cheerios for manipulatives in math

Used fingers if no manipulatives Baked with mom to learn how

measuring and fractions correlate Argumentative Understood conservation by use of

water Displayed seriation with variety of

noodle thickness.Stage 4 Formal Operational

Logical reasoning process are applied to abstract ideas as well as to concrete objects and situations

Around 11 or 12 years of

age

Demonstrated multiplication/division problems

Understands cause and effect Performs a lot of trial and error Learns responsibility by having chores Independent homework time Demonstrated ratio understanding with

colored fruit loops

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There are four stages in language development. The stages include phonology, semantics,

syntax, and pragmatics. Phonology is the language’s sound system (King, 2013). Bentley began

this stage around the age of 3 months by making cooing and babbling sounds. His language

continued to progress into clear single words or phrases. Semantics is the meaning of words and

sentences in a particular language (King, 2013). In Kindergarten, Bentley underwent speech

therapy for corrections in sound pronunciations. He struggled with L, R, G, TH, and SH sounds.

Our textbook supports minor speech issues being age appropriate, therefore I do not consider the

child to be delayed. “Sound mastery begins in kindergarten and is usually completed by second

grade, but some children have difficulty pronouncing R, TH, DR, SL, and STR sounds”

(Ormrod, 2014). Syntax is knowing how words can legitimately be combined to form

understandable phrases and sentences (Ormrod, 2014). Bentley is currently in the 5th grade and

he uses correct pronunciation with all sounds, creates stories, and uses his prior knowledge

during explanations. Our text states that “correct pronunciation of all sound in one’s language,

construction of stories with plots and cause and effect relationships, and increasing ability to take

listeners’ prior knowledge into account during explanations” (Ormrod, 2014) are age appropriate

in the third thru fifth grade. The last stage in language development is pragmatics. Pragmatics is

the social conventions and speaking strategies that enable effective communication with others.

Bentley can communicate his needs/wants well to others. Per Vygotsky, language is essential for

cognitive growth. I agree with this theory because as Bentley gets older, his vocabulary and

terminology skills will increase providing him more of a foundation to learn and build from.

“Language development continues throughout childhood and adolescence, in part as a result of

informal social interactions and in part as a result of formal instruction” (Ormrod, 2014).

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Social/Emotional Development

Erik Erikson proposed that people proceed through eight distinct stages over the course

of their lives. Each stage presents a unique developmental task, and how a person address it

influences her or his general mental health and progress through later stages (Ormrod, 2014).

Erik Erikson’s Psychological Development Stages

Bentley’s Acquired Abilities

1. Trust vs. Mistrust - Has learned to trust individuals who are dependable and meet his needs, those who fail to meet his needs do not gain his trust.

2. Autonomy vs. Shame - Has learned self-control by being more independent: dressing, eating, homework time. He would learn shame by someone telling him he looks like a slob or checking his homework every night as if he is unable to do it correctly

3. Initiative vs. Guilt - Derek takes the initiative to do his chores and complete his homework. He would develop guilt if his parents were to say checking his homework takes up too much of my evening

4. Industry vs. Inferiority - Derek understands that homework is important and must be done before and free time.

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion - Derek has not yet entered this stage. He enjoys staying busy but hasn’t discovered where he is headed in life.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation - Not applicable7. Generativity vs. Stagnation - Middle Age/ not applicable8. Integrity vs. Despair - Retirement Years/ not applicable

Our text claims “that children from third to fifth grade have knowledge of social conventions

for appropriate behavior, increased empathy for unknown individuals who are suffering or

needy, recognition that one should strive to meet others ‘needs as well as their own, growing

realization that fairness doesn’t necessarily mean equality, and an increased desire to help

others” (Ormrod, 2014). Bentley falls into each one of those categories. He has donated time

within his church to help prepare meals for those that are less fortunate. He has gone through his

toys several times and given them to children in shelters or displaced by natural disaster. His

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mother mentioned a trip to Walmart where Bentley helped an elderly woman unload her

groceries into her car. He is an extremely loving child who empathizes with others in unfortunate

circumstances. He is not a materialistic person, he would give something of his away if someone

is of greater need than him. Grade level moral development chart from our textbook suggests that

Bentley is on track in emotional and moral development (Ormrod, 2014). Per Kohlberg’s three

levels of moral reasoning, Bentley has reached Level II- Conventional morality.

Bentley has identified his gender role. He is very athletic and loves to ride dirt bikes and

four-wheelers. He often works with his dad at his auto repair shop during the summer months to

learn about vehicle maintenance. Bentley often helps his dad and mom cook and clean up the

kitchen afterwards. Though he prefers to be more masculine, he understands that men and

women can have the same responsibilities. His parents try their best to set good examples for

him and his older brothers.

Bentley has many friends at school, in church, and his sports travel teams. He enjoys having

sleepovers at his house with friends, playing board games, watching movies, and having

bonfires. He is quiet at first around people he does not know, but respectful at the same time. He

and his brothers have a love hate relationship like most siblings do. One day they are like the

“three amigos” and other days they are each other’s worst enemy. Having older brothers that are

close in age as well as friends at school, strengthens the child’s social abilities and improves his

emotional development by having more exposure to more prosocial situations. “At this stage,

children will learn to cooperate in group settings and group games; dislike playing alone”

(Tennessee Children's Cabinet, 2017).

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My Reactions, Recommendations, and Applications

I currently work with children in the child’s age group. I will say that Bentley is a well-

behaved young man who truly has a beautiful sole. His parents, coaches, teachers, friends at

church, and classroom peers have all influenced him in the positive direction he is headed in life.

I realize he is young and still has a lot of growing up to do, but some type of huge catastrophe

would have to occur to strip all the compassion this young man has for others.

If I had to recommend for something to be done differently, it would have been dealing with

the rages that Bentley went into when he was upset about something. Expressing your emotions

is one thing, but that type of behavior displayed loss of self- control. He needs to understand that

he can get mad, but life around him never stops. Avoiding all conversation is not a healthy

coping mechanism when dealing with anger. Taking a few moments to compose ourselves and

gather our thoughts before enacting is a better approach, because he could still function as a

member of society instead of disappearing until he cools off.

This assignment helped me become more familiar with physical, cognitive, emotional/social

developments that occur at different ages. This activity supports that learning occurs at different

times and not all struggles are developmental delays. I found it interesting just how much

influence the different stages of language had on an individual’s overall development. I plan to

use this newly gained knowledge in my own classroom. The more prosocial time I provide, the

stronger their language skills become, which enhances their development in all areas.

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Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016, March 15). CDC - child development,

middle childhood (9-11 years old) - NCBDDD. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/middle2.html

King, L. A. (2013). Thinking, intelligence, and language. In Experience psychology (2nd ed.,

pp. 242-275). New York City, NY: Pearson.

Miller, C. (2017, June 13). C | LIVESTRONG.COM. Retrieved September 21, 2017, from

http://www.livestrong.com/article/125518-physical-development-10yearolds/

Ormrod, J. (2014). Cognitive and linguistic development. In Educational Psychology

Developing Learners (8th ed., p. 35). New York City, NY: Kevin Davis.

Tennessee Children's Cabinet. (2017). Physical development: ages 11–13 - kidcentraltn.com.

Retrieved September 21, 2017, from https://www.kidcentraltn.com/article/physical-

development-ages-11-13

WebMD. (2017). Milestones for 10-rear-olds-topic overview. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from

https://www.webmd.com/children/tc/milestones-for-10-year-olds-topic-overview