Toddler Observation (papers)

The Child Environment

As I stated before the infants are in the same area as the toddlers but have a door that helps them have they own space. The infant area has a daily plan sheet on the wall when you first walk in to the left. When walking in their is a toys area, the cribs and to the right has the changing table, next to this is where all the food is stored plus a microwave, then there's a rocking chair and,next to the changing area then next to that is a sink Their is a door in the room that lead you to an hallway that has highchairs for the infants and a little table for the toddlers.

Physical Development

Physical development has to do with Sensorimotor Stage, the child evolves from a undifferentiated state with some bioloigial givens, such as reflexes, to an organism that recognizes the outside world as separate from itself, differentiates perception from thought, and begins to use symbols and signs (Malerstein, A. J., & Ahern, M. M. (1979). The infant i observed was a eight month old boy who i am going to refer to as baby A. He was able to sit up on his own and crawl to where he wanted to go. Baby a demonstrated a lot of reflexes, such a crawling, grasping and sucking. He would only chew on the nipple of the bottle because he has always been breastfed. With assistance the boy is able to stand up by grabbing on to the object or with the help of holding a hand. I saw him clapping his hands when he heard the other kids sing the song. The infant was very active after he finished breakfast. However, Malerstein, A. J., & Ahern, M. M. (1979) states the symbolic-stage child does not yet grasp the essence of an object. He confuses one object with another, and part objects with whole objects as well as symbols with objects. For example baby A confused a toy object with his food and what he was allowed to be eating.

He demonstrated his co-ordinating secondary schemes such as when he heard music play on the phone he would move toys just to get to it. Baby A would crawl to a toy just to play the music it has. He recognize himself in mirror toys and would start yelling to get someone to look at him. Co-ordinating schemes includes object-permanences, anticipates events and goal-directed activities. At feeding time Baby A would try to reach for his bib or he would start crying to get attention.

Cognitive development

Cognitive development refers to the way a baby learns to think, remember, imagine, gather and organize information. Infants are now building on what they learned in the first three stages in order to get what they want. Babies at this age will mimic what they see others doing. For example when they see caregiver clap baby will clap. Some have argued that as children grow from infancy through early childhood the influence of daycare may change it. These studies suggest that centre-based care during the later toddler and preschool years (e.g., after age 2) may be more beneficial for children’s academic skills development than infant/early toddler centre-based care for children under the age of 2 (Loeb et al., 2007; NICHD ECCRN & Duncan, 2003; Votruba-Drzal, Coley, Koury, & Miller, 2012).

What i observed says different from these studies, Baby A was able to learn his number with certain toys or when him and the teacher play counting games with him. He was also learning colors, shapes, and they have reading time , he learned about animals etc. so i don't agree with this study. Going to school at a infant age will prepare them to be around kids and not be so aggressive towards them, this will help them problem solve share and otherwise play and learn well together, while their minds are still growing and personalities still emerging. Finding a quality daycare center where children are supported, engaged, encouraged and exposed to a positive attitude can help babies and toddlers set the groundwork for later intellectual strides(Lacey West)

Socioemotional development

Another Development we can see in infancy stage is the attachment theory. We have four different attachment theories secure, (insecure) avoidant, (insecure) anxious/ambivalent, and (insecure) disorganized. Research has found that secure attachment lead to beneficial results. While insecure attachment will present developmental risks for the growing child.

Colmer, K., Rutherford, L., & Pam Murphy. (2011) states, Ideas of attachment theory suggest that children learn about themselves and others and how to manage their feelings as part of growing up in relationships. Research has shown that a mother’s ability to attune, regulate, and appropriately respond to an infant has significant relational and developmental implications (Bowlby 1988; Brennan et al. 2000;. A child having a good attachment with its mother is a template that shapes our expectations for future relationships it is important for the caregiver to have a good relationship with the child because the child will take these effects with other relationships. Baby A showed signs of a avoidant attachment he was very comfortable with the caregiver and didn’t really notice when she left , he continually played with the other babies or with his favorite train toys.

Baby A was a very active child who shows proximodistal growth. He is very interested in reaching a goal when playing with toys now. His goal is to only play with toys that are going to help him stand or keep his balance. I would say baby A is growing good and reaching all his milestone for his age.

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