Running Head: CHILD STUDY

Child Study
Nonnie K Jones
Ivy Tech Community College

CHILD STUDY
I.

General Background Information

The child that I observed was 3 years old. This child is the oldest child of three. He has a
younger brother that just turned 2 years old. He just recently greeted his baby sister into this
world. She was born December 22nd. His parents are in their mid-twenties and this past summer
they just got married. The child has had a lot of excitement going on within this past year. He has
a big family that they are very close to. The child has two grandmothers, two grandfathers, an
auntie, cousin around his same age. They are all running around the house at one point or
another. The mother stayed home with the child until he was around 7 weeks old, then he started
at the daycare that she currently works at. He has been at the same daycare since he was 7 weeks
old. Prior to the he was home with his mother and father and occasionally his grandparents. This
child currently still attends this child care center. He is surrounded by a multiple different
children around his age group. He is typically at school from around 9 am until 6 pm. A typical
in life for this child is as follows: He wakes up around 7:30 a.m. and gets dressed. His parents
does not allow him to choose his own outfit quit yet, however he is pretty good at putting on his
clothes with a little help. He then goes to brush his teeth which he is capable of doing
independently. His mother and father are normally trying to assist the younger siblings to get
ready in the morning. They are also trying to get him to be more independent regarding dressing
himself properly. His mother stated that on a normal day he has his favorite breakfast which is
pancakes, depending on how crazy the morning routine goes. She also states that her child is a
very picky eater and is not interested in trying new things. They are working on helping him
work on his eating choices. By 8:45 a.m. they are leaving to go to school. Some days depending
on his mothers schedule his father actually drops him off. When he is dropped off by dad he still
comes at the same time in order to keep the consistency. The commute from home to school is

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typically around 15 minutes depending on traffic. If mom is the one dropping off her is normally
talking to him about having a good day at school. If dad is dropping off he allows the subject to
come up with the topics that they speak about. Dad normally is the one that just goes with the
flow. When he arrives to school he is offered another breakfast that is different every day. Unless
the breakfast is pancakes he does not eat. Instead he says bye to his mother and goes right into
playing. This child is a very socialite. He has a lot of friends at his daycare and is adored by a lot
of the teachers. After the drop off time is over they normally all split and go to their own
classrooms. When he goes over to his class he goes to play in different centers. Their routine was
as follows: morning circle, activity time, snack, outside time, lunch, nap, snack, afternoon
activity time, table tops, go home. At around 9:30 they all complete circle time together. He is
really engaged during this time. Ending circle time they have to spell their name and he does that
proudly. Then around 10:00 a.m. they have a snack, typically he does not eat the snack unless it
is crackers or animal cookies. When they finish snack they go outside and play until lunch
arrives around 11:45 a.m. After lunch they prepare for nap time (1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.) the
teachers get their specific cots and put them in their designated spots. All of the students are
expected to have their rest time but they do not have to sleep during this time. In fact there are
some students that are allowed to look at books on their cots during this time. The subject is
actually one of the first kids to go to sleep in his classroom. He normally sleeps the full two
hours of nap time. After nap they are required to put their nap stuff away and prepare for snack.
After nap weather permitted they go outside from 3:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. After their outside
time they come in and complete their p.m. activity from 4:30 p.m. until 5:00. At this point they
clean the room on their own and begin to play with the table top toys. That allows them to calm
down and wait for their parents. Since the subjects mother works there he is occasionally the last

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child there at 6, unless his dad picks up. If dad picks up he normally leaves around 5:30 p.m.
When the child is picked up from the daycare he goes straight home on a normal day. On his way
home they speak about what he did in school on that day and how his overall day is. That
conversation typically takes them all the way home because he always has a lot to say. His
father is the parent that is normally home first so he provides the children with dinner. The
family normally sits in the living room around 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. and eats dinner together.
They have the kiddie table in the middle of the living room that the kids sit and eat at. They
normally watch television while eating dinner. They watch a lot of Thomas the Train and Mickey
Mouse Club House because those are his and his little brothers favorite shows. After they finish
dinner dad helps him and his brother take a bath and get dressed. After the subject is finished
bathing he likes to play on his mothers phone. She has downloaded a few different educational
games on her phone that he understands how to play. These games help him with his alphabet,
numbers, colors, etc. By around 9:00 p.m. it is time for bed. By the end of the day he doesnt
fight it because he is exhausted. He sleeps in his own room with his younger brother and it is rare
that he ever gets up in the middle of the night. This child do not have any emotional, social, or
physical issues that I was aware of during the visits. One of the observations took place at the
childs house for an hour. The other two hour observations took place at his daycare center.
II.

Physical and Motor Development

The subjects mother reported that the subject weighed thirty-eight pounds and was fortyone and inches tall at his last well-child checkup, approximately one month prior to our
first observation and interview. According to the website,
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools, the subject is in the 67th percentile for weight and the
64th percentile for height. The subject appears healthy by visual speculation. The subject is
left handed in most activities. Both the subjects mother and father are right handed, so this
does not appear to be a dominant trait. According to the website,
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/Pages/Developmental-Milestones-3to-4-Years-Old.aspx , there are many developmental milestones that a child of this age should
have reached.
Milestone Yes
No
Comment
Hops/Stand on 1 foot up to 5 sec.
X
Very easily accomplished
Upstairs/downstairs by self X
Very easily accomplished

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Kicks ball forward X

Can kick forward and side; has played soccer
Throws ball overhand
X
Can throw over and underhand; has played t-ball
Catches bounced ball
X
More often than not
Moves forward/backward X
Runs, walks, and skips forward; walks backwards
Copies square shapes
X
Can copy fine. When asked to recreate without
copying and without a visual cue, a little difficult for the subject.
Draws person with 2-4 body parts X
Drew a picture of his family; included
himself, dad, mom and the dog. All people had head, body, and appendages, although not the
correct amount. Had to ask the subject to tell me who was who.
Uses scissors
X
Can cut.
Draws circles
X
Had no problem copying or recreating without a visual
cue.
Copy capital letters X
Can trace capital letters. Had a hard time copying
capital letters and when asked to write his name, could only get the letters i and l correct.
According to the subjects mother, the subject participated in soccer and t-ball this past
summer. The subject has no issue with physical movement and this could be a direct correlation
with his participation in the summer league sports. The subject could not write letters or
numbers on the line, even when large lined paper and large writing utensils and large, fat
crayons were presented. The subject had no issue creating circles, but had a much harder time
creating squares and rectangles and had no idea how to create a triangle. This all appears to be
developmentally appropriate for a child of this age.

III.

Cognitive Development
Milestone
Speaks in 5-6 word
sentences
Tells Stories

Yes
X
X

No

Comment
The subject makes
clear sentences.
The subject is
continuously telling

Able to be

some crazy story.

The subjects mother

understood by

stated that a random

strangers

lady in a store
understood him.

Correctly names

Speaks clearly!
He know all of the

some colors

colors he needs to

Knows a few

know at this age.

He could count to

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numbers

10 then began to
mix the next few

Have a clear sense

of time
Follows three part

numbers up.
He does not have a

clear sense of time.

He follows all

demands
Recalls parts of a

demand pretty well.

He recalls stories he

story
Engages in fantasy

heard weeks ago.

He loves to play

play

that he is an
airplane and
dinosaur.

The child seems to be very developmentally appropriate for his age. The student might
even be above average for a three year old child. He develops sentences that strangers are able to
understand. The subject is always willing to tell a story and is able to go into great detail. He
sometimes repeats himself but none the less he is very clear and understandable. During one of
my observations at his daycare we were able participate in an activity & have a conversation in
order to determine the Piagetian stage that appropriately describes him. One of his favorite areas
in the classroom is the block area. I used this as a perfect opportunity to point out an example of
conservation stage of the Piagetian. We built a tower of 10 blocks while counting to 10. Then we
made another 10 block tower that was laid out on the floor. At this point I was able to ask him
which tower had more blocks in it. The subject stated that the 10 block tower that was standing
had more blocks than the 10 blocks tower that was on the floor. I asked him a simple question

CHILD STUDY

which was, why he thought that specific one was bigger than the one on the floor. His response
was, that tower is bigger because it is that tall! After he answered the question I suggested that
we counted the tower of blocks together. We counted the first tower that was standing and agreed
that it was 10 blocks. Next we counted the tower that was on the floor and again agreed that it
was 10 block that made that tower. After counting both of the towers again I repeated my
original question that was asked above. Even though we had both recounted the towers he
continued to say the tower that was standing had more block in it. His actually response was,
remember I just told you that this one (pointing to the tall tower) has the most blocks. Even
though they were both the same he thought the taller one automatically had more blocks in it.
This childs language development is definitely on the right track. I actually believe that his
language development might even be above average. He was able to communicate with me
during out little blocks activity. I was able to fully understand him without questioning anything
that he was saying. I believe the fact that he has been in a day care setting since he has around 7
weeks old has definitely helped him develop. His mother also seemed to be very interested in his
development because she is a teacher and expects a lot out of him. Obviously he wasnt able to
realize the towers had the same number of blocks but he was able to count with me and
communicate about the towers. He was able to focus during my home visit for about 15 minutes
tops. However, at school he was able to focus a bit longer. I think he was just excited to be doing
something else in his class that his friends was not doing. I believe that this childs language
development is developing how a three year olds should be developing.