Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study Case Study For my final project I chose to complete a case study

or!ing ith a child" Child A# Child A is t o years and eight months old" $orn August 25" 2%&& eighing '#( pounds and &(#() inches long# His mother" mid*thirties" had a typical pregnancy and actually ended up $eing induced at +% ee!s and , days gestational age" as her hus$and as going out of to n for a fe ee!s on

$usiness# -hey ha.e one older daughter /+0 and a ne $orn son /6 months0# Child A has al ays had a nanny at home" and de.eloped mostly typically# He $egan to al! at a$out &% months and started saying small ords at &+ months" $ut at age 2 as not spea!ing as much as the parents ould ha.e li!ed# His speech has $een a concern for his parents" and is currently a concern to his preschool teacher# His preschool teacher is a .eteran teacher" ha.ing or!ed in the field of education for 2% years ith at least ) of that $eing in early childhood education# Child A is the youngest in his preschool class and is surrounded $y children ho are .ery .er$al# Child A has $egun to communicate more .er$ally ithin the past si1 months" $ut is still relying mostly on physical communication to e1press and get hat he ants# In gross motor de.elopment" Child A is also $ehind his peers# 2hen al!ing or running Child A is unsteady and does not focus his head in one direction" he rolls it around not al ays loo!ing here he is going# His fine motor s!ills seem on par ith a$out half of the children in his class" Child A uses a closed fist hile dra ing or coloring# He is a$le to use a pincher*grasp to pic! up small items li!e coins# Child A doesn3t seem to ha.e any preference hen it comes to classroom acti.ity" he usually a.oids going immediately to hat the group is doing $y gra$$ing a toy and running in the opposite direction in the classroom# 2hen it is transition time ithin the room" he a.oids s itching acti.ities# If it is time to transition from the classroom to another room or outside he illingly joins the class line to lea.e#

Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study For my o$ser.ation period I chose to focus on atching Child A3s social interactions and his language" as ell as his physical de.elopment compared to peers and the 4typical5 de.elopment le.el for his age# Child A typically did not see! out playmates in class" though he ould interact ith a child that came near him or as playing ith the same toys $ut only if that child initiated play# 6n only one occasion did I itness Child A see!ing out a peer to play" and that as hen another $oy as on the carpet playing ith a mo.ing dump truc! toy# Child A too! t o superhero figurines from the ta$le and al!ed o.er to the $oy on the carpet# -he $oy on the carpet smiled" saying 4Hi" Child A75 Child A sat do n $eside the $oy and opened the gar$age can portion of the dump truc!" stuc! his superheroes inside and $egan laughing# -he other child laughed along ith him" and then ga.e Child A one of his heroes $ac! hile playing ith the other# Child A gra$$ed the other superhero from the child and left the carpet" sco ling# -he end of these $oys3 interaction as .ery typical for Child A from my o$ser.ations# He enjoys playing" $ut does not ant anyone to touch the things he is playing ith# If he as playing ith t o heroes and someone came to the ta$le to ta!e a super hero from the pile of ten*t enty heroes" Child A ould yell" cry and e.en reach out to hit the other child# -o try and gauge Child A3s understanding of social interactions I chose to focus on identifying emotions# 8sing picture cards of children crying" smiling" ya ning" sco ling" and gasping# I ould sho him t o pictures at a time" say the crying child and the smiling child" and ould as! him hich child as happy# Child A as a$le to identify hich child as happy" sad" and angry# He as una$le to identify the tired and scared faces# -he class" as a hole" ere a$le to identify all of the emotions in the picture cards# After ha.ing the children identify the emotions I as!ed them all to ma!e their o n happy" sad" angry" sleepy and scared faces# -he children all made different faces for each emotion" laughing and calling the game silly#

Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study I also spent one afternoon counting the fre9uency of ho often Child A ould touch another student in a rough manner# Child A" o.er the course of a$out t o hours" had hit" pushed or touched any of his classmates &) times# 2hen a child got too close to him" he ould push them a ay# If a child touched a toy that he had" he ould hit or push them# 6nly once in this time period did I hear Child A say to someone" 4No75 and that as hen the teacher said it as time to clean up# Child A isn3t physical for lac! of redirection or guidance" either" as his teachers used each opportunity they could to remind him that e use our ords in preschool" and that instead of touching our friends he should get the teacher# -o help Child A ith his language s!ills" I taught him some $asic signs# :y entire time in the classroom I used signs hile spea!ing ith the children" so they ere $eginning to recogni;e hat I as signing and hat I as saying ere related# -he t o signs that all of the children ere a$le to recogni;e ere 4sit do n5 and 4stand up5# Child A specifically understood these signs hether or not I accompanied them ith .er$al prompts# Child A also or!ed ith me on learning to sign 4yes5 and 4no"5 as hen he as as!ed 9uestions he typically ouldn3t respond# I ould !neel do n so e ere a$le to loo! eye*to*eye easily and say" 4Child A" ould you li!e to play /.er$al < sign for play0= >es or no= /?er$al and signs for yes < no05# I ould hold out a toy for him" and if he reached for the toy I ould say 4>es /.er$al and sign0 you ant to play /.er$al and sign05# I ould then ha.e Child A repeat the sign for 4yes5 using hand*o.er*hand to guide him" or modeling the sign and as!ing him to sho me# -he sign for 4no5 as harder for Child A to repeat accurately" as it in.ol.es using the thum$ and first t o fingers and closing them li!e an alligator3s mouth# Child A tried to imitate this sign" $ut ended up using his thum$ and all four fingers after struggling to use the first t o fingers alone# 6.er all" Child A or!ed onderfully hen com$ining speech and simple sign language" and his teacher commented that utili;ing sign language ould $e a .ery good tool for Child A since his .er$al s!ills are lac!ing#

Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study As for Child A3s physical de.elopment" hich in $oth the fine and gross motor s!ills he is $ehind his peers" I chose to focus on his gross motor de.elopment# 6ne acti.ity e completed as al!ing up the slide during playground time e.ery day# -ypically" the children aren3t allo ed to al! up the slides at this center" $ut after spea!ing ith the teacher a$out my idea he allo ed it# -he hole class lined up and too! turns al!ing up the slide 2 times $efore running off to play in other parts of the playground# 2al!ing up the slide helps strengthen children3s core muscles" $alance" and focuses on using $oth arm and leg strength to hold on to the edges of the slide and clim$ up# 6f all the children" Child A appeared to li!e this acti.ity the most# After the hole class did their t o clim$s" Child A continued to clim$ up the slide ithout prompt from myself or his teachers# 2e did" ho e.er" .er$ally encourage him as he clim$ed on his o n# He as a$le to hold his core straight and use his arms" $oth on one side of the slide" to clim$ up to the top# 6nce he as at the top of the slide" Child A ould lie do n on his $elly on the flat jungle gym floor and use his arms to pull the rest of his $ody off of the slide# 6.er all" for a t o year old" Child A is doing ell# He is .ery ego*centric and focuses only on himself and hat he is playing ith" rather than considering his peers and teachers# @hysically his fine motor s!ills are lac!ing" and he isn3t a$le to run ith purpose or confidence# -hese s!ills" ho e.er" can $e impro.ed ith more focus on completing physical acti.ities as a class and encouraging the !ids to participate rather than only in.ol.ing those ho ish to participate# Child A3s language and social s!ills are the one area that really concern me" though# He has little interest in spea!ing in class and one*on*one" $ut the sign language acti.ities did help him in communicating and he as acti.ely trying to sign along ith me" as ell as responding to my signs ithout needing a .er$al cue# His parents and teacher $oth had concerns a$out his .er$al a$ilities and hether or not he as understanding language" $ut it is clear to me that he understands# Child A just seems to ha.e a harder time e1pressing himself than his peers#

Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study

Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study

Case Study Reflection Having previously completed a child case study in high school, I came in to this project thinking I would tackle the objectives the same way. This was not at all the case as I had different goals in completing this new study, and I was working with a new child. That being said, I feel like this project was better planned and had a better overall outcome for myself, the child, the teachers, and the childs family. The parents and teacher of the child I chose to work with were all concerned about his communication skills both verbally and socially. Child worried me at first, too. fter a full two weeks of observing him, I had only heard him

use words to communicate his wants!needs once. ll of the other children in the class were constantly talking, asking and answering "uestions, and letting the teachers know what they were thinking, feeling or needing. #ithin the first three days I had decided that I would try and incorporate sign language into communications with the class, in hopes that Child up on it and become more responsive. This tactic proved very useful, as Child would pick

enjoyed signing.

He would constantly repeat my hand motions when he saw that I was signing, whether I was speaking to him specifically, or I was addressing the class or another student. His teacher even said that they $as a class% would have to utili&e basic sign language in order to better help children like Child e'press themselves.

long with his parents concerns of his social skills, I wanted to see if he was able to understand and identify emotion. Child recogni&ed typical emotions like happiness, anger, and sadness

shown through pictures of peoples facial e'pressions. He was able to make his own faces and gestures to e'press these emotions, though he never used his words to say (happy, mad) or

Angelica Nelson CHD 265 Case Study

(sad.) The rest of the class identified these emotions, and were also able to identify when a person was scared or sleepy. *hysically, Child seemed behind his peers but he didnt seem to know it. He ran, jumped and

climbed right alongside the other children. I did notice that he wasnt very stable while running, his head bobbled around, not focusing in any direction and rarely looking in the direction he was headed. To give him a more focused physical activity, I had the class practice climbing up the slide on their playground. This was an activity that everyone easily completed and enjoyed doing, most children coming back periodically during their playground time to climb again. This activity worked well, showing me that Child did have basic motor control, and he could focus

on where he was headed, using all of his muscle groups to get him there. +ver all, the case study was a great learning e'perience for me in working with this child, whom Ive known most of his life. It gave me the opportunity to reassure his parents that he does understand language, and he can use it, he just needs a little e'tra help to e'press himself. This also gave me the opportunity to focus on observation as a planning tool, and using my observations to assess a childs ability before and after an activity has been introduced. I enjoyed spending time in the classroom where I was able to really observe the children rather than just watch them, and to use those observations constructively to help the children further their skills.