Observation #1

Class/Section: FHS 1500-400

Name:
Kylee Sainsbury
Assignment: Observation 1
Background Information
Childs age:
19 months
Fictitious name:
Ashley
Location:
Cowabunga Bay Water Park located on 12047 S State St Draper, Ut 84020
Brief Description: There were a total of 6 children in this age group, and 3 moms watching
over the kids. They were playing in the kiddie pool, and the kids cove.
Physical Development
When I was sitting back watching Ashley, the first thing I noticed about her was her
size. She was a lot smaller than all of the other children she was associating with that is around
her same age. The best solution that I could come up with is that she couldve possibly been born
prematurely. Preterm birth is when a birth occurs three or more weeks before the full 38 weeks
(Berger, 2010, p. 78). Despite her size, I noticed that she was very intelligent. Ashley was sitting
in the kiddie pool acknowledging all of the commotion around her, until then she realized that
she wanted to join them. She was sitting on her pockets at first, then she pushed her self up to a
standing position. This is completely common because according to the Age Norms (in Months)
for Gross Motor Skills chart in the textbook, 90% of babies around the age of 14 Months can
stand alone (Berger, 2010, p.104). More gross motor skills that I noticed Ashley
accomplishing was running slightly, and walking backwards about 7 steps until falling
backwards in the water. By being 19 Months old, she is right on track with other babies her age,
if not a little ahead of most.
Ashley kind of struggles a bit more with her fine motor skills: Physical abilities
involving small body movements (Berger, 2010, p. 104). An adult kept trying to give Ashely a
water toy. She was only able to hold it for about three seconds, and then she would drop it. The
toy wasnt too heavy, so it should have been very easy for her to keep ahold of it, but she
continued struggling with it for about ten minutes until finally giving up.
Cognitive Development
By observing Ashley, I noticed that her cognition skills were on track (Berger, 2010,
p.116). Whenever the adults would tell her to go pick up the toy that another kid overthrew,
she would know exactly what they were talking about, and would retrieve the toy. There
was a second that it looked like she wasnt quite understanding what the adult was asking her
to do, but as soon as the adult pointed at the toy, she knew exactly what to do. A different
adult told her to make a fishy face for the camera, and she pulled the face and noticed the
cameraman laughing at her. Once she was done with the picture, she started chuckling realizing
what she had just done was a funny thing.
Another example why Ashley is very intelligent for her age, is especially with language.
According to the textbook, by 18 months the child should learn three or more words per day
with much variation. While some toddlers do not even speak yet (Berger, 2010, p. 122). Ashley
spoke very well for her age. She was already able to almost complete full sentences, and could

understand conversations when other people were talking. Another thing I noticed Ashley doing
while speaking, was that the words she chose were in the proper grammar form. Grammar is
defined as including all the methods that languages use to communicate meaning. Word order,
prefixes, suffixes, intonation, verb forms, pronouns and negations, prepositions and articles
(Berger, 2010, p.123). While listening, I noticed her grammar was correct and there were very
few mistakes. This shows me that her parents and caregivers must give her a lot of attention, and
care to have her learn things the correct way.
Social/Emotional Development
While watching Ashley, I noticed that for the most part she is a very happy baby. She
constantly had a smile on her face, and looked like she was having the time of her life when she
was in the water. She also got along really well with the other children. Two of the children were
playing with each other, and once it was time to go the mothers told them to hug each other
goodbye. Ashley watched the whole situation happen, and tried doing the same thing with the
toddler that was in the water next to her. This is an example of social learning, which is the
acquisition of behavior patterns by observing the behavior of others (Berger, 2010, p. 151).
Another example of social/emotional development, was when it was time to get out of the
pool, Ashely definitely did not want to. She had been so happy all day having so much fun, until
her body left the water. Toddlers emotions become stronger as they get older and the anger and
sadness emotion becomes a lot more prominent. Ashley really did not want to leave when it was
time, so she became angry and threw a fit. Throughout the second year and beyond, anger and
fear become less frequent, but laughing and crying are louder and more discriminating (Berger,
2010, p. 134). By watching Ashley go through many phases of emotions throughout the
observation, it made me realize that she is right on track with her social/emotional development.
I noticed laughter and happiness, to the complete opposite which was anger and sadness as she
began kicking a screaming when it was time to leave. Older babies exhibit curiosity, laughter,
anger (when they are kept from something they want), and fear (when something unexpected
occurs) (Berger, 2010, p. 135).
Reference List
Berger, Kathleen Stassen. Invitation to the Life Span. New York: Worth, 2010. Print.