Sara

Kash-Brown
December 4, 2015
Child: JF (Male)

Child Study Report

Dates of Assessment: 9/2015 to 11/2015

Dr. Natalie Williams

CYAF 474, Section 001

Age: 8 years, 4 months

Date of Birth: 7/23/2007

Purpose: The purpose of this comprehensive assessment is to evaluate JFs development across
domains while providing a learning experience for me.
Method: To obtain evaluation data, JF was observed at a local library for a short period of time
and at Sunday School at his church, and he was administered the PPVT-4 to assess his receptive
language development and the EVT-2 to assess his expressive language development. The DP-3
was also administered to his mother in order to gain a better understanding of JFs
development concerning each developmental domain. JFs observed data was organized
through a running record and an anecdotal record. To gain further perspective on JFs
development, his mother, Mrs. F, was interviewed in November 2015. All materials are
available for review as requested and outcomes from the measures are included in the body of
this report.
Background and Family Dynamics

JF is a boy of average size and height for his developmental age. He is right on target in

his physical development. Whenever I observed JF, I noticed that he was always dressed in
clean, appropriate clothing. JF has been seen as friendly to anyone he came into contact with
during my observations and assessments. When I saw JF with his parents and sister, I noticed
he was warm towards them and always greeted them with a smile. Throughout my
assessments and observations, JF did not depict any outwards signs of behavior or mental
problems.

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JF comes from a family of four; he has a mother, a father, and a younger sister. His

sister, LF, is four years old and is in preschool. JFs mother is a stay-at-home parent who takes
the children to school, to practices, and does other various errands to keep the household
running smoothly. JFs father works full-time at his familys financial firm. He is able to keep
fairly flexible hours, and is usually home when JF gets home from school or soon after JF gets
home. JFs mother has training to be a nurse and is likely to go back to work part-time once his
sister starts Kindergarten next. This will be a big change for the family because JFs mother has
not worked since his sister was born.

JF was born in July of 2007 and was the first child to his parents. He came two weeks

before his due date and was determined to be fully developed after assessments were
conducted after birth. JFs mother had not complications with her pregnancy with him and
there were no complications during or after his birth as well. As JF grew older, he stayed on
track with his developmental age range. He had no delays in any of the developmental
domains. JF started walking around 12 months, but contracted an illness that kept sick for
about two weeks. After he got better, it seemed as if he had forgotten how to walk. So it took
a couple more months until he mastered walking. JFs mother believes he finally mastered
walking at 15 months. JF was an early talker and used many words; he started before 12
months. His first word was dada, which was soon followed by mama. JF had no significant
health problems in his first few years of life. JFs mother was still working part-time after she
had him, so JF spent three to four days at home with her and one to two days at an in-home
daycare. There were a few other children at the in-home daycare and were around JFs age. JF
went to the in-home daycare until his sister was born about three and a half years later. Then
he spent all of his time at home with his mother and sister.

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JFs mother and father have college degrees and believe education is very important for

their children. His family is considered mid to high SES and has no obvious needs for anything.
All of JFs grandparents live in Lincoln, which means that they get together quite often. JF is
currently in 3rd grade at Adams Elementary. He enjoys school a lot and is doing well in his
classes. His mother says that JF rarely complains about his schoolwork or anything schoolrelated. JF does also participate on many sport teams. He is always playing on at least one
sport team. JF enjoys playing sports and wants to keep playing.
Family Relationships

JF is very close to his family and spends a lot of time with them. He visits his

grandparents quite often and his other extended family. His family gets together for every
birthday, holiday, and Husker football game. At home, JF, his mother, his father, and his sister
sit down for dinner at least four to five times a week. The kids get their food first and wait until
their parents are done eating to leave the table. They all talk about their day and various other
subjects. Dinner usually lasts about 20 minutes in JFs house.

JF talk to his parents about everything; he will let them know what is going on at school,

what his friends are up to, any troubles he has, etc. This is one thing that his mother has really
enjoyed because she feels like JF looks to them as confidants. JF also loves to play with his
younger sister. They spend a lot of time at home playing together. When they are out at the
library or other places, JF looks out for his sister and includes her in his activities. It is very rare
for JF to show anger at anyone. He does not throw tantrums or get frustrated easily; generally
he has a calm attitude. Because JF talk to his parents about a lot of things, he is very good at
communicating his feelings. This is a great trait to have and strengthen, as JF grows older. JFs
mother has told me that she has no concerns about JF at this time.

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Developmental Progress

To help gain an understanding of JFs development, a thorough assessment of his

abilities in the physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and language/communication domains was

conducted. The following detail results of JFs observation and testing.
Physical Development:

Through multiple assessments and observations I have come to the conclusion that JF is

on track for his chronological age concerning his physical development. After calculating the
results of his DP-3, I have found that JF received a standard score of 110 and is ranked in the
seventy-fifth percentile concerning his physical development. This means that he falls within
the average descriptive category, which means that there are no concerns that would lead us to
conduct any other assessments concerning his physical development. JFs age equivalent for
his physical development at the time of testing was eight years and seven months. At the day
of testing, JFs chronological age was eight years and two months. This means that JF had the
physical development of a child who was five months older than he was when the DP-3
assessment was conducted.

JFs gross and fine motor skills are practiced daily. He is constantly writing at school and

does more when he comes home after school. JF also enjoys PE and recess, which utilizes his
gross motor skills. He also does enjoy playing sports, which gives him even more opportunities
to practice and refine his fine and gross motor skills.

JF has shown good coordination and balance from my observations. At Sunday School, I

was able to see him follow the dance moves that were coordinated with a song the children
sang. He was able to keep up with the leader, who was showing the children the dance moves.
I also learned that JF is starting to learn how to ride dirt bikes. This also takes a lot of

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coordination and balance to stay on the dirt bike. His mother has told me that he is doing quite
well with his riding and has shown great improvement in the last couple months since he has
started. The more opportunities JF has had with practicing skills that relate to physical
development, the further he is going to be in his physical development as he gets older.
Cognitive Development:

JF is doing well in school at this moment. His teachers have no immediate concerns

about JFs development at school. JF does continuous work to advance his cognitive
development. At school, he is challenged with the new content he is presented with every day.
JFs favorite subject in school is Math. His mother believes that he likes Math so much because
there is one answer to find for every problem, there are not murky waters that he can get
caught up in. Whereas in writing and reading, JF has to really analyze what he is learning to find
the answers.

JFs teacher has brought up an observation she has made to his mother. Recently, JF is

doing really well on spelling; he has been moved up to the Beyond spelling group. He
practices he words at least once a day at home. Yet, whenever JF has to write a couple
sentences for a comprehension answer or a story, he tends to make silly spelling errors. His
teacher is not sure why JF is making those mistakes, considering he is in the highest level
spelling group. After some observations, I believe that Jaxon is memorizing his spelling words
and cannot retain the words spellings long after the test. I am unsure of why JF is making the
random spelling errors in his writing.

His teachers observation was relayed to his reading and writing tutor. JF has done

tutoring for the past year concerning his reading and writing development. At first, JF was
having some trouble with comprehension, so they began tackling the comprehension aspect of

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reading. The tutoring sessions have gradually added writing to the mix and other subjects if JF
needs to work on them. JFs comprehension ability did not need immediate assistance from an
outside party, but his parents want to help him in any way they can. They view the tutoring
sessions as a time set aside each week where they know JF will be working on his reading and
writing skills. The tutoring is not done because he truly needs it, but because his parents want
to provide the most opportunities for him to stay on track with his development.

When JFs spelling was examined, it was noticed that he did start making random

spelling errors to words he did know. The concern was discussed with the tutor when JF was
around; after relaying the concern to the tutor, she noticed that JF started making many
spelling mistakes in his writing. Soon, she decided to ignore his spelling in his stories to give
him a rest because she believed he was thinking too hard when he was writing and editing his
stories. After ignoring his spelling for a couple tutoring sessions, JFs tutor noticed that his
spelling errors had decreased dramatically and he was now only making an error or two in his
stories. She believes that JF was thinking too hard and perhaps wanting to please his parents
and that lead to the increase in spelling errors.

Overall, JFs cognitive development is on track for his age. The DP-3 assessment has

shown me that JF is in the average descriptive category for cognitive development and he
received a standard score of 93. There are some things that he can improve on, but JF is right
on target for his age group. JF shows curiosity in things and shows an interest in learning,
which will help him continuously add to his cognitive development. JF is proud of the work he
does; he created a written report about the white-tailed deer and has laminated his pages to
keep. This type of interest in learning and doing his best will only help JF as he grows older and
advances his cognitive development.

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Social-Emotional:

From my observations and assessments on JFs social-emotional development, I believe

he has good social skills for his age. He is a confident, young boy who is always willing to help
out. On the DP-3, JF received a standard score of 118 and ranked in the ninety percentile for
his social-emotional development; which means he fell into the above average descriptive
category. The two items he missed on the DP-3 are ones that I would not expect an eight-yearold to know. One item he missed was knowing that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and other
holiday characters are fictional. The second item he did not get correct was knowing his
parents political preferences. These two items are ones that do not need to come until a child
is younger. JF ended up having an age equivalent of ten years and nine months for his socialemotional development. JF is well on his way to having a complete development of his socialemotional knowledge.

Through my interview with JFs mother, I have learned more about JFs actions with his

peers. He has his group of friends at school and loves to talk to anyone who will listen. JFs
mother has been told from his teacher that JF is a leader in the classroom and is always willing
to help his peers with homework or anything else. JF talks about his friends and the goings-on
at school with his mother often. One day he talked about a new student in his class; he
mentioned that he had a weird name. The name was not a common one you hear in the area.
JF also mentioned that the new student did not talk very much and when he did, the boy spoke
in a really quiet voice. JF surmised that he talked quietly because the boy was in a new place
and was not comfortable with the other students yet. This is a great example of JFs advanced
social-emotional development; he was able to take on the perspective of his new classmate and

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state a possible theory about why his classmate acts quietly that could quite possibly be
correct.

JFs mother has also relayed to me that JF believes that everyone should do the right

thing and when he does see something that is not right, he wants to correct the action, but is
unsure of how to do so. This is something that JF will learn more about, as he grows older. JF
has the motivation to right wrongs, but if he observes the actions, he does not have the
knowledge to support his actions. He does not want to hurt other peoples feelings by telling
the teacher or his parents if something bad happens, but does not know what else to do. JF will
gradually learn how to deal with those types of situations through experiences at school and at
home, as well as teachings that come from his parents and family.
Language/Communication:

JF has shown me that he has good communication and language development through

the various observations and assessments I have conducted. On the DP-3, JF received a
standard score of 101 and he fell into the average descriptive category and had a percentile
rank of fifty-three. The items he missed on the communication section of the DP-3 related to
writing emails and letters. I believe he has not had any experiences with those actions yet, but
will soon learn how to write letters and mail them, and how to write and send emails. JFs age
equivalent for his communication development is eight years and eight months. He scored six
months higher than his chronological age. This tells me that JF is well on his way concerning his
communication development.

To get an understanding of JFs language development, I conducted the PPVT-4 and

EVT-2 assessments. The PPVT-4 gave me an idea of JFs development of his receptive
vocabulary. The EVT-2 allowed JF to demonstrate his expressive vocabulary development.

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On the PPVT-4 assessment, JF received a standard score of 106 and scored in the sixth-sixth
percentile, which means that he scored higher than 66% of same-aged peers. JF was placed in
the average descriptive category and his age equivalent was eight years and eight months,
which was six months ahead of his chronological age. On the EVT-2 assessment, JF received a
standard score of 118 and scored in the eighty-eighth percentile, which means that he scored
higher than 88% of same-aged peers. JF fell into the moderately high descriptive category and
his age equivalent was ten years and seven months, which was two years and five months
ahead of his chronological age.

JF showed a significant difference between his receptive and expressive vocabulary

development. He demonstrated a higher development in his expressive vocabulary than his

receptive vocabulary. This difference is not great, but there are ways JF can practice his
receptive vocabulary to increase his development and align it up with his expressive vocabulary
development. One way to practice his receptive vocabulary, JF can spend more time reading,
whether it is a chapter book, a magazine article, a newspaper article, etc. It could also be
possible to help increase his receptive vocabulary by reading a higher-level book with one of his
parents. I believe JF is doing well with his language development, but does need to keep on
practicing his language and finding new ways to interact with language.
Summary

After my observations and assessments with JF, I have come to the resolution that JF is

doing well in his overall development. There are specific areas that he could work on and his
advancement in those areas will come through practice and experience. On the DP-3, JF
received a standard score of 112 and was placed in the average descriptive category for his
general development. He did score higher than 79% of his same-aged peers. There are some

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concerns about JFs spelling and other aspects of cognitive development coming from his
parents, but there is no apparent need for concern after conducting assessments and
observations. JF does currently have a significant difference between his receptive and
expressive vocabulary. The difference between the two types of vocabulary can be reduced
through various activities that require JF to use his receptive vocabulary. Overall, JF is on track
in his development, which is due to his home environment, his family relationships, and his
school experience.
Recommendations:

JF is doing well in school and at home. He will continue to advance his development

among the domains through experiences and support from school and home. Here are a few
recommendations I have to keep JF moving on the right track for him.
To help increase his receptive vocabulary skills, JF can do multiple different activities. Reading
is a big part of his life, so include some books that have complex words that will require him to
ask someone about a word or find out information about the word himself. Combining
different concepts into single activities will help JF be more engaged in the activities. Giving
him the responsibility of being a vocabulary detective will allow him more opportunities to
increase his receptive vocabulary. He can be given a list of words he has to find in a passage
and use context clues to help him figure out what each word means. Reading stories to JF that
are above his reading level is another great way to help increase his receptive vocabulary. You
will be able to read the words he may have trouble with and help guide him in figuring out what
each unknown word means.

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After hearing about JFs experience with spelling and the sudden appearance of more errors,
I would recommend that academics should not be overemphasized at home. He is doing well in
school and has the motivation to keep doing well, but should not need to worry about pleasing
his parents as well. By not discussing every part of his schoolwork with him, JF will feel less
pressure and may perhaps do even better in school.
From my observations, I got the impression that JF rushes from one topic or task to the next.
He may need some verbal encouragement from his parents and teachers to take his time when
doing his work. I noticed that when he was able to focus on a task for a period of time, he did
better work than when he only did the task in a couple minutes.
After hearing about JFs leadership traits and his concern about doing the right thing, I believe
that he is sensitive to social relationships. He wants to do the right thing, but at times does not
know what to do. I would recommend that his parents have a discussion with JF about possible
actions he can take. I would also recommend that JFs parents not tell him everything. He
needs some time to just be a kid and not worry about everything that is happening with his
parents. When he sees something is wrong, he wants to help out; but he should also be treated
like an eight-year-old child.