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Week 16 Key Project

Child Interview & Observation
Pamela Walters
December 7, 2015

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I decided to observe the child in the home of both parents where she could feel more
comfortable and was more likely to be herself. The child comes from a home in which she splits
her time with both parents. She is with her mother more but spends every other weekend with her
father. I observed the child on three different occasions in three hour increments. Twice was at
the home of the mother and once at the home of the father. My goal in this study is to see if the
development of a child is effected by splitting time between two very different households.
Lilly is between the ages of eight to nine years and is in the third grade. She is from a
biracial family, her father is from the Dominican Republic and her mother is American. The
parents had been living in the same home up until five months ago. They live in the same town
but there does not seem to be open communication between the parents. The family speaks
mainly English, but her father and his family speak Spanish as a first language. When at her
fathers she does not speak Spanish but seems to comprehend it when it is spoken to her. .I was
unable to observe the child in a school setting so my findings on school are based on the report
cards and school papers provided to me by the mother. From what I have seen she is above
average and gets along well with others. The child has a brother that is approximately nineteen
months old. They have what I observe to be a normal relationship for this age. She pays quite a
bit of attention to him and what he might need.
Lilly is approximately 49.8 inches in height and weighs about 48.2 lbs. She considered to
be slightly below average for her age. Lilly has long dark curly hair and has inherited most of her
features form her father. She wears glasses and has been wearing them for about the last two
years, her mother said she has some nearsightedness and a slight astigmatism. Myopia is the
most common vision problems in middle child (Berk, 2012). According to her mother her

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appetite is more on the normal side but she prefers to eat more junk food than a well-balanced
diet. From what I observed, while she was with her father she ate more fast food than a nutritious
meal. With her mother she ate a home cooked meal. I did ask her mother a few health questions
on things about vaccinations and over all physical health. Her mother said that she was up to date
on vaccinations and that at her last doctor appointment they said she was in very good health.
The child in enrolled in gymnastics and goes twice a week for class. I did not get to observe her
in this but she was able to show me a few things she had learned. She has a sense of pride in that
area and it has affected her self-esteem in a positive way.
On one of my observations Lilly had a few friends over for a play date. It was
very clear that she was in control of what type of games would be played and the role that the
others would play. She was not mean about it, but the others just did as she said. It is clear that
she has peer acceptance by the other children and they have allowed her to take the lead. I would
say the she is presently well liked and would be considered among the popular children children
who get many positive votes or who are well liked (Berk, 2012). You could see that she was
very happy about being in control. When it came to her relationship with her parents I found
during the observation that although she would ask for help she was very independent about
completing a task on her own. She lives with her mother but sees her dad every other weekend.
Observing her with her mother was quite different than it was with her father. With her mother
she was more independent and would do what her mother asked. With her father she was more
apt to allow him to do everything for her. When she was with her father she was more about
taking care of her younger brother. She would spend more time with her brother than being
involved with her father. I also observed that when she was not getting her way with one of the

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parents she would play them against each other. She was very good using what she got from one
to get something else from the other.
From my observation it was clear that Lilly knew her way around a computer. I watched
as she did some homework for school and did it without the assistance from her mother. She was
able to comprehend and use every tool that was needed for this particular homework assignment.
Most children of this age are taught the basic functions of computers in school. Lilly does have a
stutter when she speaks. It seems to only happen when she starts to talk fast or in a hurry to tell a
story. A study done in 2012 states that people who stutter may have on abnormal auditory motor
transformation. I states that researchers have theorized that an important neural basis of
stuttering is the aberrant integration of auditory information into incipient speech motor
commands (Shanqing Cai1, 2012). The stutter does not have an effect on how she learns. Her
grades are average for her age and she comprehends many words that she hears. The fact that she
is biracial does not seem to be a factor for Lilly. She knows that she is different from some of the
kids but that does not play much into how she sees the world around her.
Her biggest strength is that she takes the leadership role and feels comfortable within that
role. When I observed her in a group of her peers she did not detour from just assuming the role
and enjoying it. Her biggest weakness is that she uses her parents separation to her advantage. I
think that although this is a fairly common practice for children from a broken home she is not
fully understanding that what she is doing could have consequences. I think that she knows that
it is wrong but until that is brought to her attention by an adult she will continue doing it. I think
that this weakness will not last. I think that if her parents would nurture her strength it will help it
turning her weakness into a strength. I think one way to for the weakness to stop is if her parents

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had better communication. If they would talk then they could see what she is doing and it would
stop.
From a theorist perspective I think that Lillys development is right on target with
Piagets concrete operational stage. Within this stage children's ability to consciously,
thoughtfully and pro-actively choose to pursue goals (instead of simply reacting to the
environment) appears during this developmental period (Angela Oswalt, 2010). Lilly gives
thought into the things she does and how she does them. Although she does react to her
surrounding environment she still shows obvious signs of thinking before the reaction takes
place. With all of the achievements there are within the concrete operational stage Lilly has
mastered parts of all of them. When it comes to Kohlbergs theory of moral development Lilly
has the understanding of right and wrong. When it comes to having her own view of right and
wrong it varies to what one parent thinks and then will change with the other different
individuals have different viewpoints (McLeod, 2013). She has an uncle that is in jail and she
know that what he did was bad or he would not be in there. If you ask her why she will tell you
what her mom or dad says about it.
I think that I learned that you can never underestimate a child of this age. They are much
more advanced in todays society then they were twenty years ago. Technology has played such a
role in how kids develop that it is not the same as when I was young. With all the information
that is now just a click away and how the curriculum changes in the schools every year kids our
learning at a faster rate. Lilly is no exception to that. I have seen how easily she can work a
computer and that can open up a whole new world for her. I think that coming from a one parent
home also has an effect on how children learn. It can either go one of two ways. Either the parent

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will spend time teaching their children or they will leave it up to the school to take care of it. In
the case of Lilly she has two parents that devote the time to helping her do well in all things.

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Works Cited
Angela Oswalt, M. (2010, June 9). Cognitive Development: Piaget's Concrete
Operations. Retrieved from Mental Health.net:
https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/cognitive-development-piaget-sconcrete-operations/
Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants Children and Adolescents. Boston: Pearson Education INC.
McLeod, S. (2013). Kohlberg. Retrieved from Simply Psychology:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
Shanqing Cai1, 2. D. (2012). Weak Responses to Auditory Feedback Perturbation
during Articulation in Persons Who Stutter: Evidence for Abnormal AuditoryMotor Transformation. PLoS ONE., 1-13.