Running head: CHILD STUDY

Child Study Assignment

Mawi Mawi
Ivy Tech Community College

CHILD STUDY
I.

General Background Information

The subject that I did observation is a 5-year old boy as of January 12, 2011. The subject is
attending preschool at Perry Township Early Childhood Academy and next year he will go to
Kindergarten at Winchester Village Elementary School. The subject has two siblings, one older
and one younger. The older sibling is 2nd grade and the younger one is a year old. The subjects
mother is 37 years old and the father is 42 years old. Besides the family, right now the two
cousins of the subjects mother are living together so there are seven people in this family
household.
The mother has been stayed home since they arrived in the United States of America. The
eldest son, the subjects brother was born in Malaysia when the family was waiting the process to
come to the States. The subjects family spent about six years in Malaysia, they arrived the States
in 2010. A year later, the subject was born. When the subject was born, the family stayed
together to the sister family of the subjects dad who has one son in the family. Since the
subjects Aunt and Uncle worked during the day, the subjects mom was the one who stayed
home with three boys: the subject, the subjects brother and the subjects cousin. They lived
together until the subject turned into a year old, then the family bought a house and moved into
the new house in 2012.
The subjects mom kept nursing him at home without working. The subjects daily activity
was playing, napping, playing video games, watching cartoons and playing with his bother after
he came back from school. Since the subjects father is the one who works for the entire family,
the subjects family is considered as a low income household so they received the assistance
Food Stamps and Medicate for the children. Staying all day long everyday made the subject
really bored sometimes, so mom took the subject to the relatives and friends. This is when the

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subject got to play with other children; it is the most enjoyable time for him. Every Sunday, the
subject got to go the church with the family and attended Sunday school with his brother. The
Subject always stayed home with mom and he got to see others and other children at Church and
when the family visited to relatives and friends. At the age of 3, the subjects mom gave a birth to
another boy. At the age of 4, the subject was registered to preschool at Perry Township Early
Childhood Academy and he is currently attending preschool.
A typical day for the subject is as follows: the subject has to get up early at 7 am to get ready
for school. The subjects dad is the one who always drop him off after working the whole night.
The subjects dad works night shift, from 8 pm to 6 am. He got home at 7 am and sends the
subject to school, and then he goes to sleep. The subject can dress himself without any help;
however, without patience the subjects mom dressed him most the time. Same goes to washing
faces and brushing teeth, the subject can do those by himself, but the subjects mom helped him
wash his face to get ready quick. The subject has to be supervised while brushing his teeth
because he is always half asleep in the morning. Getting up every day at 7 am is not easy for the
subject which is understandable for a 5 year old child. The subject normally arrived at school at
7:30 am and he gets to eat breakfast at school. According to school policy, students have to arrive
before 7:30 am to eat breakfast. If they are late and arrive later breakfast time, they dont get to
eat breakfast. This is another reason for the subjects parent for sending the subject to school
earlier. From Monday through Friday, the subject always eats school breakfast. Blessing, a little
girl who lived in the subjects neighborhood always rides with the subject. Both parents are
taking turn for the children drop off and pick up. Blessings dad picks the subject and Blessing
every afternoon.

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When the subject arrives at school in the morning, he gets to play a little while before
breakfast. Most the time, he hops on the red tricycle and rides around the gyms. Some morning
when he gets really tired, he sits on the chairs by the teachers and adults. According to mom, the
subject has one best friend which is a boy, but he never comes to before-care like the subject.
However; the subject gets along with anybody in the gym and at breakfast he sits with any
available sit so he doesnt care who are sitting next to him. He is a good eater and he finishes the
meal most the time without leftover. Therefore the subject is a bit taller than his classmates in the
school. At 8 am, the subject gets to go to his classroom and starts work time. In the subjects
class, there are 11 boys and 9 girls, with the total of 20 students. The class starts the day with a
circle time when they sing song, count students who are here today and do the calendar. The
subjects classroom teacher always picks students to lead this morning circle, sometimes the
subject gets picked to lead. Then, it is time for reading and the morning circle ends at 8:45 am.
Then, work time starts. Students have their own individual spot for work time. Some students
work on the rug on the floor and some works at table on the table rug. The subjects individually
spot is on the floor. Students have their own choices to pick works from the shelf. According to
the subjects mom, the subject is not working hard and a bit lazy. He loves only fun stuffs and the
subject uses to pick cars, blocks etc. He usually avoids working on academic activities, such as
color matching, words and alphabet matching etc. Sometimes, he plays blocks and cars with
other students in the classroom.
Work time ends at 9 am. After work time is gross motor time. In fine and warm day, students
get to go outside to the playground, but in a cold, snowy or rainy day; they get to play in the
gym. According to the subjects mom, the subject usually plays with his best friend, and he also
plays with some other friends as well. The subject is sweet and dont hurt friends at school.

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Because of language barrier, sometimes the subject doesnt understand what teachers ask him to
do so he keeps doing things. Therefore: sometimes the subjects teacher thinks that the subject is
a bit wild at school. After gym time at 11 am, it is lunch time and continued a two hours naptime.
At the table where the subject is having lunch, there are two girls and one boy sitting with him.
Sometimes, the subjects talks with friends at the table, but most the time he keeps chunking the
meal and he takes a nap as well. After naptime is afternoon gross motor time. After that the
subject and his classmates get to eat snacks, and then the day ends with afternoon work time. Car
line starts at 4PM and the subjects and his car rider buddy Blessing get pick up by Blessings
dad. After coming home from school, the subject played games and watched cartoons. According
to different work time, the subjects family couldnt eat dinner together. Children always eat first
at the dining table; the subject and his brother eat instant noodles soup most the time.
II.

Physical and Motor Development

I searched for the physical and motor development that a 5-year old typical child might have
in his daily activities and movement while playing with other children or interacting with the
same age of peer groups. I also had a chance to observe the subject during his motor time in the
gym at school. I brought along my own-creative checklist with me and paid attention to the
subjects movement.
Sign of Development
1. Runs in an adult manner
2. Walks in tiptoe.

YES
X
X

NO

Comment
He runs really fast.
He can walk tiptoe for about a minute, but

3. Skate and broad jump.

not so long.
He can skate on Skateboard sitting, not

4. Pedals wheeled tricycle.

standing. He cant jump ropes.

He loves tricycle; he can turn the wheel and

5. Feeds self-using fork or

pedal to avoid somebody from hitting.

He eats by himself using fork and spoon.

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spoon.
6. Copy or trace name.

He cant write his names yet with looking a

sample. He writes about 5 letters out of 8,

7. Play catches with balls.

8. Cut simple shapes with
scissors.
9. Color within lines.
10. Draw shapes.

not in a perfect order and writing.

He uses both hands to catch the ball.
He can cut straight lines, circle, and easy

X
X
X
X

shapes, but not zigzag and difficult shapes.

He is not artistic. He just scrambles crayons
all the time.
He can perfectly copy and draw shapes. He
can draw circle, triangle and square

Things the subject does at home are watching cartoon and playing Ipad. Since the subject
has a one year old brother, the subjects mom is busy enough to take care of the youngest one.
She doesnt really pay attention to what the subject and his elder brother are doing. Since the
subjects brother does his homework for about an hour every night, the subject does some works
such as colors, shapes and alphabet. In the weekend, some friends and some cousins of the
subject come over, and that is when the subjects get to play with them, however: all they do is
running around the house, wrestling and pretending fighting as Superheroes or Spiderman. In
summer, the subjects dad always put out water tank and the subject enjoys to swim and to play
in the water. The subjects mom predicts that the subject will join swimming team when the
subject is going to the higher grade.
III.

Cognitive Development

According to the subjects mom, the subjects had struggles in speech at the age of 3. The
subject could able to babble, and some words would he spoke were not clear and difficult to
understand. The subjects mom thinks that his language delay could be because of language

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barrier and language confusion. The subjects elder brother wasnt a good speaker as well, and
some strangers couldnt understand him. According to the subjects dad, language delay is
genetic because the dad himself was a difficult talker when he was young. However; the
subjects parent had had concern about his speech, the family doctor suggested them to wait for
his development. After the subject enrolled in preschool, the parent still had concern about his
speech so the school speech therapist had observation on the subject during the class. The result
was the subject had no speech delay, but his words are still difficult to understand. In this case I
agree with the subjects dad prediction about genetic. The father was the same when he was the
subjects age, but his speech impairment was getting better and typical as he grew up.
Sign of Development!
Know their address and phone
number.

YES

NO
X

Comment
The subject learns their address,

Recognize most letters of the alphabet.

Can count 10 or more objects.

X
X

but couldnt say it yet.

The subject doesnt know Q,G,
The subject can count 10 objects,

Know the names of at least 4 colours.

not more.
The subject knows most colors,

Understand the basic concepts of time.

except gray and brown.

The subjects knows night, day,

Know what household objects are used

for, such as money, food, or appliances.
Demonstrates imagination and

morning and evening.

No problem.

According to the subjects mom,

symbolic thought.

the subject plays pretending

Sorts objects by one variable, such as

Power Rangers with siblings.

No issues.

colors.
Use full sentences.
Use past tenses.

X
X

The subject uses three or four in

the sentences most.

The subject uses present tenses

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8
most the time, but able to use
some words such as yesterday,

Able to be understood by strangers.

last night.
The subject words are not clear,
and difficult to understand by

Tell favorite activity or excitement.

strangers.
According mom, the subject may
tell favorite thing but not in a

clear explanation.
Able to follow three directions.
X
No issues.
According to the chart, the cognitive development of the subject was typical at his age.
The subject can do most of the things that a typical child could do at the age of 5. Academically,
the subjects knows some letter, shapes and colors, count objects up to 10, and doesnt have any
issues with sorting objects. The subject is not in a group of hard working students, but he is in
a group of good listeners.
IV.

Social/Emotional Development

The subject is an easy going child. According to mom, the subject never hesitates to meet
new children. Even in a new situation, the subject has never had a hard time to join the group.
According to the subjects mother, they never receive a call from school concerning his behavior
at school. The subjects teacher always has compliment on him for getting along with other
children at school. The subject never gets in trouble for fighting over toys at school. The mother
said, He really is a good kid. He wont ever fight over a toy or Ipad with other. However: he
will get really mad if someone doesnt stay with his/her words. For example, I would tell him
that you can play the Ipad after your brother is done or something, and he wouldnt get to play
with it for some reasons, he throws tantrum for a while. The father also states that, We

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sometimes have trouble to get ready for school when he doesnt have enough sleep. For not
wanting to get ready, he would find any excuses, such as he would say that my shoes and clothes
are ugly, I dont want them to wear which are normally his favorites. Other than that emotional
issues, the subject is a good child overall. He would offer helps to the parents and the parents
also can rely on him for a simple tasks such as throwing trash, wiping tables and watching his
little brother for a while.
I would say that the subject is in the initiative vs. guilt stage of Eriksons theory of
psychosocial development. The subject does things by his own and tries to be independent. He
becomes independent and explores the area, surrounding and people around him. The child
started feel guilty when doing something wrong. According to the mother, one day the school
called home and reported that the subject had an accident and the dirty clothes would be in the
boys bag pack. On that evening, the subject didnt have a happy smile on his face when getting
off the car. After telling the subject that accidents are fine, he felt much better. The subject even
begins to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. The subject takes
initiatives which the parent even tries to stop in order to protect the subject. Sometimes the
subject feels a nuisance to others and remains followers, lacking in self-initiative.
V. Your Reactions, Recommendations, and Application
After doing this assignment, I found out that in child development academically and
cognitively, nature and nature play important roles. Children develop the way parents and
environments raise them. In Burmese community, I think that most parent are lacking in
parenting. They dont know what to give for a certain expectation in development. Not only the
subject, I found many Burmese children have a little bit of speech delay which could also be
language complication between native and second language, however: another reason is that

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10

most parent do not give their children time to read books, asking questions and lead a good
conversation. I personally think that this is a huge reason for speech impairment of children.
They wouldnt even tell them stories or they talk to them when its needed. Instead of giving
them simple jobs, parents just do all the jobs for them that make them delay in development.
However: as far as my observation and collection data, the subject is typical in
development for his age. Since the observation took place in front of the mom, I dont think that
the subject responded with his true self. In addition, children act differently in front of the parent
and the strangers. I appreciate all the responses and cooperation the subject did during the
observation. I really enjoy the assignment as well.

References

McLeod., S. (2008). Erik Eriksons Psychology Stages. SimplyPsychology. (Updated 2013)

Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Milestones for 5-Years-Olds.HealthLinkBC (Updated 2014). Retrieved from
http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthtopics/content.asp?hwid=ue5316
Preschool Developmental Milestones. Children Therapy and Family Resources Center
(Uploaded 2011). Retrieved from http://www.kamloopschildrenstherapy.org/socialemotional-preschool-milestones