Social/Emotional Observation

Part A:

(This observation took place at Creative Kids. I was informed that the boy I observed is 2 yrs
old.)

1a. Kids are gathered around in a circle with caregiver sitting against the wall. Caregiver is
engaging students in storytime by pointing out pictures to the kids. Suddenly a boy walks in with
his father. The boy is in tears. The further his father drags him in the room, the more the boy
cries and grows louder. He then starts to scream as his father puts his backpack in his cubby
and faces his head down then quickly back up to his father. The little boy continues to scream,
cry, and starts to pull at his father's hands. One caregiver approaches the little boy. Damian,
can I have a hug? the caregiver asks as she holds out her arms. The boy shakes his head no
and buries his head in his father. The caregiver then gave him a small hug from behind, and
slowly tried to pull him off. The boy ignores her, refusing to face anyone but his father, then he
holds out his arms as in a hold me gesture. When the boy's father did not hug him, he started
pulling/yanking his father shirt then his father's arms. The caregivers are shocked; I heard them
say This usually doesn't happen. Next, the caregiver in storytime says Damion, come help me
with my story and holds out her arms. Damion looked at her then back to his father screaming.
Damion suddenly fell to the floor. His father pulled him up and carried him, as the caregiver in
storytime walks over. His father then hands Damion to the caregiver. Caregiver strokes
Damions back , assuring him it's okay, and brings him to storytime. In this situation the child
shows fear, by not wanting to be left. I asked the caregiver and found that his mother usually
drops him off not his dad so he may not be used to the routine.

1b. There is three caregivers present. One does nothing and continues to watch the children.
The second walks over and says Damian, can I have a hug? then reaches out for a hug. When
Damion refuses and returns to his father, the second caregiver hugs him from behind. The third
caregiver is in storytime. She waits for the first two caregivers to do something, and as soon as
they fail she says Damion, come help me with my story. Few seconds pass and the third
caregiver stands up, walks over, and is handed Damion by his father. Third caregiver holds
Damion for a few moments stroking his back continuously assuring him that Its okay. Third
caregiver then carries him over to storytime, sits him in her lap, and reads him and the rest of
the class the story.

1c. I would say the first two caregivers were inappropriate. Mainly because the first did nothing.
I understand that she may have wanted to watch the other kids and make sure she didn't
overcrowd Damion and allow him to come to her, but she made no gestures nor acknowledged
him. The second caregiver was inappropriate by forcing a hug when Damian did not want one.
Nonetheless, I can see how the third caregivers response was appropriate considering she
gave Damian a chance to come to her. When that didn't work, she waited until Damian held out
her hands to her and allowed himself to be transferred from his dad to her (she let him come to
her). Although she comforted him, she did not acknowledge the problem or his feelings which
would be inappropriate on her part. She also kept assuring him that it was okay and it seemed
as if she was trying to distract him, which may also be considered inappropriate given the
situation.

(This part of the observation was still taken at Creative Kids. The caregiver informed me that the
boy is between one and half yrs old to two years, and that's all I was able to get from her.)

2a. This observation is taken place outside. A boy slowly wanders to the wall and not the
playset he should be at. There are small holes (drains) in the wall that held dirt and leaves. The
little boy squats down, lays on his stomach, as a little girl slowly wanders over and watches
what he is doing. The boy reaches one hand in the walls hole and pulls leaves/dirt out. Few
seconds later caregiver notices and says Seth! Leave the drains alone. Come over here. The
boy stops. His face goes from soft to frustrated. The boy then sees the little girl next to him and
pushes her. Caregiver says Don't hit her. Nice hands. The little boy facial expression shows
anger and half runs to the playset. Moments pass and the same girl is at the end of the slide
climbing up while the same little boy is trying to go down. The little boy slides down and bumps
into her. He stands up and hits her on the head letting out a little Ugh. Caregiver then repeats
Dont hit. Don't make me put you on the wall.

2b. The caregiver almost immediately noticed when his hands went in the drain. I believe she
was watching him and seeing exactly what he would do. The third time the boy puts his hand in
the drain, pulling out the leaves she states Leave the hole alone, Get out of there, I see
you, and come over here; since this was not the first time that he has played with the drains.
When he hit the girl, the caregiver responded by saying It is not nice to hit, Nice hands, and
eventually threatened to put him on the wall once he did it again.

2c. For the most part I believe the caregiver handled the situation appropriately. I believe the
caregiver handled the situation appropriately by allowing the boy to explore. It is also
appropriate for the caregiver to stop the boy from playing with something as dangerous/dirty as
the drain. She allowed exploration and experimenting, but limited it when it became a hazard.
Another example of how the caregiver handled the situation appropriately was not punishing
him right away and giving him warnings allowing him to figure out the right thing. However, I
believe this situation could have been handled better, making how she handled the situation
inappropriately. I appreciate that she gave out warnings, but I believe she could have done
more instead of yelling across the yard Nice hands. In my opinion, she should have
approached them at least once and tried to stop the fighting or the boy's anger as well as
acknowledge the problem.

3a.
(This observation is taken place at a homecare setting. The child I am observing is exactly 1
years old. His name is Raphael and I was given permission to use his name. I have used this
boy before in my observation, but his mother had time to answer my questions if needed)
1. Activity Level:
In this scene, there is the living room which is the main play area and to the left is two stairs
down that leads to another area of exploration. Rafael is in the area of exploration, away from
most of the other kids. Rafael is first in a sitting position, then crawls to the two stairs. Slowly, he
places his hands and feets on the stairs and starts to climb up. He reaches the top of the stairs
and crawls fastly to the legos that laid to the right of the main playing area. He sits down, picks
up the legos and starts turning the legos in his hands, examining each side. This last for about a
minute, before he throws the legos and crawls back to the stairs. He crawled backwards down
the two stairs into the exploration room and crawled to his toy car. He moves the car back and
forth playing for again about a minute or two then heads back to the stairs. This time he crawls
all the way up the stairs, then immediately back down. He sits on the floor and slaps his hands
against the tile. Within seconds he is back to climbing up the stairs. He crawls to the couch and
lifts himself up. He slowly steps over to the open window to the curtains (using the couch for
balance), and starts to moves the curtains over more, occasionally looking out the window. I
noticed very quickly that Raphael was constantly moving. He was never in one spot for very
long.

2. Rhythmicity:
I asked his mother if Raphael had a set schedule for him either feeding or sleeping. She
informs me that the only schedule Raphael will follow is his nap time which is between 12 or 1
and that is only sometimes. His mother claims the less kids there are in the daycare, the easier
it is to put him down. If there is a lot of kids in the daycare he will fight it, become fussy, cry, hit,
and try to climb out of bed. Besides that I was informed that he was very unpredictable and
almost never ate at the same time or did things in his normal routine. When it came time to
observe, I made sure to stay to watch him lay down.At this time, there was only 5 children
present, which was a small group allowing it easier for Raphael to nap. Nap time Raphael's
mother says. Raphael puts down the toy he was playing with, stares at his mother, and slowly
reaches out his hands. She picks him up and carries him up the stairs leaving the other
caregiver with the kids. About an hour before this Rafael is put in his highchair. He wiggles
around and drools putting his fingers in his mouth as his mother gets him cereal as well as the
other kids. Raphael slowly picks up the cereal and puts it in his mouth when he is served. He
eventually becomes very messy getting it all over himself. He then starts slamming the pieces of
cereal in his hand down on the table then occasionally eating it. When he is all done, he is set
down on the the floor near the other kids who are done, and Raphael crawls over to them.
When every child is done and caregivers start cleaning up his mother goes to the fridge and
gets out sliced apples for herself to eat. Raphael stares at her the whole time during this
process, puts down his stuffed animal he had in his hands, and crawls over to her. He then
starts to beg for food. His mother replies You just ate. Raphael then cries. This is the perfect
example I observed as him being unpredictable and is not on a rhythmatic schedule.

3. Approach-withdrawal:
While observing I noticed that Raphael easily approaches things. He is constantly wandering
around and as stated above, he could not stay still or in one spot for long. Raphael was sitting to
the left of the play center. He had a yellow box toy in his mouth as he looked around the room.
His eyes focused in on the kitchen. He takes the toy out of his mouth, stares, and hardly moves.
He sets the toy on the floor and starts to crawl to the kitchen. He uses one of the cabinets to lift
himself up to a standing position. He stands, finding his balance. He then opens the pantry door.
Raphael, close it! His mother states firmly. He looks at her, doesn't move, then looks back to
the cabinet and moves it open and close. Raphael! Come here! His mother states again. He
smiles, coos, and starts to move the cabinet door open and close. Eventually his mother came
and got him and placed him in the play center. It wasn't long until he left it yet again. He crawls
out of the playcenter to the stairs, uses them to stand up again, looks at his mother, then
continues to climb the stairs. She yells stop, he pauses, continues, until his mother grabs him
and pulls him back again. A few minutes pass and they are near the backyard, where 2 dogs
are. Raphael is the only one who leaves the play center, crawls to the backyard door, uses the
walls to stand up, and hits on the glass door looking back at his mom, making an Umph sound
as if he wants to go outside with the dogs. Another example I saw was when Raphael was in the
main play center with the other kids, engaged in toys. A new kid enters the room. Raphael
stares. The further the kid goes into the room Raphael crawls to caregiver. The new kid stares,
then starts to play. Raphael continues to stare for about 3 minutes near his mother, then
approaches the new kid and engages in play.

4. Adaptable:
I had to ask his mother for this section. She informed me that she tries to put him to a new
bedtime, which is 9 o'clock. He fights it, cries, and climbs out of bed. She says it is very hard.
She also informed that he doesn't like clothes. I observed this take place before any of the other
kids arrived. He was sitting on the floor, losing interest in the toys around him. He crawls away
and starts hitting his pants. He grabs hold of his pants and tries to pull them off. Raphael! Stop
it His mother exclaims. He continues to pull on his pants. Im going to get dad. his mother tells
him then walks over and pulls his pants up. Raphael then looks at his socks and slowly reaches
for them, grabs ahold, and yanks one sock off. You need to keep your socks on. His mom
continues as she goes over and slides his sock back on. He starts to whine, then cry. In this
case, he has not adapted to a new bedtime or keeping his clothes on. I was also told that he
has a problem with spitting and climbing things which I did not observe. However, I was
informed that if it is a new place, he has no problem getting along. He may be uncertain at first
but then is eager to join in.

5. Attention span:
Raphael crawls to a yellow toy car. As soon as he is within reach he sits and slowly reaches for
the car and eventually grasps it. He slowly pulled it close to him, picking it up while looking at his
surroundings and not the toy. Raphael then focuses his attention on the toy and puts the car
down on the floor. He slides the car back and forth on the carpet and occasionally to the side,
never breaking eye contact. He stops sliding it, then hits it 3 times in a row. He looks up then
crawls to wooden blocks that lay to the right of him. Again he sits down then reaches for the
blocks. He picks two wooden blocks up and slams them together. A smile comes across his
face and he lets out a coo. He repeatedly hits the wooden blocks together for a few seconds,
stops, slowly raises it to his mouth, and tastes it. He takes the wooden blocks out of his mouth,
throws it, reaches for it, and repeats this process one more time. He then crawls to a bag on the
floor and starts throwing toys out, occasionally putting a toy or two in his mouth, then continuing
to throw. It wasnt long before I realized Raphael likes to wander and nothing holds his attention
for long. The longest I saw him interested in a toy was about 3 minutes.

6. Intensity of reaction:
There are several kids in the playcenter and they are slowly growing louder. The television is on
for 2 kids that are watching, while the rest are slamming toys together or cooing/screaming
loudly. Raphael crawls to the loudest kid who is playing on an art table. Raphael lifts himself to a
standing position, using the table, and starts to slam his hands down and starts screaming
loudly. His mother saw me noticing this and explains that when kids in the playcenter grow loud,
he has to grow louder (which he did). A few minutes pass and everything, including the noise is
settling down. Raphael is sitting watching kids play, then crawls outside of the play area to a
door. In a crawling position he puts one hand on the door and hits it. He then uses the door to
stand up and hit, but suddenly falls. He starts crying, growing louder as he notices no one is
paying attention. His mother comes over and says Grandmas working, you need to leave her
alone. Raphael continues to cry loudly. His mother picks him up and carries him back to the
play center. Raphael, still crying loudly hits the floor then crawls to the couch and hits the couch
until his mother holds him in her lap and he slowly calms down and stops crying. I noticed that
his reaction is intense. He is not one who simply smiles or whines, he is very loud and wants to
be heard.

7. Threshold of responsiveness:
The caregiver plays music several times throughout the observation. The first time Raphael is
engaged in toys. The music plays, Raphael puts the toy down and starts looking around, then
suddenly crawls to where his mother is and a few other kids are. He sits down, clapping to the
music, and occasionally moving up and down (bouncing to the music). The second time
Raphael is again engaged in a toy. The music comes on and he doesn't even look or seem to
notice. He continues to play with the toy as if nothing has happened. To see how he responded
to light I opened the curtains, letting in more sunlight. Raphael didn't notice for a few moments.
When the sun got in his eye, he moved his head then stared at the light coming through not
moving at all. He stared for a good few moments (not moving a single muscle). To observe
again, I touched a button on his toy car that lights up and made noises. Raphael looked but
never moved. He didn't seem focused on anything else. As for touching, I noticed that rarely a
kid would come to him and slowly brush him or tap/poke him and Raphael did not notice.
Sometimes he would look but there was no signs of distress. Raphael hardly noticed the
changes in light, noises, or touch and I got clarification from his mother that he is hardly
distressed by those changes.

8. Distractibility:
Raphael again wanders out of the play area and slowly starts crawling to the kitchen. As soon
as he is on the tile his mother holds up his stuffed mickey mouse toy (his favorite toy) while
calling his name. Raphael stops, sits, and stares at the toy. Within a few seconds he crawls
towards the toy. He sits down, reaches for it, grabs it, hugs it tightly, then lays on it. Within a few
moments he goes to a new toy (an alphabet keyboard that has lights/musics with each button).
When a caregiver would eat he would stop what he is doing, and head immediately towards
them, even if he had already ate. I noticed that Raphael grabbed toys quickly, and sometimes
took toys from others. For a moment he was fascinated in me writing instead of his toys. I
noticed that he was distracted easily and got confirmation from his mother.

9. Quality of mood:
I noticed that for the most part Raphael was pretty pleasant. He usually hardly cried, besides not
being able to see his grandmother, but still was easily cheered up. I decided to observe some of
his movements since for most of the observation he was pleasant. Raphael is sitting on the
floor drinking his bottle, slowly raising it higher in the air, pushing his head back. After a few sips
he sets it down on the floor. He starts to crawl to a wall, backs up, and crawls to a different wall.
This time he is near a corner. He hits the corner, then tries to slide his fingers in it. He grabs his
bottle then moves to a solid piece on the wall and lifts himself and the bottle up. Raphael is
standing with one hand on the wall for balance and the other holding his bottle that he sips out
of. He starts to walk forward, falls, leaves the bottle and continues to crawl to another side of the
room (near the backyard). He reaches his destination, sits, then immediately crawls back to his
mother, reaches out his hands until he is picked up. His mother clarified that for the most part he
is pleasant since he is constantly distracted and moving around. However, he is getting a little
more grumpy now that he is teething and will randomly scream, throw a fit, smack legs, and
gets annoyed at playing.

3b. I would place Raphael in the easy, flexible baby category. As I observed I quickly noticed
that Raphael is adaptable, approachable, and positive in mood (pg.212). Im close with his
mother so I have observed him a lot without realizing it and he always seemed pleasant. He
hardly cried and when he did it was understandable (as all babies will mostly cry) and he is
easily entertained/cheered up. He may be unsure about something he needs to adapt to such
as a new play area, but quickly joins in without throwing a fit, (besides his new bedtime). He
also easily approaches new people and new things.

3c. The first advice I would give that kind of bothered me was block an area, if you didn't want a
child to go there or wander off. She kind of let everyone wander; which she had the room to do
so and 2 other caregivers present but it seemed there needed to be a limit. The second advice
would be to acknowledge behaviors and feelings. During the observation, I did not see her do
so. Third, if something didn't seem to be working (such as getting him to bed on his new
schedule), try a new approach. It seemed as if she constantly repeated herself. Nonetheless,
she did show many great traits as well. Such as caring and focusing on the other children
besides her own, building a safe community, and strong relationships with families that dropped
off their kids.

Part B:

1. The child I am observing is exactly 11 months old and her name is Wren. I would say this
observation was a positive response. Wren is engaged in play with a toy doll all by herself.
Suddenly another little girl approaches Wren, sits down, slides closer, and takes the doll away.
Wren starts to cry. Caregiver notices and says Lily, Wren had it first. Give it back. Wren is then
returned the doll and a look of relief falls over her. Another example I saw was when Wren was
engaged in bright colored blocks. She was swinging it back and forth, and eventually hit her
head. She stopped playing, cried, and crawled quickly to a caregiver. Caregiver held her and
stated That hurt didn't it. Then continues to smile at her and tell her that it is okay. Wren seems
to be observing everything the caregiver is doing in comforting her, especially focusing on the
smile that is showing her that everything is okay. A third example I saw was when it was time to
eat. Kids were gathering around a table as it was time to eat, Wren crawls to a caregiver and
slowly pulls on caregivers clothes. You want some applesauce? the caregiver says, Wren
didn't respond but the look of worry left her face. Wren was then picked up, placed down, and
given food. The last example I observed was when a new student entered the room. Wren was
engaged in toys, the little boy entered and Wren starred. The further the boy walked into the
room, the more Wren seemed uncomfortable. Eventually she started to cry, then crawl to a
caregiver who comforted her and told her We like friends and that it was all going to be okay.

2. The boy I am observing is 19 months. I would consider it a positive response. The little boy is
wandering around the room. He slowly goes near the diaper changing station, he takes slow
steps in a circle looking down, as if he is waiting for something. Diaper changing time a
caregiver near him announces. The little boy smiles and walks fastly over to her seeming
confident. Youre ready to go? the caregiver ask. The little boy nods his head and walks
around her to the changing table. Using his arms and legs he begins to move up the stairs
provided. The caregiver goes behind him, he slips, and the caregiver noticing his movements
says Can you climb up?. The boy smiles and tries again. The caregiver stands close by with
ready arms out in case he falls, as the boy swings his legs over and lays on the station. He then
pulls at his pants, and eventually he takes them off by himself. The caregiver then proceeds to
change his diaper. Another example after this was when it was snack time. The caregiver set
him down after the diaper change. When the caregiver said snack time, she and the other
caregivers started rounding up the kids but the little boy I observed walked right over to the table
and sat down prepared to eat. While many kids there had foods already picked for them, the
little boy I observed was given the option applesauce or rice? The boy considered his options,
went with rice, and smiled as he ate it.

3a. The child I am observing is an 19month old boy. The only guidance situation I noticed was
when two groups of different age groups are outside playing on the playset. A caregiver goes up
to the boy, and says Lets go play with art. The boy looks at the playground then runs to the
line where they are supposed to meet. The caregiver continued to go around, gathering her
students by sayingLet's play with art. When everyone is lined up the caregiver smiles at the
boy who made it first to the line. Here, youre the leader today. the caregiver states as she
handed him a clipboard. Alright. Lets go to the green door the caregiver says as she opens
the door that led to another classroom. Some students stared at the other children, while some
even tried to wander off, but the little boy in front kept his eyes forward, focused on the door
until he reached it then looked up to the caregiver for direction. The caregiver, after gathering all
her students and repeatedly said green door., placed her hand on the little boy then opened
the green door to the hallway. Let's go to the yellow triangle the caregiver directed. The boy
stopped looking at her, folded his arms, and walked quietly to the yellow triangle across the hall.
When everyone was gathered they hit the yellow triangle with their hands. The caregiver
opened the door to their classroom and the little boy walks right over to the handwashing station
while other kids wandered. Lets wash our hands. The caregiver stated. She goes to where the
little boy is, turns on the water for him as he puts his hands under. Lets use soap. She
repeated and showed the boy next to her how to wash his hands properly with the soap. After
he stood their with his hands wet and dripping. Use a towel the caregiver instructed him. He
went to the paper towel station and dried off his hands then looked at the caregiver once more.
Make sure to throw your trash in the trashcan. The boy obliged, then again stared at the
caregiver until she said Meet me at the red table.

3b. I would say this was handled by the caregiver appropriately. She acknowledged the little boy
occasionally, even when she was busy gathering her other students. When the little boy
seemed unsure she would repeat her instructions then showed/guided him on how it was done
(ex.: handwashing). She kindly taught the boy her standards and expectations.

4a. The boy is 2 years old while the girl is 18 months, eventually another 18 month girl
approaches when one leaves. The girl is in the middle of the room, at an L shape playing
center. She is on one side of the L while the boy is on the other. They are both engaged in
squared legos that had sides sticking out. The boy looks up, notices, and slowly moves closer to
her. When he is inches away he slams the toy lego he has in his hand down. He picks up
another lego and slams the two legos in his hands down, making noises with his mouth. The girl
looks at him with a troubled look on her face. She grabs one of the legos from his hands. The
boy stops and stares at her. She takes the piece she took and connects it to the piece she
originally had. The boy watches her for a few seconds as she grabs another lego to stack on top
then he leaves. Within seconds another 18 month girl waddles up to the first girl playing with
legos. She stares at the first girl then hands her other legos to connect. They continue to stack
the legos together for about a minute or two. Then the first girl walks away and the second girl
continues to try to connect the toys herself.

4b. The caregiver noticed the children in play, but hardly said anything or approached them
since they seemed to be getting along. The only comments I heard from the caregiver was to
tell the boy to place nicely with the legos. She did acknowledge the first girl, when explaining to
the boy that she was playing with the toys correctly. She also eventually praised the second girl
for being able to figure out how the legos worked. I would say for the most part the caregiver's
response was appropriate.