Potential development Journal

Charlie Droeder

This week I attended potential development for the preschool level. At this specific location they
had a range of 2-7 year olds who were separated on age and behavioral level because at the
preschool level they take in any kids that have low income and qualify to go there . While I was
there I had the option to go in and out of different classes and work with the different children.
This first class I went with was the 2-4 year olds that were nonverbal, they were currently in the
gym class, which was very well planned for each class depending on the developmental level
they are at. The class was focusing on there gross and fine motor skills, they mixed together by
having the kids handle these small object like jacks and small foam cubes then had them throw
them into a bucket, they had to focus on their grasp and the direction they were throwing.
Throwing wasn’t at best they were hitting each other with the pieces from across the room! They
then had them do some jumping on different colored marks on the floor for them to learn their
colors and let them run around I believe just to release some built up energy. I found it
interesting that even though they were non verbal they responded to the learning aspect very
well and did even better than the behavioral class in my opinion. The next class I went to was
the 5-7 behavioral class which was a whole different ball game. I walked in to them doing a
color by number picture; the instructor gave them each their own pencil boxes with all the
necessary colors, she would announce a color and ask them which color goes with which
number, when someone would answer she told the kids to take out that specific color and color
that number wait for everyone to finish and move on, such a simple task. However, to do this
with a behavioral group is not that easy, in the half hour it took to do this there was 4 different
explosions. A few got mad at messing up themselves, but there was one specific boy that was
not having a good day and got mad at the color green being with the number 4, when I tried to
tell him that he was coloring in the wrong spot he threw his chair at me and screamed “f***ing
green” and I left the room so he could calm down, the teacher let me know it wasn’t me he’s
always this way and he has yet to be diagnosed. In all I think the day went well I got to see how
different children behave at different ages with different disorders and how different disorders
affect the developmental progress. I could see myself working with children with behavioral
issues because I have a lot of patience and I don’t take things personally especially when it’s
coming from a child with a short fuse that isn’t their fault.