Observation Assignment 1

Observation Assignment

Melissa Gilson

CHPC 120

Linda Langevin

October 29, 2019

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Observation Assignment

Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor skills are full body movements like running, jumping, crawling, throwing

and shaking toy. Mela showed me that she does well in this part of development and can adjust

her body to sit up by herself without any assistance. When I observed Mela, she was sitting

upright on the couch, and she turned and grabbed her toy with her left hand. Another gross

motor skill I saw Mela do was rolling over on more than one time. When her mother puts her on

the floor Mela was able to roll over by herself. She started on her stomach and she shifted her

body by twisting it from side to side and then rolled over onto her back. She was also able to do

the same again from laying on her back and switching to her stomach. Another gross motor skill

I saw was when Mela was on the floor and she was pushing herself up from her stomach onto her

hands and knees. These are just a few of the examples of her gross motor skills I observed

during my observation.

Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are picking up objects with her fingers, picking up toys with her hands

and grabbing her blanket. When I was observing Mela I saw some of these fine motor skills.

One example of Mela’s fine motor skills was, when she ran her fingers over the couch cushions

to feel the fabric texture, she felt it and scratched her fingernails against it. She did this when she

was sitting upright on the couch unassisted. Another example I saw was when she was laying on

the floor on her back, she was grabbing at the blanket with her left hand. She used her fingers

and closed them around the blanket and once she had the blanket in her hand, she pulled it closer

to her body and moved it back and forth. Another example of her fine motor skills was when

Mela was grabbing at the tag on her toy fabric block with her right hand. Her hand was in the
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open position and she found the tag and closed her fingers on it to hold it tight. Then she lifted

the toy block to her mouth. These are the examples I saw of Mela’s fine motor skills during my

observation.

Language Skills

There are more than one kind of language skill. There is verbal, nonverbal, and listening.

One example of a verbal skill is when Mela was looking at her mom and saying, “Mommy.”

Another example of a verbal skill is when Mela was blowing raspberries when she was upset.

This showed her different verbal skills. An example of a nonverbal skill is when she was smiling

at her mom and when she heard a noise, she turned her head towards the noise to see what it was.

An example of her listening skill is when Mela heard her mother call her name and she turned

her heard toward her mom to see what her mom wanted. My last example of her vocal skills

when she looked outside because she saw someone go by and she called out “Mom, Mom”.

Mela’s words were clear to my hearing and no babbling. She has good vocal skills.

What did I learn about this child?

I observed Mela for half an hour. From my observation and based on the child

development chart that we received in class Mela is right where she is supposed to be

developmentally. During the time that I observed her, I did not see any obvious development

delays that we were asked to watch out for. I did not observe her in her own environment I

observed her in the T-Wing here at the college and she did not cry seeing a new person. She

seemed comfortable during our visit and was social even while she was fussy. I learned that she

is a very curious little girl. Whenever she heard noises, she always looked in the right direction

they were coming from to find out what they were. She was a fussy baby during my observation

but still very happy at the same time. Her mom said that she likes to get attention so maybe
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that’s why she was a bit fussy; she was trying to get what she wanted. From my observation

report Mela is showing good fine motor skills, good gross motor skills and good language skills.

She makes lots of noises, funny and sad ones.

Major Theorists

In class we studied Erik Erikson and we talked about his different stages in development.

Mela is 8 months old and she falls into stage one of Erikson’s four stages of development. In

this first stage children “development a sense that the world is safe, a “good place,”” (Kail and

Zolner, 2018). Mela depends on her mom to provide the things she needs. Mela knows if she

wants something, she can make a sound and her mom will respond to her. She has built a trust

relationship with her mom and knows what she needs or wants will be given when she needs it.

Mela is on track for her gross motor, fine motor and language skills, but she knows her mom will

be there to help with the things she needs help with.

Another theorist that we discussed and studied in class was Jean Piaget. He was known

for his teachings on the Cognitive-Development Perspective. His “theory suggests that children

progress through a series of four different stages of cognitive development. These stages

encompass numerous aspects of mental development including that of reasoning, language,

morals, and memory. Piaget believed that kids take an active role in this cognitive development,

building knowledge as they interact with the world. ” (Cherry, 2019). When Mela was sitting on

the couch, she was scratching it which showed that Mela is taking an active role in her

environment and learning, these small skills are helping her to build her knowledge of her

surroundings. So, in this case Mela would be in the first stage of Piaget’s Cognitive

Development.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, Mela is right where she is supposed to be. She is a very active and

outgoing baby. She showed good motor skills when she was mad and would move her whole

body around. She also showed good fine motor skills when she kept grapping things that were

not there. She showed good listening skills wen she kept hearing things and would turn her head

towards the sounds. Mela is developmentally on track.

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References

Child Development Chart- First Five Years. Harold Ireton, Ph. D

Kail Robert, Zolner Theresa, 2018. Children: A Chronological Approach, Fifth Edition,

Kendra Cherry, Updated October 22, 2019 https://www.verywellmind.com/sensorimotor-stage-of-

cognitive-development-2795462