Child Development Observation (infant)
Child Development Observation (Infant)
Children can demonstrate all kinds of behavior: one moment a child is filled with joy but seconds later quietness come with sadness and tears. Such rapidly changing behavior is the result of a wide range of emotions, energy levels and discoveries that a child constantly experiences. Understanding this behavior is sometimes difficult because each child is unique and complex. Moreover, they cannot engage in conversations and explain their emotions and feelings. Nevertheless, it is crucial for educators and teachers to understand children behavior and help them to learn about the world. By understanding learning stages and domains, which contribute to the typical child behavior, the teachers will be able to determine the most interesting materials, activities, individualize the interaction and detect concerns regarding their behavior (Goodman, Y. M. (2014).
The importance of observing and documenting behavior in infants are illustrated by the following questions:
1. If the teacher observes infants play, he or she can discover their preferences and interests.
2. The strategies for achieving the goals can determine the current stage of development.
3. Personalities of children can be discovered and developed through observation and recording.
4. Communication and intellectual abilities can be determined by watching children play and interact.
There are two main ways of determine current development stage and developing strategies for future interaction with children: observation and recording (Goodman, 2014). Observation makes the teachers take a passive approach and watch children play or interact without any interference. On the other hand, recording involves documenting the behavior by children during their interaction with others. Observation made by teachers should be as objective and detailed as possible and describe the actions of the child rather than thoughts of the teacher. Objective observations are mere statements of actions: “Jimmie spent entire day sitting in the classroom and looking through the pictures” or “Adam laughed because he enjoyed playing with toys on the lawn.” On the other hand, subjective observations cannot be considered effective in terms of recognizing development stage of children because they often contain judgment and labels. For example: “Adam seems like a lazy boy.” The teacher has no knowledge about Adam’s character and, therefore, the information cannot be considered helpful in determining the stage of development (Forman & Hall, 2013). An effective description is objective and detailed and provides all necessary information to teachers and parents on development progress of their children.
As previously stated, the typical