Essay on Child Observation: Physical Development

Introduction

The study of human development is critical in understanding the growth of individuals across the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains.1 Human development is described as a continuous process composed of multiple stages of development.1 A stage of significant importance regarding development is referred to as early childhood.1 Fitting into this category is the client of this report; John.

John is a 5-year-old boy who lives in Townsville with his parents and younger sister, Julie. He attends preschool during the week where he actively develops his reading and writing skills. John enjoys physical activities including soccer, and swimming as well as riding his bicycle and scooter. While at home, he likes to play with toys such as Lego, play games on his computer, and watch videos on YouTube. John is proficient in daily tasks and requires little to no help from his parents. In addition, John is toilet-trained and eats using cutlery. The content of this report, using footage of John within a classroom setting, will entail an in-depth examination of John’s gross motor skills. This will be followed by a summary of his fine motor, cognitive, language communication, and psychosocial skills, as well as a conclusion on John’s overall level of development in comparison to certain development milestones.2

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In-Depth Analysis: Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor skills are defined as voluntary movements of large muscles in the body.3 Movements such as crawling, running, jumping, and any other operation involving the use of the arms, legs, and torso are characterized as being gross motor reflexes.3 John’s running and ability to stand on one foot will be analyzed to provide insight into his overall gross motor development.

Running:

Running is an important activity that showcases the development of a child’s gross motor skills.1,2 According to the ‘Hypothesised Developmental Sequence for Running’ by Haywood, John’s running style was synonymous with that of an early child’s running ability.3 This is classified by the lateral swinging of the legs, an equilibrium motion, or in other words, a synchronization of the arms with the trunk and the flicking of the heels.3 When running, his leg movement was relatively proficient in propelling him across the classroom with considerable agility.3 With arm movement, he demonstrated the three-step arm technique, which provided better motion control of his arms. Taking into consideration that multiple synergist muscles are functioning, it can be expected that his prowess regarding running is on an upward trend throughout each lap.3,4 This should be expected, as stated in his client profile John frequently plays soccer whilst partaking in swimming lessons. These exercises, which employ a range of muscles vital to running encourage the continuous strengthening of the muscle fibers primarily in his arms and legs, a possible reason for his excelling in this skill. Although running is classified as gross motor, Bronfenbrenner’s theory on the ‘dynamic environment’ can be applied in this scenario.1 This can be attributed due John’s gross motor development being influenced by his mesosystem; his preschool soccer team, and swimming lessons.1,3

In addition, John was highly energetic with his running and utilized the full use of space provided to him. Furthermore, he demonstrated precision in the quality of his running, as he ran in a relatively straight line.5 This perception and attention highlight the effective calibration and control of the synergist muscle groups he was using. Lastly, it was evident that John was able to be light on his feet, moving ‘heel to toe’ with no evidence to dispute him of landing flat-footed. By the Queensland Health Developmental Checklist, John not only meets but exceeds the standards for a 5-year-old.2

Standing on one foot:

Standing on one foot is another activity used in appropriating the level of gross motor development in children.2 This function is associated with multiple characteristics of gross motor development including the maintenance of balance, proper coordination, and adjustment of the body to imbalances caused by changes in the center of gravity.3 In addition, due to these traits, the ability to stand on one foot is a precedent to other tasks, namely hopping.3 Whilst performing this task, John took an innate preference for his right leg for support whilst lifting his left leg. In this position, he was able to stand upright for 8 seconds. When attempting this on his left leg, he would lift it and point it laterally to the rest of his body causing his torso and head to move laterally in the opposite direction to compensate for the changing centre of gravity.1,3 Ultimately, this resulted in him losing his postural stability, after less than 2 seconds. This showed he was less capable of utilizing his left leg, resulting in his postural instability. This was evident by his arms frantically waving around to compensate for the changing center of gravity.6 Despite the circumstances, John was able to react by putting his hands on his hips, thereby concentrating his center of gravity.6 However, John quickly resorted to using his right leg as support, highlighting his dominant side.

Skinner’s theory regarding positive reinforcement can be applied in this scenario as a possible alternative for encouraging John’s use of his non-dominant leg1. Further improvements to strengthen John’s non-dominant leg would be for him to place his hands on his hips, and for his head, legs, and torso to stay parallel to the sagittal plane. 3

Summary of Development

Gross Motor:

As showcased by his running and ability to stand on one foot, John meets the standards expected from a 5-year-old. Additionally, he was able to throw a ball with effective coordination.1,3 However he was unable to catch the ball on several attempts as it was incorrectly thrown toward him. Despite this, on two occasions he successfully anticipated and caught the ball. Furthermore, he demonstrated postural balance and active movements when performing the other tasks required, namely jumping and hopping.4 His development is reinforced by his endurance and coordination which has enhanced his capability to accomplish these tasks to a sufficient level.4 Overall, John showed adequate, if not exceptional, gross motor skills for a 5-year-old boy, as per the milestones assigned by the Queensland government.2

Fine Motor:

Fine motor skills involve the utilization of small muscles within the body for certain tasks.1 A contributing factor to the improvement of concentrated movements in these muscles are due to cephalocaudal and proximodistal growth in portions of the limbs, thereby allowing precise and controlled movements.1,4 John demonstrated his fine motor skills primarily through building with Lego and then by coloring and drawing a picture. When drawing and coloring, John employed the tripod pencil grip using his thumb with the support of two fingers to grasp the coloring pen, a significant milestone in the 5-year developmental checklist.4 In addition, John was able to manipulate certain blocks of Lego to fit in with the final design, highlighting his ability to use his fingers for more complex movements. This is reinforced by his competency in using basic cutlery such as a knife and a fork for eating.1,4 Therefore, John’s fine motor skills achieve the objectives that a typical 5-year-old is capable of.2

Cognitive:

Cognition development is related to the mental thinking capacity and is a crucial area of development in children, this is due to its profound influence on their reasoning and problem-solving capabilities. Jean Piaget proposed that in early childhood, children (aged 2 to 7 years) belong in the pre-operational stage of reasoning. This is usually classified by an imaginative aspect, ordinality, and ability to identify and understand ideas, except combining ideas. Although it was unclear whether cardinality was tested, he demonstrated ordinality by counting the number of fingers on his drawing. Furthermore, John was able to distinguish between different blocks of Lego, this being supported by Piaget’s theory and reinforced by Bandura’s modeling theory, stating, that children actively acquire new skills based on their interactions with the environment.6 Therefore, his development is on par with the required standards.

Language and communication:

Effective usage of language and non-verbal cues are vital components of communication. In addition, these are highly relevant regarding the development of cognitive skills.1,7 John’s range of expressions and responses highlight his development in this field. For example, he utilized a considerable range of non-verbal expressions and gestures during his communication such as shrugging and widening his eyes.1 He was able to address his needs from the adults present, including asking permission to use the washroom.6 His vocabulary ranged from simple to mixed, with little to no grammatical errors in his speech. Therefore, the evidence points to John’s language and communication being congruent with the normative data for development.2

Psychosocial skills:

Psychosocial skills are defined as being related to the interrelation of social factors and individual thought and behavior.1 John was active throughout each video, with considerable interactions with all the people present. John demonstrated a high level of autonomy and a lack of separation anxiety throughout the observation. In each activity, John was able to take initiative, with competency in accomplishing his task, emphasizing Erikson’s theory on “initiative vs guilt”. A noteworthy occurrence that highlighted John’s psychosocial development was when questioned the rules of the game ‘Piggy in the Middle’. To which John’s first response was “no cheating”. This is a subtle undertone that rings volumes of John’s knowledge about abstract concepts, such as honesty. It aligns with the information processing theory which states that children process and integrate observations, which includes social cues. As John plays a game based on rules; soccer, he would be bound to observe what would happen if cheating occurs, in turn integrating the value of being honest and fair. Experiences of such nature mold psychosocial developmental skills, which in John are considerably sophisticated for a boy his age.

Conclusion:

In summary, John meets the milestones assigned to test the developmental progression of a typical 5-year-old. However, certain skills were not addressed in the observed videos. These include John’s ability to hold an in-depth discussion, his memory power, intellectual capacity, and some advanced fine and gross motor skills like riding a bicycle, writing, and crafting. Nevertheless, with the evidence presented in the videos, there is no indication of shortcomings in John’s overall developmental growth.

Reference List

1. Hoffnung M, Hoffnung RJ, Seifert KL, et al. Lifespan Development. 3rd ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons Australia; 2015.
2. Queensland Health. Child Development Milestones – 5 years. Queensland Health. https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/427174/28133.pdf. Published 2003. Accessed September 23, 2018.
3. Haywood K, Getchell N. Life Span Motor Development. 5th ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2009.
4. Payne VG, Isaacs LD. Human Motor Development: A Lifespan Development. 9th ed: London. Routledge; 2017.
5. California Department of Education. Perceptual and Motor Development Domain. Perceptual and Motor Development Domain - Child Development (CA Dept of Education). California Department of Education website. https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09percmotdev.asp. Accessed October 7, 2019.
6. Goswami U. The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive Development. 2nd ed: United Kingdom. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated; 2010
7. Huesmann LR. An information processing model for the development of aggression. Aggressive Behaviour. 1987;14(1):13-24. doi:10.1002/1098-2337(1988)14:13.0.co;2-j. Accessed September 28, 2019.
8. Killen M, Rutland A. Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice, and Group Identity. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell; 2013.
9. Vygotsky LS., Cole M, Stein S, Sekula A. Mind in Society: the Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1978:86
10. Green C, Kalvaitis D, Worster A. Recontextualizing psychosocial development in young children: a model of environmental identity development. Environmental Education Research. 2015;22(7):1025-1048. doi:10.1080/13504622.2015.1072136