Observation of Child's Emotional Development

✅ Paper Type: Free Essay	✅ Subject: Childcare
✅ Wordcount: 7011 words	✅ Published: 8th Feb 2020

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Observation Number: 4

Observation Method: Event Sampling

Date: Monday 15^th of October 2018 and Thursday 18^th of October 2018

Start Time: 1pm

Finish Time: 5:45pm

No of Children Present: 10

Age Group of Children: 3 years to 6 years

No of Adults Present: 2

Child Identified as: TC

Childs Age: 3 years and 3 months

Brief Description of Child: TheChild observed is a girl of average height, weight, she has blonde hair and blue eyes. She has delayed speech and language development and is waiting for her hearing aids to be fitted. She is a second child with an older sister who is seven and a younger brother who is 2. All three children attend this crèche four days a week. Both girls are in after school and their younger brother attends full day care four days a week.

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Details of Setting: The setting is large building containing two baby rooms, two toddler rooms, two preschool rooms, two Montessori rooms which become afterschool rooms in the afternoons, each of the above rooms are referred to as junior and senior rooms, eg. Junior babies and senior babies etc.

Details of Immediate Setting: The observation will be carried in the junior afterschool room which contains a large sink for water play and a handwashing sink, 3 activity tables, sandpit, arts and crafts area, book corner, home corner, dressing up and 3 large windows that looks into one of the outdoor play area. The observation will take place both in the classroom and in the large outdoor play area.

Aim and Rationale: The aim of this observation is to observe a child’s emotional development and specifically behaviours, I will be using the event sampling method for my observation.

Permission sought from: Childs mother.

Event Sampling Observation

Monday 15^th October.

No:	Time of Day	Duration	Provoked/ unprovoked p or up	Behaviour
1.	1.15pm	5 seconds	Up	Held up palm of hand to another child who approached him at the Jigsaw table and shouted “no, no”.
2.	1.16pm	5 seconds	Up	Shouted “no, mine, mine” when child approached him at the jigsaw table again.
3.	1.45pm	15 seconds	up	Running very fast around the classroom.
4.	1.47pm	10 seconds	Up	Running very fast around the classroom.
5.	1.55pm	5 seconds	Up	Screamed “no” at another child who took a jigsaw that was on the table.
6.	1.56pm	5 seconds	Up	Screamed “no” at another child who tried to make a jigsaw, banged his hand on the table and crossed his arms across his body.
7.	2.00pm	10 seconds	Up	Banged bead maze up and down on sandpit lid.
8.	2.01pm	5 seconds	Up	Running very fast around the classroom.
9.	2.05pm	10 seconds	Up	Threw toys of the table onto the floor.
10.	2.10pm	5 seconds	Up	Threw toys into the box at tidy up time.
11.	2.15pm	10 seconds	Up	Snack time – banged table with hands.
12.	2.35pm	10 seconds	Up	Screaming at the snack table.
13.	3.05pm	15 seconds	up	Screaming, hitting himself in the head and slamming cars on the table when another children went near the car track.
No:	Time of Day	Duration	Provoked/ unprovoked p or up	Behaviour
14.	4.15pm	5 seconds	Up	Spat drink from cup over the table.
15.	4.50pm	10 seconds	P	Fighting with another child over bead maze.
16.	5.00pm	10 seconds	Up	Threw all food and tea set out of the kitchen home corner area.
17.	5.01pm	5 seconds	Up	When asked to pick up food and tea set, threw them again.
18.	5.15pm	10 seconds	Up	Jumping up and down on couches during story time.
19.	5.30pm	5 seconds	Up	Fighting over car track and cars with two other children.

Event Sampling Observation

Thursday 18^th of October.

No:	Time of Day	Duration	Provoked/ unprovoked p or up	Behaviour
1.	1.15pm	5 seconds	up	Shouting “no, no” to other children, he wanted all the trains.
2.	1.30pm	20 seconds	up	Could not push the buggy so threw himself on the floor.
3.	1.40pm	10 seconds	up	Running very fast with doll and buggy.
4.	1.50pm	10 seconds	up	Another child approached the train set and he screamed.
5.	2.00pm	15 seconds	up	Did not want nappy changed, screamed and threw himself on the floor.
6.	2.05pm	5 seconds	up	Threw all the tea set and food out of the box all over the floor.
7.	2.10pm	10 seconds	p	Tidy up time fighting over a toy box with another child pushing and pulling the box
8.	2.30pm	10 seconds	up	Screaming at the snack table.
9.	2.45pm	3 seconds	up	Spitting drink back into cup and all over table.
10.	2.46pm	5 seconds	up	Screamed “stop, stop” at another child singing.
11.	2.45pm	3 seconds	up	Spitting drink back into cup and on table
12.	3.00pm	5 seconds	up	Knocked all building blocks of the table onto the floor.
No:	Time of Day	Duration	Provoked/ unprovoked p or up	Behaviour
13.	3.02pm	2 seconds	up	Walked away from blocks on the floor when asked to pick them up.
14.	3.15pm	5 seconds	up	Knocked all building blocks onto floor and stamped feet.
15.	3.20pm	5 seconds	up	Throwing sand around the garden from the sandpit.
16.	3.25pm	5 seconds	up	Pushed another child to get a ball of him.
17.	4.10pm	5 seconds	up	Pushed stickle bricks of the table onto the floor.
18.	4.45pm	5 seconds	up	Pushed animals of the table onto the floor.
19.	4.55pm	10 seconds	up	Cried because he did not get a chair to sit at the table to play a game.
20.	5.05pm	3 seconds	up	Ripped lotto board.
21.	5.20pm	1 minute	up	Cried as it was not his turn to play the lotto game.
22.	5.25pm	2 minutes	up	Threw himself on the ground and cried.
23.	5.45pm	30 seconds	up	Mum came to collect, shouted and stamped feet, mum held out coat and he ran the other way.

Evaluation

Emotional development involves the development of a child’s self-esteem, autonomy, self-confidence, self-respect and respect for others, it also includes the expressing of feelings and ranges of emotions appropriately and developing self-control. Emotional development also examines the areas of attachment, loss and separation and helping children to develop emotional skills is a crucial part of working with young children.

A child has four basic emotional needs and they are the need for love and security, new experiences, encouragement and responsibility

The emotional and social skills that children develop are vital to a child’s success in school and will assist them in their future lives are adults. Emotional and Social development are very closely linked.

From observing TC on the first afternoon of my event sampling Monday 15^th October, incidents no: 1,2,5,6,13,15,19 and on Thursday 18^th october incidents no: 1,4, all showed TC reactions to other children approaching where he was playing solitary with toys or other children trying to play with toys or jigsaws in the area she was playing , her reactions and behaviours to these situations included, shouting “no, no” , “mine, mine” holding his hand up flat at other children, screaming, banging the table with his hand, crossing her arms across her body, hitting herself in the head, I feel the behaviour and reactions are very aggressive, M. Beaver, 2001,pg 213 describes a children aged 2 years to 2 years 11 months “of being capable of a wide range of feelings, extremes of moods are very common, and that children can change between aggressive and withdrawn behaviour” she also described around this age of development children “ sometimes have tantrums if crossed or frustrated and are very possessive of their own toys and objects, and have little idea of sharing” (pg. 215)

Mary.D.Sheridan also suggests that a child of two and half years will “throw tantrums when thwarted and is less easily distracted. Emotionally still very dependent on adults and as yet has little notion of the necessity to share playthings or adults attention” (1997, pg. 30) Mary Sheridan that states, that a child of 3 years old “ general behaviour is more amenable and understands sharing playthings” (1997, pg. 34) I feel even though TC is 3 years and 3 months old she is in between the two developmental stages and feel her speech and language delay leaves her very frustrated and unable to express her emotions and feelings as well as a child of her age through speech and words, Tassoni.P, 2002, pg. 239 states factors which affect emotional development one of which is language development “ children who cannot express themselves may find it hard to develop relationships with other children and they may not be able to engage in role play which children aged between two and six use as a way of exploring relationships” and Beaver.M, 2001, pg. 218 suggest that a child of 3 years “ are less rebellious and use language rather than physical outbursts to express themselves”.

From observing TC on Monday 15^th of October incidents no: 3,4, 8,18 and on Thursday 18^th of October incidents no: 3, all showed TC running very fast around the classroom being very physically active as well jumping up and down on the couches when it was story time. Beaver.M, 2001, pg. 214 describes managing negative behaviour and a child between 2 years and 2 years and 11 months as “seeming rigid and inflexible, they do not like change, cannot wait and will not give in, often doing the opposite of what they are told” as TC was asked on every occasions to walk and slow down, she believes there may be good reasons for this behaviours and that it is “ children are just beginning to understand themselves and the world we live in, they are discovering that they have a will of their own and may practise exerting it” she suggest that children need to be given clear guidelines for acceptable behaviour and as childcare professional we need to limit children’s behaviours and impulses at this stage.

From observing TC the only two incidents of behaviour that were provoked was incident no:15 on Monday 15th which was when another children tried to take the bead maze of TC which she was playing with and there was only one of these mazes and on Thursday 18^th incident no:7 when TC was tidying up holding a toy box to go back onto the shelf when another child tried to grab the other end of the box. These conflicts where easily managed by the staff remaining calm and approaching calmly, acknowledging feelings and encouraging the two children to come up with a solution but in the end they had to suggested their own.

Incidents that was consistent on both afternoons of observation where pushing and throwing toys of the table and out of the home corner and the total incidents of this kind was 11, on most occasions when asked to pick the toys up and help tidy up he walked away and even though the consequences for this behaviour always remain the same which are he always has to pick them up he still continues to demonstrates the same behaviour and appears not to learn from his behaviour. I feel this behaviour can be linked to Freud theory of the unconscious mind and moral development and he suggested that the” unconscious mind is split into three parts:

Id – being the part of the mind that represents out desires and needs, Freud believed that all babies where all id, as they are unable to consider other people needs.
Ego – emerges later as children begin to consider the consequences of their actions and also start being able to plan the best way of meeting the powerful id’s demands.
Superego – this part of the unconscious is the moral part, and this part knows right from wrong – in other words are conscience”

(Tassoni.P, 2002,pg, 228)

Freud suggested that gradually children develop all three parts of the unconscious, which would mean they could gradually make moral decisions. I believe from TC demonstration of the same behaviour over and over again that she as yet he does not understand right from wrong and as childcare workers we need to remain consistent in our approach to this behaviour. Another reason I also feel this type of behaviour could be the child way of telling us he has had enough of playing with these toys but due to her speech and language delay cannot express his desire for a different activity or toy or simple the fact that he is looking for attention and behaving in an unwanted way may well be his way of communicating that she is not getting enough of the right kind of attention.

On Monday 15^th incident no: 12 where TC was screaming at the table and Thursday 18th incident no: 2 where TC could not push the buggy and threw herself onto the floor along with incidents no: 5, 8, 22 on the same day where simple down to pure frustration and her inability to express her emotions appropriately, and self-regulate as yet I feel this is again down to her speech and language delay.

On Thursday 18th incident no:19 and 21 showed TC was unable to share and take turns as yet when playing the lotto games, Mary.D.Sherdian states that a child of 4 years old “understands taking turns as well as sharing” ( 1997, pg. 37) so this is normative development for a child of 3 years and 3 months.

I observed over the two afternoons that TC demonstrated no separation anxiety or protests attending the setting but I did observe on Thursday 18th incident no: 23 when her mum came to collect her, she shouted, stamped her feet and ran the other way when she held out her coat for him to put on. Shaffer D.R, 2007, pg. 435 suggests that “ these tantrums were signs of secure attachments, first with their mum and also with their day care providers” and John Bowlby describes an emotional attachment “ as a term to describe the strong affectional ties that we feel with the special people in our lives” (Shaffer D.R, 2007, pg. 435)

“Both psychoanalytic theorists (Erickson 1963; Freud, 1905 / 1930 ) and ethologists ( Bowlby, 1969) believe that the feelings of warmth, trust and security that infant gain from secure attachments set the stage for healthy psychological developments later in life”

(Shaffer D.R, 2007, pg. 454)

After completing this event sampling observation over two afternoons I feel TC overall emotional development is delayed in some areas, but I do feel as her speech and language develops so will her ability to express her emotions appropriately and her ability to self-regulate and as she gets older her superego part of unconscious mind will develop and she will learn and recognise right from wrong.

Recommendations

Having completed these Observations on Emotional Development using the Event Sampling Method I would recommend that TC;

Continues to play and socialise with her peers.
Attends 5 mornings for her free Pre-school year which will help her emotional and overall development, and may even consider spreading his ECCE year over two years with an exemption.
Continues her Speech and Language Therapy Home Programme both at home and in the setting to develop her speech and language understanding including creating situations where TC must make requests, describe daily routines, turn single words into short phrases, follow her lead and observe, wait and listen
Continues to interact with adults and we use the 4’S’s – Say less, stress, go slow, show,

Say less – use short and simple sentences.
Stress – stress important key words and animate your voice. Repeat the new word he has heard often.
Go Slow – pause between words if necessary. Speak at a slow pace, and keep it simple if he is having trouble understanding you.
Show – Use visual information to help him understand what you are saying (use gestures, point to what you are talking about, use animated facial expressions and body language.

For example “Pick up toys”

He has more opportunities to pick toys and activities to play with which may stop her throwing toys and clearing tables.
Singing clean up, clean up everybody everywhere when toys are thrown and TC needs to pick them up or tidy them away.
Sit at the table and interact more with TC on a one to one basis as much as possible showing her how to play with the toys.
Reinforce toys are for everyone, encourage sharing and turn taking, for example, some for you, some for you dividing the trains, or you have turn and then TC’s turn but ensure TC is given opportunities to go first also.
Reinforce good behaviour with praise and encouragement, for example for walking with the buggies, sitting still for story time.
If TC continues to run around classroom, walk around the class with her showing her how to walk or push a buggy around with her acting as a positive role model.
Encourage outdoor physical play as much as possible as the event sampling showed there were very few incidents during outdoor play.
Ensure TC knows the limits and boundaries and rules of the service and staff respond consistently and manage conflicts in a positive manner that TC will learn how to behave appropriately.
Encourage TC when her speech and language develops more to express his feelings and name the emotions and help her by modelling how to respond when in an angry, frustrated or sad mood and the same applies to joy and happiness.

Reflection

The event sampling method of observation has revealed some possible causes for the TC behaviours and has helped identify some solutions to her behaviour and the stages of development and theorists have just confirmed that she is behind in his emotional development which I feel is linked to her delay in her speech and language development.

This observation has shown me that TC even though she is now old enough to be in the junior afterschool room is not developmentally ready when is also important and it plays a factor in whether is ready and can start school next year.

The observation has allowed me to try to understand the TC point of view and gain a better understanding of her thoughts and actions, as well as learning how frustrated she must be that she cannot express herself in words due to her speech and language delay.

Looking back at the two event samples on two consequent afternoons I did not realise there were so many behavioural incidents and it also showed up a pattern of certain types of behaviours and when we reviewed the observation as a room we feel we have just come to deal with TC behaviours and none of the staff members ever thought the event sampling would reveal so much. We will repeat this observations again in the next weeks months and see do they reveal any new or different findings and would include a column that include the part of the daily routine for example, garden, snack time, free play etc.

Reflecting back on the observation has also emphasised that need for all childcare professional working with TC to recap and review his speech and language home programme to make sure everyone is doing enough to help her develop.

The observation has shown me along with my research for my evaluation the importance of all staff members remaining consistent in their approaches to TC behaviours ensure all incidents are dealt with in the same way and manner ensuring that TC will learn and eventually know the limits and boundaries.

TC behaviour I have also found can be different along with her reactions depending on the group of children present on each afternoon he attends, including child that he seems to clash with more or less frequently with or children that provoke different reactions and emotions from her.

Carrying out the event sampling observation when I was on my lunch break or carrying out a different duty was difficult I was not there to observe TC myself the whole time so I had to make sure my staff working in my classroom knew my plan for my event sampling and the purpose of it and were able to record any incidents in my absence.

Personal and Professional Learning

I had never carried out an event sampling observations before so this experience was completely new to me and it truly gave me a good insight into my TC child and her behaviour.

I have learnt this method would be extremely useful if we had a child in the service who was a biter or a child who had constant temper tantrums because this method allows you to see the triggers and then learn how to avoid and deal with them as much as possible and is a good source of evidence if behaviours need reported back and discussing with a child’s parents.

Repetition of an event sampling observation would be a good idea after a few months to see if a behaviour is increasing or decreasing.

My observation has allowed me to learn more professional about emotional development and involved reading literature on this area and a variety of books to be able to link theory and developmental milestones and stages to my TC.

The observation and research has made me personally want to learn more about hereditary influences and environmental influences and interaction that shape a child’s temperament.

The observation has made me realise that TC needs and requires lots more support and intervention and her parents in particular needs to push the H.S.E to get the TC hearing aids as soon as possible and we as a service need to plan more programmes to help him further and support him in getting along with the other children more. This may involve further relevant training to help him progress with his emotional and overall development.

Emotional Development of a child can be closely linked to The Child Care (Pre-school Regulations, 2006 and in particular regulation 5 which is concerned with the Health, Welfare and Development of the Child and a child’s Emotional and Behavioural wellbeing forms part of the Whole Child Perspective.

A child’s emotional development is also linked to Aistear- The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework and in particular children’s connection with others with includes; relationships, parents, family and community and the adults role and then two of Aistear themes one which is well-being which states;

In partnership with the adult, children will

Aim 1 – Learning goal

2: “be aware of and name their own feelings and understanding that other may have different feelings”

4: “be confident and self-reliant”

(Aistear, 2009, pg. 17)

The other Aistear theme is Identity and Belonging which states;

In partnership with the adult, children will

Aim 1 – learning goal

1: “Build respectful relationship with others”

Aim 3 – learning goal

2: “understand the rules and boundaries of acceptable behaviour

(Aistear, 2009, pg. 26)

References and Bibliography

Beaver.M, Brewster.J, Jones.P, Keene.A, Neaum. S, Tallack.J, 2001, Babies and Young Children – Diploma in Childcare and Education, Nelson Thornes ltd, Cheltenham, UK.
McDermott. Michelle, 2010 – Learning Together – A parent’s guide to Early Childhood Learning, Barnardos, Barnardos Training and Resource Centre, Dublin
NCCA– National Council for Curriculum Assessment, 2009, Aistear – The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework, Dublin.
Regulation 5: Assessing Early Childhood Services- New National Assessment Criteria ¸Sept 2011, Early Childhood Ireland.
Shaffer.David.R and Katherine.K, 2007, Developmental Psychology Childhood and Adolescence, , 7^TH Edition, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, China
Sheridan.M.D, 1997, From Birth to five years, Children developmental progress, Routledge, London.
Tassoni.P and Beith.K, Harriet.E and Gough.A, 2002, Diploma Childcare and Education, Heinemann Educational Publishers, Oxford.