Observation of a Toddler (Lifespan) Essay Example for Free

Observation of a Toddler (Lifespan) EssayAbstractI observed harper, a 23 month old little girl that is full of energy. Also participating in the interaction with Harper was her drive and v year old sister, Mya. Harper is actually friendly and outgoing. She is very interested reading books and loves to be read to. She enjoys helping her receive clean and do simplex tasks. She seems to be very confident with and without her mother in her sight. Harpers father is not actively involved in her life because he lives in another state. Observation of a Toddler1. Harper is a 23 month old little girl. She is 34 inches tall and weighs approximately 27 pounds. She has fairish hair and blue eyes and a very pretty smile. 2. Harpers gross motor skills are normative. She is able to walk, squat and live on with ease. She layabout go up and down stairs one at a time all by herself and according to her mother she is reasonably bowel train although she has nighttime accidents. Harpers fine motor skills are also normative. She can throw a ball overhand, handle a spoon well, turns pages in her book and washes her hands. The skills Harper has are normative because they are in sync with other toddlers her age. Our book states By 18-24 months, toddlers can walk quickly or run stiffly for short distance, walk backward without losing their balance, stand and kick a ball without falling, stand and throw a ball and jump in office staff(Santrock, 2011, p. 129).a. Harper ZPD was in the upper limit. She had to be told to pull down her knickerbockers when she went to potty but didnt need to be told to wipe and pull her pants up. Her mother scaffolded by telling her what to do initially and letting her figure the rest out for herself. 3. Harper has mastered five substages. She is currently in Piagets sixth substage of sensorimotor development, Internalization of schemes. She loves to see with her kitchen and pretends to do dishes. She has learned this from watching her mother. S he also engages in imaginative play with her sister. 4. Harper is very vocal and expresses herself very well. She has trouble with the L phenome and pronounces the letter L as a W. Example She says wap instead of lap. She likes to listen to stories and responds with whats that? and Why. She uses syntax. She understands the meaning of most words.Example Her mother said do you love mommy and Haper replied yes the mother asked how much and Harper replied sixty dollars. 5. Harper had an easy temperament. She was very happy and easy to please. She was also substantially redirected when her sister took her toy. 6. Harper was gender type was supported because she loves to wear dresses, play with dolls, loves the color ping, and loves princesses. While Harper is quite the girly girl she also likes to get disconsolate and kick the ball with her neighbor. 7. I would describe Harper as a securely attached child. When her mother left to run to the store to give me roughly alone time with he r she seemed a little scared and wanted to go with her mother. Her mother was gone for approximately 15 minutes and Harper was fine by and by her mother was out of sight and didnt seem to notice much when her mother returned.She continued to play with her toys and barely looked up. 8. When Harper pass water her sister Harpers mother used negative punishment to discipline her. She made her sit in a time out for two minutes and she was ineffectual to play with her sister or her toys. She was also told if she hit her sister again she would have to go to bed immediately and would not be able to play with her sister for the rest of the night. Harpers mother also used positive punishment by telling Harper that only mean girls hit and that she was being bad. At first, Harper responded by crying. However, she displayed compliance by sitting her in time out chair by herself and staying there until her mother told her that is was fine for her to get up.This combination of negative and posi tive punishment seemed to work as there no more episodes of bad behavior during my observation. 9. Harper is currently in the stage of Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. In this stage The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. Between the ages of one and three, children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc(McLeod, 2008, para. 4).Harper likes to pick out her own clothes and expresses that she likes dolls and the color pink and that she does not like to eat beans. She is on her way to achieving the right of will by expressing her likes and dislikes. Harper has mastered the previous stage of Trust vs. Mistrust and has achieved the virtue of hope. She is very comfortable with her surroundings and a very easy child. She does not appear to have a heightened anxiety or agitation even when her mother in out of her sight. She easily warms up to others a nd has a very sunny disposition.ReferencesMcLeod, S. A. (2008). Psychosocial stages. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http//www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html Santrock, J. W. (2011). Life-Span development (13th ed.). Ny, Ny McGraw-Hill.