An Observation of a Five Year Old Child
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to do write up of observation of Ashton of five years old. The areas of observation includes the motor skill of the child, the aspect of the play, social developments of the child, language development and the adaptive skills as pertains to the boy Ashton. In my observation I will start with the discussion of motor skills which refers to the movement or motion of a child, it discusses mainly characteristic of motor of 5 year old, this is followed by play which generally looks into all characteristic of associated with a 5 year old, after that there is the general social aspect which first involve looking into all the possible social characters of 5 year old and then finally is the discussion of language development.
Motor Skills
A motor skill refers to movement or motion; it is a learned sequence of movements that combine to produce a smooth, efficient action in order to master a particular task. Its development occurs in the motor cortex, which controls voluntary muscle groups. Motor impairment would lead to problems as far as locomotion is concerned (Bower, 1998).
For a five year child he or she exhibits such aspects of motor skills as the ability to run in an adult manner, he or she is able to skip and jump around, walk on tiptoe, skating is yet another motor skill activity engaged in. they also establish hand preference, cuts and pastes simple shapes and or objects around. Much of coloring is also done at this age since they can grasp pencil just like an adult with dominance of right hand over left one noticeable. Generally the activities they engage in tend to be more complicated and more directed toward achieving some goal (Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl, 1999).
Ashton (boy) of age 5years therefore must possess the general motor skills described above. However on observation, I found him to be more intelligent and way above the chart on his development skills this is because he can ride bicycle and roller-skates better than I do. It’s thus amazing to possess more motor skills than provided by the chart (Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl, 1999). These extra skills may be attributed to the fact that he has three older brothers in which may have helped in developing his motor skills early than most
Play
The word play would mean to occupy oneself in amusement, sport, or other recreations, it describes to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment. It’s therefore healthy for a child to play. Games include hide and seek, tag, and hopscotch. At this age children enjoy pretend games of more elaborate nature as it keeps them absorbed and busy, worries are of no use to them. They like to build houses and forts with blocks and to participate in more dramatic play such as playing house or being space invader. They also enjoy singing songs, dancing, and playing CDs are usually very enjoyable (Healy, 1994).
Ashton being within the bracket is not left behind in games; he has such a big imagination and loves to play different games, we were at Wal-mart in the van waiting on mommy to come out and he pretended that we were in a race car that had guns on the front and that we could fly. He would tell me when I needed to dunk when we were going to get hit by other flying objects, or he told me to hold on because we were about to go very fast. He likes to listen to the radio and seems to really like music just like any other five year old child (Martin, 1988).
Adaptive
Adaptive domains in early childhood refer to a child's ability to use daily living skills such as getting himself dressed, brushing his teeth, combing his hair and even being able to get milk out of the refrigerator. According to wordreference.com, the term adaptive would mean become adjusted to new conditions. At the same time the Encyclopedia of Children's Health, describes it as having the ability to adapt to and manage someone's surroundings to effectively function and meet social expectations. It also says that at this stage infants learn how to walk, how to talk, and to eat with a spoon. Children at this point learn how to cross the street, to roam about, and to follow a great variety of rules while interacting with people (Shonkoff, 2003).
Good adaptive behavior promotes independence at home, at school, and in the community. Five year olds can dress and undress themselves quite well. Assistance is necessary only for adjusting more complicated fasteners and tying shoes. These children can feed themselves and attend to their own toilet needs. They can even visit the neighborhood by themselves, needing help only when crossing the streets (Ramey and Ramey, 1999).
Ashton possesses much of these adaptive behaviors for instance he has known the rule of the games that’s why he controls it while playing with other kids he has noticed that there is need of organization while playing just like any other game . He is able to tell when it is time for other kids to play. He seems to be very independent in dressing and undressing.
He has a neighbor friend that he likes to play with that lives next door (Shonkoff, 2003).
Social
Ashton is a very independent child not always wanting to follow others rules, He seems to listen well and knows that there are rules though. He is very curious and wants to know WHY? Things have to be the way they are and why they can’t be done this way or that way (Bower, 1998).
Language
According to Sean Brotherson, family science specialist, NDSU Extension Service the period for language development and learning to talk is from birth to ten years of age. He further notes that the actual time for language learning is the first few years of life and that Children need to hear you constantly talk, sing and read to them during these early years (Ramey and Ramey, 1999).
At 5 years old a child vocabulary is about 5000 words, he or she is able to use complex sentence correctly, he or she enjoys telling and hearing jokes, he or she also learn that language can be written with symbols, he or she can give full name, address etc he or she is interested in reading and writing, they do recognize their name and attempt to write (Healy, 1994).
Ashton has developed proper language and is capable of speaking with minor mistakes. It is possible to respond to his needs. He is able to request something, he can as well be sent to do something like with minor distraction (Bower, 1998).
References
Bower, D. (1998). Better Brains for Babies. Publication Nos. FACS 01-3 and 01-5. College of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Georgia
Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A.N., and Kuhl, P.K. (1999). The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn. New York: William Morrow & Co. Inc.
Healy, J. (1994). Your Child's Growing Mind: A Practical Guide to Brain Development and Learning from Birth to Adolescence. New York: Doubleday.
Martin, E. (1988). Baby Games: The Joyful Guide to Child's Play from Birth to Three Years. Running Press Book Publishers.
Ramey, C.T. and Ramey, S.L. (1999). Right from Birth: Building Your Child's Foundation for Life. New York: Goddard Press Inc.
Shonkoff JP (2003), Language delay, Late talking to communication disorder. In CD Rudolph, AM Rudolph, eds., Rudolph's Pediatrics, 21st ed., pp. 441–444. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Shore, R. (1997). Rethinking the Brain: New Insights into Early Development. New York: Families and Work Institute.
