Introduction
Growth in a child refers to changes in his or her body together with the increase in size, height, weight, circumference of the head, and the body mass index. On the other hand, development refers to increase in the child’s complexity. Development involves a progression along a continuous line on which a child gets a more refined knowledge, skills, and behaviors. This paper will focus on describing a child’s growth and development. The children’s behaviors in a classroom were observed for a period of about 15 minutes.
The paper will describe one of the child’s skills, behaviors, or actions and relate it to the class concepts that are related to the child’s development. The paper will then use Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory to describe the child’s interaction with adults in the classroom. This paper will also describe how this child expresses/regulates his emotions, the child’s language and his ability to communicate. The paper will then describe the child from a Piagetian perspective, before using the Skinner’s theory to describe ways through which this children’s behavior and his learning can be shaped. Finally, the paper will describe how the children’s playing and behaviors differed by gender.
Child’s Skills, Behaviors, or Actions
After observing the child for fifteen minutes during the break time session, one thing that was clear is that the child was locking his legs with each step when moving upstairs. The child behaved this way unconsciously. This means that the child acted this way without noticing that there was anybody around. The action of locking the legs was continuous and seemed to avoid interaction with other child. If this behavior can be related with the classroom concepts, the child can be said to be having autism. In autism, a child demonstrates repetitive and excessive behavior so that they can stay calm and stay occupied as well. This child demonstrated autism by locking his steps his legs in each step (Evans, 2013).
Another behavior that the child demonstrated was difficulty in paying attention. The child had some problems to paying attention to details, and also made careless mistakes. One teacher tried to talk to him but it was clear that mind was very far. Another thing is that at one time the child decided to play hide and seek with other children, but he quitted playing after a very short time because he could not find the rhythm, or how the game was like in a fast way. These behaviors can be related to the class concepts of “Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)” “Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD)”. A child with these two disorders is hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive for a period that does not exceed six months. The child’s behavior indicates that the child has delays in his sensory motor development (Greydanus et al., 2007).
Use of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory to describe ways in which Adults Interact with Children in the Classroom
According to Vygostky’s Theory, the social interactions that a child is involved in have a very huge influence in the way these children discover and utilize or create meaning in their discoveries (Astington, 2000). According to the observation that was made in the way adults interact with children in the classroom, adults, and especially tutors had a very huge positive influence on the children in this classroom. These tutors practically taught children on how to behave through providing of verbal instructions and behaving well. One way through which these tutors behaved well was through their dress code and use of polite word while addressing these children. For example, all the male teachers did not wear jeans. They were on material pair of trousers that were neatly ironed. Their shirts were also ironed and always tucked in. Almost all the teachers used words such as sorry and please whenever they were addressing the children. The children can observe the behaviors of these tutors and emulate them.
According to the Vygostky’s Theory, a child observes what an adult does through instructions and behaviors and tries to copy and internalize these behaviors they see in adults, while applying them in their own lives. The theory refers to this concept as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The teacher in this concept is referred to as the “more knowledgeable other” (Astington, 2000). According to the observation made, children in this classroom can be positively influenced by adults if these children copied the teacher dressing mode and etiquette in their lives, while also heeding to the teachers’ instructions.
How the Child Regulates/Expresses Emotions
One occasion when the child demonstrated his emotion was when he was unable to understand how the other children were playing and he quit. The child seems to have a quiet way of expressing his emotions. When he got to the play and was unable to cope up, one bigger boy than him seemed to bully him. However, though the child seemed bitter and sad, he did not argue with this boy. He just left the place, even without looking behind and went towards the classroom without even looking what was happening behind him. From the observation, it can be said that the child had a clumsy behavior disorder. The child had difficulty in arguing. This is because the child did not utter a word to the bully.
A clumsy behavior disorder in a child affects his/her ability to play with others, or participate in sports confidently. Clumsiness is an abnormal behavior that limits neurological behaviors that are used for coordinated movements. Gillberg & Kadesjö, (2003) referred to this condition as development coordination disorder (DCD). This is why we see the child always liked to be alone, and had a problem making friends or playing. Clumsiness also made the child not be able to fight back when he was bullied. He handled emotions in a quiet way and was very forgetful of bad events that happened a moment earlier.
Describing the Child from the Piagetian perspective
Piaget based his conclusion on the reasoning behind the way a child answers. In his conclusion, Piaget said that the way a child reason at different ages, it is a representation of qualitatively different thinking ways. Piaget had four stages of a child’s cognitive development. The four stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational (Dulcan & Wiener, 2006). Sensorimotor cognitive developmental stage is between the child’s birth and 2 years, preoperational stage is between 2-7 years, concrete operational stage is between 7 years to adolescence, while formal operational stage is in the adolescence period.
Use of Skinner’s Theory to Shape the Child’s behavior and Learning
According to Skinner, almost all behaviors are attained or learnt through experience. A child can shape his behavior if he or she finds that something is enjoyable or pleasant. One example is when a teacher smiles whenever a child answers a question correctly, or does a charitable thing. Such an appreciation from the teacher prompts the child to repeat the act again and again. If something is not appreciated and may be a child is punished for that behavior, he or she is likely not to repeat such a behavior. The child can use what Sinners referred to as the “operant conditioning.” This is the situation where a child decreases or increases his or her behaviors by controlling the consequences. According to Skinner, an appreciation or a rebuke of the child behavior is called social reinforce (Lerman, 2005).
Skinner’s theory was applicable in this case because teacher rebuked bad behaviors, while they appreciated good behaviors. One instance was when a boy bullied the child we talked of earlier. One teacher threatened to punish him, and he did not bully any other child again. Teachers also cheered whenever a seeker in the hide and seek game found a child. This act made the seeker to up his or her game in looking for the hiding peers.
Types of Play and Behavior by Gender
The type of play differed by gender. While boys preferred playing hide and seek, girls preferred play the family game. Another thing is that the boys and girls behaviors in the classroom differed very much. Boys always liked being superior to girls as it was the case when a teacher posed one question. The question was who between the boys and girls could run first. The boys in this classroom shouted louder that they were the ones. They contested bitterly when the girls said they could run faster than them. Boys were also more inquisitive in the classroom than girls. The inquisitiveness can be attributed to the Piaget’s assertions that children in the pre-occupational stage are want to know a lot because they have intuitive thoughts (Astington, 2000).
References
Astington, J. (2000). What is theoretical about the childʼs theory of mind? A Vygostkian view of its development. Lev Vygotsky: Critical assessments: Future directions Vol. IV (Vol. IV, pp. 401-418).
Dulcan, M. K., & Wiener, J. M. (2006). Essentials of child and adolescent psychiatry. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Evans, B. (2013). How autism became autism: The radical transformation of a central concept of child development in Britain. History of the human sciences, 26(3), 3-31.
Gillberg, C., & Kadesjö, B. (2003). Why bother about clumsiness? The implications of having developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Neural plasticity, 10(1-2), 59-68.
Greydanus, D. E., Pratt, H. D., & Patel, D. R. (2007). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder across the lifespan: the child, adolescent, and adult. Disease-a-month : DM, 53(2), 70-131.
Lerman, D. C., Parten, M., Addison, L. R., Vorndran, C. M., Volkert, V. M., & Kodak, T. (2005). A methodology for assessing the functions of emerging speech in children with developmental disabilities. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 38(3), 303- 316.
