Observation

Include the following important data:

· Description of the child’s puzzling behavioral patterns, developmental difficulties, special need(s)

· Description of the problem that you think the child has to solve

· Info about the child’s familiarity with the activities he or she participates in

· Description of a sequence of the child’s academic activities under your observation

· All the child’s activities should be described chronologically from the beginning to the end of the observation period.

· Divide the description into small episodes; each should represent a separate child’s activity. (It will be easier to analyze and comment on specific episodes)

· Do not confuse descriptions of the child behavior with your comments. Descriptions should show what is going on; comments should explain why it is going on. What you describe is observable, what you comment on is usually not.

· Comments represent your explanations and guesses about causes of the child’s actions.

· Format key words/phrases in every comment as bold face and underline . (You will use this info for writing your inferences.)