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Developmental Case Study
The term development means “Changes in your child’s physical growth. It is also the
changes in your child’s social, emotional, behavior thinking and communication skills” ("Child
development: the first five years", 2021). This will vary per child, and with age. For this
developmental case study, I will be observing two children; Ireana who is an 11-year-old girl,
and Kaden who is a 4-year-old boy. I work at a childcare facility, Ireana and Kaden are students
there.
Child One
The first child I observed was Ireana, she is 11 years old and is going into the 6th grade.
Ireana lives at home with her mother and younger brother. She attends the childcare facility as an
after-school student and for summer camp. This will be her final summer attending the facility
because she is aging out of the program. Ireana is a very bright girl, she loves games and
musicals. Ireana can be overzealous at times, her maturity level has caused some issues at home
as well as the childcare facility. When Ireana wants to she can produce amazing classwork, but
often must be redirected quite a few times throughout the day.
Domains
When thinking of her cognitive abilities Ireana excels in-process and controlling. She is
responsible. “Decision making and its related constructs are consistent across the adolescent
development literature” (Ross, Kim, Tolan & Jennings, 2019). While at home Ireana helps with
chores and taking care of her younger brother. Ireana could work on focusing attention on the
task at hand at times. She likes to talk to friends and often strays from her classwork. Also,
Ireana could work on her problem-solving skills, she often gets frustrated when things do not go
her way instead of thinking of a new strategy. When thinking about the physical skills of Ireana,
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she is very active; loves to play sports and outdoors. Ireana is often very tired, during our
summer camp program she often sleeps in the middle of the day. She has begun to show signs of
puberty. She is becoming taller and has begun to use products for preteens and young adults.
Another milestone observed is that Ireana has been showing an interest in boys. This is normal
for her age, but it has caused some issues within the childcare facility. A lot of children who
attend are a lot younger than Ireana so some of her conversations with them are not age
appropriate at all. Honestly, I understand attraction is normal for this age, but the level of
intensity that her attraction is at is a tad concerning. Ireana’s social and emotional behavior is on
track. She is forming relationships with friends at the school. “Adolescents shift their primary
relationship investment from parents to peers” (Nickerson & Nagel, 2005). Most of the time, she
is supportive and caring towards the younger children. Ireana enjoys expressing herself through
her clothes and hairstyles. She likes to change it often. Overall, I feel that it is accurate to say that
Ireana is on the right track in all of the covered domains. During her age children will grow and
develop so much!
Child Two
The second child that I observed was Kaden. He is 4 years old. He lives with his mom
and dad who are both on active duty in the United States Army. Kaden is currently enrolled in
our Jr PreK classroom, he will be going to PreK in the Fall. Kaden was a hard subject to observe,
he had no consistency with his routine. His parents are not dropping him off at the same time
every day, the time differs and he normally comes after the academic activities for the day. We at
the childcare facility suspect that Kaden is on the autistic spectrum, but his parents have not had
him tested. Kaden is nonverbal and keeps to himself for the most part. He is very sweet and
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loving but only to us adults at the center. When thinking about his cognitive abilities Kaden has
informal math skills, he loves connecting toys are creating patterns. A few things Kaden needs to
work on or needs a therapist to help him work on are focusing and attention, processing
information, and sensory. Kaden does not like different textures such as soap, sand, and paint.
Kaden’s gross motor skills are great, he can kick a ball, climb stairs without assistance and throw
a ball overhand. Kaden can use his eating utensils at mealtimes but has difficulty with dressing
himself and using the bathroom without assistance. When we look at Kaden’s social and
emotional behavior he is behind and lacking in this area severely. Kaden lacks social skills with
his classmates or other children. He does not seem interested in building relationships with
anyone except adults. Kaden also has trouble expressing himself, since he is non-verbal he
screams often to communicate his wants or needs. This can be hard to determine exactly what he
is trying to say. I do think that if Kaden was to get tested and have a therapist to guide him
throughout the day, it could make a world of difference for him in the classroom with his domain
development. I am concerned with Kaden’s development. After the observation and also the
childcare center does developmental assessments (ASQ’s). Kaden scored very low on the
assessment, which tested fine motor, gross motor, problem-solving, personal-social, and
communication. I along with Kaden’s Jr PreK teacher had a conference with Kaden’s parents
following my observation and the assessment to discuss his progress and our recommendation
for outside help, unfortunately, the owner of, the center said if the parents did not agree to a plan
of improvement for Kaden; which included coming in at a more consistent time, and to have him
screened for autism and a few other stipulations, that we could no longer offer care for him. The
parents denied that there was an issue and pulled him from the program three weeks later.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, I learned a lot from these observations. The textbook readings along with
the research articles provided a lot of references for this assignment. I observed two children who
were very different in age and developmentally. The age differences provided that the
developmental milestones were very far apart in comparison. Overall Ireana is a smart girl who
can have some behavioral issues, and Kaden is s super sweet and loving boy that requires further
guidance from a licensed professional. I am confident that they both will continue to grow and
develop as the years commence.
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References
Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. (2021). Child & Adolescent Development in Your Classroom (3rd ed.).
Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Ross, K., Kim, H., Tolan, P., & Jennings, P. (2019). An exploration of normative social and
emotional skill growth trajectories during adolescence. Journal Of Applied
Developmental Psychology, 62, 102-115. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2019.02.006
Child development: the first five years. (2021). Retrieved 6 July 2021, from
https://raisingchildren.net.au/newborns/development/understanding-
development/development-first-five-years
Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and
early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 223–249.
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