2
Observation Paper
For my observation paper, I chose to observe my nine-year-old son, Jessie. The
purpose of the observation is to observe a child under the age of ten for thirty minutes to an
hour in a natural setting, concentrating on the child's physical, cognitive, and psychosocial
development. I observed Jessie sitting at his kitchen island in his home, playing video
games, legos, and coloring while eating snacks for one hour. As part of a profile for the
child, some background and relevant information known before the observation besides
being the mother of the observed child is that Jessie is diagnosed with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder along with Anxiety and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
From a physical standpoint, Jessies is about 54 inches tall, which is average for his
age. He is very slender, maybe lightly underweight. According to the readings, boys usually
have lower body fat than girls, and obesity is more prominent in females than males
(Martorell, 2023). Another physical observation was that Jessie's fine motor skills were
underdeveloped. By the age of nine, his fine motor control should be precise, and noting
that he was having difficulty picking up the smaller pieces of legos and using in-hand
manipulation and precision to place the smaller legos into the correct place to make his
train was apparent. Grasp patterns and fine motor skills begin to develop in infancy and,
like other motor skills, develop sequentially (Martorell, 2023). By age nine, Jessie should be
able to quickly pick up objects using pincer grasps, including tiny circular legos, and place
them in the correct spot. During an educational research study done to link physical
development and academic achievement in children, there were many observations and
findings in children regarding physical development, specifically fine and gross motor
development. In the neuromotor section of the research document, it states, "Movements
such as rolling and crawling that babies and young children are meant to do as part of
early childhood development are designed to aid inhibition of the primitive reflexes so that
the higher-order postural reflexes can take over." (Preedy et al., 2020, p. 290). This more
specifically refers to younger children, and primitive reflexes are the basis of postural
reflexes that still pertain to what is seen here in Jessie. Jessie's lack of fine motor control
directly results from developed gross motor control and muscle tone. This can be related to
physical development as a baby. For instance, if Jessie skipped the mile stone and
sequential milestones like crawling, he would likely continue to be underdeveloped and
miss gross motor milestones, which would trigger underdevelopment in fine motor skills,
which is currently being observed. This brings us to the third physical observation of
Jessie, which was that when putting the Legos down and transitioning to his coloring
activity, Jessie was holding his pencil with a static tripod grasp. How is this related? The
static tripod grasp is usually found in children around four. The dynamic tripod grasp is a
more developed and appropriate hand grasp for using a writing utensil for Jessie's age,
which requires more fine motor control and precision than the static tripod grasp. The
same research study linking physical development with academic achievement concluded
that physically developed children were less likely to achieve the desired results. For
example, a child who has a low gross and fine motor is less likely to be able to write well in
school. This begins way before a child starts school and results from missed milestones and
delayed physical development from early childhood or even infancy. The article states,
"children seen in occupational therapy for pencil grasp and control problems which are
3
often identified, based on parents' information, as having omitted crawling milestones."
going back to the point that while observing Jessie and noting multiple fine motor delays
and deficits it is likely that Jessie has been experiencing a gross motor and fine motor delay
since around nine months when he should have been crawling and likely did not
experience. As Jessie's mother, I can confirm that if this is the conclusion you would come
to based on observing him, you would be correct that Jessie, in fact, did not crawl and went
straight from rolling over around four months old to walking at 12 months with no
crawling in between.
Using concrete operations, I observed some cognitive abilities in Jessie, such as
inductive reasoning, spatial thinking, numbers, and mathematics. As Jessie played with the
Legos, he built them from the bottom up. Inductive reasoning, also called the bottom-up
approach, is based on the inference that observations and using classification and patterns
can draw overall and general conclusions (Martorell, 2023). Jessie was doing this by not
only quite literally building his train station from the bottom up but also by observing the
Lego box picture and then separating the pieces that were meant for the train and the
pieces intended for the train station. Based on those observations, he then began to get into
a rhythm and figure out a pattern that helped with the flow of the legos. As a result, he got
a good bit of the train and some of the train station built and had a general idea of how to
finish the rest of the Lego set. Jessie was observed using the cognitive ability of spatial
thinking when coloring. I noted that out of all the different coloring books, he picked an
activity book filled with puzzles, word finds, fun pictures with cartoons, and mazes. He had
all his colored pencils set out and quickly completed a ten-word bank word search page
before moving on to a dinosaur maze with his favorite green coloring pencil. This
performance was a great representation of spatial thinking as he was able to find the
hidden words quickly and was easily capable of understanding the instructions and map
key to the maze activity. Lastly, I observed him counting out each cheerio as he counted out
loud to ten. Jessie counted out loud on multiple occasions during snack time, during his
word search, and while organizing his Lego pieces. When Jessie was completing all these
tasks and using his cognitive skills, it was evident that he quickly became bored when he
promptly mastered what was in front of him. Challenging children's cognitive skills is vital
to increasing their cognitive abilities and strengthening cognition. This theory is supported
by many research studies, one of which stated, "This implies that children's cognitive
development can be accelerated when they are exposed to more intellectually stimulating
environment. It is recommended that early childhood teachers must expose children to
various intellectually stimulating environments to help them accelerate their mental
development." (Mensah, 2011, p. 462).
When developing a sense of self, a child experiences cognitive growth, which
eventually turns into psychosocial development, and the child establishes self-esteem and a
sense of self. With a higher level of cognitive function, the child will become aware of who
they are, what they like, and the emotions that drive how they feel about themselves and
view themselves. Jessie demonstrated this by saying, "I'm really good at building legos".
While children with intellectual disabilities often have low self-esteem (Martorell, 2023),
research also shows that children raised in low-stress environments and with both parents
often have higher levels of self-esteem regardless of some disabilities and illnesses (Jeong
Won & Hun‐ha, 2020). According to Erikson, the fourth crisis of psychosocial development
is industry versus inferiority, which is when children learn how to be productive members
4
of their society and culture to build self-esteem. The child will decrease self-esteem and feel
inferior if this is not accomplished. In Jessie's case, he exhibits this psychological
development stage. He persistently transitions to multiple activities, remaining productive
and accomplishing his tasks while modeling good self-esteem and a sense of
accomplishment. The last psychosocial behavior observed by Jessie was towards the last
few minutes of the one-hour observation. Jessie exhibited some emotional behavior as he
expressed boredom and requested his IPAD. While observing but attempting to remain as
unseen as possible, I politely responded in a few minutes and then continued to move out of
his sight. He was frustrated and started swinging his legs and kicking his feet on his chair.
He seemed restless and agitated until the rest of the observing time was up, and he was
allowed to access his electronic device. Many studies link electronic devices and the internet
with negative consequences when used excessively. One study found a positive correlation
between children's internet usage on electronic devices and hyperactivity, inattention,
emotional dysregulation, and obesity (Novaković et al., 2023).
Many experts in the Bible speak of children's development, like the verse, "Train up
a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs
22:6). In the book of Ephesians, there is a verse, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to
anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (6:4). As Christians
it is just as important to teach children Gods word and model christ-like behavior as it is to
feed and clothe them. In an unpublished manuscript, a Liberty University professor
concluded that Paul thought similarly to early childhood philosophers that children
develop as they age and go through life stages until adulthood (Lovett, 2021). She
supported this theory with scripture, " When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought
like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." (1
Corinthians 13:11). It is undeniable that children go through physical, cognitive, and
psychosocial developments as they age from infancy into adolescence. During this process,
you must integrate God and raise them by his word so that they develop spiritually with
the same importance as their physical and cognitive development. When I observed Jessie,
I prayed that I instilled Christ-like qualities and set him on the right path and the path that
God had planned for him as he continues to grow.
5
References
Jeong Won, H., & Hun‐ha, C. (2020). Effect of parenting stress, self‐esteem and parent–
child interaction in parents of children with allergic rhinitis on self‐esteem of
children: Analysis of Actor‐partner interdependence model.%Japan Journal of
Nursing Science : JJNS,%17(2), e12283-n/a.%https://doi.org/10.1111/jjns.12283
Lovett, S. (2021). A Biblical Philosophy of Children. Liberty University.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/educ_fac_pubs/236/
Martorell, G. (2023). Child (3rd ed.). McGraw Hill LLC.
Mensah, F. (2011). Investigating whether children's transition from pre-operational stage
to concrete operational stage can be accelerated using an intervention strategy.%Ife
Psychologia,%19(2), 462-482.%https://doi.org/10.4314/ifep.v19i2.69594
Novaković, S., Milenković, S., Srećković, M., Backović, D., Ignjatović, V., Capo, N.,
Stojanović, T., Vukomanović, V., Sekulić, M., Gavrilović, J., Vuleta, K., &
Ignjatović, V. (2023). Children's internet use and physical and psychosocial
development.%Frontiers in Public Health,%11,
1163458.%https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1163458
Preedy, P., Duncombe, R., & Gorely, T. (2020). Physical development in the early years:
the impact of a daily movement programme on young children’s physical
development.%Education 3-13,%50(3), 289–303.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1849345
The Holy Bible ESV (2001). Crossway Bibles.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
