Case Study on Child Development

Child development- A case study

One of the popular ideas of child development and learning in the early childhood educational setting is engaging children in play activities. Play stimulates and improves cognitive, motor and socio-emotional skills of children. Children practice as well as gain mastery over their behaviors, through play. Play theories are broadly categorized into two groups: classical and modern play theories; the former group focuses on human energy, evolution, and instincts (Does play matter, 2013).

Observed levels of play

"Ted" in the striped shirt: Ted is involved in a cooperative form of play, and has cultivated the skills for interacting with others in order to play. He has well-developed communication skills (listening and speaking) and conveys ideas effectively, telling others what must be done. Play-related communication is the key skill in cooperative play.

"Adam" in the Celtic shirt: Adam also exhibits cooperative play, and aims to engaging in shared play with the other children. Play activities may be rather tough and Adam supports all the other children in the process.

"Eli" in the white shirt: Eli's play type is associative. He begins interacting with other children while at play, and may display momentary co-operation in between. He cultivates friendships with some of the kids, and prefers playing with them -- this preference does not extend to all. He is also shown to display parallel form of play; while he plays nearby other kids, he does not play with them, sticking to his spot; however, he does, on occasion, pass other kids playing blocks.

"Ben" in the gray shirt: Ben also displays associative kind of play -- he plays alone, but normally does what others are doing. For instance, he can lift bedside lamps. Ben appears to be looking for cooperative play with others (Borghans, Golsteyn & Zolitz, 2015).

Individual developmental skills

Innate Abilities -- This forms the crux of learning. They are inborn, genetically-defined talents and shortcomings, inherited from parents. All the boys show the capability of effective interaction and coordination, with minimal talk.

Sensory/Motor Skills -- Motor and sensory abilities are based on inborn abilities. While motor skills are linked with movement and muscles (crawling, walking, talking, running, and handwriting), sensory abilities are in relation to sense organs (hearing, sight, and touch) and are in control of information reception. The boys, particularly Ted and Adam, talk to one another, and go about the place gathering blocks.

Cognitive Skills -- These skills enable one to process amassed sensory information (e.g., abilities of analysis, evaluation, information retention, experience recollection, action determination and comparison skills). While cognitive abilities do possess an intrinsic aspect, most of these skills are acquired by learning. Cognitive deficiencies arise when such development fails to occur naturally. Cognitive abilities manifest themselves in the way the boys arrange different parts within a space, particularly, the sofa, bed, tables and bathtub (Borghans et al., 2015; Does play matter, 2013).

How was the environment or area set up to encourage play? What could you do to the environment to help facilitate enhanced play skills and other developmental skills?

The setting is akin to learning centers, which prove to be efficient in managing and fostering development of abilities. Areas in the center explicitly convey to preschool children the activities taking place therein, and material available for stimulating play. Both unique and traditional centers support language interactions, experience building and socio-dramatic play depending on their comprehension levels. Inclusion of literacy material such as books, writing tools, and paper in the setting will provide opportunities to "read and write," as well (Ferguson, Cassells, MacAllister & Evans, 2013).

The environment can be made more enriching and apt for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers by first exploring their learning and development stages. Every individual stage is marked by distinctive characteristics which impact how individual kids experience their environment. Of particular import are relationships, since the basic mode of infant learning is via interactions with others. Smiles, eye contact, and imitation give way to more meaningful and continuous interactions with parents/caregivers, opening them to an entire world of associations and relations. Kids, in their early childhood, make several connections while engaging in purposeful activity. Integrated tasks which link many kinds of learning prove especially valuable for preschoolers. They stimulate different parts of the child's brain, making additional connections which lead to extension of learning. Some experiences which serve as exceptionally powerful arenas for combined learning and developing connections include learning centers, projects and thematic episodes. Materials for supporting integrated learning should be easily available to play areas; they must be stored within for allowing convenient selection and inclusion in play activities. For promoting project continuance, provision for careful storage of materials when work is underway, must be present (Ferguson et al., 2013; Nixon & Aldwinckle, 2003).

As an early childhood professional, what could you have done in this classroom to help extend this child-directed activity? How could you have intervened to help promote a higher level of play and other skills for each child?

Working on children's emotional environment, i.e., providing them with a more responsive, caring, and positive atmosphere influences their emotional security, as well as several cognitive developmental aspects. When children perceive a sense of security and support from adults, they will venture to experiment with things, try something new, and voice their ideas. Also, effective emotional environments invigorate the kids, and appreciate the uniqueness of each child. In other words, there is room for every individual child's "valuable" items (pictures and their work are put on display in the schoolroom). Children have a place to retreat to when they get tired, or things get overly busy.

Young children's environment reveals to them how they must behave and respond. For instance, a big open space created in midst of the classroom's is an open invitation to kids to run around the space. When materials are few, children construct interesting events, and conflicts, as well. If learning center procedures are difficult to comprehend and unpredictable, there will be minimal child engagement in play activities -- they will merely wander around the place. The setting's layout and materials decide the areas children concentrate their work on, and affect frequency of conflicts and group dynamics -- when provided with hard plastic materials, they are welcome to treat the items in a rough manner, but if they are shown a delicate flower arrangement, they are taught to visually study it and handle it gently. Children are taught to respect their environment through opportunities for caring for beautiful materials and objects.