Ni Observed a Five-Year-Old Female Playing at

NI observed a five-year-old female playing at a playground. The tasks I witnessed included seeing the child running, playing on a slide, ascending stairs and climbing on playground equipment. The child is in Erickson's third stage of development where play is an important component of learning. This is why the child had a tendency to mimic the actions of the other older children on the playground.

She was so amused by her brother that she started to copy his actions and called to her mother to watch her perform this amazing feat. The child was proud once she was able to accomplish the task and looked for parental praise. Her play allows her to work out the male/female relationship parameters (Harder). The two children interacted not only on the playground slide, but also through different areas of the playground as well. Motor skills are very important in child social interactions.

The brother and sister team would go down the playground slide like a train, connecting to one another and kept each other within view at all times. The girl would follow her brother around for a while, but then would perform her own self-explorations. While running, this child's five-year-old body exhibited trunk rotation, a forward leaning, head bob and reciprocal symmetric arm swing. This is consistent with her age group with an increasing arm swing in gait. The girl was performing gait tasks on an even ground.

Also, she exhibited independence with unsupported running and walking. However, when she was adjusting to the changing terrain, the child used holding with one or two hands to right herself. The girl ran with her legs very close together with a counter rotation of her trunk during running. However, she did not use the stairs as predicted for her age group. To be able to move on and further develop, this child should probably being doing more hopping and jumping.

Such tasks aid in increasing the body's lower extremity strength with more proximal stability prior to the child refining her movements and increasing her body's velocity. During climbing, the little girl that I observed was able to find a good grip to deal with straightforward tasks and she used her arms in a supportive placement to climb more effectively. She also had good eye-hand coordination and had a tendency to grab with the right arm first. This is the age when handedness is established.

The child also seemed right arm dominant when she was reaching for the next bar during her ladder climbing or tapping her brother to get his attention in the climb. Although this child had good body dexterity, alternating extremities for climbing the straight ladder, her base of support was very wide. It might be a possibility that there was a hip flexor and extensor weakness. Her preference to climb with abducted and externally rotated hips was conducted in a "spider-man" position. This stance seemed inefficient and awkward for locomotion.

While performing explorations independently, the girl tried to trouble-shoot the approach of an odd-shaped climbing object. After several repeated attempts in a short period of time, the girl was quickly discouraged and moved back to her task of going up and down the slide. At this girl's age, it is important for her to encourage attempting new tasks. I would have certainly have liked to have had someone assist her in her climb rather than seeing her become increasingly frustrated and give the task.

To move her into her next stage of development, there is a need to work on perceptual motor planning to trouble-shoot a resolution to her new problems. As a five-year-old child, this girl was aware of her surrounding environment and was able to interact within it. She adapted to the changing terrains using her upper extremities to stabilize herself. She was cognitively aware of people around her and responded to them appropriately. She would respond to questions and then ask questions of her own. There was.