Infancy observation

Introduction

Observation: infancy

The observation below was completed through noting down the changes in development of the child at home and other places such as the park by the mother, the observation was carried out for two days. The observation is based on the physical development of infants who are five months to twenty-four months. The observation was carried out on a girl who was one year and eight months old. Biosocial, psychological, cognitive, and language development of this baby will be observed and noted down. This child is surrounded by older children and in the act of playing with them and other toys she will manifest the developments that are taking place in her.

1. Biosocial development

Biosocial development helps the child manifests the attachment they feel towards their parents. These attachments can either be anxious where the child is restless when her parents who show much attention to her are not around or avoidant where a child is not concerned by the absence or presence of his/her parents (oswalt, n.d). The girl used for this observation has anxious attachment where she is much attached to her mother, even in the presence of her siblings she will cry when her mother is not around. The mother noted that when out in the park the child plays a lot in the slides and after leaving the slides she crawls trying to walk, falls and stands again.

1. Psychological development

This development is shown by how infants start to recognize people and recall things. This development increases their ability to anticipate events in the environment they are being raised up in. Through this development the infant starts to show emotions such as anger and fear. This development is also marked by the curiosity of the infant concerning the environment that surround them (Bornstein, & Kessen, 2017). According to the notes taken by the mother of the girl under observation the girl was becoming angry when a toy is taken from her by her siblings. Also, she would express her fear to darkness when the lights went off or woke up and found the lights off this fear is manifested by a loud cry. Also, the girl is always curious when in a new environment and explores it by crawling to different locations. Out in the yard she is always crawling to different locations staring at things.

1. Cognitive development

This development is manifested by actions such as making body motion when they hear music, dropping things down so as to pick them, they try and move things that stand in between them and the toy they desire. Lastly, a child starts showing preference to certain foods (Bornstein, & Kessen, 2017). The mother of the girl noted that the girl is happy and makes body motion when music is playing, the mother also noted that at one time a pillow was hindering her from reaching her doll and she tried to push the pillow away although she failed which resulted to her crying. The girls also started to show preference to the food the adults were eating and lastly, she was responding to her name when anyone called for her by looking at them.

1. Language development

Language development for infants at this stage is not much complex. The child starts babbling using a variety of vowels and constant. Also, when not understood they try to communicate to others through gestures (Benson, & Haith, 2010). According to the notes of the mother the child exhibited signs of this development. The baby was always babbling something to her and when she failed to understand, the child would use gestures or point out what she needs. She would bring the tv remote to the mother and start babbling but it is an indication she wants to watch cartoon. She also waves as an indication of saying “bye” while smiling and mostly she does this to her siblings.

The social environment of the child is a conducive one. She is surrounded by older siblings who are always uttering words such as “bye” to her and showing her the gesture for that word. She is living in a good social environment that enables development taking place to be noted. The mother also takes her to the park where she interacts with other kids in a natural setting, where she displays her motor skills trying to walk despite failed attempts. Below is a table that shows the schedule the mother used when studying these developments in her daughter.

Time/place	Observation	Type of development noted
Monday 2:30pm At home alone with her siblings	The child cried a lot showing an anxious attachment	Biosocial development
Monday 10:00 Put her to bed with lights off	Made a loud cry when she woke and fund herself in the darkness	Psychological development
Tuesday 7:50am breakfast	She preferred to eat what the adults and other children were eating than eat her food	Cognitive development
Tuesday 11:00 took her to the park	She enjoyed playing in the slides and after leaving the slides she crawled for a while and tries to walk despite many failed attempts she continued to try	Biosocial development
Tuesday 2:00 At home in the backyard	She crawls to every corner exploring everywhere and waves “bye” to her siblings who were living home	Psychological and language development.
Tuesday 8:30 At home	She danced to the music playing and brought the remote to me to switch the tv on	Cognitive and language development

Table 1: showing activities that the child was involved in

Conclusion

The infancy observation was carried out on a girl aged one year and eight months at home by her mother who jolted notes on the biosocial, psychological, language and cognitive development taking place in her child. Using various activities, she involved the child in she was able to note these developments in her child. she used a table where she recorded the time, where they were, the activities she involved the child in, what she observed and associated the observation to a certain development.

 

 

 

 

References

Benson, J. B., & Haith, M. M. (2010). Language, Memory, and Cognition in Infancy and Early    Childhood. Burlington: Elsevier Science.

Bornstein, M. H., & Kessen, W. (2017). Psychological Development from Infancy: Image to        Intention. Milton: Taylor and Francis.

Oswalt, A. (n.d). Infancy Cognitive Development: Language Development. Retrieve from   https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/infancy-cognitive-development-language-development/