Environment
Bethany lives with her mum and her mum’s boyfriend. Bethany’s mum works full time and has one day off a week besides Sunday, so her Nan looks after from morning till teatime but Bethany goes to playschool three days a week from 9.30 till 11.30. Bethany has two goldfish, which live in the kitchen and are called Rosie and Jim. She has her own bedroom as she has no brothers or sisters. Her bedroom is baby pink and is full of different toys. Her favourite to at the moment is Barbie.
Home and Local
The family live in a newly built semi-detached house situated in Bryn. The hose has a large back garden with a patio and Bethany also has her own house in the garden with a kitchen and different things in it. The garden has a tall fence surrounding it and the gat has locks on which she can’t reach. The street the house is situated in is a close. There are also many parks nearby; Bethany goes to playschool just around the corner from where she lives. Bethany goes with her dad on a Mondays from 9.30am to 5.30pm.
Stages reached in Development
Physical Skills
Bethany can climb the stairs quite quickly, while climbing the stairs she can carry objects. “At three years a child can walk alone upstairs using alternating feet, comes downstairs two feet to a step an can carry a large toy.” She can also ride her bike using the pedal and with stabilisers. “A child at three can ride a tricycle pedals and can steer it round wide corners.” In a morning Bethany can undress her and climb in the bath alone, she also brushes her own teeth. “At four years can wash and dry hands. Brushes teeth. Can undress.” At these things Bethany is over average. Bethany also eats her food alone using a fork and spoon; she holds her fork in the palmer grip. “ At four years a child can eat skilfully with a fork and spoon.” Again this shows Bethany is over average. When Bethany is playing she can jump, run and kick a ball, she can also sometime catch a large ball. Bethany can draw faces and people and she holds her pencil in her preferred hand, which is her right, and she holds it with pincer grip sometimes palmer. “At three years a child holds pencil near the point in preferred hand, between the first two fingers and thumb and uses it with good control. Also draws person with head and usually indication of one or two features and parts.”
All the quotes I have used during this passage are from Mary Sheridan book called ‘Birth to Five years’.
Intellectual Skills
Bethany can speak in clear sentences using short and long words. “Large vocabulary intelligible even to strangers, but speech contains many immature phonetic substitutions and unconventional grammatical forms. Gives full name and sex, and sometimes age. Uses personal pronouns and plurals correctly and also most preposition.” Bethany also replies to your questions and gives sensible answers. She likes to sit and tell you what she’s done on a certain day or what she is going to do. “At three a child carries on simple conversations and is able to describe briefly present activities and past experiences.” Bethany knows most of her colours and can count to ten without stopping and sometimes more. “At three a child counts by rote up to ten or more.” Bethany knows most of her nursery rhymes and can sing them all the way through without stopping and she always asking questions ‘why’, ‘when?’ ‘What?’ She also listens to and tells long stories, which are sometimes made up, and true. “At four years a child is eternally asking questions and listens to and tells stories, sometimes confusing fact and fantasy.”
The quotes I have used in this passage are also from Mary Sheridan ‘Birth to Five years’. This show Bethany is on average with her speech and knowledge.
Emotional Development
Bethany shows many different feelings. She shows jealousy if her mum is with other children or if she’s doing something what she doesn’t want her to do. This is one of Bethany’s negative points. If Bethany is wound up she will show anger and temper by shouting and stomping and sometimes lashing out at people. When she is told off she will sulk and feel sorry for herself and sit in a room on her own. This again is another negative side to Bethany. When Bethany gets something new she gets excited and starts showing it off. This is one of the positive sides to Bethany because she is happy. Most of the time she is a loving child and she stays happy until she gets tired late at night. This again is a positive side. Bethany hasn’t got many comfort habits; her main one is having a dummy at bedtime. “At three a child shows affection for other siblings and children.” This quote is from Mary Sheridan.
Social Development
Bethany is a very sociable child and loves to play with different people and children. One of the reasons she is so sociable is because she goes to playschool three times a week, so she has many friends. Nearly everyday Bethany has someone to play with because her Nan looks after her cousin as well and their both the same age. This shows social play. Bethany likes to pretend she is someone else like being a mum or an animal, this is imaginative play. She is also always running and always active, she likes running as well, this is the physical play. Bethany shows co-operative play because likes doing jigsaws with a partner and helping to bake cakes. Bethany also knows when to say please and thank you and how to share and take turns with her toys. Bethany is fully toilet trained but still sometime wears a pull up nappy for bed if she has had a lot to drink before she goes to sleep. She knows what’s right and wrong because if she has done something wrong she will hide. The only time Bethany shows anti-social behaviour is when she is tired or not had enough sleep, or if someone is making her angry or teasing her. When she is angry she will fight and argue back to another child or adult. She will also smack and pinch when you ignore her. One of the quotes from Mary Sheridan’s book ‘Birth to Five years is “A child at four years is inclined to verbal impertinence with adults and quarrelling with playmates when wishes crossed.