http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
Child A was able to:
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Realize that Sally had gone to the shops, this shows that child A achieved object permanence, by realizing that things continue to exist even if not visually available child A had reached the Sensori-motor stage indicating she had reached the right stage for her age group which was 0-2 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
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Establish that the doll named Anne had taken Sally's crayon without asking child A says "Naughty Anne". This also shows that child A believed the dolls had some kind of consciousness (feelings) reaching Jean Piaget's animism process in the pre-operational stage indicating was achieving the right stage for her age group which was 2-7 years. TASSONI, P (2000), Diploma Child Care and Education, Second Edition, Heinemann
Child A was unable to:
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Decentre, as child A stated that Sally would go and look in Anne's box for her crayon; even though Sally had not seen Anne put it there. This shows that child A's thinking is egocentric, clearly showing that she is at the pre-operational stage of Jean Piaget's cognitive developmental stages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
In order to promote the development of child A’s intellectual skills I would recommend the following appropriate activities that would be suitable and would fit in with the nursery’s curriculum. These activities are in relation to information gathered from the observation and child A’s individual needs:
- Object permanace could be developed further by doing activities that are cultural so a child knows that people exist in many parts of the world even though they can not see them does not mean they are not there. For example, children could paint flags from different countries in the world and then stick the flags onto a globe or world map.
- Animism could be developed further or used as a way of explaining 'moral' (what is good and what is bad) to the child. For example, within stories like Goldie locks and the three bears, the boy who cried wolf ECT. You could read the stories and get the children to say whether or not the character should or shouldn't do something by using open-ended questions; these are questions that require more than a yes or no response.
- To promote a child A's egocentrism I could provide pretend play to help the child understand how it feels to be in someone else's shoes and see from their point of view. For example, I could offer adult lead role play in which the child takes on the role of the adult and I take on the role of the child. Helping the child to understand what it is like to be an adult in the setting.
In each of these recommendations I have suggested a way in which child A could improve or extend their intellectual development skills using a thought process from Piaget's development stages from his study of how a child's mind works like a philosopher discovering their own theories of knowledge using rules (schemas) so my recommendations support areas in which I could help Child A to help/teach herself.
"Piaget viewed children as Little philosophers, which he called tiny thought-sacks and scientists building their own individual theories of knowledge." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
Whilst recommending appropriate activities in order to promote child A's Intellectual skills it is critical to consider her individual needs at all times and at the same time making sure they are suitable and fit in with the curriculum.
- Play is especially important when considering a child's intellectual development children learn an awful lot about the world and themselves through play. However when planning play has to fit the child's needs rather than to much structure with the curriculum:
"Every curriculum framework and any adult planning has to ensure that the content and approaches within an early year’s curriculum takes serious account of children's play rather than a bias toward high levels of structure, adult-chosen and adult-led activities." Lindon, J (2003) Child Care and Early Years Education, Thomson.
- To plan an activity for intellectual development you need understand how a child develops intellectually and you have to see through a child's view of the world. You need to imagine what it is like not to know or understand what seams very obvious to you as an adult. Children have needs when it comes to their own views of what they think is right or wrong, and they find it very difficult to understand meanings. Jenny Lindon explains how important it is to see through a child's view:
"Early years practitioners need a thorough understanding of how children's thinking unfolds and a willingness to see the world through a child's eyes."Lindon, J (2003) Child Care and Early Years Education, Thomson.
In order to carry out this observation and promote the intellectual development skills of child A it was crucial for me to meet the individual needs of child A and treat child A with equal concern and attention to individuality without treating her the same as every child because every child is individual as proclaimed by Jenny Lindon:
"Treat all children with equal concern and attention to individuality. It is not good practice to claim to treat children ' all the same'. They are not the same and this approach denies sources of identity in some way."Lindon, J (2003) Child Care and Early Years Education, Thomson.
From this observation I have learnt allot of useful information about child intellectual development including:
- How a child develops intellectually- Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development have aided my understanding in relation to how a child thinks and in particular when considering Piaget's theory, how a child makes sense of their world by using and building schemas. I now understand that intellectual development happens in stages and that a child will only go onto one stage when they have completely mastered the first. So I learnt that child A was at the sensori-motor stage of Piaget's cognitive development stages and she will only move onto the pre-operational stage when she has mastered the sensori-motor stage, relating to Piaget's theory.
- The ability of a children to decentre, allot of children that I tried the Sally-Anne test on were unable to decentre. So through my experiences of the Sally-Anne test previous the observation I was not shocked or surprised to gain information that child A was also unable to decentre. However my expectations were already known to me because Jean Piaget does state that the stage when decentereing happens is during the concrete operational stage at 7-11 years. Child A was only 2:6months so decentreing would have been too advanced for her.
From the information gather in this observation I have been able to consider some of the critisims in curent research of Jean Piaget's claim that children can only decentre when they are 7yrs or older. Current research with young children has established that children far younger than Piaget claimed could take the perspective of another person. One example is from Alison Gopnik:
“Toddlers in the study were aged 14-18months old and, given a choice between eating raw broccoli and savoury crackers, they all choose the crackers. An adult then showed her own food preference through a pantomime of facial expressions and saying 'yum' and 'yuk'. She then put out her hand and asked the toddlers, she was given crackers. The difference came when she indicated a preference for the raw broccoli. The 14month olds still gave her the crackers, their own favourite. But the 18month olds gave her the broccoli, although this was a silly food choice as far as they were concerned." Gopnik, A (1999) et al, How Babies Think: The science of childhood, Weidenfled and Nicholson.
In relation to Gopnik's test I can also see how the Sally-Anne test was too advanced for Child A and it would be recommended that I do another observation on child A but perhaps use the ideas Gopnik used in her test to discover whether child A is able to decentre. Gopnik test is far simpler and it would seem that a conclusion could be drawn at a glance.
From gaining knowledge about the intellectual developmental abilities of child A I have been able to identify what areas of implications there may be for my professional practice.
From observing child A I have now realised that child A must have needed a great amount of concentration in order to answer my questions. Child A possibly was distracted by the sudden disappearance of the doll named Sally and this may have affected her concentration. It is important to consider that unexpected actions may be distracting and may push the child of task. The observation took place at a table and lasted for twenty minutes, this may have been too long a time period for child A's concentration span whilst sitting down the whole time. Jenny Lindon explains how it is difficult not only for children but adults too, to concentrate after long periods of sitting.
"Adults find it hard to concentrate after long periods of sitting and restrictions on movement. You will have direct experience of how your own mind will go woolly if you have been physically inactive for too long. Children have an even greater need to move." Lindon, J (2003) Child Care and Early Years Education, Thomson. Therefore it would be advisable that for my future professional practice I consider that it is hard for a child to concentrate for long periods of time without any physical movement and respect this if the child becomes fidgety or distracted. I will need to learn to have realistic expectations and understand that learning to concentrate is more than how long a child can stay focused.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are conditions which affect many children’s concentration and intellectual skills in the UK at the moment. Experts cannot agree on the causes of these disorders but possibilities include a chemical imbalance, an inherited condition and the impact of diet this is taken into more detail by Jenny Lindon;
- “The human brain uses a chemical called neuro-transmitter to send messages along the nerves. The amount of this chemical increases with children's age and, with appropriate play experience, they learn to attend and to remember. The theory is that children with ADD do not have enough of this chemical and that children with ADHD have too much.
- There seems to be a genetic link, since over a third of children with diagnosed attention problems have a least one other member of the family with similar difficulties.
- Diet, especially food additives, has been linked to hyperactivity in children. It seems most likely that food allergies or intolerance make an existing condition worst for some children, but probably are not the original cause."Lindon, J(2003) Child Care and Early Years Education, Thomson
However there is concern that the condition can be to enthusiastically diagnose in children, taking this into consideration it is important for me not to label a child as hyperactive as they may only need normal adult attention and guidance, with lively and enjoyable play which I can easily provide within my recommendations.
In relation to the current setting Information gained from the observations has shown child A's Intellectual development, in particular child A's ability or inability to decentre using the Sally-Anne test and was compared with abilities of other children within the setting from age range of 1-5 years. Actions will not be taken in order to develop child A's decentering skills using my recommendation because the staff agree that decentering is to advanced for the age range of children within the Nursery's setting 0-6years. This action also includes the other areas of my recommendations, as my supervisor feels that they are already doing similar activities to my recommendations for intellectual development.
I used the narrative technique in order to gather information for child A's Intellectual development skills in particular to record the results of the Sally-Anne test. I found this method challenging because it was difficult to describe the developmental milestones that have been identified in the observation, as I did the observation before finding developmental milestones to relate the observation to. I also struggled with observing the child and writing everything I saw down at the same time, and trying not to miss anything at this stage it was also important for me to keep my narrative factual and objective without making and assumptions. When trying to find a conclusion I had to really look into the observation, where as with a check list the conclusion is easy to reach at a glance.
Bibliography
Gopnik, A (1999) et al, How Babies Think: The science of childhood, Weidenfled and Nicholson.
Lindon, J (2003) Child Care and Early Years Education, Thomson
Tassoni, P et al (2000) Diploma Childcare Education, Heinemann.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
