Physical Development
I expect Jack to ‘pedal and steer’ his tricycle all the way to the park. When we are at the park I expect Jack to climb the steps of the slide with ‘one foot to each step’.
Intellectual Development
I expect Jack to ask a lot of questions, as this is the ‘norm’ for children of Jack’s age. I will record the number of questions Jack asks in a tally. I will include this tally chart in my evaluation.
Emotional Development
Whilst on the visit I expect Jack to talk about his mother a lot. He may even say he wants to go home and see her as he is missing her. This is called ‘Separation Anxiety – emotional distress children feel when away from their parents and/or carers’. To prevent this I will try and keep Jack occupied throughout the visit.
Social Development
I expect Jack ‘to show interest in other children and to play with them’. At Jack’s age he should be ‘starting to understand gender and age’. To see if Jack is at the ‘norm’ in this area of development I will ask him who he is playing with and if they are a boy or a girl.
These expectations correspond to the ‘norm’ as stated in ‘Child Development’ by ‘Brennand, Fairclough, Hall, Nicholson and Rees’.
Observations:
I organised with Jack’s mum that I would take him on the visit on a Tuesday evening as he had school during the day. Before the visit I prepared myself by writing out the tally chart and checked the forecast for that evening. On the Tuesday of the visit I knocked on the door and Jack answered it, straight away asking where we were going. I told him and he sat on the sofa to put his socks on and do up the Velcro on his trainers. He did this with no problem at all and he was pulling my arm towards the door. His Mum told me she had not told Jack about the visit, as she wanted him to get excited. She him to do so as she said he tends to get very upset when he is away form her. I then told Jack to get his bike from the back garden. He did so and before we left he give his Mum a kiss goodbye.
Physical Development
We left the house and Jack got straight on his bike as I planned and started pedalling. He wobbled a bit at first but once he got going he was fine. When we had to cross the road I told Jack to push his bike and get back on at the other side, as this would be safer. When we got to the park Jack got off his bike ran over to the climbing frame. He started climbing to the top. I didn’t think Jack was old enough to do this so I asked him to come down. Jack refused and as I didn’t want to shout at him I just waited for him to get down. When he did get down I asked him if he wanted to go on the slide. Without even saying yes Jack run up the steps slipping a few times on the way. He slid down the slide and landed in the mud at the bottom. He then told me he wanted to go home and get changed. I brushed it off for him and he had another go but this time I told him to be careful and as if to be sarcastic he walked very slow.
Intellectual Development
Throughout the visit if there was an opportunity to ask a question Jack asked it. He wanted to know everything which was going on around him and it seemed that his way to do this was to ask questions very frequently. I will include my tally in the evaluation.
Emotional Development
In this visit I was looking at Jack’s emotional anxiety. Jack asked at least 5 times throughout the visit to see his Mum even though I kept him busy. When he got home though, he didn’t fuss around his Mum.
Social Development
Jack didn’t show that much interest in other children, but if one child went on the slide Jack went on it too as if to say ‘I can do that too’. At the park I asked Jack if certain children were boys or girls. He called a little girl a boy as she had short hair and even when I told him otherwise he still said it was a boy.
Evaluation:
Physical Development
Jack is above the ‘norm’ for physical development. He can ‘pedal and steer a tricycle’,’ Walk up steps with one foot to each step’ and also he could climb very well as I observed when he climbed the climbing frame. This is the ‘norm’ for a 4 year old.
Intellectual
Jack ‘asks lots of questions’ which is the ‘norm’ for Jack’s age. Children do this to find out what is going on around them, as they cannot yet observe they’re surroundings accurately. Jack asked me 17 questions in total.
Here is an example of the questions Jack asked:
Where are we going?
Where is my Mum?
What’s that?
Did you see that?
That’s a big doggy isn’t it?
Emotional
Jack asked for his Mum a lot throughout the visit, which I did not think he would do as he goes to nursery 3 times a week. His did say he would though so I kept him busy at the park, but this is the ‘norm’ for children of all ages.
Social
Jack is below the ‘norm’ for social development, as he should ‘understand gender’. Jack usually knows what gender someone is but cannot accept the concept of girls with short hair.
The norms in this evaluation correspond to the ‘norms’ stated in ‘Child Development’ by ‘Brennand, Fairclough, Hall, Nicholson and Rees’.
Conclusion:
Jack is above and at the ‘norm’ in physical, intellectual and emotional development but struggles a bit with some aspects of social development. To try and help Jack in this area of development I will make sure social development is a main part of some of my visits.
