FAR investigations
For this visit I had chosen for Connor to choose a range of different activities to do, from this I will be able to learn more about his different preferences.
For this I had prepared a questionnaire for Connor to answer.
Far Predictions
I think Connor will be okay with the questionnaire I had prepared and will answer all the questions well and without any fuss but with interest. I think Connors answers will be short but will make sense and would be expected of his age vocabulary. Depending on which answers he has given me to particular questions I can determine if Connor tends to favour manipulative, intellectual, physical or emotional play or all.
Observations
When I had arrived at Connors house he was eager to show me the list of activities he had created with his mother and sister Amy. He showed me the list of about 5 things and read them to me as we were looking at it, He read…
Football, then Telly, then racing cars, then lego, then colouring and then puzzles. I had expected these kinds of activities for a boy of Connors age to choose as favourite things to do. I asked Connor which activity he would like to do first and he shrugged his shoulders at first so I repeated the activities he had listed and asked again which of the activities did he want to do most, Connor then replied as to Lego. I think he chose that activity because he wanted to make something to show me. Connor and I brought out the box of Lego and emptied it on the floor in the living room. I then asked what Connor would like to make with the Lego, he replied by first pondering for a moment with umm, but then to say he would like to build houses and cars. So we decided to make different coloured houses like in the television show Balamory. Connor and I then started to divide up the colours of lego to make it easier to build the houses, once we had finished dividing the colours we then started to build a house. The house we started to build was in blue bricks because Connor said blue was his favourite colour. So we started to build a blue house, Connor was creating the left side I and was creating the right. Connor thought we should put some rooms in the house too so we built a bedroom and then added windows and doors and continued to build up and then the roof. Connor knew how to build a roof and I did not so Connor instructed me as to how to construct one well, this made him feel more confident in his intelligence. The blue lego house consists of blue lego bricks one window and one door. Connor and I also built a red house, a white house and a yellow house. The red house had only red bricks and one window, the white house only had white bricks, and the yellow house had only yellow bricks and one door. Whilst creating the Lego houses I noticed Connor would pause for a moment observing the work he had just done, then after a few moments of puzzled looks he would smile and tell me what he wanted to do with the house next, what his plans were for further development if you will. When we had finished creating all four houses of four different colours…like in Balamory… I suggested to Connor that he should build a house of any height or width and of any colours by himself with me only watching, he agreed and started knocking down the houses we had just built in order to make a new house. Connor started building as I watched and would again stop and ponder over his development creating plans. After Connor had finished building his marvellous mixed brick lego house we decided to watch telly for a bit seeing as unfortunately our time was nearly up. Connor was disappointed that we did not have time to do any other activities but then we decided we could play cars instead of watch telly until I had to leave. Connor seemed happy to play racing cars with me and showed me his new car which was green and pointy to make it go faster. When it was time for me to leave I asked Connor what he would like to do on my next visit and that he could choose anything in the whole wide world. Anything that he wanted to do, because it was my last visit and he has been an absolute star helping me with my school work. Connor said he would like to go to the moon, I then said that the moon isn’t in the world and he laughed and thought about his next activity choice more carefully. He then replied that he would like to go to the park and play on the swings and stuff so I agreed and he looked excited about the next visit. I said goodbye as did he and he waved as I left. With a smile on his face ☺
Evaluation
Physical Development
This visit was not based on any physical endurance to be honest. It was mainly sitting down and playing. This gave me a chance to observe his fine motor skills. When pushing and pulling the lego out of the shapes he had created with them, he would be using a lot of muscle work and this would have been building them in an effective and fun way. Connor could pick the lego up and place down easily and same with cars, he could grasp a whole handful of lego at one time. Connor could stack a tower of lego quite high and uses the mature pincer grasp. Connors preferred hand is his right but occasionally uses his left for main need.
Intellectual Development
This was good when working with lego and making houses for his lego people but the houses would sometimes be too small so then he would take it apart and start again with every patience.
Emotional Development
Connor did not show any overwhelming strong emotions at any point, like angry or laughing. Though when he had completed a piece of work like the lego houses he would get praise from both me, his mother and his sister Amy, He would then beam with bride and self confidence showing and would look very happy with his finished result and with himself overall, He wasn’t at any time upset or frustrated.
Social Development
Connor is always a little shy when I first arrive but then soon enough gets used to me and felt more comfortable. Connor would go on to tell me about his day when I asked and talk casually about any other things.
Conclusions
I found like all others that this visit went very well. Connor seemed to enjoy the Lego and cars activity he had noted down for a choice of activities he would have liked to do that day and showed that his fine motor skills are very good.
Evaluation of FAR investigation
Connors answers to my questions show that he wasn’t really that interested in what I was talking about, even though he did answer as well as he could. I felt that Connor enjoys both fine and gross motor skills which is a positive step for development. By Connors short answers it shows me that he is more of a creative learning child than an intellectual learning child, what I mean by this is that Connor probably learns best by doing rather than being told or reading about it.
Connor likes fun activities with action sometimes according to his answer to my last question on the sheet which shows that he probably pays more attention to the bigger aspects of a game rather than the smaller ones.