CHILD DEVELOPMET 201 CHILD CASE STUDY REPORT

Presented By: Brittney N. Gardner April 28, 2014 Professor B. Hunter This case study provides an analysis on the developmental domains of a child named Jayda. Jayda is a four- year-old African-American female with long thick black hair, and big brown eyes. She weighs approximately 75 pounds. Jayda's birthday is May 16, 2009. For Jayda to be a four year old preschooler, she is very advanced both mentally and physically. She is able to speak in expanded sentences as you will read throughout this case study, and loves to write. Jayda is rather large for her age, she actually looks like a six year old rather than a four year old. She has a loud raspy voice and is very outspoken. She was observed in a classroom setting at Easter Seals, which is located at 1001 W. Roosevelt Road in Chicago, Illinois. During this observation, I learned so many things about Jayda. According to, Erikson's theory Jayda had conquered the psychosocial stage 2, which is autonomy vs. shame and doubt and has entered the psychosocial stage 3, which is initiative vs. guilt. This stage is where

children develop a sense of independence through play and social interaction. Jayda is exhibiting her new found independence through her dramatic experiences and social skills with both children and staff. It is stated through research that, "children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others," and based off of my observations in the classroom Jayda is very successful with this stage of her life. (Wikipedia.com) Jayda does not do well with initial separation from her mom, once she is dropped off in the morning. On March 14, 2014 I observed Jayda crying and saying to her mother, "Mommy, I don't want you to leave!" Jayda cried for at least ten minutes, while she was holding and hugging her mother like she was never going to come back. Jayda's mom then tried to leave for a second time and Jayda took her keys out of her mom's coat pocket and ran back into the classroom. Jayda really did not want her mother to leave today. Once Jayda took her mom's keys, her mom was forced to come back into the classroom. When her mom returned to the classroom, Jayda ran over to her mom and began to cuddle with her. Jayda's mom then tried to leave for a third time and at this point Jayda began to cry very loudly, scream, and yell. Jayda's mom explained to her that she would stay for a little while longer and that is exactly what she did. Her mom stayed until the morning exercises were over and

told Jayda that she would be back after work to pick her up. Once Jayda's mom left she began to latch onto Ms. Priscilla, the head teacher. During story time, various children were picked to be certain characters for a particular story, but Jayda was not picked. She began to kick, scream, and even hit Ms. Priscilla. Ms. Priscilla had a hard time conducting the story because of Jayda's behavior. Jayda then walked away from story time and went to the dramatic play area, where she played dress up. She put on a pair of heels and grabbed a cell phone and stated, " Girrrrrllllll, where we going tonight? I told you to stop talking to him anyway. After she was done in the dramatic play area, she grabbed the walkietalkie that staff communicates with, acting as if she was calling another teacher. Ms. Priscilla told Jayda to give her the walkie-talkie, Jayda's response was, "No, shut up!" and she ran off. Staff had to run after her. Once Jayda was done giving the staff their afternoon workout, it was time to discuss the story. Ms. Priscilla said, "Maybe we should discuss being nice to our friends and using kind words like the story." Jayda blurted out, "Maybe we should talk about killing friends!" Nap time is usually the time when Jayda exhibits the worst of her behavior. She usually runs around the classroom because she says she doesn't want to nap. On March 17, 2014, Jayda kicked Ms.Tabitha, who is pregnant in

the stomach, because she did not want to take her nap! Consequently, Ms.Tabitha had to seek medical attention to make sure that her and her baby were ok. Jayda also has the tendency to run around the classroom and jump on top of desks during naptime, Jayda is very influential and in turn had another child mimicking her actions, so now there were two children running around the classroom during nap-time. Assistance was called for these two children and one child was sent to a different room to nap. Jayda replied that she wanted to be the next to leave. On March 17, 2014 she was sent to a different classroom for the rest of the week. When I came back for my observation on March 24, 2014 Jayda was dressed in a bright pink shirt, blue jeans, and rain boots that complimented her bright pink cupcake shirt. Jayda seemed to be in a much better mood. She was ecstatic about both the new earrings that her mom bought her and being in a new environment. While Jayda was in her new classroom for the week she played well with the other children, participated in story time, and even won a gift from the treasure box! I could definitely see the difference in Jayda's behavior since she was in new environment. When Jayda returned back to her original classroom, she again did not want to participate in any activities including gross motor. Instead, she wanted to write in her journal. I have noticed during gross motor Jayda really does not care to play or if she does it is alone. For instance, on March 14,

2014 I observed her playing alone with her hula-hoop in the corner. This behavior for Jayda seems to be very unusual, because she is usually very social and playful during all other times of the day with her classmates. On March 24, 2014 I also observed Ms. Priscilla encouraging Jayda to play and or exercise during gross motor time, but all Jayda wanted to do was write in her journal, this is all Jayda ever wants to do. Mildred Parten, a theorist also observed pre-school children during their time of free play. I understand that free play is very important during early childhood years because it gives the child the opportunity to enjoy play and enhance their developmental domains. Free play should not be what the teacher has planned for a child to do, instead it should be what a child wants to do. Making choices is very important for early childhood years, again according to Erikson this is the psychosocial stage 3, which is initiative vs. guilt. This stage is where children develop a sense of independence through play and social interaction. While Parten observed children during free play should found different types of play. Solitary independent play, which is where a child plays alone. Onlooker behavior, which is where a child watches and may talk but will not play. Associative play where a child will play with the same toys as other children, but still play alone. Parallel play where children play independently side by side. Cooperative play where children play

in the same group with different roles. Unoccupied where a child does not play and stays in one spot. Free play is a very good time to assess and observe a child, and while observing Jayda I found that she falls into the category of solitary (independent) play. I notice that during nap-time Jayda behavior worsens. On several occasions while I was observing, she did not want to nap unless she went to a different classroom. During nap-time Jayda has resisted laying on her cot, but instead ran around jumping on desks and tearing art work off of the wall. Jayda has spit in a teachers face, pulled down her pants to show her buttocks to the other children who were trying to nap, hit and kick. Jayda has even said, "You called me ugly! she has yelled out for teachers to "Stop pinching me", and "I don't want to be in here, I want to go to the baby room". I would suggest that during nap-time Jayda is taken to another room and periodically throughout the day, because she behaved better in different environments. Also, Jayda loves to write I feel that it would be beneficial for her if the staff did more writing activities and art work. During my field hours for Child Development 258 I did a curriculum plan with Jayda's class that involved writing letters and she enjoyed it, which was the most excitement I have seen from Jayda. In addition, she was very calm and quiet.

While spending time at Easter Seals observing Jayda, I noticed how smart and independent she is. Jayda was a great asset to my professional experience growth. I learned so much from her and this observation. Fortunately, for me I was able to observe and document all of Jayda's developmental domains, because on various days I did stay longer than I expected and I came at different times of the day. On the other hand, I wish I could have had the opportunity to have one on one time with Jayda, mainly because she wants and needs it from the adults around her. On March 7, 2013 during nap-time Jayda was yelling, "no,no,no" and as she was yelling it she looked towards the staff to see if they would acknowledge her. I feel that having a specific time of the day where Jayda is taken out of the classroom to talk to another teacher will also be very beneficial to her. In closing, Jayda is a very sweet girl and I enjoyed my time observing her.