Aiden Aizumi

Professor Kennedy
EDUC 350
4/27/14
MVC Assignment 1

8 Months

Report for 8 Months:

As Jean turns 9 months, the pediatrician has the following to say after a routine physical
exam, a few items administered from the Bayley Scales of Infant Intelligence, and some
observations of Jean in the playroom:
Based on your report, Jean is physically healthy. The doctor recommends a greater
variety of baby food and ground up fruits and vegetables.
Jean is cautious around new people and situations, but warms up fairly quickly to
friendly people and to new and interesting activities and then begins to vocalize a lot
and make eye contact.
Jean has typical emotional reactions for her age, such as fear of total strangers,
separation anxiety and a quick, loud cry when upset or in pain.
Jean's motor skills are typical for age: crawling, sitting up, and standing up, but not
walking yet.
Questions:
1. How does your baby's eating, sleeping and motor development compare to the
typical developmental patterns?
Jean eats well, but only eats really what she wants. The Doctor has recommended
incorporating more variety of foods into her diet. As for her motor development, she is
on track for her age. She is crawling, sitting up and standing up, but not yet walking.

2. At 8 months of age was your child an "easy", "slow-to-warm-up", or "difficult" baby

in terms of Thomas and Chess's classic temperamental categories? On what do you base
this judgement?
My child is somewhere between Easy and Slow-to-warm-up. She is weary of new
people, but if they are friendly is able to interact with them. However, she isn't keen on
strangers, and does tend to cry when she is around them. Part of Jeans tendency to cry
around strangers maybe due to the fact that when she was younger and fussed over a
stranger, I would remover her from that situation, since she did not want to be there.
So now, she is conflicted by friendly people, and whether or not she wants to even
interact with a new person at all.
3. How is your child's attachment to you and your partner developing? What is
happening at the 3-month and 8-month periods that might affect attachment security
according to Bowlby and Ainsworth, and various research studies?
My child prefers my partner as her number one source of comfort, especially in
situations of stress. I am considered her close second. Part of the reason for this is that
my partner and I have had the ability for her take 6months - 1 year off work so she can
spend time with Jean. For that reason, Jean sees her more than she sees me. As for
Bowlby and Ainsworth's research, Jean falls under a child who for the most part is
securely attached. At least to my partner. But since I have sheltered her from
strangers, she could become more of a Resistant Attached child because she will be too
used to the comfort of being near one of her parents instead of another adult.
19 months

The preschool that you are considering for Jean offers low-priced developmental
assessments. Jean is able to enroll when she becomes reasonably well potty-trained.
She is 19 months old now. Just to find out how Jean's development compares to other
children of her age at this point, you have an assessment done. The early childhood
specialist observes Jean in free play with other kids and does a little testing of cognitive
skills. She reports the following:
After she got warmed up, Jean seemed to get along very well with the other kids, and
was unusually cooperative for a child of her age. The examiner thought that Jean would
adapt well to the preschool environment.
The specialist said it was clear that Jean had a strong and secure attachment to your
partner and was beginning to develop such an attachment to you. She recommended
"keep doing whatever you are doing" and don't be afraid to be involved more in day to
day care, feeding, etc.

The specialist thought that Jean was slow to warm up to new situations with adults, but
that if you gave her time, she usually came around.
Jean was generally in a positive mood during the play sessions, but occasionally could be
irritable or impatient when things did not go her way.
Jean scored at about the 18-19 month range for communication skill, language
comprehension and language production. This is age-appropriate of course, but the
examiner recommended that because Jean was in such an important period of language
development, that you spend as much time as possible talking with Jean, asking
questions that require some kind of extended answer (rather than just "yes" or "no"),
and looking at and naming things in picture books, etc.
Jean was below age-norms on tasks such as building a block tower to model one made
by the examiner and other spatial skills such as copying shapes, coloring within the lines
and solving picture puzzles. The examiner said that if Jean was interested, you could
work on these kinds of activities more, but not to push them. In that case, just making
the materials available as an option would be a good idea.
Jean was about average for gross motor development. The examiner recommended that
you give her plenty of opportunities to play on indoor and outdoor play gyms and to
play games of catch and kickball with you.
The examiner commented that Jean was able to concentrate very well during all of the
informal testing, and if this continues, she would be more than ready for preschool-type
activities, which typically require children to stay on task or remain in "group time" for
10-15 minutes. She also recommended getting Jean to follow simple directions at home,
gradually increasing the complexity and length of the directions.
1. Describe and give examples of changes in your child's exploratory or problem solving
behavior from 8 through 18 months and categorize them according to Piagetian and
information processing theories. Note that 8 months is included, so you'll need to use
the time-line to look back at 8 months for examples.
During the sensorimotor phase of Jean's life, she is able to participate in the object
permanence test, as long as she isn't distracted, or if I wait too long. Like Piaget says,
children of this age like to repeat activities, and this is also true for Jean. She likes this
"game" repeated over and over. She can only find the object in the first location if I
move it to a new one, which also aligns with what Piaget found for a child her age.
As she developed and got to age 12 months, she had passed the object permanence test
at a higher level and enjoyed to play it repeatedly. She also enjoys throwing a toy out of
her crib to see the reaction afterwards. According to Piaget, this would be a scheme
that Jean is displaying. By throwing the toy, she is looking to see what happens next. At

this age though, Piaget would say that the action is accidental, and by 18 months
deliberate. According to the report on my child, she is deliberately throwing the toy out
of the crib at 12 months and not 18. At this point she is also a efficient crawler and
walker. She is using those developmental skills to explore her surrounding more freely.
At 15 months, Jean is conducting little experiments with her surroundings. The example
given is that she would throw a ball against the wall in different ways to see what
happens. At this stage, Piagets theory says that this is a transitional stage between
sensorimotor and preoperational.
During her 18-month stage, Jean was showing her love of movement through her motor
skills. She moves around so much that I have to make sure to keep and eye on her
because she had a tendency to wander off in crowded places or into the street. She also
wanted to be carried less so she could have the opportunity to explore her
surroundings. As for problem solving, Jean tends to try and solve problems in a way
that is still a little beyond her ability. So she gets frustrated and gives up. This is
probably due to the fact that in my parenting style, I have given her too much autonomy
too soon.
2. Analyze your baby's temperament in more detail at 18 months than you did at 8
months. How would you describe your baby in terms of the five aspects of
temperament utilized by the Virtual Child program (activity, sociability, emotionality,
aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self control)? Has @NAME's temperament been
stable over the first 18 months? A blurb defining and providing examples of the five
aspects of temperament is provided at 12 months, but you should seek out further
explanations of temperament from your textbook. Explain how the concept of goodness
of fit (also discussed in the blurb on infant temperament) applies to your interactions
with your child.
Activity:
Jean has always been active. The moment she could crawl, she was using it to get
around and explore. This love of moving and utilizing her motor skills has not changed
during her development. At 18 months she is crawling, climbing, running, to explore
and learn from the things around her.
Sociability:
Jean has always been a little bit slow to warm up to people around her, especially if they
are unfamiliar and new. This is probably due to the fact that I have sheltered her from
strangers or uncomfortable situations because I wanted to do whatever makes her
happy. Although at this stage in her development she is starting to show a different side
amongst people who started as strangers and are now familiar. She is outgoing and
friendly.
Emotionality:

At 8 months, Jean was occasionally fussy but that is very common for that age. During
12 months it is noted that she has a wide range of moods, but only gets really upset
when hungry, tired, or needs a diaper change. At 18 months she is still quite calm, but
only gets upset when she is over-stimulated and tired. I would say the trend is that she
is generally pretty easy going unless she is tired.
Aggressiveness vs cooperation:
Up until this point Jean was unable to take direction. But now, she is starting to refuse
to do things like eat, or take a bath. She isnt aggressive, but this is a new behavior for
her because but maybe due to the fact that we have raised her to be quite independent.
Self Control:
At this point, there hasnt been much information as to what Jeans self control is like.
She hasnt really indicated that she has the ability to wait or if she has enough selfcontrol to delay gratification.
Goodness of Fit:
When Jean was younger, as a parent, I was able to adapt easily to the situation. Just like
in the example, I did not push her upon a stranger to try and get her used to them. It
was a gradual process of slowly introducing her to them. As she is getting older, I notice
that I am not so much adapting in a positive way but in a way so that she is getting what
she wants the majority of the time. To the child on the surface it may seem like a nice
thing because she her actions get the reaction she is looking for, but in the long run this
is not beneficial to her.

3. Were you surprised by anything in the developmental assessment at 19 months?

That is, does your perception of your child's physical, cognitive, language and social
development differ from that of the developmental examiner? Give specific examples. If
you were not surprised, write instead about some aspects of your child's development
I didnt find myself all too surprised by the results from the examiner. What Jean needs
the most work on is her spatial skills, like copying shapes, and building with the blocks.
As a parent I have not pushed her to do these activities if she doesnt want to, and
because she prefers other things, she has fallen behind in this area. The other area that
Jean could probably use some work in is her ability to work with her peers and be more
patient when things do not go her way. According to the specialist, she would get upset
if things did not go her way, and that is not going to benefit her down the road as she
grows up.
2 years

Jean is going to be starting in a new preschool program soon, so you take advantage of
the fact that a friend of yours is an early childhood development specialist. You ask her
to evaluate Jean, who is 2 1/2 years old. The specialist evaluates Jean's language, motor
and cognitive skills using some developmental scales, and observes Jean interacting with
other children in a toddler play group. This is her report:
Jean was somewhat hesitant in the group of children and spent a few minutes watching
them before joining in. After a while she latched on to a couple of the other children
and had a good time. By the end of the session they were smiling and imitating each
other.
Jean was generally not very aggressive with the other kids, but would sometimes say
"Mine!" if there was a toy both children wanted. However, Jean would usually smile and
give up the toy a few moments later and seek out a different toy. The specialist said that
Jean was ready for preschool already in terms of aggressive behavior.
Jean handled challenging tasks fairly well except for an occasional need for
encouragement.
Jean's scores on measures of language comprehension and production were in the
average range, and she was beginning to show more consistent use in conversational
speech of grammatical markers such as past tense, plural, etc. The specialist
recommended you continue to converse about anything of interest to Jean, read
favorite books to her and go on outings.
Jean is about average in solving problems with more than two steps, and grouping
objects together in categories. The specialist recommended that you help Jean "talk
through" the steps in solving problems, and that you expose Jean to more hands-on
learning activities (e.g., at the children's science museum).
She is below average in copying shapes with a pencil, working with picture puzzles and
constructing things out of blocks. The specialist recommended enjoyable and
stimulating activities, such as working on coloring books and simple jigsaw puzzles
together.
Jean's gross motor skills were typical for her age, and varied from slightly below average
(climbing) to slightly above average (throwing and catching a ball). The specialist
recommended more outdoor activities and games of all types.
Jean was able to focus on the tasks given by the examiner for the entire 40-minute
session. The examiner said this was unusually good for the age. She recommended that
you ask Jean to carry out more and more complex daily tasks (such as getting dressed)
and read longer stories in preparation for preschool.

1. Have there been any environmental events in your child's first 2 1/2 years that you
think might have influenced his or her behavior? On what do you base your hypotheses?
I think the only environmental event that played a bigger role in her development and
behavior is the fact that her mother stayed home with her during the early stages of her
development. This made Jean more comfortable and attached to her instead of me, but
at this point she is attached to us both. I think because we also have given her the
environment to be independent and free, she is still behind in her spatial skills area,
because she does not want to do those activities.
2.

How is your child progressing on typical toddler issues, such as learning household
rules, learning to follow routines, listening to you, developing self control and learning
to get along with other children?
For the most part Jean gets along well with the other children that she plays with. She
does occasionally show some aggression when it comes to a toy that she and another
child both want. She will say mine! but soon after will give up the toy and go find
something else to play with. With a routine and household rules, we dont want to do
anything that Jean doesnt want to do. We dont make her or force her to do anything
and simultaneously do not punish her. We feel guilty or that we are being too hard on
her if we do push her, so she is free to do what she wants.
3. Analyze your own parenting philosophy and practices. What principles from social
learning theory, Bowlby, Ainsworth, Piaget, Vygotsky, information processing theory,
developmental neuroscience and other theories do you appear to have relied on in
making your parenting choices or interpreting your child's behavior? Include three
principles/theorists from the above list in your answer.
In parenting my child in a permissive manner, I dont do too many things that she
doesnt want to do, but I try and encourage her to at least try something new. For
example, I used Vygotskys zone of proximal development when trying to teach Jean to
care for the plants in our apartment balcony garden. At that stage in her development

she is unable to care for the plants alone, but with my help she can learn to water and
care for them.
Similar to Piagets theory, the information processing theory applies to how Jean
interacts with other children. She plays well with them until she and another child both
want the same toy. Although she initially fights for the toy she realizes and modifies her
behavior as a response to her environment (playgroup). Since we have raised her to be
more independent and to go out and explore on her own, she is not basing her
interactions at a playgroup on the rules at home, because at home she has very few
rules, and is an only child.
Due to the fact that we have raised our child with one parent at home for much of her
first year, she has some very good and secure attachment to my partner. Mary
Ainsworth classified a securely attached child as one who, when separated may cry,
because the parent is gone and they prefer them to a stranger But Jean doesnt
necessarily mind other adults as long as she has had time to get to know them. She may
still prefer her parents over a babysitter, but she is able to function with either, and is
fine upon my return.