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Devon Dasher
HDFS 4820
April 18, 2016
Developmental Assessment
I chose to assess the developmental level of one of the children I tutor on Wednesday
afternoons. I go to East Athens Community Center once a week, where I help elementary
school-aged children with reading and math. After they have completed their work, we either
play in the gymnasium or go outside to the playground. Working closely with the same group of
children each week has given me the opportunity to observe them while they complete cognitive
tasks as well as while they play.
I chose to focus on one eight-year-old girl in particular because I have worked with her
more closely and regularly than other children over the course of the semester. Since she is eight
and in the second grade, she falls under Erik Eriksons Psychosocial Stage of Industry vs.
Inferiority. This is the fourth of his Psychosocial Stages, and it encompasses school-agers
ranging from six to twelve years old. Children in this stage are seeking competence and mastery
of their actions. They want to succeed and do well in order to gain self-esteem and confidence in
their abilities. A major question for kids in the Industry vs. Inferiority stage is, How can I be
good? School is one of the most primary settings for school-agers, so much of their
competence seeking occurs here.
Based on my observations, I have concluded that the child I assessed is in fact in the
Industry vs. Inferiority stage, indicating that she is developing appropriately. While I sometimes
have to coddle her to get her to complete her math worksheets, once she has begun, she always
strives to do them correctly. She understands that I am there to help her, so if she has questions
or does not understand a concept, she asks for my help. This demonstrates her desire to perform
at her highest ability. While some of the other children I have worked with will choose books to

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read that are well below their actual reading level simply because they are easier to read and
finish quickly, the child I observed picks books that are either within or slightly above her
reading level. She typically reads with ease and does not respond negatively if I correct her on
words she mispronounces. She enjoys checking off in her folder that she has completed her
tasks for the day, and she always is pleased when I initial beside her checkmarks to verify her
successful completion.
This child also takes dance lessons each week at the dance center near the tutoring
facility, and two weeks ago, I walked her to her lesson after tutoring. The child apparently had
not been to class for the past two weeks, a factor that is technically outside of her control since
she cannot drive, but her teacher was nonetheless very unhappy with her. To make matters
worse, she had left her dance clothes in her grandmothers car when she was dropped off at
tutoring, so her teacher was even angrier. This child is very well behaved when at tutoring and is
very polite, so I can only assume she acts the same when at dance classes. However, her teacher
still scolded her severely (to an extent that I thought to be wildly inappropriate for a generally
well behaved eight-year-old), and the child was extremely upset. Her teacher rhetorically asked
her what she thought she should do about the situation, to which the child replied, I should
remember my clothes next time? When the teacher snapped and told her it was too late for that,
the child became emotional when she could not come up with an answer to satisfy her teacher.
She had expressed to me before we entered the dance center that she was upset about forgetting
her dance clothes, saying that she did not want her teacher to be mad at her. She verbally
communicated to me her desire to be good, and this desire was also evident when she became
shamefully tearful while being harshly admonished by her teacher.

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My observations each week coupled with the dance center experience lead me to
conclude that this child is developing at an appropriate pace. Based on Eriksons work, she is
demonstrating evidence of her desire to be productive and achieve competence and mastery in
her abilities. This will benefit her long-term by enhancing her positive self-concept and
confidence.