Psy_Obeservation_Paper

Student Name: Katie Sickler Infant’s name/ code: Lillian Age of infant: 10 months Birth Weight: 7lbs. 15Oz. Length: 20 ¼ inches BRIEF DECRIPTION OF SETTING SITUATION: I observed Lillian at Cayuga Community College, Fulton Extension Center. The observation took place in the college classroom, room 157. There are three beige walls and one green wall. The room is very pretty clean and fluorescent lighting made the room very bright and well lit. There were at least 30 students present, the baby’s mother, who is also a student of this class, and the professor. The floors were completely carpeted in a very light blue color. BEHAVIORAL DESCRIPTION DESCRIBE GENERAL BEHAVIORS OBSERVED: The infant appeared to be a very happy and content child, when first arrived into the room. Lillian was there with her mother before students arrived, in order to give her adjustment time. Overall, her initial behaviors were smiling, initiating students who were in the room to play with her, and show her attention, and overall trying to visually, and physically explore her new environment, she was a very curious infant, who was very intrigued with her environment, and new faces. Initially when the professor interacted with Lillian, she appeared a little nervous. However, when the instructor introduced an Elmo toy that sang and danced, she was in the scoot position, and crawled back to mom to check in, to make sure she was safe. She was very uncertain at first and made many social references with her mother, to see how she should react. After a few minutes, and the instructor pulled out some colorful blocks, she became more relaxed and comfortable, and appeared to socially accept the instructor. The professor than pointed out her pincher grasp, which was advanced for her, while she was picking up blocks, and how she could switch from hand to hand. He also showed how infants have a survival mode reflex to reach and grab objects off their head. He showed us this by playing a fun game of peek-a-boo with her and placed a small blanket over her head, she then reached a grabbed the blanket off her head with a big smile on her face. This demonstrated the survival reflex to prevent the baby from suffocating on stuff against their face. After the reflex action was demonstrated, the professor demonstrated object permanence, where he placed the blanket over his face, and she went around the blanket to see the instructor. This demonstrated object permanence. DESCRIBE SOCIAL BEHAVIORS OBSERVED: Lillian looked to be a very social baby. She was constantly getting the students attention by babbling, and giggling till they interacted with her. She would go up to the students, that were sitting on the floor, and play with them as well as the instructor, though stayed in a close circle of proximity of the mother. Tried to imitate what the instructor was saying to her. The professor would say da, da, da, and she would repeat da, da, da. She would giggle and smile at the professor, along with mom. She showed little signs of stranger anxiety at this time. He readily played with the instructor, and appeared to mimic him. She would check over to her mother for reassurance often. DESCRIBE THE MOTOR SKILLS OBSEVED: Lillian can sit and stand with the help of objects, such as a desk. She is an advanced crawler, and is trying to learn to walk. At one point she even let go of the desk and stood up by herself. She demonstrated with her snack, which were fruit Puffs, that she had mastered the pincher grasp with forefinger and thumb with both hands, she preformed this technique with her blocks too. Lillian was also able to show us that she could mimic motor skills too. The Professor started to stack one block on another, which she did too. That to me was amazing since that is a hard visual skill for such a young child to master. She also did an amazing mimic skill that involved a complicated, for an infant, serious of steps where in order to get the car to make noise you had to flip it over, hit the end on the ground, and smash it into another car to make another noise. She mastered it in two tries, which was truly unbelievable, to me. DESCRIBE THE LANGUAGE/ COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORS OBSERVED: Watching Lillian interact with other students I noticed that she would babble to get their attention. She giggled and social smiled a lot, she seemed to be a particularly happy baby. Only time she cried was when her blocks were taken away from her, since she kept putting it in her mouth. The funny part was she was trying to get attention this way, since mom would make a funny no, no, noise whenever she put it in her mouth and she would giggle and try it again, plus she was cutting teeth. She did understand though the word No-No since she would immediately put the object down which was amazing that at her age she knew what some words actually meant. For a baby who was late on naptime, and cutting teeth she was an extremely good baby, and extremely happy, as well as very advance for the age of the infant. Student’s name: Katie Sickler Infant’s name/ code: Emma and Sophia Age of infant’s: 14 months Birth Weights: Emma- 4lbs. 2Oz. Sophia- 5lbs. 11Oz. Length: Emma 17in. Sophia 17in. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SETTING: I observed Emma and Sophia at Cayuga Community College, Fulton Extension Center. The observation took place in the college classroom, room 157. There are three beige walls and one green wall. The room is very pretty clean and fluorescent lighting made the room very bright and well lit. There were at least 30 students present, the baby’s mother, the twins Aunt who is also a student of this class, and the professor. The floors were completely carpeted in a very light blue color. BEHAVIORAL DESCRIPTION DESCRIBE GENERAL BEHAVIORS OBSERVED The babies appeared to be very happy and content at first arrival. Overall Emma was the outgoing, giggly girl who stayed very close to her mom, and was very verbal. Sophia on the other hand was very serious for a little girl, who was at first I thought shy, but realized she just didn’t vocalize communication, and was very friendly and more outgoing than her sister. She warmed up to the students, and loved to come up to me and give me toys that she was playing with. Both were very interested in their environment and though Emma showed more interested in playing with the instructor, Emma was more into exploring her surrounding, but constantly, they both social referenced, and checked in with their mother. Sophia showed me she had object permanence, when I took the moose and hid it behind my back, she proceeded to start looking behind me for it. This demonstrated to me she had object permanence. DESCRIBE THE SOCIAL BEHAVIORS OBSERVED: It is very important to stress that the twins are very social children. The mother appeared to be very social and it is reflected in both of the girl’s responses. Emma was very content with in her circle of comfort, while Sophia wandered around outside the circle of proximity, but checked in frequently with her mother. Sophia was the giggly girl who laughed the entire time, at the professor and the students around her. She also would imitate her mother’s vocal inflections and laughter, along with mimicking different noises, and sounds. Emma wasn’t much of a talker she met her needs, by non-verbal communication, and smiling. At one point I purposely didn’t look at her just continued taking notes to see what she would do, and she reached down and grabbed my pen to get my attention, I thought this was very clever since no one could ignore something like that. DESCRIBE THE MOTOR SKILLS OBSERVED: Emma and Sophia are very active babies. They are very capable walkers that do not need assistance. Sophia mastered superior forefinger grasp, where wrist is extended and deviated to ulnar side for efficient prehension. This was shown when she shared with me a block, and demonstrated the grasp. Both the girls can master pointing towards body parts that the mother calls out; this was told but not shown. Emma was able to show us that she understands vocabulary. When the Instructor hit a block on a canister, she mimicked it. When he asked her to do it again, she started hitting the block on the canister again. She was able to climb very well, which they both demonstrated when trying to run to mom, they crawled over their aunt in the process. DESCRIBE THE LANGUAGE/ COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORS OBSERVED: As mentioned earlier, the girls defiantly appear to mimic their mother. Also Emma and Sophia understand many commands, and body parts, as well as a wide range of vocabulary. Emma was very verbal, when her Aunt had her she asked her to say a few wards such as water, apple, momma, Emma, and Fan, which she repeated back. She repeatedly went up to the teacher and giggled, along with other students as well, the only time she cried was when her sister was on her mother’s lap, in which she would push her over, while the sister passively would accept. Also was way past their naptime so both were a little cranky, but very happy given the circumstances. Sophia on the other hand, was much quieter, and as said earlier, used a lot of non-verbal communication, to get what she wanted. She did giggle and babble a lot, but was so very serious about what she was doing. She very rarely cried or showed any signs of distress, and referenced back and forth frequently with mom. She was the more outgoing, and passive twin of the two, while Emma was the more dominating one, who acquired more attention from mom. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE TWO SUBJECTS: 1. Which observation was easiest to do' As with the previous observation of Emma and Sophia, Lillian’s was the easiest to observe. There were many differences as well between n the two observations. The twins were already able to walk around their environment. Lillian however still had to use tools to manipulate around her environment such as mom’s hand and desks. All the babies were able to demonstrate communication skills as well. It is more important that the twins were able to use a more complex grasp, and in a more controlled and steady way. This is largely due to the age differences. 2. In what ways did this observation assist you in better understanding infant development and behavior' I now have a better understanding on what the notes, and text was trying to teach me. I could visually put the vocabulary we used into a full picture on what it exactly looked like, such as different reflexes, and grasps. It also allowed me to see the wide array of different abilities in age categories, since the months in perspective seem so small as to what a baby can fully do in a matter of a few weeks. The twins showed me a whole new view as to what infants are like in a group setting. It amazed me to see the way one was more dominant, and talkative, while the other was more outgoing, and passive. Lillian was shyer compared, to the twins, which showed me how age can make an extreme difference. While she engaged quickly with the professor, the twins were immediately more interested in surroundings outside the close proximity of their mother. All infants showed signs of comfort, and social acceptance from their mother. The differences between the babies were extraordinary. Both observations had behaviors appropriate for their age, but my guess would be that Lillian will be very gifted since she hit milestones much earlier than most at her age. Though she is too young to tell, she seemed very ahead in her development. The twins were right on cue with their development, according to the professor, their appeared to be no problematic delays, or behaviors at this point in time. The twins as the professor stated appeared to be a perfect example of how twin’s personalities should be in which there is a dominant and vocal twin, and one who is more passive and outgoing. Again the differences between them are documented within this observation write-up. 3. In carrying out this assignment, what surprised you' What surprised me the most was the way the twins personalities were so different. Emma was the social butterfly, who was so serious, while Sophia was the giggly girl, who was constantly smiling but was shyer than her sister. Also the way Sophia was very jealous any time her sister sat on her mother’s lap. It was surprising to me that at that age, the infant knew jealousy, and would climb on her sister to get to the mother. She would sometimes even sit on her sister, as if to say my mommy. Also the way Emma would just sit back and take it was shocking to me; she was so passive against her sister. Another thing that was surprising was the way Emma had a way of communicating with you, without having to say a word. The way she got my attention by taking my pen was so clever. I never realized how smart infants could be. Lillian was surprising at the way she was very social with the teacher, and was able to warm up very quickly to strangers. She showed no signs of fear, and was also amazed at her advances. She was a very bright young girl, who was such an all around good and happy baby. Were Lillian seemed very advanced for her age the twins just seemed average. It is important to discuss that it is very difficult, at some time impossible, to document everything. The twins had a moment as well as Lillian, were I could not possibly write fast enough, and with the twins I was too busy playing with Emma and interacting with her that I couldn’t write everything down. I am very certain I missed a lot more with the twins’ observation, due to the fact that Emma was just too darn fun to play with, that I’m certain I missed a lot of key points. However I sincerely expressed my gratitude in having the experience to observe the set of twins, since they were so truly interesting to watch. The first observation was so much easier to do. The instructors was very involved, and helpful in giving key points, and telling us what to look for, were as the second one was more for you to figure out on your own. I was less interactive with Lillian so it was easier to observe, and write down what I saw, where as the twins I was way more involved with playing with them. Lillian’s observation had more detailed, and better vocabulary pointed out, than did the second observation.