1. Stephanie Crandell
4-22-10
EDU. 280
In observing a four year old boy this semester in the Central Michigan University
Child Development Lab, I watched and learned many things about the boy. I not only saw
his development grow for about four months, but I got to see a child overcome obstacles
and mature as a human being. I had a great experience observing this boy and it taught
me that all children are very different.
Cognitive development is basically the development of language and
communication in a child. Erikson believed that conflict affected every stage of
development. I happened to have an extremely quiet child who rarely spoke to anyone
when I first started to observe him over the allotted time. I often wondered if there was a
reason, such as some sort of at home conflict that caused him to be so anti-social.
However, after a few times of me visiting, he made a friend with another boy in the lab
and although he seemed hesitant at first, he began talking to him more and more everyday
and even getting involved in activities and play. As far as emotions go, my child never
showed any what so ever. There was one day when my little boy actually wet his pants
and had no facial expressions or seemed to show any feelings. He simply told the teacher
and she called his mother to bring him a change of pants. There was no one ridiculing
him or anything like that and so I assumed that was why he showed no emotion but I still
found it rather strange because most children I know, especially at an age like four years
old, would be very embarrassed at having an accident like that or maybe even try to hide
it. Due to the fact that he did not attempt to hide what was happening or have any

2. emotion about it at all makes me wonder if this was a common occurrence. However, in
the future sessions that I observed the boy, I never saw it happen again.
My child’s social/emotional development expanded over the last four months
quite drastically. I would say they definitely improved. When I first began my
observations the child would simply stare and watch everyone from a distance. My boy
wouldn’t say anything to the other children that he watched or even mock them in
anyway, just watched. As he watched the children it was almost as if he was observing
them with a great interest but was too scared to have anything to do with anyone else.
One day while observing the child another young boy about the same as him
noticed that he was having problems using the scissors to cut out simple shapes. The boy
showed him how he did it and told him that it might help if he did it that way as well. My
child said thank you and did what the boy told him to do. (my child always listened to
directions very well) He seemed to get the hang of it and smiled at the boy and proceeded
to sit by him during play times. My child didn’t talk much to the boy at first. It seemed
like my boy was trying to feel him out so to speak. This other child was a social butterfly
and loved to walk around and talk and try to play with everyone. My child preferred to sit
by himself all alone and seemed perfectly content playing by himself as well. I feel this
related to when Piaget describes accommodation. Being around this other boy changed
his mind somewhat about what he wanted to do during the day throughout the term that I
observed him. I remember being that way as a child and it took me a long time to become
more social and make more friends so I was hoping that this child would have a positive
affect on the boy I observed and help him to become more social at a much younger age
than I did.

3. As more and more time went by my child’s friend did help him to become more
social without know he was doing it obviously. My child started engaging in associative
play and actually talking with other children his age without being so scared all of the
time. He would invite other children to play blocks with him and he loved arts and craft
so whenever there was an activity involving drawing, coloring, painting, etc. he was very
excited and wanted to get all of the other children involved. He also loved showing off
what his artwork. I saw his artwork while he was creating it and I always had a hard time
telling what it was exactly, but the fact that he loved it so much lead me to believe that
this was something that he would probably be passionate about it in the future. My child
also got the other kids excited about doing the art because he showed such enthusiasm
about being creative. He would even tell everyone how great all of their work was while
they were doing it.
When it comes to listening to directions and basically be independent, my child
was very efficient. My child never had to be told to go to his mat for naptime. He knew
exactly when it was naptime and just went to sleep. He always picked up after himself
and knew when other people were doing something wrong because after a while he
would whisper to the other kids and say that they should stop or they will get into trouble.
I felt these were huge advancements from when I first started observing the boy.
My four year old boy’s physical development was something that I was surprised
with. My child was very small for his age. He was much shorter than all of the other boys
his age in the lab and even most of the girls. When I first began my observations with
him I thought that maybe because of his small stature that he would have trouble with
some of his gross-motor development. I was proved wrong over the course of the

4. semester.
As the semester progressed and my child got more and more active I was able to
see more of gross-motor skills because he wasn’t just sitting on the floor playing blocks.
He could walk and run perfectly fine, jump up and down, play tag, throw and catch a ball,
and seemed to have great coordination. There was one situation where him and his main
friend in the lab were playing with a medium sized red rubber-like ball. They were
playing catch and the other boy, who was much larger than my boy, threw the ball a bit
too high and way to hard. I was nervous my child when I was just sitting there because
they teacher told them that they could do it but they had to be very careful and it looked
as though if my boy didn’t catch the ball, it was going to hit another child. My boy
jumped up quite high and grabbed the ball with one hand and simply tossed it back. I was
shocked that he was able to jump that and catch the ball with only one hand. It was made
clear to me that his small body did not affect he ability to do anything.
I was even more impressed with my child’s fine-motor skills. The very first day
that I observed him, it was pretty clear that he loved playing with blocks. He would sit
there for an hour at a time while I was observing him and build really amazing buildings
and shapes with his blocks. He always seemed so concentrated and humble to his work. I
found my child to be very creative.
As I stated before, my child absolutely lobed artwork. In him loving to do this so
much I was able to see all of his fine-motor skills. He did things that I felt were advanced
for his age. He wrote his name perfectly clear, held crayons and markers correctly, and he
loved to paint. Whenever he got the chance to pain the would be so enthused. He held the
paintbrush very professionally and made his work. The only thing that I couldn’t

5. understand about the entire situation was that even though he could hold and use all of
these objects so well, his coloring was never inside the lines and his painting was always
more of an abstract that I couldn’t tell what he was trying to paint. I am confident in
believing that because he loves his art so much and his fine-motor skills are more
advance for his age, that he will be great in his future creations.
My child also is very independent as I said before. I watched him tie his own
shoes several times and whenever his jeans came unbuttoned or unzipped he knew
exactly how to fix it. Some other kids would have to ask the teacher for assistance but I
never saw my child ask the teacher for any sort of help involving his body personally.
Observing this boy in particular over the past few months has been quite
educational. I will admit at first I considered observing another child because I thought
the boy that immediately chose was going to be boring in a way because he seemed to
just want to be alone. I am so glad that I stuck with watching this child because I got to
see him grow and mature. I was able to watch a shy boy overcome his fear of people and
become more social and make more friends. I truly found it inspirational to help kids step
of out their comfort zones to make friends because I find that when children are more
social they seem to be happier.