Glondys Rodriguez Naturalistic Observation Essay

My observation took place in a park where a birthday party was celebrating. I looked at a girl of 6 years old or so. The girl was wearing a pink blouse and white pants. I think she was Hispanic. She was about 40 inch tall and weighed around 30 pounds. I could hear when her mom called her Diana. Physical Development For her age, she had a perfect physical development because I could see how she ran with other girls of the same age. She was jumping the string, and playing hides and seeks, so I could tell that the girl was healthy and had good physical development. Cognitive development (Piaget’s stages) According to Piaget’s stages Diana is in preoperational stage because for example, she played with her friends building a sturdy house of plants’ leaves acting as if it was a princess castle. Also she used branches of the trees as if they were magic wands, so I realized that Diana is in the section of mental representation (Make-believe-play). Another example that I realized was that Diana’s mother offered a juice, and gave her a choice of a bottle or a glass and she chose the bottle allowed more amount than the glass. Emotional and Social Development (Erikson’s stage) According to Erikson’s stages, Diana is in industry versus inferiority because I noticed that she was all the time in cooperation with the other kids. She developed a sense of competence at useful skills and tasks. To support what I say I have an example. She was dancing all the time with the music she liked. She danced with amazing movements. I noticed she had natural skills and ability to dance. The girls competed to see who danced better. That moment was incredible because I enjoyed what was happening, and I realized the competitiveness that exists between girls and boys at this age. To conclude, I can say Diana has a good self-esteem. I don’t think she felt inferiority at any moment. On the other hand, she looked very safe in all the tasks she developed. Does the child meet the milestones and stages for the physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development? Yes, I think this 6 years old girl meets all the milestones and stages for the physical, cognitive, and social/ emotional development. Is there anything unusual or â€Å"off-development† for this child (deficits as well as giftedness)? There was nothing off-development or unusual for this girl, on the contrary, I think she is very intelligent and talented. My thoughts about observation: I think my observation helped me a lot to understand the normal development in middle childhood and to know we should interact, guide, and support them to achieve the best of their abilities. My opinion about what I observed and the application of the theories of development: In my opinion, Piaget’s cognitive development theories and Erikson’s psychological theories are an excellent guide to help us understand the stages in normal growth and development.