Reference no: EM132642719

A. Observation

You are to observe/interview one child in each of the following age ranges: preschool (age 3-5), elementary (age 8-10),and adolescence (age 13-16). Spend at least 15 minutes observing the student in a naturalenvironment. If possible, do not make the child aware that you are observing him/her. (Seek permission from parent prior to observation). Spend another 15 minutes interviewing the child. Consider each child in light of the following:

Question 1. Behavioral/Social: In observation, note the following: What was the child like in terms of behavior (i.e., activity level, persistence with tasks, willingness to engage in play/dialogue with others)? How did the child interact socially? Did you directly observe social interactions with the child and parent/sibling/peer? How did the child interact? In interview note the following: How did the child interact with you? Did he/she make eye contact, begin and end the conversation appropriately, remain focused and on-topic? Did the child initiate topics of conversation with you? Did he/she show you his/her things or discuss items that were important to him/her?

Question 2. Language/Communication: In observation and interview note, the following: What were the child's language skills like? Did he/she require prompting/probing in order to sustain a conversation? Did he/she make eye contact with the person being spoken to? Did he/she share information spontaneously when observed/in interview? Did he/she use gestures to communicate? In interview, be sure to ask both openended questions (What activities do you enjoy?) as wellas forced-choice questions (Did you have fun today?) and note the child's ability to respond to each type of question (length of responses, prompting needed,etc.).

Question 3. Social-Emotional/Affective: In observation, note the following: Howdid the child seemin terms ofaffect? Did he/she seemlike an average child in terms of regulation ofemotional responses? Did he/she display a range of affective responses? In interview,ask the child to relate a good/happy experience in his/her recent past and a disappointing or frustrating event that he/she experienced in his /her recent past. Note the affective changes, ifany, in the child when he/she relates the stories.

Question 4. Adaptive: In observation, note the following: What skills did the child appear to have in the areas of self-care (feeding, dressing,chores, other responsibilities) and in engaging in age-appropriate recreational/leisure activities? What type of task was the child engaged in when you observed? In interview,ask about what types of responsibilities the child has at home, favorite activities, hobbies,and how leisure time is spent.

B. Comparison
Once you have observed/interviewed all three children,compare and contrast responses/observations in light of the child's age and developmental level in an essay format. Specifically,answer the following

Question: 1. How did the children differ in terms of behavioral and social interaction?

Question 2. How did the children differ in terms of language skills? Did you modify your rate of speech,choice of words,etc. when addressing children of different ages? Did the children differ in responding depending on the format of your questions (open v. closed)?

Question 3. How did you ask questions related to happy and disappointing events? Did you ask questions in the same manner or modify the wording depending on age? Did you observe a range of affective responses in each child? Were there differences among the children in terms of affective responses?

Question 4. Did the children differ in terms of their self-care skills and leisure activities?

Question 5. In light of the differences observed, how might you need to modify your approach in working with children and adolescents based on their level of development? How might your techniques for establishing rapport and maintaining interest/motivation in an evaluation session differ depending on the developmental level of the child?

Question 6. Were there any cultural, language, or experiential variables that were important in the development/differences among the children? How did these factors affect development and behavioral/social, language,affective,and adaptive functioning?