DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

8 Months

How does your baby's eating, sleeping and motor development compare to the typical developmental patterns?


Alexanders is developing physically healthy. His eating and sleeping development is good. So far he can get fussy at times or food can give him digestion problems. Alexander's motor skills are typical for his age. He is crawling, sitting up, and standing up. He is not walking yet, but soon he will. Typical developmental patterns expected at month 8 are about the same as Alexanders. There are babies by this age that don’t crawl or that don’t walk.

 

At 8 months of age was your child an "easy", "slow-to-warm-up", or "difficult" baby in terms of Thomas and Chess's classic temperamental categories? On what do you base this judgement?


I would say my child is slow to warm up to. He is very attached to his mommy. He is cautious and shy in most new situations or with new people. In the Thomas and Chess’s classical temperamental categories he can be a mixture of difficult and slow to warm up to. 

 

How is your child's attachment to you and your partner developing? What is happening at the 3-month and 8-month periods that might affect attachment security according to Bowlby and Ainsworth, and various research studies?


Alexander is spending more time with my partner and he is slowly warming up to him. He has strong emotional reactions and has difficulty soothing himself back down at times. The doctor advises patience in dealing with Alexander's emotions. Attachment is a good thing and he will slowly grow out of it.

 

19 months

Describe and give examples of changes in your child's exploratory or problem-solving behavior from 8 through 18 months and categorize them according to Piagetian and information processing theories. Note that 8 months is included, so you'll need to use the time-line to look back at 8 months for examples.

 

Alexander is developing at age-norms. When he was 8 months he did not master the object permanence test, but by at 12 months he did. Alexander is above age-norms at 19 months, for building a block tower to model one made by the examiner and other spatial skills such as copying shapes, coloring within the lines and solving picture puzzles.

 

Analyze your baby's temperament in more detail at 18 months than you did at 8 months. How would you describe your baby in terms of the five aspects of temperament utilized by the Virtual Child program (activity, sociability, emotionality, aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self-control)? Has your baby's temperament been stable over the first 18 months? A blurb defining and providing examples of the five aspects of temperament is provided at 12 months, but you should seek out further explanations of temperament from your textbook. Explain how the concept of goodness of fit (also discussed in the blurb on infant temperament) applies to your interactions with your child.

 

Alexanders activity in physical and mental energy level are great he likes to try new activities. His sociability to friendliness is cooperative for a child of his age but he is nervous around adults. Emotionally he is still fluctuating in moods he can get irritable when things don’t go his way. Alexander is still working to have self-control over his behaviors, he and by patiently waiting for him to calm down and communicate his desires.

 

Is your child delayed or advanced in any area of development according to the 19-month developmental examiner's report? Based on what you have studied, and what you know about your child, do you think this is most likely a result of specific biological or environmental factors?

 

Alexander is doing great, he takes a few minutes to get warmed up, but then seems to get along very well with the other kids, and was unusually cooperative for a child of his age. The examiner thinks Alexander will adapt well to the preschool environment.

 

2 years

Have there been any environmental events in your child's first 2 1/2 years that you think might have influenced his or her behavior? On what do you base your hypotheses?

 

Alexanders behavior has been greatly influences in environmental events. He has met new children during day care. Being able to be around more children he has learned to play with others and share. Being the only child for now is still causing the word “mine” to be said a lot, but he is slowly learning to share.  I base my hypothesis on being able to interact with others has greatly influenced his people skills and social skills to increase.

 

How is your child progressing on typical toddler issues, such as learning household rules, learning to follow routines, listening to you, developing self-control and learning to get along with other children?

 

My child is progressing on typical toddler issues by being less clingy and obeying house rules. Being able to potty train him has helped me communicate with him more. Communication is very crucial and we have been conversating more, I feel that this has helped him listen to me and follow routines. His self-control is slowly being managed by his actions and behavior. He is learning to throw less tantrums and is obeying more. Alexander gets along with other children but prefers to play with boys.

 

Analyze your own parenting philosophy and practices. What principles from social learning theory, Bowlby, Ainsworth, Piaget, Vygotsky, information processing theory, developmental neuroscience and other theories do you appear to have relied on in making your parenting choices or interpreting your child's behavior? Include three principles/theorists from the above list in your answer.

 

Analyzing my own parenting philosophy and practice I realized Alexander is attached to me. In Mary Aimsworth strange situation it describes quality attachment. Alexander uses me as a secure base when we go out to places or even to daycare. In Bowlby’s ethological theory it describes emotional ties to a caregiver. Myself, being Alexanders caregiver has helped my son develop a trusting relationship towards me. Alexander in the “clear-cut attachment phase has displayed separation anxiety by crying when I leave. Also, now that Alexander is almost 3 he has calmed his emotions when I leave him, and he is able to play with other children. I feel that he is entering “formation of a reciprocal relationship.” By interpreting all of this information, to my understanding Alexander is learning to control his behavior and slowly learning how to manage being in daycare or around other people. Attachment is not a bad thing, but I am happy to say that even the female that tested him for preschool believed he is ready.

 

3 years

What activities and experiences you and your child have engaged in might be promoting healthy behavioral practices and an interest in physical activity?

 

Alexander and I are practicing daily routines at home. Alexander knows how to get dressed by himself and clean up his toy messes. So far, he sometimes finds it challenging to get dressed but with guidance he will solve this problem. At home, I also sing- a-long to preschool songs, like the ABC’s or the itsy-bitsy spider. Alexander is slowly singing to them, since he doesn’t really like to sing. For physical activities, we take afternoon walks in the park or play ball.

 

Describe development of your child's language and cognitive skills and discuss how these might be affecting his or her interactions with you & your responses.

 

Alexander scored average for his language comprehension and production. For some reason when he is asked to explain a picture he just answers with a few words. When I ask him how his day went or what he is doing at the moment he only answers with a short answer and no details. I am practicing with Alexander, by having daily conversations with him. I am encouraging educational television shows and reading books.

 

How well is your child adapting to social situations in the home and outside the home? Does your child have any behavior or emotional problems at this point? Why do you think these problems are occurring and what are you doing about them?

 

Alexander is adapting well at home to his little sister but outside the house is another story. Lately he has been not listening at the house or at school. I feel that he experiences so much change in the last few months that he doesn’t know how to express his feelings and emotions. He went from having a new sibling, to a new house, and a new school. I am trying to be lenient with him the best I can, but I am still disciplining him since he cannot act out or misbehave all the time.

 

4 years

 

How would you characterize your parenting style? How have your specific parenting techniques changed since infancy? In what ways do you think your parenting style, or any other aspect of your parenting, has been influenced by your cultural background or other experiences?

 

I feel that my parenting style has helped alexander be a smart, playful, and a cooperating little boy. I feel that I been having to discipline and become a little stricter with my son because he is starting to not listen. I tend to be supportive but I will discipline if he gets out of line. I try to always listen to Alexander or warn him before I scold him or lightly spank him. I feel that my parenting style has been influenced by experiences. Being able to breastfeed Alexander and stay home with him the first 3 years of his life has made me bond and have communication with him.

 

Describe two specific examples of changes in your child's behavior at age 4 that seem to stem from growth in cognitive and language ability since the period of infancy (e.g., improvements in symbolic thinking, reasoning, knowledge of the world, theory of mind).

 

The 1st change alexander has shown is coloring. He has adapted this new skill of coloring pages. He can color a full page with different colors and he can sit down and do it for hours. I enjoy watching him color. This new skill has helped him in his physical and cognition domain.

The 2nd change alexander has shown is letters. He could read a few short words and write his name and could name most of the letters of the alphabet. He has shown an age-appropriate understanding of phonological awareness.

 

How would you characterize your child's personality? Would you say that your child is primarily overcontrolled, under controlled or resilient? Support your argument.

 

My child personality can be characterized from difficult to slow to warm up to. I feel that he is resilient. He has been misbehaving a lot but I tend to put him back under control once I give him a warning or scold him. He has been misbehaving at restaurants and at school. We have been trying to reward him when he is good but we discipline him when he is not listening. He is a good child but for the moment right now he is getting out of hand.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.