Early Childhood Education Child Case Study

I observed the child in a mixed age group setting of about 15-20 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 6 years. He attends this daycare an average of three days a week. The boy's teachers describe him as slightly underdeveloped in most areas. They explained that he was born addicted to crack and adopted by very loving parents. He wears a feeding tube to help provide nutrients that are missed due to poor eating habits. He eats poorly because he has trouble swallowing without choking. His diet consists of strained and soft finger foods in addition to the feeding tube.

Physical Development

The boy is physically small for his age and has a limited choice of activities, for example, he cannot reach riding toy pedals, so he pushes off from the ground to ride. His physical abilities, however, do not appear to be delayed by his stature. He can run, jump, climb, etc. and his interest in physical activities is normal.

Language Development

My primary concern for the child's development is his vocabulary. He appears to understand a below average amount of words and sentences for his age, and only has the ability to speak a handful of words. This seems to be affecting many areas of the child's development.

Social Development

The area of development most affected by his lack of language skills is his social development. Through observation, I have determined that the child wants very much to socialize with the other children, but his lack of words interferes.

Cognitive Development

The boy's Cognitive abilities are also affected by his poor language skills. This, and is size, causes teachers to mistakenly pass him up for activities that, with assistance, he could effectively participate in. During activities, there is also a lack of discussion and feedback, which very much hinders his learning.

Conclusion

From my observations of this child, I have concluded that many areas of his development are being held back due to his lack of communication skills. Spending more time building his vocabulary, encouraging him to use words often, and working on language enriching activities with him should help to improve all areas of development.

As language skills improve, activities that build on social, emotional, and cognitive skills will be useful in helping him catch up where needed and keeping him on track from there on.