FHS 1500 – Observation #1
Toddler – 18 months to 2 years
OBSERVATION GUIDELINES
You are to conduct an observation of a toddler (18 months – 35 months) that you do not know. Toddlers can be observed in one of several settings such as a child care facility, a playgroup, a nursery class (church or other volunteer organization) or another location in which the toddler has the opportunity to interact with other non-related children and non-parental adults. Observing your own children, siblings, cousins or nieces and nephews is not acceptable.
Note: If you choose to complete your observation at the Redwood Campus’ Eccles Lab School, the best times for observations of children are from 9:00 – 11:00 and 2:30 – 4:30, Monday through Friday. Tell the person at the front desk that you are there to observe the two-year-old class.
When entering any child care facility, report to the office and identify yourself as an FHS 1500 student needing to do an observation. The office personnel will explain their policies and procedures regarding the observation of children in their facility. Please be aware that some child care programs may not allow observations in their facilities.
Each observation should be at least 1 ½ to 2 typed pages in length. Check all spelling, grammar etc. Please, do a complete, professional job. The observation should include some basic demographic information such as the date, time and location of the observation, approximate age of the child and a general description of the environment in which the observation took place. Expect to spend at least 25 – 30 minutes observing.
For each observation, please include a brief description of the child as it relates to his/her:
Physical Development – Gender, approximate height and weight (Is the child taller or shorter than the other children in the group? Is the child skinny, average, and overweight?) How does the child move? Arms? Legs? Coordination? How does the child compare to others in the class? How does it compare to the descriptions in our text?
Intellectual Development – How do you assess the child’s intellectual development? What about the child’s language development? How does the child’s cognitive development compare to the description of normal development for that age in our textbook?
Social/Emotional Development – How does the child react to stress? Happiness? Frustration? Anger? How does the child relate to the other children? The teacher? Does the child spend most of the time alone or with others? Does the child seem happy? If not, can you find a reason?
If you make comments such as, “This is the most wonderful child in the world” or “This is the biggest brat I’ve ever seen”, please be sure to document the events that led you to your conclusion and justify from the text why you consider this behavior to be abnormal.
