Observing Language and Social-Emotional Development in a 38-Month-Old Child

Language and Social/Emotional Observation Paper Name Institutional Affiliation Course name Instructor’s name Assignment due date Language and Social/Emotional Observation Paper Purpose of the Study A child’s successful achievement of developmental milestones has significant implications on their physical and psychological wellbeing. Observing language and social/emotional development demonstrates their capacity to interact with peers and adults from a young age. The purpose of the current study is to observe a single child, collect, and analyze data on their development while taking their age into consideration. The brain’s development at each stage and the child’s physical and social development affect how they fit into a particular environment (Gleason & Ratner, 2022). The study used observational techniques including anecdotal notes, developmental milestone checklists, and photo documentation to analyze the language and social/emotional development of the child. The data and conclusions from the study seek to inform the educators and the parents of the child on how best to provide a supportive environment that meets his needs. The study refers to the tools, concepts, and theories of childhood development from the course to make meaningful conclusions from the observation of the child. Child Introduction Liam (name changed) was a 38 month old male child at the beginning of the observation period and he lives with his two parents and brother. His brother is six years old and they have lived in the same home since Liam was born. Liam was born on 23rd November 2021 and is unilingual. His parents and teachers did not provide any information indicating any form of physical or mental health issue that could have significant implications on the child during or after birth. The observation study was conducted in the childcare center that Liam attends that has three classrooms based on the children’s ages. Liam’s mother brought him to the center for period of the observation and picked him up during the closing time. Observational Techniques Observation techniques determine the type of data and the depth of information researchers collect about a child. They determine the effectiveness of the study to provide meaningful insights on the child and how teachers and parents can use the conclusions to improve care. One of the observational tools for this study was collecting anecdotal data to document observations made of the child. Liam’s activities, interactions with peers and adults, and the use of words were documented during the data collection exercise. The second data collection tool was a developmental milestone checklist for 36 month old children that showed what a child should do at this age. Since Liam was 38 months at the beginning of the observation period, he should have achieved most of the developmental steps in the questionnaire. Another technique was the documentation of photographs of Liam in the classroom and playground that demonstrated his development. The analysis of the data on language and social/emotional development in this paper provides a summary of the aspects of successful development for the child and offers insights on approaches to care. Developmental Analysis Language development Receptive and expressive language skills affect how children can adequately and effectively interact with their peers and adults in their social environment. The capacity of a child to communicate effectively determines their access to support from their teachers and caregivers. The observational study demonstrated that Liam was able to show adequate language development for children at his stage of development. Language and communication development at the age of 38 months include achieving milestones such as having back-and-forth exchanges with an adult or a peer (Gleason & Ratner, 2022). During the observation period, Liam used his language skills during interactions with his parents, teachers, and peers. He engaged in a group activity where he and other students in the classroom built a castle using blocks. When a disagreement arose during the activity, Liam used interacted in a conversation that resolved the conflict with no adult intervention. The student’s language skills enable him to communicate clearly in a back-and-forth exchange as is expected for children above three years old. Learning and using vocabularies is an essential part of language development since it enables children to be more effective in communication. Children learn new words from their parents, teachers, peers, and reading materials in the classroom. By the age of three years, children should be have learnt about 1000 words to enable them to communicate with other people. It is an important step in language development that facilitates interaction, cognitive development, and the achievement of academic milestones. During the observation period, Liam used over 350 new words including vocabularies such as tree, jump, fork, and yellow. These are the words that the student was able to use correctly for the first time during our interaction and he demonstrated the capacity to build on his list of