Observing Physical & Cognitive Milestones in 5-Year-Old Lisa

Physical and Cognitive Development Observation Paper Name Institutional Affiliation Course name Instructor’s name Assignment due date Physical and Cognitive Development Observation Paper Introduction Observation research on development provides information on how children successfully navigate each stage of development and the need for intervention to facilitate the achievement of desired milestones. Studies can demonstrate areas of physical and cognitive development in which a child has portrayed delays and inform teachers, parents, and caregivers on how to provide additional support. The current observation paper is for a child named Lisa (name changed) who was 61 months old at the beginning of the observation. It was conducted in the child’s kindergarten classroom and during field activities with the permission of the school administrator and her teacher. Lisa is female, white, and does not have any physical or cognitive disorder. She is the second and las child in her family and lives with her older brother and parents in their home. Her brother is ten years old and she did not present any significant health issue from birth that could affect her physical or cognitive development. Lisa and the members of her family speak English as the primary and only language both at home and outside their home. The observation study results demonstrated that Lisa had achieved most of the physical and cognitive developmental milestones for a child aged 60 months. She was able to complete math and language tests with some assistance from her teacher and demonstrated emotional connections with the students at her classroom. Lisa was active in class activities and in field tasks where she interacted with her peers and teacher with little individual supervision. Observation Techniques During an observational study of the development of a child, the techniques a researcher uses determines the kind of data they collect and the information provided by the research. One of the methods used to observe the child in this study was recording anecdotal notes of observations during the period of data collection. To determine the physical and cognitive development of the child, the observation included interactions with the teacher and peers, completed activities, and participation in group and individual tasks. The anecdotal notes contain the observations made during the study that are significant to the developmental data and application of theories on development. Additionally, the developmental milestone checklist provided data on the successful achievement of goals for a child at five years. The study used the checklist for children at the age of 60 months that shows the milestones the child should achieve at five years. The techniques included checking boxes for each milestone and calculating the percentage of milestones achieved from the observation. The frequency count technique involves observing the number of instances that a child portrays specific behaviors indicating development and growth. The frequency table shows the number of observations made during each day of the observation and the total for the observation period. Physical Development By completing an assessment of Lisa’s physical development in this observation, the study seeks to provide insights based on theory that parents and teachers could use to provide a better physical and social environment for the child. Lisa is of average height and weight compared to other children in her classroom and a child around 60 months of age. The observation study showed that the child’s diet and social environment did not have a negative effect on her physical development. The home and school environment can significantly affect growth in children and influence their attainment of physical development milestones. It is critical that parents are able to provide the appropriate diet for children between 0 and eight years old to ensure they attain optimal development at early staged of growth. Dietary issues and a socially unstable environment could have long-lasting impact on the physical development and wellbeing of children from an early age. The observation study demonstrated that Lisa was fairly active in the classroom and in the playground and this contributed to her wellbeing and physical growth. From the findings, there were no indication that the child under observation faced any significant challenges that could affect her physical growth outcome. Moreover, the development milestone showed that Lisa had achieved 100% of the physical soft and gross motor milestones for children her age. By five years old, a child should be able to button some buttons and hop on one foot. The observations were made in and outside the classroom especially during monitored play activities when Lisa interacted with her peers. She participated in play activities where she was expected to use her gross and soft motor skills in the playground. Additionally, her learning activities in the classroom involved practicing physical development skills such as holding markers and painting. The observation study sho