Case Study 1

Child A Case Study Report

Child A
53 moths/March 17, 2010
Introduction
Child A is an African American child who is a little smaller than most children her age.
She is always smiling but was not very verbal in the beginning of my case study. Her mother
was very excited about her being chosen for the study and always asks questions about progress
with both Child A and the case study. Child A at the beginning of the study did not usually
initiate conversation or play with the other children; she pretty much stayed with the teacher and
would work puzzles or get a manipulative game out. Now she is more verbal and interacts with
all of the children and has become their teacher most of the time telling them what to do. A lot
of progress has been made in the last few months. Child A is a very happy child and enjoys the
company of others.
History and Background
Child A lives with her mother and father. Her mother is a registered nurse and her father
works in auto sales and repossessing vehicles. Child A has severe asthma and has missed days
due to having to go to the hospital for treatments or just being short on air so her parents keep her
home. She must have treatments everyday thirty minutes before going outside and must be
watched closely every day. Child A had febrile seizures when she was younger as well. Child A
usually sleeps about eight hours a night and does not like to sleep alone. She does sleep through
Case Study 2

the night but usually has to fall asleep by laying on mom or dads arm. (personal
communication, 2013)
Her mother says that she is interested in playing, watching Elmo DVDs, playing in
water, helping mommy clean and drawing. She also says that Child A is a fast learner; she also
says that she learns best through observation and loves to perform tasks by herself with minimal
interference from her parents. She also added that Child A knows her ABCs, can count to
thirteen, knows her birthday, knows how old she is and knows some of her colors. . What her
parents would like to see her get out of being in child care is first, academics and second would
be social skills. Child A has been at home with her parents with little interaction with other
children before starting in the center. She only had contact with other children during times at
the park, childrens museum and when she goes to visit family out of town. (personal
communication, 2013)
Her mother says her greatest challenge with Child A is her stubbornness and wanting to
have control, not wanting to obey mom or dad at times and that she has unpredictable behavior
so they do not like to take her out in public sometimes. The discipline that is used at home is a
stern voice when talking to her and getting toys, or television taken away. (personal
communication, 2013)
Physical and Motor Growth and Development
Child A is an active child and can sustain physical activity. When I first started
observing her she did not do much due to being shy and in a new environment. With a little
practice she is now using all of the climbers on the playground by herself. She has trouble with
balance on the balance beam in kids gym and walking on the perimeter of the climber outside.
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She can throw a ball very well and with control but still has trouble catching it. She can stand on
one foot but not for more than a couple of seconds. She can kick a ball approximately twenty to
thirty feet but does not have control over where it goes. She does not do any somersaults or even
act like she knows what it is. She likes to run and jump over things and does so with control.
Child As fine motor skills are age appropriate. She is able to manipulate objects from
one place to another with tweezers, fingers, or other pinching tools. She works puzzles that are
up to twenty four pieces with little assistance, and manipulates play dough and foam dough.
Writing was a little hard for Child A at the beginning of the study but has gotten somewhat
easier. She can hold a writing tool correctly between the thumb and pointer finger but will only
show control over what she is doing if asked to copy something. She will copy a circle,
horizontal line and a cross but not do any drawings with control.
Cognitive Growth and Development
Cognitive growth and development are pretty typical for her age. With language she
understands what others are saying to her though in the beginning she did not answer with
anything other than a grunt or just a look. She has now began responding to others and has a
large vocabulary but will still occasionally just grunt, especially when an adult is asking her a
question. Child A enjoys looking at books and reading to her friends and will listen to a story
being told by others but will only talk about what is happening in the story with a small group of
children. She seems to be shyer in large groups.
Child A is not very interested in writing at all during the beginning of the case study but
has since become very interested in trying to write. She cannot actually form letters but does try
very hard and makes small marks to represent the letters. She will tell you what it is she is
Case Study 4

writing but it is not recognizable. She does not recognize letter sounds or letters. She can
however point out the letters in her name. With the teachers focusing on a letter each week and
having the children bring things in on Friday to share with the class she is being exposed to the
letters and there sounds more which will further her development in literacy.
Child A will not count for anyone in the classroom and does not recognize any of the
numbers. When talking with her parents they said she could count to thirteen and she did it for
us while they were standing there. She is very interested in science projects and making
predictions but will only do so in a small group. She likes problem solving, especially with
puzzles or building blocks. She can make simple AB patterns but cannot yet do AABB or ABC
patterns. She enjoys the dramatic area where she dresses up and takes care of the baby dolls,
does laundry and cooks. She also enjoys doing activities involving weights, such as pinecones
and different types of nuts found on a nature walk using the balancing scales.
Social/Emotional Growth and Development
Child A is very quiet. At first she did not separate from parents easily at all and
now walks in the room most of the time without holding on to mom or dad. She was potty
trained when she first started except at nap time when she wore a pull up, she has since been
taken out of those and doing great. She can dress and undress herself, wash her hands, brush her
teeth and put shoes on herself (often on the wrong feet). She is also able to serve herself food,
attempt to open her milk carton and clean up after meals and clean up spills that she has. Child
A is also very good about picking up after herself when exploring in the centers.
Interacting with others has become easier for Child A since she first started. She
will be very loud and verbal with small groups of children and sometimes is a little bossy with
Case Study 5

them but still will not participate with large groups. She mostly interacts with other girls and has
one boy that she interacts a lot with. She will work independently and preferred this when she
first started but has since came out of her shell and prefers to be with others. When reading to
others or in the dramatic play area she likes to have control and tell others what to do but that
seems to only be during those times, in the block or science area, she follows what her friends
are doing. She always seems to be happy and school and mom says that she is at home as long
as she is getting her way.
Summary and Interpretation
Over the course of this case study I have observed changes in Child A. The most
significant improvement comes in her social development. When Child A first started she would
only look at you or grunt when you talked to her. She began speaking to teachers a little but did
not socialize with the other children. She is now speaking to teachers more often (although she
still grunts sometimes instead of speaking) and is interacting with the other children either
individually or in small groups. I have also observed improvements in her writing, although
there does not appear to be a lot of control over what she is writing or drawing she can copy
specific marks when asked and is trying harder to control what she is writing. Child A is using
the climbers by herself outside and working hard at balancing on the beam in the kids gym or on
the perimeter of the climber outside. She does not get frustrated easily and continues to try or
asks for help. She is now picking up books and reading to other children in the room and not just
listening to a teacher read. She is also confident enough to come in the room and let go of mom
or dad instead of fighting and crying when they try to leave. I feel these are significant
improvements in her development from the beginning until now.
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To further the improvements in Child As development I would do a few things
directly for her. First I would foster more chances for her to work with another child one on one
or in a small group on a specific task. This will help her develop more socially and be less
nervous in bigger groups or around children she does not normally interact with. This would be
done by both picking groups for the children and also allowing them to choose their own groups.
Child As language skills are typical for her age and her vocabulary is advanced for her age,
there just needs to be focus on getting her to use it.
Another area that would be beneficial to Child A are gross motor activities that
can be done indoors or out. This would help her in her balance and control of throwing and
kicking a ball. Activities that involve balance can be done by placing a tape line on the floor
and having the children walk it, or setting up an obstacle course for children to go through that
involves some climbing, walking on balance beams (tires, jump ropes, etc.), and coordination
activities. Giving her a target to aim at with a ball and practicing with her will help her develop
the skills she needs for control.
Literacy is another focus specifically for Child A. Writing is one of her areas of
weakness and we can focus on these by providing more fine motor activities. Give the children
shaving cream to draw in, painting activities, tracing papers, and any other pinching activities to
help with her fine motor skills will help her in developing the writing skills and have more
control over what she is doing.
Child A is gaining a lot of the skills she needs in this program and continues to
show progress daily. I think that this is the best place for her to be right now as she is building
social skills that she needs in order to grow and be ready for school. She is not getting these
Case Study 7

needs met at home and needs them. With as much progress as she has made I feel that she will
be more than ready to go to kindergarten when the time comes and will succeed very well. I
have really enjoyed watching her grow over the last couple of months and really focus attention
to her specifically in her growth and development.












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