Psychology

It is rightly expressed by many psychologists that children should not be studied as embryonic or miniature  adults, but they should be studied in their essential child nature so as to understand their capacities- both strengths  weaknesses to know how to deal with them.
       
Direct observations of children in which they are studied at first hand are very fruitful for a student of psychology. Direct observation, along with interaction with the child and the parents help in understanding the child more clearly, than by only studying them theoretically.
           
Studying children will help in solving practical problems relating to childs behavior and child rearing practices and at the same time it will also help to establish whether the child is having normal development and reaching developmental milestones at an appropriate age.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

To study the behavioral pattern and functioning of a child through observation method.
DETAILS ABOUT THE CHILD
Name- I                                                               Date of birth-4th October 2001
School grade- second                                         Status in the family-first born child
Race ethnicity- Asian descent                          gender- male
Socio- economic status- middle class               family background- both parents are educated
                                                                            Father is a church minister
                                                                            Mother is a school teacher
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
Information about the child is collected in three ways-
Naturalistic observation ( 30 minutes )
Day and time- Sunday forenoon
Situation- playing cricket with children of mixed age groups. ( from 6-14years )
Informal interaction with the child
Day and time- Sunday afternoon
Situation- watching T.V
Interview with parents

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OBSERVATION TABLE
S.No.Type of behaviorTime spent in minutesPercenta-ge of time spent
Specific behavior indicator1Playing alone3-510- 16.66Keeping the ball for longer time2Interacting with others( while playing)20-2566.66-83giving instruction, asking to do well, praising, rejecting3cryingnilBecomes sad when he is out with out playing much4 Doing things for attention1550Shouting, laughing with others, showing disappointment, calling others5Interaction with adults 516.66When mother asked for lunchand when he needed something from parents like water or permission to play longer.

ASSESMENT OF THE SUBJECT AS PER DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS
Ericksons psychosocial developmental level of the subject- Subject comes under  4th level i.e, Industry Vs. Inferiority (8-12 years of age)
Piagets cognitive development stage- Subject comes under  3rd stage i.e,concrete operational stage (7-11-12 years of age)

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Subjects physical development seems to be normal as his mother reported that he reached developmental milestones such as crawling, sitting and walking at the normal age. Though at 4 years of age his hemoglobin was reduced to 6 gm. due to long illness, which retarded his growth for some time but at present his body weight and height  is normal to his age.

Subject possess good hand righting  and exhibits good drawing and painting skills it was observed that subject was able to throw and catch ball successfully quite frequently. Which is further indicative of good hand and eye coordination It  also showed that he was keen to prove his worth by trying to play well . Being only of 8-9 years old he still has scope to master these skills which require finer coordination of hand and eye movement. as this attained  maturity by the end of the late childhood. In next 4-5 years of age he will be able to acquire much finer and complicated motor skills.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
He is much more happy when he is in company of his friends. He does not like any intervention by adults while he is playing with his friends. Showing sympathy to a friend when he got hurt by consoling him and offering him water is indicative of the fact that the subject has age appropriate social development as far as sympathetic and empathetic behaviour is concerned.

While playing with the group the subjects showed conformity with the group by listening to other members of the group. Leadership could be seen when he tries to directs and guide other children especially to those who are younger to him

Falling under the 4th level of Ericksons Psychosocial developmental age, i.e, Industry Vs. Inferiority (from 8  12 years ) his social behaviour clearly indicated his need to prove his worth by trying to play well and conforming to the rules and norms set by the group

On asking what he likes the most he promptly responded that he likes to go out and play with his friends which is also very norma,l as the late childhood period to which the subject belongs to is the peer group age and the gang age when children like to be with their friends and are in the process of becoming socially and emotionally independent of parents control and association. independent

EMOTIONAL PERSONALITY DEVELOPMEN
As the subject falls under Ericksons Industry Vs. Inferiority stage of development which is from 6 to 12 years of age, he has specific needs to cope with social and academic demands .subject showed his need to develop competencies in play by trying to bat and throw ball in successful manner. Need of approval and need of appreciation poses heavy demands on the child .It is observed that the subject also showed need of approval and appreciation by those who matters most to him that is his friends, parents and teachers. While playing, his unhappiness and dissatisfaction on giving a bad shot clearly indicated his need of self worth and self esteem. At times he was boastful when he played well. It shows that he has self esteem and he wants to maintain it by proving his worth to the group. As for his personal goals he wants to have his own computer on which he can play games and he also wanted to have a play station for which he is collecting whatever gift money he is getting from relatives and parents. This indicated that he is quite serious about his goals and is organized and understands his own responsibility to achieve his goals. 

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Subjects language development in terms of vocabulary, articulation and rate of speed is normal to his age. He didnt exhibited very extensive vocabulary but has age specific vocabulary as he quite frequently used slang and often swears while playing with friends. It is again normal because boys try to show them tough by using such kind of language. In the presence of his father he didnt speak much., which  looks little peculiar. One interpretation may be because father speaks less and he is the role model for the child so in his presence he also speaks less  Otherwise he was quite talkative but also understands when he is supposed to speak. Interaction with the child revealed that he is not much interested in reading story books and comics.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Subjects fall under the concrete operational stage of cognitive development according to Piaget which is from 7 to 11 years of age. Observation showed that he is fairly reasonable, but his thinking is more governed by concrete situations rather than abstract situations. His performance at school is average. His mother reported that he lacks concentration and finds mathematics difficult. though he completes his home work regularly but studies are not much enjoyed. The reason behind this may be the family environment father being the church minister and mother is very social by nature, subjects does not get the conducive environment for studies. If this state continues child very soon will loose interests in studies as he will not be able to perform well in class under these situations and fall behind the normal children. This will further affect his self esteem.

The subjects that interests him are that of drawing and painting. His oral language is good but development of  written skill is below normal, as he finds difficulty in understanding sounds of some alphabets, e.g. sound of A and sound of U, and in sound of G and j.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Observation showed that the subject is honest, compassionate to his friends and cooperates with his friends but at times showed competitive spirit to prove his worth .It is observed that for subject parents are authority for judgment of right or wrong

CONLUSION
As far as development in different areas is concerned subject showed normal development. But his cognitive development and language development needs to be guided. It is strange that the subject has no interests in reading story books and comics which is the normal characterstics of this age group. Another peculiar behaviour which was noticed was that as soon as play is over or his purpose is solved he shows kind of complete detachment to the person and showed eagerness to start other activity or to go to different place (his own home or to some body elses house). it is indicative of lack of social etiquettes, which should be taken care of both by parents other wise childs personality will developed into being a self centered individual.