Occupational Therapy Assistant: Paediatric Skills Observation Report

This report, designed for occupational therapy assistants, delves into paediatric skills through the lens of child development theories, specifically focusing on Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development. The report presents observations of children in different developmental stages, illustrating the application of Piaget's sensorimotor stage and pre-writing skills. It analyzes children's actions, such as grasping, imitating, and distinguishing colors, to assess their cognitive and fine motor skill development. The report highlights the importance of pre-writing skills and the impact of underdeveloped skills on a child's academic performance and self-esteem. It emphasizes the need for participatory work involving fine motor tasks and provides relevant references for further study.

Running head: PAEDIATRIC SKILL FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT
PAEDIATRIC SKILL FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
PAEDIATRIC SKILL FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT
Observation 2
According to Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the children passes through
four different development stages of mental improvement. His theory suggests the ability to
understand how children acquires knowledge and what their nature of intelligence is. His theory
focuses on understanding the cognitive state of the children through four different stages. Piaget
believed the ability of children to gather knowledge and learn new things is through their active
role in the learning process as they perform experiments, make observations and learn new
things every day. The four stages as defined by Piaget are sensorimotor stage from birth to 2
years. Children under 7 years of age have Preoperational stage and the children from 7 years to
11 years have operational stage and the children above formal operational stage 12 years has
formal operational stage (Demetriou, Shayer & Efklides, 2016).
It is observed from the video that the children are in the sensorimotor stage. Piaget’s
theory suggests that the infants aging between 0 to 2 years are likely to know the world through
their sensations and movements. Children learn new things through their basic movements and
actions like grasping, listening, sucking and listening. They continuously learn things even
though they cannot be seen. Children in this age gap, realizes that their actions can cause change
in world around them (Demetriou, Shayer & Efklides, 2016).
It seems that the children are enjoying while playing. The older child, Kaylee, who is
approximately 2 years old, is playing with and the younger child, Colin, who is approximately 8
months old. Kaylee, when instructed to drink from the cup, she demonstrated her skills and her
ability to understand by pretending taking tea, adds sugar to her and stirs it and then drinks it and
declares “yummy in my tummy”. This shows that she has developed her cognitive thinking and

2
PAEDIATRIC SKILL FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT
is able to understand what actions she needs to take. Kaylee also showed affection by kissing her
little brother, Colin and helps him hold the cup, modeling the actions she has seen adults to do
for small children. When Kaylee was told that his brother is eating the cup instead of drinking
from it, she laughs thinking it was funny since she could see her brother eating the cup rather
than drinking from the cup.
The video is an excellent example of determining sensory processing and cognitive
development in children by observing their actions. The children who are in the Colin’s age
explore objects in different ways possible through squeezing, shaking, throwing, dropping,
grasping, banging and passing from hand to hand. They can hold objects and try developing a
pincer grasp by picking up small objects between their thumbs and fingers. The children explore
every objects and often involves putting them into their mouth therefore small objects should be
avoided and the toys should be washed to maintain hygiene.
Observation 3
As we can see in the video, the child is really enjoying painting and able to distinguish
between the colors. When she was asked, she could respond appropriately. She was not holding
the markers properly. She was making scratches with her markers and unable to create visual
objects with the colors.
The basic abilities that kids need to create before they can write are pre-writing abilities.
The capacity to keep a pencil and use it, and to draw, compose, print and color are all contributed
by these abilities. Pre-writing shapes are one of the main components of pre-writing. These are
the lines that comprise the majority of words, digits and early sketches. Typically, they are
mastered in sequence and at a specific age level. Pre-writing skills are essential for the child to

3
PAEDIATRIC SKILL FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT
fluently and effectively hold and move a pencil and therefore produce readable writing. If
these skills are underdeveloped, it can lead to frustration and resistance
because the child cannot produce legible writings or is fatigued to ' keep ' in
class. This may lead to bad academic performance and self-esteem (Seo,
2018).
The children between 2-3 years should be able to imitate a horizontal
line a vertical line and a circle. When a kid has problems with the writing
process, he or she could also have problems with behavior he or she can
prevent or hesitate to take part in pencils and other motors task. It also
affects their self-esteem when they will compare their work with the peers. It
is harder and slower to perform these tasks, which contributes to a slower
acquisition of skills (to learn how to write name or draw a person). The
capacity to experience independence in daily operations (e.g. dress, food,
and teething, pulling hair) is reduced in such children. They make others do
fine motor tasks for them rather than to do it themselves (Seo, 2018).
Nile should be encouraged in participatory work involving the
collection and handling of tiny artifacts such as drawings,
puzzles, receptacles, or other associated tasks.

4
PAEDIATRIC SKILL FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT
References:
Demetriou, A., Shayer, M., & Efklides, A. (2016). Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive
development: Implications and applications for education. Routledge.
Seo, S. M. (2018). The effect of fine motor skills on handwriting legibility in preschool
age children. Journal of physical therapy science, 30(2), 324-327.