Person-in-Environment Observation: Child Development at Etty's

This report presents a person-in-environment observation of a child named Abigail at Etty's Early Child Development center. It analyzes her biophysical, psychological, and social development, noting her focus and solitary play. The report considers the environmental and social impact of the child development center, particularly the teacher-student ratio. It also touches upon the gender impact of Abigail's play, relating it to Piaget's theory. The conclusion suggests that Abigail displays advanced intelligence and focus for her age but needs to develop motor and social skills. The report uses references to support the observations and analysis of the child's development.

Running Head: Person-in-environment Observation
Person-in-environment Observation

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Biophysical Development................................................................................................................3
Psychological development.............................................................................................................3
Social Development.........................................................................................................................4
Environmental and Social Impact....................................................................................................4
Gender Impact.................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Etty's Early Child Development is a child development centre situated in 33 Dwight Street,
Brookline. They excel in providing educational learning's through various games and cater to
kids aged between two to five. Their curriculum is a result of many years of experience and
proper planning which benefits children of all backgrounds and readies the children for
kindergarten (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ettys-Early-Child-Development). Abigail is a
student at Etty's Early Child Development, and she is currently in the section of kids which
comprises of children aged between 2-3 years. Abigail has thick black hair which is long and
deep brown eyes. Abigail was sitting in one corner of the room and seemed to be completely lost
in the toys that surrounded her.
Biophysical Development
Abigail demonstrated a real subtle physical ability by choosing to stay calm and sit patiently at
her spot as her companions were more interested in running around than playing with their toys.
(Basinga et al., 2011) Stated that the excitement level of children aged between two to five is
maximum and this often results in the child becoming agile which is a case of worry in case of
Abigail. Displaying this agile behavior is an important sign in the development of a child, and its
absence indicates that the child might face growth delays.
Psychological development
Most of the children present in the room were more interested in playing with other people rather
than their toys, but Abigail demonstrated a remarkable amount of focus as she sat in the same

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spot and was focused on setting up a model kitchen using the toys she had. (Hamadani et al.,
2010) Stated that it is of paramount importance that a child shows signs of attention and
concentration while playing as this aids in various types of cognitive development in childlike
compliance, the ability to delay gratification and emotion-regulation skills. They further
explained that for a child to cope with the pressure of the modern education system, he or she
must have a developed sense of attention and focus which is very necessary to excel in any field
in life. Development of these skills at an early stage will ease the process of transition and also
hone their social skills.
Social Development
Abigail demonstrated a certain level of inertness in terms of playing with her companion. She
seemed more interested to sit and build her play kitchen rather than running around with her
companions. This level of focus is absent in children of her age group. According to (Frongillo,
Tofail, Hamadani, Warren & Mehrin, 2013), this type of behavior is a sign of a person with great
intellectual and is generally rare in preschool-aged children. Abigail showed signs of interest in
certain instances but never joined them in their play. This allows her to compare her abilities and
skills to those of her companion who could give rise to a sense of determination in her. This
behavior enables her with the choice of participating with others in their plays or continues with
what she is doing.
Environmental and Social Impact
Etty's Early Child Development has one teacher for every seven students, and each of their
classrooms has not more than thirty-five children. The management at Etty's Early Child
Development is very careful about this and doesn't change this ratio under any circumstances.

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(Kariger et al., 2013) Has observed in his study that the activities and play style of children are
impacted by the presence or absence of the teacher. Several other studies have shown that this
teacher-student ratio is one of the most prominent factors which influence the interaction of the
children and their overall development which is the end goal of the institution. It has been noted
that a healthy teacher-student ratio is the most beneficial to both the parties involved. It has also
been noted that the presence of a teacher near a child is essential during their playtime so that the
teacher can monitor the behavior of the child and take appropriate actions in case there are some
abnormalities. A healthy teacher-student ratio also encourages the children's to engage with the
teacher more easily (Ben-Arieh, 2010).
Gender Impact
Abigail was trying to make a model kitchen by using the toys she had. She was using the round
pegs as utensils and was using a toy oven. She also set up a play table and positioned her dolls
accordingly as if they were to have a meal together. This behavior of Abigail can be explained as
gendered play using the Piaget's symbolic function sub-stage as she was trying to replicate her
mother who cooks food for the entire family at home. It is of critical importance that children
take part in gendered play so that it is ensured that they develop a sense of gender-appropriate
behaviors (Grissmer et al., 2010).
Conclusion
By all the theories that have been discussed Abigail seems to be a gifted child who demonstrates
a level of intelligence and focus which is very rare in children of preschool age. Although there
are a few concerns regarding her, firstly she lacks motor skills which is very much required to
lead a healthy life and this skill just be developed from an early age. Secondly, her lack of social

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skills is also a sign of concern. Apart from these two facts, Abigail demonstrated a physically
and mentally health track of development.

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References
Basinga, P., Gertler, P., Binagwaho, A., Soucat, A., Sturdy, J., & Vermeersch, C. (2011). Effect
on maternal and child health services in Rwanda of payment to primary health-care
providers for performance: an impact evaluation. The Lancet, 377(9775), 1421-1428.
Ben-Arieh, A. (2010). Developing indicators for child well-being in a changing context. Child
well-being: Understanding children’s lives, 129-142.
Frongillo, E., Tofail, F., Hamadani, J., Warren, A., & Mehrin, S. (2013). Measures and indicators
for assessing the impact of interventions integrating nutrition, health, and early childhood
development. Annals Of The New York Academy Of Sciences, 1308(1), 68-88.
Grissmer, D., Grimm, K., Aiyer, S., Murrah, W., & Steele, J. (2010). Fine motor skills and early
comprehension of the world: Two new school readiness indicators. Developmental
Psychology, 46(5), 1008-1017.
Hamadani, J. D., Tofail, F., Hilaly, A., Huda, S. N., Engle, P., & Grantham-McGregor, S. M.
(2010). Use of family care indicators and their relationship with child development in
Bangladesh. Journal of health, population, and nutrition, 28(1), 23.
Kariger, P., Frongillo, E., Engle, P., Britto, P., Sywulka, S., & Menon, P. (2013). Indicators of
Family Care for Development for Use in Multicountry Surveys. Journal Of Health,
Population, And Nutrition, 30(4).

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