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Three toddlers are observed in the video along with an adult caregiver. It looks like the children were in a classroom in a childcare setting. Even though the majority of the film was focused on two toddlers and their caregiver, I could hear other children in the background. The caregiver was comforting a little girl who was crying. The child was Caucasian and about fifteen month old, she was wearing a denim overall. The teacher addressed her as Allison. She was also sucking on her pacifier, making distress sounds. Allison was also seen holding musical instrument like bells on a strap in one of her hand.
At times the child, Allison was also seen patting the teacher’s hand. Another toddler child Jen, who also is Caucasian was standing next to them. It seemed like she was about the same age. Jen takes a step closer to Alison and reaches over in an attempt to stroke the side of her head a few times. The teacher says caresses her head in return. Jen then reaches over to pull the pacifier out of Allison’s mouth. Allison takes take the pacifier back, and places it back into her mouth. Jen takes the pacifier out again and repositions it before placing in back into Allison’s mouth., When Jen the pulled the pacifier out, the teacher said, “That’s a paci for when she’s feeling sad”. When Jen puts it back in to the child’s mouth, the teacher claps her hand and says thank you. Jen imitates the teacher’s action by smiling and clapping her own hands. Another toddler was also observed but he was busy playing by himself.
Reflection
From the observation, I realized that Allison was upset about something and the teacher and Jen were trying to comfort her. The adult was caressing her head and talking softly to calm Allison. I realized seeing Allison distressed, Jen was trying to imitate the teacher by caressing too. Allison was patting the teacher’s hand probably for security reasons. From the observation, I saw the teacher was praising Jen’s attempt to calm her friend. The teacher was using both words and gestures to encourage the interaction and non-verbal communication between the children. The third child who was also observed seemed like was aware of the situation but chose to stay out of it.
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Social and Emotional Development
Through exploring their environment and interacting with others around them toddlers are beginning to develop confidence as they try new things. Positive relationship with adults can help them reach their developmental milestone. Most toddlers like to explore things; they are interested in cause and effect. It is normal for toddlers to be afraid of new things, routines and people; he/she might get upset when their needs are not being met, or attach themselves to an object or person for security. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), toddlers engage in simple dramatic play, they imitate the actions of people around them. As a part of their play toddlers hand things to others and then try to get it back.
According to Erikson children from birth through eighteen months are in the Trust versus Mistrust stage. As per his theory young children are uncertain about the world and look to the caregiver to meet their needs. If the caregiver is able to provide them with stability and develops a positive relationship, the child will trust and build a positive relationship and if the needs are not met the child might mistrust the people around him/her. This was evident in the interaction between Allison, Jen and the caregiver. The caregiver was comforting the upset child by holding her and caressing the hair and cheeks gently thus acknowledging the child’s feelings. The caregiver was also encouraging Jen’s attempt to help soothe her friend. These positive interactions can help children develop self-confidence and empathy. From the interaction seen between the adult and children, it seemed like the children shared a positive bond with the adult.
Physical Development
According to the Center for Disease Control, at the age of eighteen months, toddlers are beginning to move around more, and become more mobile. They are also more aware of themselves and their surroundings. They can walk alone, climb the stairs while holding on and are able to steadily hold on to things. This was evident in the video, when the toddler Jen was observed taking a balanced, independent step towards the teacher and Allison. She was able to not only take a step and keep her balance, but also run her hand over the side of the child’s head. Her gross motor skills seem to be developing well and within developmental milestones for this age group. She was also able to reach over and pull the pacifier out of the child’s mouth, which indicates that her fine motor skills are well developed, or at least developing well and age-appropriately. Standing straight Jen was able to imitate her caregiver and clap her hands.
According to Bandura’s theory of social learning through imitating the people around them young children learn how things work. Also, Jen had good eye-hand coordination, which is determined by the fact that she not only pulled the pacifier out of the little girl’s mouth, but also repositioned it before putting it back. Allison used her pinchers instead of using her whole hand to take back the pacifier. Allison also was tightly holding on to the musical instrument indicating developing fine motor skills which is typical of her age.
Cognitive Development
As indicated in the learning modules Piaget states that children build on their knowledge through interacting with the world around them. The first stage of his development is the sensorimotor stage, which is from birth through two years. Within these sensorimotor stages there are six sub stages. Between the age of 12 through eighteen months babies are in sub stage 5 where they develop tertiary circular reaction. Here the babies are imitating actions and are experimenting. They are also looking to please. This was evident in the video as Jen caressed Allison’s hair imitating the adult caregiver. When the adult caregiver said thank you clapped her hand, Jen followed the gesture with a smile. This clearly indicates that the toddler understood that her actions pleased the adult.
Jen is cognizant of the fact that the teacher is pleased with her and responds by smiling and clapping at being praised and thanked. She is aware that she has done something good, and understands what the teacher is saying. Cognitively, Jen has shown that she is aware of herself and her surroundings. She recognizes that her classmate is upset, and attempts to soothe her by touch. She does this by going closer to her, and stroking her head in empathy. This is in line with a toddler’s cognitive development, to touch, be curious, and to imitate. Based on developmental milestone, children within this age group are familiar with the use of common items such as toothbrush, phone, spoon, etc. They are also beginning to scribble, identify some body parts such as eyes, nose, and mouth. Through nonverbal clues and actions are able to get the attention they need.
Contextual Factor
Contextual factors such as race, ethnicity, language, ability are all interrelated and greatly influence a child’s environment. For example, in the video, all the individuals observed were Caucasian. The assumption is that they most likely reside in an affluent or well-to-do area, and can afford a better standard of living than most. The parents are probably married, cohabitating and earning dual incomes. This means that the children likely have regular access to healthy, nutritious food, secure housing, and are in close proximity to quality playgrounds.
The fact that Jen was confident and secure enough to approach her friend and attempt to comfort her shows that she feels safe and secure in her environment, and feels accepted. She is most likely having her nutritional needs adequately met which allows her to be in a bright, positive mood, and receptive to her environment as well as the people in it. Culturally, her family might be physically expressive with one another, which has allowed Jen the opportunity to pick up this behavior in imitation. She probably encounters warmth and affection if she herself is upset, and seems to be developing empathy for others based on her experience. Emotionally she seems to have formed secure emotional ties with her caregivers and is able to reciprocate, or at least imitate with others. Children who have secure attachment are able to develop positive relationships.
Stress, Trauma and Resilience
Stress, trauma, along with protective factors and resilience greatly influence a child’s well-being and learning. Stressful and traumatic events like death, illness, divorce or abuse and neglect often have lasting impact on children leaving them mentally, physically and emotionally scarred. This can cause them to have low self-esteem, feel overwhelmed and angry. Stress can also lead to making poor decisions including eating disorders, anxiety and depression. Overall, it can negatively impact a child’s physical, mental and cognitive development, and even lead to developmental delays. It is important for the teacher or caregiver to help provide children with experiences that can help guide them in healthy ways to counteract the negative influences in their lives. Home and school connections can work together to meet the child’s needs. Helping the child feel safe, secure and accepted should be any program’s primary goals. The teacher needs to build relationship with families such as to support them and find resources to help them out. When a child’s basic needs are being met, as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs indicates, then only he/she will be able to move to the next level. It is very important to help build resilience because not only it helps build confidence but also teaches children strategies to empower themselves by learning coping skills.
As a teacher, I will use words to help children relate to what’s going on, verbalize to match my actions. I will work on developing a positive relationship with the child as such they can feel secure around. I will use the environment to allow them to explore and learn from it. Taking from what I observed on the video, I will use the way teacher’s allowed Jen the opportunity to touch the pacifier and waited to see what she would do, rather than stepping in right away and telling her ‘No!’ Or ‘Stop!’ I will also let them take the initiative instead of stopping them. This type of positive environment helps develops child’s confidence and independence, and encourages them to explore without fear. As a teacher, I believe I can help the child try to verbalize and/or communicate by asking her questions. If she doesn’t respond, or not clearly enough, I will verbalize what she is trying to express thus helping her build vocabulary.
