Describe and give examples of changes in your child’s exploratory or problem solving behavior from 8 through 18 months and categorize them according to Piagetian and information processing theories. Note that 8 months is included, so you’ll need to use the time-line to look back at 8 months for examples.
Starting at 8 months my child has already gone through the first 3 sub stages of Piaget’s six sub stages of the sensorimotor stage. Simple reflexes was demonstrated while feeding, first habits and primary circular reactions where shown when studying things while looking at them and not touching.
Secondary circular reactions happened when playing with toys like a rattle. Coordination of secondary circular reactions were seen when you would try to find a toy that was hidden, and even if the spot was changed would still look and find it under another toy.
An example of the tertiary circular reactions was when in the bath he would push his toys under water and watch how the further he pushed down the higher they would pop back up.
For the beginnings of thought he now seems interested in dancing or singing along to music, and will respond to it. Information processing approach I can categorize the finding of the hidden toy as the encoding, storage and retrieval, because initially he could not find it, then could find it but not if you changed the location, and then finally could find it no matter where you hid it.
Analyze your baby’s temperament in more detail at 18 months than you did at 8 months. How would you describe your baby in terms of the five aspects of temperament utilized by the Virtual Child program (activity, sociability, emotionality, aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self control)? Has @NAME’s temperament been stable over the first 18 months? A blurb defining and providing examples of the five aspects of temperament is provided at 12 months, but you should seek out further explanations of temperament from your textbook. Explain how the concept of goodness of fit (also discussed in the blurb on infant temperament) applies to your interactions with your child.
When looking at the 5 aspects of temperament Sebastian has been pretty much stable over the first 18 months. When it comes to activity he has been very active, but still sleeping a good amount of time that gives him enough energy. Loves to spend time outside adventuring, but can also have calm time. Sociability has been a bit of a struggle, because he is very attached and doesn’t like new people until he is given time to warm up to them. He is a very cooperative child, actually being more so than he should be for his age, and gets along well with the other children at the daycare. Emotionality I think he is more an emotional child, as when he gets upset when says we have to part he gets rather upset, but will calm down after the event. Self-control I haven’t really seen any examples on so far, so I’m not sure how to answer that. When it comes to goodness of fit, I go along with his moods and behaviors. I wont force him one way or another to do something that does not suit him. Regardless of that though, it doesn’t mean I’m lax on things like rules.
Were you surprised by anything in the developmental assessment at 19 months? That is, does your perception of your child’s physical, cognitive, language and social development differ from that of the developmental examiner? Give specific examples. If you were not surprised, write instead about some aspects of your child’s development that need the most work.
I was not real surprised by any aspects of development. From the choices I chose I expected my child to be advanced in the cognitive aspects. I also had the feeling he was going to be overly attached which is something that really needs to be worked on because his sociability is lacking greatly because of it with people like adults and those older than him, but with other children his age he is fine. He should also work on speaking more.