A case of study.

Here is a video in which I have the access to interview children at different stages in the childhood. Those stages are toddlerhood, early childhood and middle childhood and how children behave in the cognitive, physical and psychosocial development. Now, it is time to put into practice the theories that I had study in this subject in order to see if those theories are true and if those theories can be apply here in our country (El Salvador).

First, toddlerhood the kid that I select for this stage is three years old, he is my neighbor. I organize all he information that I used for made the video in this stage and his name is Gerson Andres Velasquez Garcia.

The physical development is divide into gross and fine motor skills.

The gross motor skills is refer to the control of the muscles that the toddler needs for physical activities such as:

Sitting.

Walking.

Jumping.

The fine motor skills is refer to control of the muscles in their hands and fingers. Some activities related to this are:

Pick something up.

Cut paper.

Draw a circle.

Coordination.

Cognitive development.

This process is related to mental process such as think, remember, imagine and the toddler can organize information, match pictures and objects. Toddler can reproduce one or two words.

Psychosocial development.

It is related to how the toddler behave and how he interact with others kids.

Second, early childhood the kid that I select for this stage is five years old, she is my neighbor and her name is Sofia Ponce.

Gross motor skills.

It refer to the coordination and balance of the children between 4 and 5 years old.  Children at this age they can do movement such as:

Catch the ball.

Bounces the ball.

Hop on one foot.

 Fine motor skills.

Children at this age have more control of their muscles in their hands and finger and they can do activities such as:

Cut paper.

Following a line.

Copy figure X.

Write the name.

Cognitive and psychosocial development.

Children at this age can understand fillings and emotions that they have. Also, they can interact with others kids.

Third, middle childhood the kid that I select for this stage is six years old, she is my neighbor and her name is Daniela Paola Cruz Garcia.

Gross motor skills.

Children at this age can have more control of their gross skills, young children continue to refine earlier skills and they can do activities such as:

Skip rope.     

     

Jump.

Skip alternating feet.

Throws ball.

Ride a bike with training wheels or without it.

Fine motor skills.

Children at this age begin to show the skills necessary for starting or succeeding in school and they can do activities such as:

Fold paper into halves and quarters.

Draw rectangles, triangles, circles, squares.

Reproduce letters.

Copies two short words.

Cognitive and psychosocial development.

Children at this age are very playful and they can reproduce long sentences and they become more talkative. Also, they can interact with others kids and adults. They make judgments about some possible problems they may have.

You will see how they behave doing some exercises in order to prove those theories. I consider that these type of assignment help us to understand better the theories and how Salvadorian children develop in those stages.

http://youtu.be/gxNv5dQwqU4

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention deficit disorder.

It is a disorder that appear at the age of seven. ADD or ADHD mostly occur in children that have problems like inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity.

Some characteristics that those children have are:

They are always active. (Moving around.)

They have some listening problems.

They may have problems with other kids while they are playing.

They sometimes talk too much.

They interrupt or intrude on others talks.

They are easily distracted.

They do not finish their tasks.

Something important about ADD or ADHD might be caused instead by:
 

A sudden life change (such as divorce, a death in the family, or moving)

Anxiety.

Depression.

Interesting videos related to ADD:

References:

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_signs_symptoms.htm

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/ast_oneadhd-children

Fine and gross motor skills.

Is refer to the muscles of the hands and finger that children start to do in their physical development. Also, is refer to hand manipulation, bilateral integration, and the development of hand and finger strength.

Is refer to all the physical movement that children in order to their muscles. Also, control physical growth. Those abilities that usually acquire in the toddlerhood and the early childhood.

Examples of that: running, walking, drawing and jump.

It is important to help children in order they can develop their fine and gross motor skills and they will improve those abilities through the different stages.
Extra information about fine motor skills that I consider important.





References:

http://therapyfunzone.com/blog/ot/fine-motor-skills/

http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/gi/p/grossmotorskill.htm

Children stages and their theories.

I going to introduce the different stages of the childhood. Also we are going to see what Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Erick Erickson have written about them.

First, we are going to see Jean Piaget´s theory. He wrote that the cognitive development was divide into four different stages:

 Sensory motor stage, that occur in children between births to two years old.

The pre-operational stage, that occur in children between two to seven years old.

Concrete Operational Stage, that occur between seven to eleven years old.

Formal Operations Stage, that occur between eleven to sixteen years old.

• Sensory motor stage. In this stage, Piaget´s ideas were based on Schemas that are mental representations about what things are and how toddlers deal with then. On toddlers are the first movements that they do. It refer to the gross and fine motor skills. Also, at some point in the toddlerhood they star to use some cognitive skills like memory and thinking.

• Pre-Operations Stage. In this stage children have a particular characteristic they are ego centric. They just see the world as they own and they think that they are the center of the world. Also, they star to produce more words than the previous stage and they can feel pain and have emotions.

• Concrete Operations Stage. In this stage, the thinking process becomes more acceptable for their parents. Also, they can make logical thought.

•  Formal Operations Stage. In this stage children becomes teen, so they have the logical thought fulfill and they can interact with adults and peers.

 Second, we are going to see Lev Vygotsky´s theory. Like Piaget, Vygotsky born with some intellectual abilities. Moreover, Vygotsky emphasis in the socio cultural development, it refer that children can learn from the environment by following a tutor or their parents. In which children can understand what the parents or teacher said, they can internalize the information. Also, the language is develop in the social environment.

Vygotsky also make a reference to The More Knowledgeable Other “MKO” refers to someone who has a better understanding or higher ability to understand more that the learner in difficult task and the zone of proximal development “ZPD” that refer to the distance of the learner can make the task with the guide of a tutor.

Third, we are going to see Erik Erikson's Stage. He divide his theory intro eight stages, the stages are Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, and Integrity vs. Despair.

• Trust vs. Mistrust, occurs from approximately birth to one year. Erikson defined trust as a defined trust as an essential trustfulness of others as well as a fundamental sense of one's own trustworthiness. He also said that some mistrust is necessary to learn to discriminate between honest and dishonest persons.

• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, occurs between ages two and three. During this period it is important that the parents create a supportive atmosphere in which the child can develop a sense of self-control without a loss of self-esteem. 

• Initiative vs. Guilt, occurs between ages four and five. This is the stage in which the child must find out what kind of person he/she is going to be. The child develops a sense of responsibility which increases initiative during this period.

As conclusion, every stage of the childhood is important in order to develop their cognitive, physical and psychosocial development that will help us to understand more about childhood and the theories.

References:

http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2000/Piaget/stages.htm#stages top

http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/erikson.htm#Theory

Introducing myself.

Hello everybody.

My name is Juan Carlos Henriquez Ramos, but if you want you can call me Jc. I am a student of licenciatura en idiomas, opción enseñanza at Don Bosco University of El Salvador. This is my fourth year in the university and I can say that I like this career. Also, this career is not easy as most people believe, I think that it is more than that because we as a teacher need to know all related to children how they behave and how to deal with them.

Now, talking about me, I can say that I am friendly, sometimes outgoing person, honest and helpful; moreover, I enjoy reading fiction, horror and personal growth books. Also, on my free time I like to cook, listening to music, go out with my family and friends and rest.

Finally, I would like to say something about this practicum subject. It will be an amazing experience that I will have teaching those kids, because now before this subject I did not have the opportunity to teach children, also I have a lot of expectations about that and I will fulfill it.