Early Childhood

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

download word file, 5 pages 3.0

Downloaded 79 times

Early Childhood Case Study 2 For my case study of early childhood, I chose Jhena Brown, a 4 year old girl. I observed Jhena at her home for several hours. I also interviewed her, and her mother. Many of my findings in working with Jhena were in direct line in what the text described development during early childhood.

Development Through the Lifespan, describes the physical development early childhood as a slower pattern growth. Jhena is about 38 inches tall, and about 40lbs. She has long legs and and upper body extremities, with little body fat. The text describes Jhena?s body proportion as streamlined, similar to those of adults. It also describes brain development increasing from 70 to 90 percent of adult weight. As brain activity continues to develop, early childhood promotes a variety of skills such as physical coordination, perception, attention, memory , language, logical thinking, and imagination. In the first hour of observing Jhena, she is viewed as a very talkative child.

While she is talking , she uses her right hand mostly, to express what she is saying. The text explains this behavior as a rapid growth in the left hemisphere of the brain, which is directly linked with language skills, and a dominance of her left cerebral hemisphere. While Jhena is waiting for her mother to finish fixing her breakfast she rides around in the kitchen on her tricycle singing. When her mother finishes fixing her breakfast, she leaps off her tricycle and begins to hop on one foot in excitation that her food is now ready. While sitting down at the table, her mother allows her to serve herself and use a fork. The text describes this as changes in gross and fine motor skills. Jhena is able to hop on one foot, ride her...