Observing a Child at Elementary School Recess Essay -- Observational S

A Child at Elementary School RecessThis observation is of a 10 year old male pip-squeak during his lunch recessat an elementary school located in the South Bay area. The student participatesin a day treatment computer programme for children with emotional/social difficulties. Thelength of this observation was slightly forty five minutes. For the purposeof confidentiality this student will be referred to as lav. In the first member of this observational analysis a brief description of the program whichJohn participates in will be given. This will be followed by an analysis ofJohns activities during the observation. expressionThe day treatment program John participates in is located on the campusof a public elementary school, and is supported by a local backstage mental healthagency. In general, children referred to this program experience some form ofemotional and/or social deficit. In addition to John, there are night club otherstudents enrolled within the program at present. John currently attends amainstreaming class three times per week, where he has developed severalfriendships with his peers.This observation began as the students in the day treatment program werelet out for recess following lunch. After leaving the class John ran to thedesignated play area with some other student. The designated play area of theplayground where the students of this program are restricted to consists of ajungle bar set This play structure consists of monkey bars with bigvertical poles for sliding down attached at each end, three parallel bars ofvarying height, and horizontal bars constructed in a run for fashion for climbingon. Additionally, the designated area includes a tether ball court, and abalancing beam constructed in a Z shape. The supply has restricted the studentsof the program to this area due to these childrens limited abilities todemonstrate social skills, and in order to better supervise the group duringrecess activities. However, other children a t the school are not restricted fromthis area and interact freely with the children from the program.After John had arrived at the play area he immediately jumped onto theparallel bars and began to unload back and forth, and launched himself into theair landing awkwardly almost falling down. John preceded to jump up onto themonkey bars. John climbed abo... ...g with agroup of peers on the basketball court can be viewed through the behavioralparadigm of social learning theory. It could be argued that John (being somewhatsocially handicapped) viewed the staff in a social context with other children.Furthermore, John observed this social contact as possibly beneficial to him(e.g., a chance to make friends outside of the program). The staff acted as amodel of those behaviors appropriate to the situation (i.e., cooperation,helpful, outgoing, etc.), and John molded those behaviors once he was involvedwith the group. And again, depending on the value John might roam on suchinteractions , this might potentially motivate similar social behavior in thefuture.In conclusion, it would appear from this brief observation that John isapproximately at a normal developmental level according to Erikson. John seemsto be attempting to gain mastery of those skills which he has difficulties with(i.e., social interactions and motor skills).To aid him, John is using the staffas a model to determine the appropriate skills needed to meet his goals, and isusing external cues such as the staffs praises as a guide of his abilities.