Case Study Modified Assignment
I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT LAB CHILD
A. Physical description. Give a complete physical description of what an average 4 year old
child should look like—include height and weight. In addition, what major brain regions would be
developing during this time?
II. MOTOR DEVELOPMENT.
A. Gross (large) motor skills [4 skills]. Describe the types of gross motor you would expect to
observe. Include minimum of 4 activities.
B. Fine (small) motor skills [4 skills]. Describe the types of fine motor activities you would
expect to observe. Include minimum of 4 activities.
III. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT/ SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A. Reasoning ability and learning What kinds of problem solving would you expect to observe
at this age? Reasoning and learning ability are key to attention and problem-solving. They
don’t do one without the other. Make sure to have at least one clear problem-solving example.
In addition, explain the types of behaviors you would expect to see that show the child is in
Piaget’s preoperational stage of development. Include at least 3 limitations in their thinking
that you would expect to observe (e.g., egocentrism).
Give an example of an activity that would improve each of the following types of attention:
• Sustained attention
• Selective attention
• Executive attention
B. Psychosocial development. What types of behaviors would you expect the child to
demonstrate showing that the child is in Erikson’s initiative vs. guilt stage of development?
If you asked the child to “describe themselves” (assessing their self-concept) —what types of
things would you expect them to say?
C. Play. Give examples of 4 different types of play you would observe at this age (e.g., parallel).
V. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT [elements of language] GIVE DIRECT QUOTATIONS FOR EACH OF
THESE AREAS. INCLUDE BOTH CORRECT AND INCORRECT USAGE.
A. Phonetics. What would you expect to observe for phonetics at this age?B. Syntax. Would you expect the child to use good grammar? Are there any grammatical errors
that you would expect?
VI. DEVELOPMENTAL SUMMARY
A. Preschool program. How do you think a preschool should be set up to meet a child’s needs?
If you were a preschool teacher, what kinds of activities and experiences would you plan to help
foster child development development?
Explain a specific activity that would enhance each of the following:
• physical development
• cognitive development
• social/emotional development
Make sure the activity is specific and detailed. Don’t be too general, such as “more art”, “more
numbers”, “more time reading”, “more time working/playing with other children”, “more time
learning the alphabet,” “use flash cards.”
