http:/essay.lxws.net 留学生论文专业定制代写网站留学生Essay写作孩子观察指南Before an assessment of a child can take place to plan their learning and development,we need to observe them.Observation is vital for early years practitioners to find out what stage a child is currently at,what their needs are and what interests them.You can learn a lot about the children you work with simply by stepping back and watching them.This may at first seem to be a waste of time,but if you study the children,you are going to be more likely to meet their needs.Childcare workers automatically watch the children in their care they want to know that the children are safe,happy,healthy and developing well.Watching or observing closely can often reassure them that everything is alright but may also alert them to problems or illness.Any discussion about a child usually relates what has been seen,heard or experienced and leads to conclusions about personality,likes,and dislikes etc.anyone who works with children needs to develop the skill of observing them(sometimes to be written/recorded to check that a child is:Safenot in any danger from the environment,from themselves or others.Contentedthere are many reasons a child might be miserable,some may relate to physical comfort(e.g.wet nappy,hunger,thirsty)or emotional discomfort(e.g.main carer is absent,or comfort object lost)or lack of attention or stimulation.Healthyeats and sleeps well and is physically active(concerns about this may indicate that they are unwell)Developing normallyin line with general expectations for his/her age in all areas,there will be individual differences but delays in any e.g.crawling/walking or speaking may show a need for careful monitoring and perhaps specialist help.Any particular strength or talent may also be identified and encouraged.observing is one of the most important daily aspects involved in childcare without observation the overall planning and assessment in the setting will be affected.Early years practitioners need to base their planning on their observations so without observations we cannot be entirely sure that overall planning will meet their needs.By carefully observing the children we can learn their needs and know when they are ready to move on to the next stage.By adapting experiences,routines and activities to include things that are particularly important to every individual child we can build on their attention span and curiosity.Likewise we can use observation to pinpoint areas where a child needs additional help.There are 5 main skills associated with effective observation.Lookingwe need to look at our children and analyse what they are doing and what responses to give in certain situations.Listeningit is vital we pay attention to the children and listen to how they interact with both children and adults.Recordingwe should accurately record any important things in which we have observed.Thinkingwe must use our observations to think how to plan effectively for each child and maybe involve the childs parents for activity planning.Questioningsometimes our observations need to be clarified,confirmed or rejected.If the child is at an age to respond to questions you should involve them directly.Do not let preconceived ideas or assumptions cloud our observations,they must be done with an open mind and judgement of the child should not affect the way an observation is carried out.For example observing children in a group and in the past one child has had difficulty in mixing with others,do not let your past assumptions hinder the observation as it will be pointless to carry out any observation if you have already decided the outcome.4.2 Main ways in which observations can be recorded.There are many ways in which observations can be recorded,each have advantages and disadvantages and most early years practitioners need to be familiar with several of these.The most frequently used recording methods are written notes such asFree description(also known as narrative description or written record)this method records the behaviour of a child over a very short period of time,often less than 5 minutes.The observer notes down what they are seeing which gives a portrait of the childs activity during this time.Checklists and kick chartsthese are mostly used to assess the childs development,specific activities are looked for either during a structural assessment(i.e.where a child is asked to do activities)or by observing children over a period of time.Time samplethis is used to look at childrens activity over a predetermined length of time for example,a morning.Children are observed at regular intervals during the recording,say every 10 minutes and the observation is recorded on a prepared sheet.Event samplethis is mostly used to look at a childs one aspect of development or behaviour,such as how frequently a child sucks their thumb or shows aggression towards other children.E