Task Description

This assignment is designed to provide students with first hand experience collecting and analyzing substantive developmental data pertaining to two children. Course concepts will be incorporated into a final report in which a contextually sensitive description of each child's developmental status is offered and the two children are compared.

Students are required to collect data on two children ( one typical and one atypical) between the ages of 3 and 9 using three different types of assessment tools (one of which is an observation using a checklist posted on Canvas). The purpose of the remaining two assessments is to gather information regarding each child's background/history, personality, interests, abilities/talents, etc. which can be effectively integrated with the developmental status data. These brief assessments will be developed by the student and should be selected from the list provided below.

Child interview self-report

Child achievement records (if readily available)

Samples of the child's creative work (e.g., drawings or stories)

Observation of parent-child interaction

Observation of sibling-child interaction

Observation of peer-child interaction

Observation of child playing independently

Parent questionnaire

Sibling questionnaire

Peer questionnaire

Parent interview

Sibling interview

Peer interview

Once the data have been gathered, students will write a 3-5 double spaced paper integrating the information with course material. In the paper, students will be expected to include a discussion of the following elements: 1) content and purpose of each assessment employed, 2) pros and cons of each form of assessment, 3) each child's current level of development with attention to contextual factors likely to have played a role, and 4) similarities and differences between the two children.