Pre-K Child

Development
Case Study
Sarah Hirsch

Physical Development Strengths

Amanda has a strong
background in gross motor
activities. She is developed in
the skill of holding and
swinging a bat and has the
hand-eye coordination to
throw and catch balls
(Anecdotal Note 3-15).
Amanda has developed the
tripod grasp needed to hold a
writing utensil. She exhibited
this development in her use of
an eye dropper at one of our
centers (Photo 31).

Physical Development Future

Growth
Amanda

will occasionally revert back to a

full-handed grasp when writing. Some
activities that work on strengthening this
grip will help develop this grasp naturally.
Since Amanda gravitates toward the same
activities, providing a variety of activities
for all her major muscle groups will help in
her development with gross motor skills
(Anecdotal Note 3-04 and 3-15).

Physical Development Activities

School-Based

Activities

Amandas development would benefit

from gross motor activities such as jump
rope, hula-hoops, and riding a tricycle.
Her fine motor development would
benefit from activities such as stringing
beads onto yarn, weaving ribbons through
a fence, and dusting things with a cotton
ball.

Physical Development Activities

Home-Based

Activities

Her participation in softball should be

continued to further develop her gross
motor skills. Since the family enjoys the
outdoors, going on hikes or fishing would
continue her development. She could
benefit practicing her writing at home
using a utensil that helps her develop that
tripod grasp.

Cognitive Development Strengths

Amanda has a good memory when it
comes to storylines and lyrics to songs
(Anecdotal Note 3-31 and 4-15). She also
has developed the skill of sorting things
by color (Anecdotal Note 4-05). Amanda
is able to understand and utilize symbols
within the classroom (Anecdotal Note 415).

Cognitive Development
Future Growth
I would like to see the development of
Amandas reasoning skill that could be
used with other students. I would also
like to see how her knowledge of books
grows and what she can retain from the
storylines in order to read them to her
classmates (Anecdotal Note 3-31).

Cognitive Development
Activities
School-Based

Activities

I would like to do an activity where I see

what Amanda remembers from storylines
of books we have read to further develop
her memory. I would also like to give her
the opportunity to make her own symbol
cards to use in the classroom to help
transitions to further her development of
symbol comprehension.

Cognitive Development
Activities
Home-Based

Activities

Since Amanda enjoys singing at home, an

activity to help further develop her
memory would be to play her a song a
few times and then see what she can
remember from it. Continuing to read to
her as part of her daily routine will also
further develop her cognitive abilities.

Language Development Strengths

Amanda has a good grasp on using
correct pragmatics when speaking to
others (Home Engagement 4). Amanda
also uses mostly correct grammar when
expressing herself (Language
Development 4-11).

Language Development
Future Growth
I would like to see Amanda use her
language when placed in certain
situations, such as a directive one
(Language Development 4-25). I think
her development would benefit from her
experimenting with different tones when
speaking.

Language Development Activities

School-Based

Activities

Singing certain songs or reciting poems to

help her understand and develop the use
of correct grammar and some skills such
as rhyming. Doing activities where she
uses rhyming words could help in her
development of vocabulary to strengthen
her everyday speech.

Language Development Activities

Home-Based

Activities

The family enjoys having conversations

together so asking extending questions
about her stories when she is speaking
will further develop her expressive
language. The family could also start
having a word of the day for Amanda to
learn so she can add more words to her
vocabulary that she could use to express
herself.

Emotional Development Strengths

Amanda is very cooperative with adults
while working on activities. She is able to
follow instructions and does not give up
when things become slightly difficult
(Anecdotal Note 4-28). She is always able
to express her emotions verbally when
asked about how she is doing (Anecdotal
Note 4-28).

Emotional Development
Future Growth
Amanda has shown some selfconsciousness during group activities
where she is not familiar with everyone
there (Anecdotal Note 4-28). I would like
to see how she is feeling during these
situations and develop a solution to help
her feel more comfortable in the
environment that she is in.

Emotional Development Activities

School-Based

Activities

I would like to continue seeing Amanda in

activities where she is required to
participate with others to keep this level
of development where it is and strengthen
it. I would like to see Amanda exposed to
experiences that push her just a little bit
outside of her comfort zone to help work
through the self-consciousness that she is
feeling.

Emotional Development Activities

Home-Based

Activities

Softball has helped Amanda begin to work

through her shyness so I would like her to
remain in this activity to continue to
develop this sense of confidence. I think
that enrolling her in another activity could
further develop her emotionally, possibly
cheerleading since her sister participates
in that already.

Social Development
Strengths
Amanda has strength in being able to
solve conflicts with classmates. She is
able to project herself calmly and clearly
to express what could be done to solve a
problem (Anecdotal Note 4-21). Amanda
is also able to help her classmates to set
up their own activities and support them
through their use of the materials
(Anecdotal note 4-21).

Social Development Future

Growth
I would like to further observe Amanda to
see if there are any noticeable friendships
that she has made in the classroom.
Amanda has show that she can cooperate
with adults but I would like to see how her
development progresses in her
cooperation with her peers (Anecdotal
Note 4-28).

Social Development
Activities
School-Based

Activities

An activity where Amanda receives

random scenarios depicting conflicts in a
classroom to see how she would solve
them and the process she would go
through to solve them would be beneficial
to her social development.

Social Development - Activities

Home-Based

Activities

Keeping Amanda in activities where she is

social with other children around her age
will continue to develop her skills in these
areas. I think exposing her to more
children in her community could
potentially help her develop the skills to
begin to form friendships with other
children.

Child Learning Stories

Links
Amanda's

A
Amanda's Family