Carlena Lowell

SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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Child Observation and Summary #3
Carlena Lowell
SEI 501
August 21, 2012













Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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Child Observation #3
(Diagnosis: Potocki-Shaffer syndrome)
Location: classroom Time: 8:23-8:47
Observation Date: August 16, 2012 Child: Greg
Observer: Carlena Lowell Age: 3 years, 10 months
*names have been changed to protect identity



















Observations
The teacher brings me across the room to
meet Greg. He is lying on the floor on his
stomach. He puts a toy horse in his
mouth. The teacher lifts him to his feet
and he leans against her. I smile and say,
Good morning, and wave. His head
remains stable and still, but his eyes move
back and forth; about five seconds after I
speak, Greg makes a movement with his
fist.
The teacher asks Greg if he wants to sing
a song, and signs the word song. Gregs
body is leaned against a small table and
he puts his hands together with his arms
slightly out, then drops them. The teacher
begins to sing a bubble song, and part
way through says to him, Make a bubble,
and touches his arm. He brings his hands
together to make a bubble similar to the
teachers arms. At the last line of the song
the bubble pops, and Greg puts his hands
down on the table.
Greg picks up a back pack strap and puts
it in his mouth.

Comments




The teacher tells me that is his personal
sign for hello.

This gesture indicates Greg wants to
sing the bubble song. The teacher
reports listening to song and doing
movements to them is a preferred
activity for Greg.


Greg is still in the stage of putting most
things he picks up in his mouth. The
teacher says this is something they are
constantly monitoring for obvious safety
reasons.
Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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The teacher tells Greg it is time for breakfast
and guides him to the sink to wash his hands.
She assists him in washing his hands,
discussing aloud each step of the process.
She hands him a paper towel which he takes
with his left hand and promptly puts in his
mouth. The teacher takes it out of his mouth
and dries his hands. She then leads him to a
Rifton chair at the breakfast table.
While waiting for breakfast to come to the
table, Greg moves his head repeatedly from
side to side and makes a vocalization that
sounds like ds twelve times.
The teacher sets a spoon and bowl down in
front of him. Greg pushes the bowl just out of
reach and picks up the spoon using a palmer
grasp with his left hand. He puts the wrong
end of the spoon in his mouth. He mouths the
spoon for about 10 seconds, then switches
hands to his right, flips the spoon around and
puts the correct end in his mouth. With the
spoon in his left hand, he raised it up and
moved it against his head. He continues to
change hands and mouth the spoon for
several minutes until the teacher brings the
breakfast food to the table.
Greg picks up a napkin with his right hand
and tears it with his left hand. He drops the
piece in his left hand, picks the spoon back up
and drops it. He moves his head back and
forth several times.
The teacher sits beside him with his PECS
book. She puts his three options on the front:
milk, strawberries and cereal. Before
choosing a picture, Greg signs for milk. The
teacher puts the PECS book in front of him
and he selects the milk picture and puts it in

Greg needs support to walk, but can
move around the room independently
using his arms and legs.




Greg is able to vocalize some, but does
not often do so.





It seems as though he was using the
spoon like a brush.






Given two to three choices, Greg is
able to appropriately use the PECS
system.
Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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mouth. The teacher takes the picture and
says, I want milk! The teacher pours the
milk into a cup. Greg quickly picks it up
with both hands and drinks it all. The
teacher says, You were thirsty! What do
you want now? Greg quickly picks the
cereal picture with his left hand and puts
the picture in his mouth. The teacher
gives Greg some cereal. He uses a left
hand pincer grasp to bring the cereal to his
mouth. After a few bites of cereal, Greg
reaches for the picture of the strawberries
and puts it in his mouth. The teacher
takes it and says, I want strawberries.
She gives his a few strawberries on his
napkin. He uses a pincer grasp for the
strawberries as well. Greg moves his
head from side to side several times. He
finishes his cereal, gets the cereal picture
again, and puts it in his mouth. The
teacher says again, I want cereal, takes
the picture and gives Greg more cereal,
which he eats. The teacher asks Greg,
Do you want milk? Greg responds by
signing milk with his right hand. The
teacher then pours some milk into his
bowl. Greg uses the spoon with a left
handed palmer grasp to eat his cereal and
milk. He is able to get some cereal to his
mouth; however, much of it spills down his
shirt. He puts the spoon down and uses
his left hand to pick up a handful of cereal
and bring it to his mouth. The teacher
reminds him to use his spoon and he does.
Greg picks up the strawberry picture with
his left hand and puts it in his mouth. The
teacher takes the picture and Greg moves
his head back and forth and makes
vocalizations of an M-M sound. The
teacher says, I want strawberries, and



Although he uses both hands, he
tends to use his left more often.






Gregs head movements seem
controlled; he is able to start them and
stop them when he pleases.



He seems to get the picture of cereal
the second time at an appropriate time
as he was out of cereal.
His forearm moves sideways as he
brings the spoon to his mouth which
caused much of the cereal and milk to
fall down the front of his shirt.

Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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gives him more strawberries. Greg holds his
spoon with a right handed palmer grasp and
eats the strawberries using a left handed
pincer grasp. The teacher wipes his right
hand with a napkin and he drops the spoon.
He continues to eat cereal and strawberries
with both hands until they are gone. The
teacher says, All done, and pulls his chair
out. She says, You have a lot in your
chair! He looks down, sees the food in his
chair, picks some up with his left hand and
eats it.

Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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Observation #3 Summary
Motor
Greg is able to walk with support from a teacher holding his hands. When he is lying on
his stomach he is able to lift his head off the floor for five to ten seconds at a time. He is
able to pull himself along the floor using his arms and legs. Greg balances himself in a
standing position against something by leaning into it with his torso. He can touch his
hands together at the midline, although crossing the midline was not observed at this
time. Greg is able to use both a palmer and a pincer grasp effectively during meal time.
He uses two hands to bring a cup to his mouth to drink. He is also able to bring food to
his mouth, chew and swallow with ease. While eating cereal with a spoon, his forearm
is positioned in such a way that causes spillage down his shirt. Although Greg uses
both hands for multiple things, he tends to initiate actions with his left hand and use it a
bit more.
Cognitive
Greg is able to recall signs and movements associated with four songs; this is a
preferred activity for him. Greg does have several signs and a PECS book he uses
purposefully (see communication section), both of which involve long-term memory. He
is able to wait for several minutes during a transition time. Gregs attention span is long
enough that he is able to remain focused on eating for the duration of breakfast without
getting distracted by external stimuli. Teachers are concerned with Gregs exploration
of things with his mouth, as it is a safety issue.

Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Child Observation #3

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Social Emotional
In response to a person greeting Greg, he is able to look in their general direction and
greet back using a sign of his own. Eye contact is difficult for Greg because his eyes
tend to move back and forth quite a bit, although he is able to look in the general
direction of the speaker. He enjoys listening to and making movements for finger plays
and songs with adults. He uses his teachers as resources for movement, gaining things
such as food and to assist with his self-help skills. During the observation, Greg did not
interact with peers.
Communication
Expressively, Greg is able to make some vocalizations, but does not do so consistently.
The two sounds heard during the observation were ds-ds-ds and m-m-m. Greg
communicates through some signs, including a personal sign involving his fist which
indicates a greeting, milk, song, and signs for four different songs he prefers. Greg is
also able to use his PECS book effectively when given two to three choices. Gregs
response time to different stimuli varies a bit. When I greeted him, his response of
greeting me back was slightly delayed for about five seconds; however, selecting the
milk picture when the PECS were first presented to him at breakfast was almost
immediate. Gregs receptive language skills allow him to decide when given a few
options; this was noted in breakfast choices. He is also able to choose songs
independently with his repertoire of song signs.