Child Observation Worksheet
| Infancy | Toddler | Pre School | School Age | Adolescent | Observation Data for [insert age, gender, and any other relevent information]. Example: Female, Age 4, Autistic. *only fill out this column for the age group you observed. | |
| Erikson’s Theory | Stage 1: Trust vs. mistrust (Saracho & Evans, 2021) The infant bases their relationships on the consistency of affection and care. | Stage 2: Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (Saracho & Evans, 2021). The toddlers at this stage have become more aware of themselves and may feel ashamed of their mistakes. | Stage 3: Initiative vs. guilt As the preschool child gains more autonomy, they understand the responsibility for their behavior and feel guilt for bad behavior. | Stage 4: Puberty industry vs. inferiority As a school-age child, the child recognizes rewards and motivation to become industrious and feel superior. | Stage 5: Identity vs. role confusion The child at the adolescent stage have become more aware of their self can make reasonable decisions for their future. | 6-year-old female. She talks confidently with everyone in the office. Her speech is intelligible. |
| Cognitive Development | Sensorimotor Stage: Recognizes familiar faces and has the urge to put everything in the mouth. | Preoperational Stage: The child is able to symbolize objects and events. | Intuitive thinker: The child can engage in small conversations and can imagine things. | Concrete operational stage: The child’s thinking is reasonable, and can easily understand the perspectives of others. | Formal operational stage The child understands and solves conflicts through deductive reasoning. | The 6-year-old was given morally conflicting choices and easily could choose between right and wrong. |
| Language Development | Communication mostly involves non-verbal cues like cooing and crying. | The child is able to say single recognizable words and responds accordingly when instructed. | At the preschool stage, the child is able to combine two or more words to form simple sentences. | The child has a better understanding of terms, phrases, and tenses and easily maintains a conversation. | Language has developed significantly, and conservations are intelligible. | She is able to hold on conversations and even solve complex grammar and Maths problems for her age. |
| Psych-Social Development | The child is attracted to those who provide her with constant care and affection. | The child starts growing awareness of their environment, including what can harm them. | The child can independently move around and can avoid getting hurt and trouble. | The child considers several factors for making friendships, including trust (Maunder & Monks, 2019). | Self-identification has been well developed, and the child is more concerned about the outcomes of their actions. | The 6-year-old, when asked if she has friends, takes time to answer and provides reasons why each friend is her friend. |
| Moral Development | The child has no sense of morality at this stage. | At this stage, the child understands punishment and avoids whatever causes punishment. | Moral behavior is based on ego and is beneficial to the child. | The child understands and appreciates the perspectives of others and seeks to develop relationships. | The child has a full understanding of society and morals and acts in a way that is socially accepted. | She always gave way and did not talk over people older than her. |
| Discipline | The child in infancy has no sense of discipline. | At this stage, the toddler has a sense of action and punishment. | At preschool, she reflects on what she has done, which leads to punishment, and makes the right amends. | At school age, the child may get into more trouble and indiscipline, and she explores her environment. | Although the adolescent develops a sense of autonomy and accountability, discipline is usually negotiated instead of direct punishment. | She lied about eating candy and was grounded as punishment. She later said sorry. |
| Physical Development | Growth in height and weight gain is double from birth weight in a few months. | The child has grown in height and weight and developed better eye-hand coordination. | There is a notable growth in height and weight. | Notable growth in height and weight is observed. | There are notable growth differences between boys and girls, with girls gaining more weight and height than boys. | She is currently 47 inches and 44lbs |
| Injury Prevention | Injury prevention is the role of the caregiver. Focus on ensuring the infant is well attended to. | Injuries can be prevented by supervision and by allowing the child to learn independently. | Injury prevention goes beyond the house to the outside environment. Supervision and autonomy in learning are encouraged. | The use of safety gear such as helmets, knee pads, and gloves is encouraged during play. | As risky behaviors develop during adolescence, directly addressing them is encouraged as an intervention (Champion et al., 2019). | Although she was encouraged to wear a helmet and knee guards while practicing her bike riding, she usually took it off. |
| Nutritional needs | Breast milk is encouraged. Solid foods are advised to be provided for 6 months. | Eating mashed solid foods is encouraged in pea-sized parts. | As dietary needs grow, the child is expected to take foods from all 5 major food groups. | A healthy breakfast is encouraged. The caregiver needs to promote healthy eating habits. | As poor eating behaviors tend to develop during adolescence, healthy eating habits need to be pushed and encouraged. | When given a choice between a sweet cake and vegetables, she went for the cake. However, she was denied. Repeatedly, she seemed to enjoy the greens. |
| Dental Care | Dental care is the caregiver’s responsibility. Ensure no hard objects are mouthed, which may hurt the developing soft gum. | As the milk teeth emerge, avoid sweets, ensure regular brushing, and avoid mouthing hard things and thumb-sucking. | Supervise and encourage autonomy and dental care, including brushing and flossing. | Encourage brushing after eating with fluoridated toothpaste and soft bristle toothbrush. | Continue with independent brushing after eating with fluoridated toothpaste. | She enjoys brushing, and we sometimes had to take the toothbrush from her. |
| Sleep | Longer sleeping time of up to 17hrs is encouraged. | Sleeping up to 14 hours. | Sleeping up to 12 hours. | Sleeping up to 10 hours. | Sleeping up to 12 hours. | The 6-year-old sleeps between 8 to 12 hours at a time. |
| Activity and Play types | The child usually plays with her hands and watches the caregiver’s movements. | She usually plays with toys and other objects in her environment. | She has developed a bit of interest in music and other arts. | She has developed a better understanding of relationships and can play alone or in a team. | As an adolescent, she better understands her identity and has a personal selection of activities based on personal interests. | She spent most of her time playing alone but took time to play with others in the room. |
| Vital Signs Including the type of Pain assessment | Loud crying and a show of discomfort on the face. | The child usually cries and has rapid body movements as well as discomfort. | Physical pain assessment can be done by observing how the child cries and acts. | The child can say how much they are hurt and where the pain is. | The child may not cry but may curse in pain. | The 6-year-old got hurt on her finger and cried a little bit while flipping her hand and sucking on her finger. |