An Individual Observational Report on a School-Age Child

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Subject:

Nursing II (Human Development)

Angeli Jean Koreen B. Corpuz

2014 03160

CHILDS PROFILE
Name: Raphael John Kurloby B. Corpuz
Nickname: Koby
Birthday: September 15, 2007
Age (on the day of the observation): 7 years, 7
and 18 days
Day of the observation: May 3, 2015
Address: 2115 M. Natividad St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
Sex: Male
Type of Family: Nuclear family
Language used: Filipino and English
Primary caregivers: Angelito Q. Corpuz (father) and
Jeanette B. Corpuz (mother)
Birth order: 6th of 6 children/ youngest
Hobbies: playing computer games, riding bike, watching TV
Current school: Padre Gomez Elementary School

months

DOCUMENTATION
I.

General Description
A. Physical Appearance
Raphael John Kurloby B. Corpuz, also called Koby by his family, was born on

September 15, 2007. He is the youngest of 6 children and has 4 older sisters and 1
older brother. Her mother always says that he resembles the comedian actor Ryan
bang. He used to be a little chubby and had big squishy cheeks but these went away
as he grew up because he became picky for the food he eats. At the age of 7, he is
118 cm tall and weighs 22 kg or 48.4 lbs. His BMI is 15.9 which is normal for his age.
B. General Behavioral State
Koby was not too enthusiastic to start the observation. He wasnt listening to the
observer at first when she was calling him and kept on playing on the computer. He
only listened to her when she offered to buy him ice cream after theyre done with
the tests. However, he became more attentive when we started the tests and did
physical activity. He liked moving around and is actually showing a very competitive
side in every activity. He answered all the questions truthfully and gave full
participation in every question she asked of him. He was still very attentive by the
time they ended the observation.
C. Significant Preoccupations
Having two computers at home, Koby developed an interest in the internet. He
likes to play games in Y8.com or Kizi.com, usually those with that include mazes and
missions like Bomberman. Instead of playing outdoors, he usually prefers to invite
his friends over inside the house to play computer games with him or play with his
toy cars, blocks and guns. He also goes outside to ride his bike or play hide-andseek and tagu-taguan but this happens on rare occasions when he has other kids to
play with him or when his parents would allow him. Koby also likes watching videos

of youtubers SMOSH and Pewdiepie and would usually spend 4-5 hours in front of
the computer. When hes not outside or using the computer, hes watching TV
specifically on the channels Cartoon Network, Disney or Nickelodeon. Some of his
favorites are Gravity Falls, The Amazing World of Gumball and Sam and Cat.
Aside from these, he also likes to draw on his old notebooks.
II.
Environmental Conditions
A. Setting and Time of Observation
The observation was done on May 3, 2015 at 2115 M. Natividad St., Sta. Cruz,
Manila, the home of Kobys family. The observer arranged the observation to be in
the afternoon at around 1:00 pm before the family goes to church. The site of the
observation is in the study room of the house which only contains a few armchairs
and a big whiteboard attached on a wall which wouldnt be a distraction for Koby.
The place was also quiet and well-lit. The observation lasted until around 2:00 pm in
the afternoon and just in time for Koby to prepare for Sunday mass.
B. Family Dynamics
Kobys family is a big family, consisting of his parents and his 5 siblings.
However, there are only 6 people living in their home currently. His mother is a
private tutor and his father is a computer technician. Both are self-employed and are
working at home which allows them to still have time for their children. Koby has 4
sisters and 1 brother, and three of his sisters are already working. The eldest is a
civil engineer and goes home only during weekends. The second eldest works as an
accountant and the third works as an architect. His brother is currently a novice and
is living in a seminary in Laguna. His fourth sister, the observer, is currently on her
first year in college taking up the course BS Nursing.
The family were busy watching a movie when the observation was done and they
would occasionally react to it. However, this did not become a problem since they

were watching downstairs while Koby and the observer are upstairs in the study
room.
III.
Personal Objectives
The objective of this observation is to determine if the child is developing his
motor, language, cognitive, and psychosocial skills in the same pace with most of
the kids in his age group. It is the goal of the observer to observe and analyze the
different factors from the environment that helped to shape up his development
process. This report would be a great help to understand how children on this agegroup think. It is important to inform the childs parents of his development for them
to keep track of his growth and progress.
IV.
Actual Observation
A. Motor
Koby is beyond the age limit of MMDST which is why the observer improvised
some tests to examine his motor development.
Gross Motor
To examine his gross motor ability, Koby was taken outside along with his bike to
see whether or not he could maintain his balance in his bike for a long time.. The
observer asked him to ride his bike from their front door to four houses from their
house and back to their front door. The distance he travelled is approximately 15
meters. He managed to successfully ride his bike back to the front door of their
house without losing his balance.
The next activity that was administered is Basketball. The observer placed a
bucket in front of her and made Koby stand a few feet away from the bucket. The goal
was for Koby to shoot the ball in the bucket at least two times and catch the ball when it
was being passed to him. The ball was about the size of his shoes, not too big and not
too small either for him to shoot it in the bucket. He managed to successfully shoot the

ball twice and failed only once. He also managed to catch the ball every time the
observer passes it to him.
Fine Motor
To test Kobys motor skills, he was given a blank piece of paper and a pencil and
asked to draw a car he wanted to have when he grows up. This was the last activity that
was administered, around 45 minutes after the gross motor activities were done. He
decided to draw a monster truck. It has large tires and spikes on the hood of the car. He
colored it red saying it was his favorite color. The monster truck has two windows and
he drew a pair of wings on the door of the car. He also drew horizontal lines along the
tires and when he was asked why, he said it was because the car will be running fast.
B. Language
To mark Kobys milestone in language development, the observer followed four
categories for her observation: listening, speech, and pragmatics, receptive and
expressive language.
Listening
Kobys listening ability was the main focus of this observation. He mostly listened
to what the observer was saying and he would respond immediately when he was
asked questions. There were instances when he would talk even when the observer is
not done talking yet and he would hold on her arm for her to let him finish talking before
she continue. All throughout the observation, Koby was attentive and participative.
Speech and Pragmatics
The second observation made is concerned about his speech. Koby is more
fluent in English than in Filipino. He can say a lot of things in English and it was
observed that he uses English more than he uses Filipino in his everyday language. His
sentence construction is satisfactory, however, his pronunciation is not as good. He is

still bulol on some words and he cant pronounce the / r / and / l / sounds. He also
stutters a lot whenever he speaks and he would look up occasionally as if hes thinking
about what hes about to say. The observer asked him to say the tongue twister She
sells sea shells by the sea shore and he was able to say it but his pronunciation is not
that clear.
Receptive Language
The next thing that was observed is Kobys ability to comprehend. The picture on
the right was used as a guide but it was not shown to the subject.
The observer first asked him to draw a big circle. He did this successfully and
used up half of the paper for the circle. Next, he was told to draw
a triangle inside the circle. He did this successfully once again.
Lastly, I asked him to draw three stars inside the circle with one
star inside the triangle. The picture he drew is on the left.
Expressive Language
All throughout the observation, Kobys expressions were observed. Every time he
was told he was doing a good job, he would say loudly high five! and raise his hand in
the air for a high five. He was also laughing and smiling whenever he finds something
funny.
C. Cognitive
To test his cognitive development, the observer used the Piagetian approach.
The subject was given a series of tests to test the following abilities: causality,
categorization, seriation, numerical ability, memorization and egocentrism.
Causality
Koby was asked by the observer why flood happens in
Metro Manila. He said that Kase nagtatapon kung saan saan
yung mga tao. Saka pinuputol yung mga puno.
Categorization

To test his skills in categorizing things, he was given a set of building blocks and
was asked to group them according to shapes regardless of the color. He managed to
do this successfully and was able to group triangle, circle and square blocks together.
Seriation
The observer drew four stars in a piece of paper and asked Koby to rank them
from smallest to biggest. 1 as the smallest and 4
as the biggest. The result is shown below.

Numerical Ability
Next, Kobys numerical ability was tested. He was given a worksheet numbered
1-10 for subtraction and addition and another worksheet numbered 1-10 for
multiplication. He answered the questions with only two mistakes on the multiplication
part and a perfect score on the subtraction and addition.
Memorization
For the memorization part, Koby was asked to memorize the following lines:
One mind, one body, one soul, one dance and I am the master of my faith, I am the
captain of my soul. After three minutes, he was asked if hes done memorizing and he
immediately recited the two lines without mistake.
Egocentrism
At the end of the observation, the observer gave Koby the ice cream she
promised and when she asked if she could take a bite, he immediately gave the ice
cream to her and let her. His mother also asked for ice cream and he gave her some
too.
D. Psychosocial
In between the tests in the observation, Koby was asked questions about his
psychosocial development. He was asked if hes an honor student in school and he said
no, but he was aiming to be one for the next school year. He was asked what he thinks

his good points are and he said that hes good at computer games and he knows a lot
of things in the computer unlike other kids. He said that he also can draw. When he was
asked if he thinks there are other kids that are better than him, he said that Tristan and
David (his classmates) are because they get better grades than him. He then said that
he is still better at drawing and computer games than them.
He was also asked what he wanted to be in the future and he answered, Doctor
and Scientist because they get huge money and he wants to earn a lot of money when
he grows up. When asked what he plans to do to be a doctor and a scientist, he
answered to study hard and be a top student.
Koby said that he is confident in his drawing, singing and dancing skills. He was
asked if he wanted to be a singer but he said that he doesnt want to because he is not
that good, but he believes that he is good in singing. A bit later, he sang a few lines of
his favorite song Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys.
When asked about his family, he said that he likes his mother more than his
father because he is scared of his father for being strict. He also said that his Ate Kirby
is her favorite and he even calls her Ganda instead of ate Kirby. He was asked why
and he said that its because she takes care of him and brings him pasalubong almost
every day.
Koby rarely goes outside because his parents are always worried that hell get
lost, especially now that kidnapping is becoming more and more common. He only goes
outside when it is morning and he has his friends to play with him, which are only a few
because he chooses his friends. He said that he doesnt want to play with other kids
because they are bad and they are always noisy in the neighborhood.
It was observed that whenever he was asked questions, he would thing for a
while at first then speak up his mind, maintaining eye contact with the one asking him.

ANALYSIS
I.

Analyses
A. Motor
Gross Motor
According to cliffnotes.com, Children play baseball, ride bikes, roller skate, take

karate lessons, take ballet lessons, and participate in gymnastics. This was shown
when Koby rode his bicycle without losing his balance for a long distance. Children of
this age group can also jump a little higher, run a little faster and throw a ball a little
further (Herkowitz, 1978; Keough & Sugden, 1985) which was shown when he
succeeded in shooting the ball in the bucket. Thus, Kobys gross motor skills
development is normal.
Fine Motor
Irwin and Simons said the school children also improve their fine motor skills at
this age. While drawing, it was observed that Koby has already developed eye-hand
coordination. His fine motor skills development is also normal.
B. Language
Listening

It was observed that Koby has been attentive all throughout the observation
though he sometimes talks and butts in while the observer is still speaking. This
signifies that his listening ability is not yet fully developed.
Speech and Pragmatics
At this age, childrens vocabulary increases greatly but highfaluting words are still
not used in conversing with them. This age is also the perfect age to learn another
language aside from the mother tongue. Koby can speak both English and Filipino
because his mother talks to him mostly in English and the cartoons he watches are in
English.
Children at this age can also carry conversations with other people out of their
age group. Koby is a talkative child and he talks to older people really well, using po;
and opo to them.
Receptive Language
He was able to follow correctly the instructions I gave and drew the right picture.
This shows that Koby can understand and interpret complex instructions easily.
Expressive Language
Although Koby doesnt directly day what he feels, the observer was still able to
know if hes happy or not because of his body language. He usually claps and jumps
around when he feels happy and furrows his eyebrows when he doesnt understand
something.
C. Cognitive

Causality
When asked why flood happens in Metro Manila, he said that its because people
throw their trash anywhere they want and because trees are being cut down. He was
asked to further explain and he said that the trash will clog the drainage and the water in
them will overflow and there are no trees to absorb the water so flood happens. This
shows that Koby is already capable of providing a scientific explanation to some things.
Categorization, Numerical Ability and Seriation
Koby was able to accomplish the task that was given to him since he can already
process ideas logically and concretely. He was also able to answer the worksheet that
was given to him with only a few mistakes. This signifies that his reasoning ability is
developing
Memorization
When Koby was asked to memorize the two lines, he repeatedly said it until he
was already able to memorize it. This strategy that he did is called rehearsal or
conscious repetition (Papalia, Olds, & Felding, 2010).
Egocentrism
The childs egocentric behavior diminishes at this age and Koby proved this
when he gave the observer ice cream when she asked for it and even gave her mother
some too. He showed that hes not selfish to the food that he has.
D. Psychosocial

According Erikson, a child who is in his school-age years is under the industry vs.
inferiority stage. When Koby shared his ice cream, he showed that his egocentrism is
already diminishing and hes starting to care about other people. During this milestone,
a childs competence is very evident. Koby showed that he is starting to develop his
self-confidence for knowing what he can do even though when his mother was asked,
she said that he cant really draw. He also showed that he thinks before he answers
every question which signifies that his self-awareness is developing since his answers
are consistent.
In conclusion, as far as principles of psychosocial growth and development is
concerned, he is thinking and relating to others just as children his age should. Koby is
beyond the bounds of development intended for his age.
II.

Personal insights

As Kobys older sister, I did my best not to be biased in all my observations and
to only report what I really observed. Kobys development is normal in all aspects.
However, I am a little worried of his speech development for at his age, he still does
baby talks and his word pronunciations are not that clear. His cognitive ability, on the
other hand, is really impressive and even though hes not the top student in his class, I
know that he is a smart child. I also think that he should make more friends of his age to
improve his psychosocial development.

References:
Aonuevo, C., Mejico, M., & Recio, D. (2004). Language and thought. In Aonuevo, C.,
Mejico,
M., &Recio, D. (Eds.), Human behavior: From the disciplines of anthropology,
psychology, and sociology (p. 166). Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp, Publishing Corp.
Barrington, M. (2013). Speech and language development 9-10. Retrieved from http://
www.kidspot.com.au/schoolzone/
Speech-Speech-and-language-development-9-10+4186+308+article.htm
Loraine, S. (2008). Vocabulary development. Retrieved from http://
www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/149_VocabularyDevelopment.pdf
Owens, R. (1996). Language development (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
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http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/psychology/development-psychology/physicalcognitive-development-age-711/physical-development-age-711