The process of assessing young children is very challenging. This is due to their high level of activeness, short periods of attention, quick distractions, fear of strangers, and lack of consistency in their performance levels when in new environments (Sudhakar, 2016). Some of the other critical factors that may impact the performance of young children may include parental styles, culture, and language barrier issues. The paper, therefore, aims at examining the development of children by assessing their growth and development as per one of the well healthy children aged 11-year-old that I evaluated through interaction.

Date and Length of Interaction

The interaction with the child was conducted on 2^nd Feb 2019 at his home place. The child I assessed was a boy, and indeed I had to learn a lot by having an opportunity to evaluate the child. To ensure that I attained adequate information for my assessment, I spent about a whole day with the child at their home place where we have left me, and even for some time, I was left alone with him after his mother went to the market. Throughout the whole day, I had a significant interaction with the child.

General Description of the Child

The child I assessed at first calm and cool regarding behavior and reactions. However, as time went by and we got to bond deeper, the Child started becoming jovial and more active. He began showing his real active operations after being free with me. He was very busy available and accessible to socialize with, and he could even glare at me blankly whenever I focused my concentration somewhere else. Upon talking to him, I realized that his favorite game was football and he also told me that his favorite football club in the world is Chelsea FC. He even said to me that while at school he is a football player for his class and always plays during the games time.

Also, the child happens to be coming from a middle-class family, and therefore, he was able to get access to a lot of facilities for play and use during his leisure time. The family had even provided a house help to take care of him whenever everybody whatnot at home. Generally, the environment and setting for the growth of the child and those around him were friendly and cool and even supported and embraced him adequately.

Description of the Chosen Theory

To adequately assess and evaluate the child, I chose the theory of Erickson’s Stages of Psychological Development. The approach enables one to have a full understanding of how a child grows and develops at every stage. The personality and other vital character traits can be readily determined and monitored in a child at a particular step (Jones & Waite-Stupiansky, 2017). According to Erickson, growth, and development of a child is distinguished into stages and there are eight stages that an individual undergoes from childhood to adulthood. The theory was therefore vital in helping me understand what I was indeed required to assess in the child and some of the aspects that I was to encounter as per the age of the child.

Developmental Milestones Expected of Child at this Age

A stage at which a child will be assessed on developmental issues has a significant impact on the test outcome. The phase may include the physical activities of the child which entail how active the child is in playing and other activities. Cognitive and developmental achievements for a child at his stage may require the thinking and level of processing of the child at this stage (Jones & Waite-Stupiansky, 2017). For instance, the child I assessed was very active, jovial, easy to socialize with. Some children may be stubborn and even shy to respond to you when you interact with them because all they see is a stranger in front of them. Given that the child I assessed was in a cognitive stage and therefore could operate actual operations, I was forced to devise different and unique mechanisms so that he was able to complete the tasks assigned to him effectively (Sudhakar, 2016). Therefore, I was able to note that the child is in a cognitive stage, he was able to execute simple calculations, reading and writing effectively and even had acquired a lot of competence in most of the activities that a child of his age is required to have attained.

The outcome of the Interaction concerning my Goal

Through the interaction with the child, I was able to learn that there are various aspects that a child at a particular level/stage undergoes. The social life, physical activities and cognitive abilities of a child go hand in hand with the age of the child (Reynell, 2012). Therefore, I can entail that the interaction with the child was very vital in acquiring practical knowledge of the developmental capabilities of a child aged 11 years as per my research study goals and objectives.

References

Jones, E., & Waite-Stupiansky, S. (2017). The Erikson’s’ Psychosocial Developmental Theory. Theories of Early Childhood Education, 31-44.

Reynell, J. (2012). Developmental Milestones: Early and Middle Childhood. Clinical and Educational Child Psychology, 54-83.

Sudhakar, A. (2016). Chapter-16 Normal Growth and Development Assessment Format. A Clinical Daily Diary of Child Health Nursing (Pediatric Nursing), 45-56.