It is an engaging process to observe children doing different activities. Without any doubt, childhood professionals must have a profound understanding of children’s actions and interactions and identify their strengths to implement all of this knowledge in practice. The careful observation of Kyrill reveals many interesting details for childhood professionals, which are not easily noticed at first sight. Moreover, it provides many insights into how children with delays or disabilities act and interact.
To begin with, observing Kyrill contributes to the understanding of children with delays or disabilities. At the easel, the boy eagerly draws pictures and several times gets distracted. His behavior significantly differs from one of his peers near him, who are more calm and concentrated. At the water table, Kyrill appears to be less focused than the child next to him as well. In the kitchen, the boy picks up numerous objects and leaves them in different places around the area. Furthermore, the boy does not have any issues with gross motor skills, as there is nothing special about how he walks and jumps. However, his fine motor skills are not as developed as the ones of his peers. An excellent example of it is the way he holds pens while drawing. However, Kyrill successfully communicates with his peers in different locations. Despite his sounds and words, especially in the kitchen area, revealing development delays or disabilities, the boy is eager to interact with other children. His interactions with adults are scarce in the videos, but it is evident that he strictly follows their orders. Besides, Kyrill appears to enjoy discovering new ways to arrange objects, play with them (he plays with the water mill toy unusually), and draw pictures.
What is more, after observing Kyrill, childhood professionals can make different conclusions, which would be useful to implement in practice. In general, the boy does not have serious issues concerning interactions with others, though he appears to be hyperactive and impulsive and lacks attention to detail. His experience in the preschool classroom differs slightly from the experience of his peers. However, it is essential to pay attention to the boy’s strengths, such as boundless physical and creative energy, to make his experience better. For example, a preschool teacher can emphasize games, which involve large muscles and creative development activities. Besides, there are different strategies to support Kyrill’s successful participation and encourage interactions between him and his classmates. First, it is a good idea to provide choices for the boy instead of placing demands and establishing rules in the classroom to increase his involvement (Gargiulo and Kilgo). Second, a childhood professional can employ active strategies of arranging children and explicitly facilitate interactions to encourage Kyrill to communicate more with his peers (Gargiulo and Kilgo). Hence, with the help of different strategies, it is possible to improve the boy’s experience.
In conclusion, it is intriguing to observe such a child as Kyrill because of his high physical and creative energy. It would undoubtedly be exciting to discover more about his communication with adults and behavior during learning activities. What is more, this observation experience has positively impacted my practices as an early childhood professional, as I have discovered much useful information about children with disabilities or delays. Besides, I have realized how different strategies can be incorporated to make their preschool experience better.
Work Cited
Gargiulo, Richard, and Kilgo, Jennifer. An Introduction to Young Children With Special Needs. SAGE Publications, 2018.