Yuting Yoo – Week Three
Yuting, now 4 years of age, has been lovingly cared for in the
last few years. Ron and Tom have had the financial means to provide Yuting with
all of the resources she needed. Yuting struggled to meet developmental
milestones throughout early childhood, and Ron and Tom were unceasingly patient
with her. Yuting had been participating in a Montessori program since she was 2
½ years of age, and she was doing well at the school.
* What are the major developmental milestones for a 4 year old?
What should Yuting be doing physically, cognitively, and emotionally at this
point? How does Montessori education support typical child development?
* What else is important for you to know about Yuting’s family
at this point? (Hint: Think about all that you don’t currently know about the
family that could be helpful for you with regard to demographic information.)
* What are the major developmental milestones for a 4 year old? What should Yuting be doing physically, cognitively, and emotionally at this point? How does Montessori education support typical child development?
ReplyDeleteRon and Tom have done a wonderful job raising Yuting. They have poured into her life giving her everything that she needed to “catch-up” developmentally. Now that she is 4 years old, there are different milestones that she should be accomplishing. By age 4, Yuting’s balance should be improving so will not be falling down as much when running and playing with other kids. As a result, her running will be more controlled; she will be able to stop, turn, and run the other direction very easily. She will be able to engage in hop scotch with her friends at school because she can now hop 4 to 6 steps. Yuting will also enjoy playing ball with her parents because she can catch and throw the ball on her own. In the morning, Yuting will need less help getting ready as she should be able to brush her teeth, comb her hair, and put her clothes as she is gaining more and more gross motor skills. If Yuting’s clothes all have simple fasteners then she should be able to get undressed by herself. Yuting will also be able to go down long sets of stair, alternating feet.
Her fine motor skills should also be improving. When doing art projects, Yuting should be able to use scissors to cut out pictures. Obviously, it’s not going to be perfect, but she should be able to follow the outline of the picture. Around this age, Yuting will also learn how to hold a pencil and she will begin to start writing letters. Typically, children learn the letters in their names first. More than likely, Yuting will start writing in all capital letters. This is very normal for children to do when first learning to write. She should also be able to make bracelets and necklaces as she is learning how to string beads. During meal time, Yuting will start using the proper utensils to feed herself instead of her fingers. As she starts feeding herself with utensils, she will make less of a mess while eating.
Cognitively, Yuting’s vocabulary will have grown to 4,000 to 6,000 words. As a result of her large vocabulary, she will be able to put together short sentences with around four to five words. Around this age, Yuting will start using the past tense. She may have some difficulty with irregular words such as run. Instead of saying I ran, she might say I runned. Other than the “odd ball” English words, she should not make many past tense mistakes. Yuting will also be able express herself using facial expressions and gestures. She will also be able to read other people’s body language and figure out how they are feeling. For example, if someone has their arms crossed and their head down, Yuting may ask why they look so sad. Children this age can definitely pick up on emotions even when adults try to hide them. Academically, some strategies will start to build such as number concepts. For example, she will know that if someone says you need to eat more vegetables that means that she needs to take several additional bites. She will also start picking up on spatial cues such as your doll baby is behind the couch. Words such as big, little, tall, short, under, and above will finally make sense. As Yuting plays will children she will be able to take turns sharing toys with other kids without being reminded constantly. In school, Yuting will be able to follow simple three step instructions; please clear your desk, pick out a book, and start reading. During this phase in life, Yuting will begin to distinguish the difference in the real world and the imaginary world. Children are full of questions at this age so Ron and Tom should be prepared! Ron and Tom need to be prepared to answer a lot of questions as Yuting will be asking a lot of who, what, when, why and how types of questions. She will want more than a simple one word answer. An answer such as, “because I said so” is not good enough for them. They want deeper answers.
ReplyDeleteEmotionally, Yuting will slowly begin learning how to express her anger verbally instead of physically. Depending on the environment that Yuting lives in (family, neighbors, schools, TV, movies, etc.) she may use vulgar words to express herself. Yuting will become more aware of the self-regulation behaviors that are expected of her. However, she still may have difficulty following through and staying on task. In addition, this is an age where feelings of jealously will arise as well. She will constantly want what other kids have and she will not be content with what she has. At the same time, Yuting will be complimenting her friends on their clothes because she wants to please her friends. Since she is an only child, she may experience difficulty sharing her toys with other kids. However, when she wants to share, she will do so very generously. It all just depends on the mood that she is in. By four years old, separation anxiety will start to fade; however, when left for long periods of time, Yuting will become upset and worried about when her parents will return. Emotionally, this could be the beginning of a rough time for Yuting. Around this age, children like to pretend play and dress up. During this type of interactions with other kids, Yuting will realize that when playing “house”, most of her friends will want to have a mommy and a daddy. When playing dress up, she may dress up as a dad instead of a mom because that is all she knows. Although research says having same-sex parents doesn’t affect the child’s sexual orientation, it doesn’t mean that children won’t go through a period of confusion. After all, Yuting may have no idea what a mommy is depending on how much Ron and Tom have addressed the situation. If they have placed Yuting in social situations in which she has had female role models, then she may not go through this period of confusion however, it just depends on the social environment that she has been surrounded by. Children also enjoy playing with each other instead of playing alone. Potentially, Yuting could feel left out as the other children are playing. For example, parents may not want their child going over to Yuting’s house for a play date since her parents are homosexual. In addition, Yuting may not be invited to birthday parties because families don’t want to have to explain that Yuting has two daddies or they may feel that it would be awkward to invite homosexual parents. In other situations, if adults don’t approve of same-sex parents, they may take their feelings out on Yuting.
ReplyDeleteMontessori education is a widely used form of education that is practiced in approximately 20,000 schools around the world. Montessori works with children anywhere from birth to the age of eighteen. Montessori education is a unique form of education for children that “focuses on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development, as well as technological advancements in society” (Olaf, 2011).
ReplyDeleteMontessori’s is most common and most beneficial to the 2 ½ to 6 year old age group (perfect for Yuting).
Basically, Montessori follows the same basic rules where ever it is being taught. This includes mixed age classrooms, open blocks of work time for the students to choose their activities (from a range of choices), specialized tools and materials specifically created for the purpose of Montessori and the idea that students will discover new concepts through working individually with these materials rather than being directly taught.
The theory behind the success of Montessori schools is based on a model of human development. “First, children and developing adults engage in psychological self-construction by means of interaction with their environments. Second, children, especially under the age of six, have an innate path of psychological development” (Olaf, 2011). Montessori believed that through this type of education children would act freely and spontaneously allowing them optimal development. Montessori believed in “human tendencies” which include, but are not limited to, Self-preservation, Order, Exploration, Communication, Exactness, Repetition, Abstraction and Self-perfection. These “human tendencies” are seen as driving behavior in every stage of development, and education should respond to and facilitate their expression.
Montessori believed that there are 4 specific planes in human development that are categorized by age. In Yuting’s case, she would fall into the first plane. The first plane is directed towards children from birth to about 6. During this period, it is believed that a child undergoes much of their physical and psychological development. A child is seen as understanding concrete and sensorial concepts as they begin to explore and learn about their environment. “Children at this age have become engaged in the developmental work of psychological self-construction and building functional independence.”
What else is important for you to know about Yuting’s family at this point? (Hint: Think about all that you don’t currently know about the family that could be helpful for you with regard to demographic information.)
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that are important that we have yet to find about Yuting’s family. Some basics that will be beneficial to know in order to figure out how Yuting’s life will span out include the following:
Where does Yuting’s family live? What kind of neighborhood is it? Are they rural or in a city? How old are Rob and Tom? What ethnicity and race are they? Do they have any medical issues? Do they have friends and family that will help support Yuting while she is growing up? Will there be someone to act as a motherly figure in Yuting’s life? How do the people in their community feel about homosexuals? How does Ron and Tom’s family view homosexuals? Has their marriage arrangement divided the family?
What was Rob and Tom’s education level? Where are Rob and Tom employed? Are these jobs steady and stable? What is their annual income? Do they have enough support for Yuting? Do Rob and Tom work hours that will easily allow them to have enough time to help Yuting adapt? If not, do they have some kind of child support/day care where they can take her?
All of these things will play a large role in the person Yuting becomes. They are all important to find out because they will all greatly affect the way Yuting will be raised and the values and beliefs she will come to find. Especially at her age, all of these things will shape Yuting’s childhood and set the bar for her development.
1. Have the interactions at daycare improved her developmental milestones?
ReplyDelete2. Even though she is doing well, is she still behind and if so how far?
3. Although her parents are patient, do they interact and play with her since she is an only child?
4. How is Yuting affected by not having a female guardian to connect with?
ReplyDelete