Reflection Paper

Individual Reflection Paper

HD 426
Maura Maldonado
Pacific Oaks College

Individual Reflection Paper

The four students involved in my group presentation were Pauline, Arlene, Nancy and
myself. The first time we met during class time we decided to divide the components that were
to be included in the curriculum development, and each one of us would contribute to finding
and sharing a resource. I chose the components of, individualization of care and parent role for
the generalization of skill development and maintenance. Our age group was infants and
toddlers. Arlene is currently an infant toddler teacher and I have 3 years prior experience. We
were comfortable formulating a curriculum for this age group. Nancy and Pauline have not
worked with children younger than 3 years old and expressed their worry and doubt toward their
capabilities regarding this assignment. Arlene and I never had a doubt of their abilities and this
was proved with the content of their parts in our oral presentation. Two of us observed infants 1
year old and younger and the other two observed older toddlers. We each did our individual
research on our chosen components and our observations.
Through brief meetings after class and several group texts we were able to share our
findings and discuss how these findings fit into the development of an infant/toddler curriculum.
The 4 of us met at Panera in Glendora for our last formal group meeting. During this meeting we
discussed the children we observed and how we were going to present our individual information
and then practiced our presentation on each other. The first child I observed was a 1 year old
Caucasian male. In reflection of this observation this child was mobile. He crawled around and
pulled himself up and hung onto the edge of tables and chairs. He attempted to turn and move
one foot and then the other while letting go of what he was holding on to. He would fall onto his
bottom and then pull himself up, turn, and again move one foot at a time and then fall again. The
child would smile and crawl over to something alse and attempt this action over and over. As

different people approached he would look up at them and smile. As they greeted him or passed
by he would turn his head to follow them and bounce on his bottom with his arms extended out
to his side and flap his hands. As a staff member entered the room the child extended his arms
and she said to him, Do you want me to pick you up? The child smiled and the caregiver said,
Okay Im going to pick you up. As the caregiver picked up the child he rested his head on her
shoulder and she asked him, Are you tired? Are you ready to rest? The child continued to rest
his head on her shoulder. The care giver said, Okay, lets go rest, goodbye everyone Jami is
going to rest. As caregiver said the words, Goodbye everyone Child lifted his head and with
his hand facing backward he opened and closed his fingers.
Comparing this child to the other two 1 year old children in the classroom Jami was more
mobile and socially developed. He crawled quickly and by his repeated action of pulling himself
up and attempting to take steps showed me that he was ready to take his first steps to walk.
When he smiled as he fell onto his bottom as he let go of the security of holding the furniture,
showed me that at this young age he was confident and was already developing a positive selfesteem. His smiles and eye contact reflected that socially he was interested in what was going on
around him. Although his verbal language was very limited his body language and facial
gestures enabled him to communicate clearly.
In our book, Children with Challenging Behavior: Strategies for Reflective Thinking, by
Linda and Tom Brault, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care or PITC has a three step method of
working with infants and toddlers and developing a curriculum, Watch, Ask, and Adapt.
Watch for cues, ask the child, and adapt to whatever the childs needs are. The care giver in the
classroom did this. By speaking out loud to Jami she let him know that she understood his needs
and was there to carry out those needs.

As I completed my observation and began formulating a curriculum I realized that

whether a child has a challenging behavior or not or if they are an infant or toddler their needs
are pretty much the same. The differences are not the goals of a curriculum but how you meet
those goals for the individual child. As I move forward working with children and families I will
make more of an effort to watch for cues and practice my observation skills. Reflection and
observation are important skills to refine. The process of this group presentation has reminded
me of their importance in getting to know and understand our children and families.