A Case Study of a

Child Age 2
Claudia Govea
EDU 220-1003
Physical Behaviors

● Runs ● Likes to scribble

● Kicks ● Eats with spoon
● Climbs ● Helps to get dressed
● Throws a ball ● Can build towers with blocks
● Pull ● Starts to control bowels
● Pushes ● Bladder control occurs later in
● Rough and tumble play time
● Can manipulate small objects ● Writing utensils can be used
with hands
University of Washington (1993)
Child Development Instituted
(2015)
Typical Physical Development by Snowman
● Preschoolers can be extremely active.
● Children have good control of their bodies,
● Need rest periods throughout the day.
● Need to be provided with opportunities to run, climb, and jump.
● Large muscles are more developed.
● Can control fingers and hands.
● Avoids small motor skills.
● Front lobe of the brain grows rapidly.
● Capable of carrying simple commands.

Snowman, J. & McCown, R.

(2013)
My 2 Year Old’s Physical Behaviors/Characteristics
● The 2 year old boy that I observed is in
Preschool. He fits the characteristics of a
child of his age. The problem he is he
struggles with simple commands. Picking
up and cleaning up for him is hard. He
gets distracted when it comes to clean up.
When he plays with other children he
plays rough. He kicks and punches the
children.He will push aggressively on
other children. He causes children to get
hurt. In the classroom he is good with
building castles. He eats on his own when
lunch is served gets frustrated when he
can not hold his spoon to his mouth.
Physical Development Recommendations
● Provide lots of room for children to move his/her arms and legs around.
● Provide activities that use fingers such as: clay, blocks, finger painting, pick
up objects, stacking objects, large crayons to scribble, dressing activities.
● Provide the child toilet training strategies.

University of
Washington
(1993)
Emotional Behaviors
● Fear of separation.
● Develops anger and humor.
● Needs to develop sense of self.
● Enjoys to be praise.
● Test the power of the word “No!”
● Starts to show lots of emotions
● Fears loud noises
● Fears large animals

University of Washington (1993)

Child Development Instituted
(2015)
Typical Emotional Development by Snowman
● Children regulate their emotions. They can express their emotions and
feelings to their peers. They take actions based on how they feel. When
anger occurs they can express by shoving or screaming
● Jealousy is common among preschoolers. Especially when children are
seeking for the love and affection of a caregiver. Children are unwilling to
share the affection among their peers. This usually seen a lot in child care
homes when only one adult is present.

Snowman, J. & McCown, R.

(2013)
My 2 Year Olds Emotional
Behaviors/Characteristics
● The two year old that I observed is developing into the characteristics
appropriate for their age. He exposes angry tantrums and express his
emotions. He gets upsets when he has no attention from any of the
caregivers. He has jealousy issues when other children get praised. When
mom drops him off he seems to keep an eye and worried that his mother
will leave him. Once his mother is not in the room he will get upset throw
toys and answer No! To any question asked. Develops lots of anger with
other anger not finding a way to express his anger he throws objects to
other children and hurts the children. He likes to be center of attention to
his teachers and if no one pays attention to him he would get jealous and a
tantrum will occur.
Emotional Development Recommendations
● Provide experiences with the child where they can do it them by on their
own.
● Parents/caregivers should praise the child often.
● Be firm when following your instructions.
● Do not punish the child for expressing his/her feelings.
● Avoid situation where the child's fear can be involved. Do not force the child
to face their fears.

University of
Washington (1993)
Cognitive/Intellectual Behaviors
● Continues to learn through their senses. The child still has the curiosity.
● Has a short term span.
● Uses sentence structure with just three to four words.
● Begins to sing songs
● Learn to sing rhymes

University of
Washington (1993)
 Snowman, J. &
McCown, R. (2013)

Typical Cognitive/Intellectual Development

● Children begin to develop the
theory of mind. Where children
learn the difference between
thinking and experiencing. They
begin to predict the thoughts of
others.
● They become skillful with talking
and can have conversation. They
can be talkative but still need
help understanding to be good
listeners.
● The child thinks of themselves
before anyone else
My 2 Year Olds Cognitive
Behaviors/Characteristics
● The 2 year old that observer his cognitive and intellectual behaviors was not
quiet at the level the child was supposed to be. The has the curiosity to learn
about concepts and the world. He explores his surroundings around him. He
discovers objects and finds different ways to make the objects work. He is
not good with remembering things right away. He takes a while to
understand some concepts. He is able to distinguish between thinking about
things and goes more into experiencing and exploring. He can recognize
songs and rhymes easily. Can remember the words to songs and rhymes.
Cognitive/Intellectual Development Recommendations
● Provide sensory experiences
for the child and allow the
child to explore.
● Have limited “ no’s” to the
child.
● Don’t make the child do more
than one things in several
minutes,
● Have conversation with the
children.
● Provide rhymes and songs that
have repetition.
University of Washington
(1993)
 Psychosocial/Social Behaviors
● Still considers mother a very
important aspect in his life.
Still doubts on strangers and
does not like strangers,
● Begins to imitate adult
behaviors such as: washing,
mopping, and applying make-
up and many more.
● Can conduct activities with
others.

University of Washington (1993)

Child Development Instituted (2015)
Typical Psychosocial/Social Development by Erikson
● Children become too stable
relationships with one or two
friends. Friendships begin to develop
you can observe children to see who
they play with and spends most of
their time with.
● Play activities are important for
young children. Children are
voluntary and self-organized.
● Children show significant gender of
who they play with among their
peers.
● Awareness of gender roles at almost
late into preschool.
Snowman, J. & McCown, R. (2013)
My 2 Year Olds Psychosocial
Behaviors/Characteristics
● The two year old child that i observed has trouble playing with others. He
won't play with girls in the room. He has a friend that he imitates his
actions. He only interacts with that one child in the classroom. When the
other child is playing with others he won’t come near the child until the
child is alone. Very reserve in friendships. He likes to play a lot and imitate a
fire fighter. He will grab a hat and pretend he has a hose and will say things
like he is protecting from the fire.
Psychosocial/Social Development
Recommendations
● Do not force the child to relate to people he is unfamiliar with.
● Allow the time for child to do things on their own and explore on their own
● Provides enough social experience with other do not push for more
socialization.

University of
Washington (1993)
Moral/Character Behaviors
● Appears self-reliant and believes he can conduct tasks on their own but still
can do things on their own.\
● Not mature enough for children to conduct tasks on their own.

University of Washington
(1993)
Typical Moral/Character Development by
Kohlberg
● Children ages 2 years old are in stages 1 and 2.
● They called stage 1 and 2 called the Preconventional morality.
● Stage 1: Obedience/Punishment. They learned to distinguish the differences
between doing the right thing and avoiding the punishment.
● Stage 2: Self-Interested. Interest and rewards seem to come into the picture
now. They learned to now put the effort in for rewards instead of
punishment.

Snowman, J. & McCown, R.

(2013)
My 2 Year Olds Moral Behaviors/Characteristics
● The child i observed tend to only follow directions when there a reward
given to him. He didn’t follow directions from their caregiver. Caregiver
several times time out the child for not following directions. The child only
follow directions when there was a reward handed to him if not he would
refuse not follow instruction.
Moral/Character Development
Recommendations
● Accept the child’s limited ability to carry out promises. Let the children
express their own independences.

University of Washington
(1993)
References
● Child Development Institute. (2015). The ages and stages of child development.
Retrieved from https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/ages-and-stages-birth-to-5.pdf
● Snowman, J. & McCown, R. (2013). ED PSYCH. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning
● University of Washington. (1993). Child development: using the child
development guide. Retrieved from
http://depts.washington.edu/allcwe2/fosterparents/training/cdevguid/cdg04.htm