The child I choose to observe for this case study is a five year old female and I have called her Kate for the purposes of this report. Kate has a MArch Birthday and will turn 6 in 2014.

I choose Kate for this study because right away I noticed this sweet, beautiful little girl had some interesting behavior patterns that I wanted to learn more about.

Upon first meeting Kate I could tell she was a sweet little girl. Often, wether it be a question or a random revelation, she comes to me and says "uh, can I tell you sumtin?" Although often the things she is thinking about have nothing to do with what is going on around her nor the content of the lessons we are working on. I could tell early on that Kate had trouble remembering the routine and based on early assessments she also struggled with letter recognition and phonological awareness.

Microsystem- I was able to meet her mother, the stepfather, and Kate’s biological Dad. Dad lives in Texas but Kate sees him about every other weekend. The father was very adamant about being involved and keeping in touch with me about Kate’s progress. At back to school night I was able to talk more with the mom and step father and learn that there seemed to be a good relationship built and a shared concern for Kate and her progress.
Others around Kate in her microsystem include the 20 students in our class and our greater school community. Kate is in contact daily with teachers from gym, music, computer, and also sees the reading specialist daily.

Mesosystem- Kate and her family live in the Claremore community and attend church weekly. Mom does not work so she picks Kate up from school daily. Kate's mom is also our homeroom parent and has done an amazing job planning our parties thus far in class.
Exosystem- includes extended family members and even members from sides of her stepdads family.

Macrosystem- her families’ cultural values, dominant beliefs and attitudes and ideologies. I do not have enough contact with her family and these aspects of her life but can imagine that having a religious background and being involved with the school and community influence Kate in a positive way at this level.

Kate's physical development compared to normal developing children of her age is right on target. Based on writing samples Kate has already developed her fine motor skills and can form her letters very neatly and with control. On the playground I have observed Kate running, jumping, and climbing, and skipping.

Normative development for this age puts Kate in Piaget's preoperational stage for cognitive development. These characteristics have been apparent as I have observed Kate during center time, lessons, independent work and while working with her on intervention strategies. In my field notes many examples from this stage came to light. Kate still uses perception based thinking. While doing a unit on estimation she points to the plate of bears that is spread out as having more. She also is very unidimensional when thinking about ways to sort objects.

I believe Kate has a very playful disposition. On the playground and during free time in class she often pretends like she is some type of animal; most often a lion or cat.

Based on my observations of her in the dramatic play area and watching her interact with others I would have to say that she is developing dispositions such as confidence and courage.

After my observations and intensive interventions Kate has made great strides. She has come into my class developing many strong dispositions such as curiosity, persistence, playfulness, imagination, confidence, and courage. Interactions with those in her immediate environment as well as those further out in the Ecology Model seem to be influencing Kate in a positive and supporting way that has helped her grow, learn, and develop.

My recommendations for Kate include continuing intensive intervention daily. I believe it is important to her progress that she continues to see the reading specialist to get support with the specific skills she is behind on (segmenting/blending/fluency).

I also believe it is important for her to get continued intervention within my classroom. I will continue to pull Kate daily in small group or individually to provide instruction and monitor her progress toward mastery of literacy skills. During conferences I was able to also recommend after school tutoring for Kate.

Recommendations for her attention include continuing to model behaviors by talking about whats going on around her to help her become more aware. I will also continue using a daily picture schedule in the classroom to help her internalize what is coming next and be able to connect it to what just happened.

I feel Kate will always need to have helpful reminders to help her mind get back on track. I believe by continuing interventions and fostering her developing dispositions, Kate will be able to develop to her fullest potential.