Seeing Young Children is an extensive guide to observing and recording the behavior of children from birth, through age eight. General guidelines for observing children and how to interpret observations, the implementation of findings, and ongoing evaluation are included. Detailed discussions of nine recording techniques or instruments, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are covered. Observation exercises are found throughout to test skills. Specific by age group, each chapter provides readers with observation objectives, instructions as to procedure, and background information on many functional areas.

Table of Contents

Preface. Chapter 1: Introduction. Chapter 2: An Introduction to Growth and Development. Chapter 3: General Guidelines for Observing Children. Chapter 4: Methods, Behavior, Plans, and Contexts. Chapter 5: An Introduction to Observation and Recording Methods. Chapter 6: Narrative Descriptions. Chapter 7: Time Sampling. Chapter 8: Event Sampling. Chapter 9: Diary Description. Chapter 10: Anecdotal Records. Chapter 11: Frequency Counts or Duration Records. Chapter 12: Checklists and Rating Scales. Chapter 13: Application: Recording Methods in Action. Chapter 14: Interpretation of Observations, Implementation of Findings, and Ongoing Evaluation. Chapter 15: Observing the Newborn: Birth to One Month. Chapter 16: Observing the Infant: One to Twenty-Four Months. Chapter 17: The Young Child: Ages Two through Five. Chapter 18: The School-Age Years: The Six Year Old Child. Chapter 19: The School-Age Years: The Seven and Eight Year Old Child. Appendices. Glossary. References. Annotated Bibliography. Index.

Reviews

"I really like the way that Bentzen has added more examples of observations within each chapter and how he has made more comparisons across methods in each chapter as well. I also like the addition of "Florence's thinking" throughout various chapters." - Tisha Bennett Sanders, Ed.D., Vanderbilt University, Tennessee