Developmental summary: My Virtual Child
Birth to 6 Months: This summary will be exploring my experience with creating my virtual child on MyPersonLab, and its development from birth to 6 months in the five domains found in the Excerpts from the ELECT. My Virtual Child is a program for students in the Early Childhood Education course; this program allows students to create their own virtual child. This shows participants how making decisions helps support a child’s development as well as gives them an idea of parenting. Found in the textbook Children: a chronological approach by the authors Kail, R & Zolner, T is a theory created by Jean Piaget, who believed that a child creates their own theories about life in an attempt to try to understand their surroundings at the ages of birth to 6 months (pg. 10, 2015). The information used in this summary will be from my own experience with virtual child, Research from the textbook Children: a chronological approach, Excerpts from the ELECT, and topics discussed in my early childhood development class. This information should support the development of a child from birth to 6 months in the five domains.
Social: The virtual child was cautious around new people at first but warms up to those who are friendly. Research from the textbook Children: a chronological approach shows that infants develop social skills within just a short few weeks after birth. Social smiles are when infants smile when they see another human face, and happens within 2 months after birth. After that, infants develop social referencing within about 6 months, which is when infants look to their caregiver for emotional cues on how to react to a situation (pp. 179-182, 2015 Kail,R & Zolner,T). This information supports the social skill found in the ELECT (Excerpts; pg.18, Social 1.1 Social Interest).
Emotional: The virtual child would often be hard to calm down when upset; sometimes they would accept the attention and other times push away. Sometimes infants do this because they feel like the caretaker took too long to respond. To support My Virtual Childs emotional development, singing and rocking the child occurred until they became completely calmed. As stated in the text Children: a Chronological Approach “The key to a secure attachment relationship is sensitive and responsive parenting” (pg.190, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T). The emotional domain found in the ELECT for children birth to 6 months supports 2 skills; expression of emotion (Excerpts; pg. 19, Emotional 2.1 Expression of Emotion) and self-regulation (Excerpts; pg. 19, Emotional 2.2 Self-Regulation).
Communication: The virtual Child would communicate often by signaling, which is crying to get the caretaker’s attention. Research in the text Children: a Chronological Approach shows that after 6 months, infants are able to have peer interactions. If two infants are placed in a room together, they babble, point, and show emotion as a form of communication. This information supports the communication skill found in the ELECT (Excerpts; pg. 20-21, Communication 3.1 Non-verbal Communication skills & 3.3 Expressive Language Skills).
Cognitive: The cognitive domain found in the ELECT for children birth to 6 months supports two skills such as attention regulation ad spatial exploration (Excerpts; pg. 22 4.1 Attention Regulation) and spatial exploration (Excerpts; pg. 23, 4.4 Spatial Exploration). When an infant’s attention is on an object, they are able to track the object with their eyes. Research found in the text Children: a Chronological Approach shows that newborn to 1 month mainly rely on their reflex responses, but by 4 months, infants and their reflexes learn to adapt through their experiences (pg.142, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T).  Â
Physical: Information found in the text Children: a Chronological Approach shows that infants within the first month of living can only lay in the fetal position. 6 months after birth infants are able to sit up in a high chair by themselves without help from their care giver (pg.127, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T). This information supports the physical skill found in the ELECT called gross motor skills (Excerpts; pg. 24, Physical 5.1 Gross Motor).
As an early childhood educator, supporting the development of children ages zero to six months, I would practice secure attachment as well as games where the infant is asked to copy me. This would support the development of the child’s social skills (Excerpts; pg. 18, Social 1.2 Imitation) and emotional skills (Excerpts; pg. 19, Emotional 2.2 Self-Regulation).
6 Months to 18 Months: This summary will be looking at My Virtual Child development from 6 months to 18 months in the five domains found in the Excerpts from the ELECT. A child’s most important moments of development is learning to walk alone without help from a caretaker. The figure 5-4 found in the text Children: a Chronological Approach presents a chart from zero to 15 months. This shows the stages of development that the child goes through when developing the ability to walk every month after birth to month 15 (pg.127, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T). Children use their physical skills to learn to walk on their own, but they also use the other five domains as well. All five domains support children’s development in many ways within this age group.
Social: Information gathered from the virtual child shows highly aggressive children may be quite resistant to parental demands and throw tantrums or even lash out at the parent or other children. Less aggressive children tend to be more cooperative, or to whine and fuss rather than actively resist the parent. This type of behaviour fits into the social domain found in the ELECT show (Excerpts; pg. 18, social 1.1 Social Interest). Social Interest involves many skills children develop in the social domain. Examples would be the observing of peers, seeking adults for play and attention, and much more. In the text Children: a Chronological Approach, research shows that children at the ages 6 months to 18 months practice non-social play and Parallel play. Non- social play is when a child plays by itself or watches other children play and interact with one another. Then there is Parallel play, which is when an infant plays alone but close to others while being interested in what the other children are doing (pg.196, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T).
 Emotional: Referring to the virtual Child, highly emotional children may show more of everything (anger, joy, sadness) and more fluctuation in moods. Less emotional children may show less extreme emotions and less fluctuation. At 6 to 8 month’s most infants are somewhat anxious around strangers. My virtual simulation had shown strong feelings of discomfort and separation anxiety when left with strangers. This shows use of the emotional domain (Excerpts; pg. 19, Emotional 2.1 Expression of Emotion). Furthermore, the text Children: a Chronological Approach Children around this age also develop self recognition, which is when a child recognizes themselves when looking in the mirror and being able to see what makes them unique (pg. 197, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T).
 Communication: Within this age group, children are able to develop more advanced communication skills and shortly after saying their first words, they are able to start two-word speech. Within the text Children: a Chronological Approach, it defines Telegraphic speech “talk consisting only of words directly relevant to the meaning, such as important verbs and nouns.” (pg. 250, 2015. Kail, R & Zolner, T). This information shows communication skills found in the ELECT (Excerpts; pg. 21, Communication 3.3 Expressive language skills).
Cognition: Referring to the virtual child, a child's ability to control his or her behavior, delay gratification, plan out a course of action, or inhibit responses to a typical situations is an example of self control. For example, a child with low self-control may take a cookie when asked to wait, not out of a spirit or of lack of cooperation, but just due to low impulse control. Children who are extreme on this dimension may fit typical criteria for attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. The text Children: a Chronological Approach it states “According to Piages, children’s engagement with the world helps them develop schemas, Psychological structures that organize experience.” (pg.150, 2015 Kail,R & Zolner,T). The cognitive skill found in the ELECT that support schemas is problem solving (Excerpts; pg.22, Cognitive 4.2 problem solving).
 Physical: There is a physical and mental energy level within a child. Highly active children may sleep less, be more restless, and engage in physical activity. Less active children may sleep more, enjoy quiet pastimes, and show less interest in vigorous physical activity. At this age group, children develop more advanced physical skills. According to the text Children: a Chronological Approach, 15 month old children are able to walk on their own without assistance (pg. 150, 2015. Kail, R & Zolner, T). This is a big step for these children as it gives them more freedom to explore and develop their physical skills as well as others, but in order to learn to walk they needed to learn other physicals skills first. Children start by sitting, crawling, and finally pulling up to stand on their own. These skills support the Physical domain of gross motor in the ELECT (Excerpts; pg.25, Physical 5.1 Gross Motor).
 As an early childhood educator, supporting the development of children ages 6 to 18 months, I would have children in an out-door environment with fun opticales for them to try and over come. This would support the development of children’s physical skills (Excerpts; pg. 28, Physical 5.4 Sensory Motor Integration) and cognitive skills (Excerpts; pg. 22, Cognitive , 4.2 Problem Solving).
 18 Months to 2 Years 6 Months
When the virtual child turned 19 months old, an assessment was completed to see how their development compared to other children in the same age rage. An early childhood specialist observes the child in free play with other kids and performs the testing of cognitive skills. Information from the text Children: a Chronological Approach defines Equilibration as “the process of reorganizing schemas to incorporate new information or experience.” (pg. 151, 2015. Kail, R & Zolner, T).
Social: The virtual child was slow to warm up to new situations with adults, but if they were given some time to adjust, the child usually came around. Information from the text Children: a Chronological Approach, defines stranger wariness as “signs of fear in an infant in response to an unfamiliar adult.”(pg. 181, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T). Indicators to skills can support children’s ability to adapted to strangers. To continue, an indicator for the social skill is when children begin to play following games, where they imitate their peers (excerpts; pg. 29, Social 1.3 Parallel Play)
Emotional: The specialist noted that the child seemed insecure and uncertain about some things and tended to cling too much while being hard to soothe when upset. The specialist recommended being more consistent and reliable in paying attention to the child and being more comforting and affectionate. The child was generally in a positive mood during the play sessions, but occasionally would become irritable or impatient if situations did not play out the way they expected them to. Ultimately, an indication to the Emotional skill would be when children are able to express their emotion through facial expirations (excerpts; pg. 30, Emotional 2.1 Expression of Feelings).
Communication: The virtual child had above average scores in all aspects of language development and was deemed ready to be read aloud to more frequently as they are able to follow typical, basic story lines. The examiner also noted that their memory was good and recommended frequently asking the child to recount past experiences as a way of encouraging more language growth. To continue, an indicator of the communication skill would be when children are using words, sentences, and vocabulary to use expressive language (excerpts; pg 32, Communication 3.2 Expressive language).
Cognitive: The virtual child was at age-appropriate levels when performing tasks such as building a block tower to model one made by the examiner and other spatial skills such as copying shapes, coloring within the lines and solving picture puzzles. The examiner commented that the child was able to concentrate very well during all informal testing, and if this was continuous, the child could move onto preschool-type activities, which typically requires a child to stay on task for at least 10-15 minutes. Furthermore, an indicator to the Cognition skill is when children practice spatial exploration, which is when they examine how things are put together and taken apart (excerpts; pg 33, Cognition 4.5 Spatial Exploration).
Physical: The virtual Child had highly advanced motor skills while also demonstrating physical skills (excerpts; pg. 25, Physical 5.1 Gross Motor). Examples of the gross motor skills would be walking, strength, and coordination, and an indicator to the gross motor skill of walking for children within this age group is when the child walks while unassisted. Physical skills and strength is supported by proper nutrition as it plays into a child’s energy level; if a child has low energy levels they will prefer relaxing and calm environments whereas high energy level children will be more active and sleep less.
As an early childhood educator, supporting the development of children ages 18 months to 2 years and 6 months, I would have children playing in front of a mirror as well as having them playing together. This will support the development for a child’s social skill excerpts; pg. 29, Social 1.3 Parallel Play) and cognitive skill (excerpts; pg 33, Cognition 4.5 Spatial Exploration).
2 Years 6 Months to 3 Years 6 Months:
Children develop a stronger sense of communication, literacy, and language when they fall within this age group. Information found in the text, Children: a Chronological Approach, states that children start combining certain words as well as using common verbs and adjectives to express things more clearly and accurately. The children are also developing a sense of using simple sentences, compound sentences, and engaging themselves in pretend games while using language skills (pg. 249-254, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T). For example, when children are in pretend play, they express how the game works through verbal instructions and cues as well as hand gestures and objects found within their environment.
Social: Social interest is one of the most common skills used by children within this age group. Social interest involves the excerption of the peers and the attempt to imitate them. Furthermore, another indicator of this skill is when children begin to play following games, where they imitate their peers (Excerpts; pg. 29, Social 1.1 Social Interest). Information from the text shows that children around the ages of 18 months have a general idea of the use on complex emotions and facial expressions (pg. 179-183, 2015 Kail, R & Zolner, T).
Emotional: Within this age group, children experience the development of expression of emotion, which is expressing aggressive feelings and behaviour and expressing language in pretend play. The emotional skills found in the ELECT from ages fourteen months to three years are the expression of feeling and self-regulation (Excerpts; pg. 30, emotional 2.1 Social Expression of Feelings & 2.2 self regulation).
Communication: Communication at this age is the real start to a child’s language and literacy skills. The communication skills found in the elect from ages fourteen months to three years are receptive languages and Expressive language (Excerpts; pg. 32, communication 3.1 Receptive Language & 3.2 Expressive language). Information from the text shows that you need effective speaking and listening skills when iterating with young children (pg. 258-259, 2015. Kail, R & Zolner, T).
Cognitive: The virtual had very well developed cognitive skills. Some of the indications to these skills display by my virtual child would be solving problem by the use f trial and error, exploring the functions of objects and toys, and using tools to push the exploration and use of objects. The cognitive skill found in the ELECT are problem solving (Excerpts; pg. 33, Cognitive 4.2 Problem Solving), cause and effect of exploration (Excerpts; pg. 33, Cognitive 4.3 Cause and Effect Exploration), and spatial problem solving (Excerpts; pg.33, Cognitive 4.5 Spatial problem solving). Â
Physical: At the age of three, children are able to explore their environment even more through the enhanced motor skills that are developed. The physical skills found in the ELECT from ages fourteen months to 3 years are gross motor skills (Excerpts; pg. 35, Physical 5.1 Gross Motor), fine motor skills (Excerpts; pg. 35, physical 5.2 Fine Motor), and senses (Excerpts; pg.36, Physical 5.3 Senses).
As an early childhood educator, supporting the development of children ages 2 years and 6 to 3 years and 6 month’s, I would have children engage in short group activities that involve looking at books and the picture and talking about what they think the book will be about. This will support the development for a child’s social skill (excerpts; pg. 29, Social 1.1 Social Interest) and communication skills (excerpts; pg 32, Communication 3.2 Expressive Language).
3 Years 6 Months to 5 years: My virtual child went to a kindergarten prep session in the summer before they attended kindergarten. This gave them more experience with group activities with other children and individual work that supports the learning and understanding of letters and numbers.
 Social: My virtual child was very shy and liked to work and play by them self when having the option to work alone or in a group.  There are three skills within the ELECT that relate to my virtual child’s the development of new skills well they experience kindergarten for the first time. Those skills are Co-operating (Excerpts; pg 38, Social 1.6 Co-Operating), empathy (Excerpts; pg 38, Social 1.7 Empathy), and interacting with adults (Excerpts; pg 39, Social 1.9 Interacting with Adults). Within the text it shows that counterimition and disinbition is used when children are learning though observing (pg. 151, 2015. Kail, R & Zolner, T).
Emotional: Within this age group, children develop many important emotional skills that are used as the enter kindergarten. Some of these skills are Self-esteem (Excerpts; pg. 40, Emotional 2.3 Self-Esteem) and concept (Excerpts; pg. 40, Emotional 2.1 Self Concept).
Communication: My virtual child could read a few short words, write his name and could name most of the letters on sight at the time of testing. Looking at these skills as indicators communication skill, this would when my virtual child is able to write and understand most words when directed by an educator (Excerpts; pg. 45, Communication 3.14 Beginning to Write Letters of the Alphabet and Some High- frequency words).
Cognitive: My virtual child was very interested and art projects and problem solving projects that challenged there cognitive skills. These skill indicators for the cognition domain are connected to many skills children develop when entering three to five years of age. These skills are problem solving (Excerpts; pg 46, Cognition, 4.2 Problem Solving), questioning (Excerpts; pg. 47, Cognition 4.4 Questioning), and reasoning logically (Excerpts; pg. 48, Cognition 4.9 Reasoning Logically).
Physical: My virtual child gross motor skills are above average when compared to other children their age, for example, climbing, riding on tricycles, kicking balls and playing catch. Children by that age of five have developed many physical skills. Some would be the increasing levels of activities and endurance (Excerpts; pg. 52, Physical 5.1 Increasing Levels of Activity an, Endurance, and Variation in Types of Activity and Skills), gross motor skills (Excerpts; pg. 52, Physical 5.2 Gross Motor Skills), and fine motor skills (Excerpts; pg. 54, Physical 5.3 Fine Motor
As an early childhood educator, supporting the development of children 3 years and 6 month’s to 5 years, I would have children engage in out-door group activates that involve the children working together to make a fort. This will support the development for a child’s social skill, (excerpts; pg. 37, Social 1.2 Conflict Resolution and Social Problem Solving Skills), communication skills (excerpts; pg. 42, Communication 3.1 Using Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication), and cognitive skills (excerpts; pg. 46, Cognition 4.2 Problem Solving).
 References
Best Start Expert Panel on Early Learning (2014) Excerpts from “ELECT”. Queen’s Printer for Ontario
My Virtual Child, My Development Lab (2012) (2014) Pearson
Kail,R & Zolner,T. (2014) Children: a chronological approach (4th edition.)Toronto, ON: Pearson