Parents, teachers, childcare workers and psychologists observe children's behavior as part of their job or relationship. Behavior checklists document their observations along several dimensions of normal development and presence of inappropriate behaviors. Assessment of skill level and identification of potential problems occurs by comparing behavior observations with normal or average behaviors of same-age children. You can complete a behavior checklist based on real-time observations or anecdotal memory of events.
Social
Behavior checklists of social skills consider how a child interacts with peers, parents and authority figures. Normal social behaviors for children through age five include smiling, sharing, cooperative play, emulating adult behaviors and willingness to obey commands. The Child Behavior Checklist, or CBCL, a commonly used checklist developed by Thomas M. Achenbach, uses parent reports of the presence and frequency of various social behaviors considered problematic.
On the CBCL, parents score each of 100 behaviors as not true of their child, true sometimes, or often true. Examples include statements such as "avoids looking others in the eye,""cruel to animals" and "withdrawn does not interact with others."
Other assessment tools that use children's behavior checklists include the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, the California Preschool Social Competency Scale and Burks' Behavior Rating Scales.
Language
Behavior checklists remain frequent methods of developmental assessment for language skills in pre-school children. Observers consider speaking and listening skills such as using words to represent objects, putting two or more words together iin sentences and following simple instructions. Standardized tests become the method of choice to assess language skills of school-aged children.
The Child Development Institute suggests that normally developing children speak their first word before age 1 and have a vocabulary of more than 200 words by age 2. Complete sentences begin by age 3. Beginning before age 2 and becoming more skilled through pre-school years, children can follow commands and understand stories. Behavior checklists of language skills should include observations of children talking to themselves or inanimate objects and verbal interaction with peers and with adults.
Motor
Developmental psychologists, teachers and physical therapists divide motor skills into gross or large muscle skills and fine motor skills. Assessment of motor skills includes recording parent and teacher observations and using developmental checklists. Gross motor skills on the checklist include walking, running, kicking balls, using stairs and jumping. Fine motor skills require facility with small hand movements such as holding a pencil or crayon, cutting with scissors, building block towers, drawing, using fork and spoon, buttoning and tying shoelaces.
References
- North Central Regional Educational Laboratory: Methods for Observing and Recording
- University of Michigan: Child Behavior Checklist
- LD Online: Assessments for Young Children
- Child Development Institute: Normal Stages of Human Development
- University of Michigan Health System: Developmental Milestones
