Naturalistic observation

The observation of a child's movement behaviours in an unstructured environment is one of the key components of the paediatic assessment. This observation provides an authentic insight into the child's ability to interact with his or her environment, social responses, communication abilities and cognition.

Activity

From your knowledge of typical infant development, what key behaviours would you be looking from in your observation of infants over the first year?

In-class viewing of typical and atypical motor behaviours

While watching a few minutes of this video, compare the movement abilities of this baby and older child with Angelman's syndrome.