My observation began on Saturday Feb 1, 2003 between 3:20- 4:20 p.m. in my home, of my subject by the name of Byronne, a two year old African American child whose birth date is November 27, 2000. For the purpose of this observation and for community service hours for a CARES class in which she is enrolled, my daughter Sarah,17, was interacting with Kyonne. Bryonne was, only one week prior, removed from her biological home and placed in our home due to neglect. This information is relevant to the developmental status of the child.

• 3:20 The observation began when Sarah was engaging Bryonne in play with puzzles.

• 3:25: Bryonne attempted to round up all of the pieces and put them in her lap. Sarah had to assist her because as she placed the pieces in her lap when she reached for others the pieces in her lap scattered. Sarah placed the remaining pieces in Bryonne’s lap and Bryonne selected her first piece. She picked up the letter R and began to put it in the L space, and it did not work there so she tried the M space and then the A space. She could not locate the appropriate space for the letter so Sarah showed her where it went. Bryonne was not happy about that because she was exhibiting displeasure that she could not do it independently. Bryonne selected another letter and tried the same trial and error process with this letter and again to no avail. Sarah pointed to the space where the letter needed to go and Bryonne still could not put the letter in the puzzle. Sarah demonstrated that she needed to turn the letter several time until if fit. Bryonne again was not happy about Sarah’s demonstration.

• 3:30 Bryonne selected another puzzle piece and this time she used the strategy that Sarah showed her so even though displeased she accommodated the new information. The problem was that she turned the piece several times but she was trying to put it into the wrong letter space. It was obvious that she was getting frustrated with these attempts so Sarah said, "Look Bryonne, the letter looks like this space." "See" and again Sarah put the puzzle piece in its proper place. This time Bryonne giggled, with pleasure. Sarah says you can do it too Bryonne.

• 3:35 By this time Sarah could see Bryonne becoming restless and focusing less on the puzzle and more on the TV. Sarah picked up the letter A and showed Bryonne where it needed to go but did not place it in the puzzle. Bryonne after several tries and turning the puzzle piece went to the next space and tried it there, and Sarah showed her again where it belonged. Bryonne turned the piece and then flipped it upside down but she could not quite get the concept of turning it until it matched the direction of the space. Sarah picked up Bryonne’s hand and turned it until it fit. Bryonne was very happy with this accomplished and she squealed with delight.

• 3:40 Bryonne picked up another piece on her own and tried to fit it into the puzzle and she turned it then went on to the next space and when it didn’t fit she turned it and put it into another space. Sarah could see that this was getting frustrating for Bryonne so she suggested another puzzle. The puzzle selection that Sarah made was one which was just a magnetic slate with a farm motif, and animals and characters that could be easily placed on the slate but did not have to fit into a particular slot. Bryonne was delighted with this puzzle. She giggled and said "Horsey" when she picked up the horse, and MOO when she picked up the cow, and Kitty when she picked up the cat. Because the pieces were magnetic Sarah had to assist Bryonne in taking them off the slate. She placed them on the snack tray and Bryonne began to put them where she wanted on the farm. Sarah tells her what a good job she is doing. Bryonne smiles.

• 3:45 Bryonne engaged in placing animals on the slate for 10 minutes and recognized top and bottom and up and down concepts when placing them. She did not put the animals upside down, she placed them right side up. She put all of the animals all together on the slate randomly and then she took them off and put them all back on. She was able to manipulate the pieces with ease because they were not too small for level of fine motor development. She only momentarily glanced at the TV when the music became loud and then went right back to playing with her puzzle.

• 3:50 Bryonne continues to place the puzzle pieces on the slate Sarah interjects periodically and tells her what a good job she is doing.

• 3:55 Bryonne has a sudden urge to go to the bathroom and say "Pee Pee". Sarah quickly removes the pieces from her lap that she has dropped and takes her to the bathroom. In the meantime my husband comes home and sits down in the chair that Bryonne occupied and changed the movie to TV.

• 4:00 Bryonne needs assistance in the bathroom with unbuttoning her jeans and she needs support not to fall in the toilet. After pottying and washing our hands Bryonne returns to the living room and discovers that her place has been taken. She begins to cry and my husband is sympathetic and moves out of her spot. He replaces her Lion King video and she begins to immediately smile. Bryonne reaches for the table but it is too tall for her and Sarah tells her to sit in the chair and she will put the table up close to her. Bryonne complies and begins to work on the farm puzzle again.

• 4:05 Bryonne tires of the puzzle and says "Aa" "Aa" and reaches out for another puzzle. Sarah asks "Do you want another puzzle?" and Bryonne shakes her head affirmatively. Sarah says: "Then say, May I have a puzzle please?", a technique that I used when Sarah was a little girl. ( Sarah is our adopted daughter. She was a former Child Protective Services removal) Bryonne responds with something that sounds close to what Sarah wants to hear so she gives her the Clock puzzle. The clock puzzle is less difficult than the alphabet puzzle in that it has placed that the pieces belong but far fewer pieces. Bryonne picks up the number 9 and tries to place it as she did with the alphabet puzzle but she turns it and then moves to another space, and repeats this several times. Sarah directs her to the correct place but she has to turn the piece. Sarah reiterates" Look at the piece, Now find a place that looks like the piece." Bryonne looks at Sarah rather bewildered as if Sarah were speaking another language. Sarah repeats, Bryonne begins to pout, and Sarah tells her not to cry just a little more firmly. Bryonne stops pouting and tries the piece in three or four different ways and finally accomplishes success. She claps her hands and squeals with delight. Sarah Say, " Good Job Bryonne"

• 4:10 Bryonne selects another piece, this time it is the 6, Sarah guides her with her hand and says, " does it look like this. No-oh" in an animated fashion, then she takes her hand again and looks at the piece and looks at the space and repeats the same action. Now Bryonne thinks it if funny and she laughs at how Sarah is acting. Finally she gets to the place where it belongs and the answer this time is "yeh es " and again Bryonne is pleased. Bryonne selects another piece and I can tell that Sarah allows her to make mistakes on her own this time. Bryonne turns and moves and turns and moves the piece and this time looks at it an looks at the space, and more trial and error but finally places the 1 in its space. This makes Bryonne happy.

• 4:15 Bryonne begins to squirm in the chair, and looks up at the TV, and throws the pieces on the floor and Sarah makes her pick them up. Bryonne is not happy about this activity but together they pick up the pieces and Bryonne throws them on the floor again, so this time Sarah makes her pick them up by herself. Bryonne is really not happy about having to do this by herself but she does and Sarah tells her that she is going to play with her later. Bryonne does not like the fact that the activity is at an end and she starts to cry. Sarah comforts her and tells her its ok and that they will play later. Bryonne becomes engaged in the Lion King again.

• 4:20 Observation complete

The observation yielded evidence that enabled me to code for the following: areas:

• Sarah demonstrated a reduction of steps when she discovered that Bryonne had too many choices. She limited those choices by placing Bryonne’s hand close to the space where the piece belonged thus allowing Bryonne to proceed from that point to solve an element of the problem rather than the full spectrum of problems which were advanced of her problem solving capabilities.
• .Sarah demonstrated this behavior again when she chose a second, more developmentally appropriate, puzzle for Bryonne, after the initial engagement phase had taken place. Sarah selected a puzzle that was thematically closer to her level of development.
• Sarah demonstrates this when she asks Bryonne to look at the piece and find a space that looks the same. Sarah doesn’t realize that her visual discrimination skills are not at that point yet but she challenges her to try.

• Sarah positively reinforces Bryonne’s attempts to problem solve by telling her that she has done a good job but does not overuse her praise of the activities.
• She exhibits this behavior when she comforts Bryonne at the end of the activity and tells her that they will play again later, and returns her attention to the video on TV.
• Sarah is taking direction of the activity when she recognizes frustration and changes to another more suitable activity.
• When Bryonne finally succeeds on her own to accomplish the task Sarah praises her.

• Sarah demonstrated this when she recognized Bryonne’s difficulty in completing the task when she took the puzzle piece with Bryonne’s hand and remarked, " Does it look like this ?" "NO oh." " Does it look like this?" Yeh es." She was trying to show Bryonne a problem solving solution so that Bryonne would recognize the ideal solution.
• Sarah redirects Bryonne when she uses non-verbal cues and says "Ah ah", instead of verbalizing what she wants. Sarah models an appropriate way of asking for something.
• When Sarah watches Bryonne turn the pieces but then moves them instead of doing multiple turns in the same space, she guides her hand to stay in the same place and to turn it until it fits.
• Sarah exhibits this again when she says to Bryonne, "See, it looks like this space." She is modeling the ideal solution for her.

• Initially when Sarah sees that Bryonne is having a difficult time holding the pieces of the puzzle and also trying to pick up other pieces. She assists Bryonne by taking some of the puzzle pieces.
• Sarah anticipates Bryonne’s need for assistance in unbottoning her pants so she helps her before frustration sets in.
• Sarah anticipates that Bryonne is getting frustrated when she throws the pieces of the puzzle on the floor and Sarah helps her pick them up. Sarah realizes that it is not frustration when Bryonne throws the pieces on the floor for the second time and Sarah does not assist her this time.
• When Sarah recognizes that the alphabet puzzle is too difficult she selects a puzzle with no confines that will allow Bryonne to place them in any space which. This allows Bryonne freedom of choice yet success in the activity.
• When Sarah guides her to the right direction to place the piece, close to the end of the observation, and allows her to then take risks in placing it correctly.

• The complexity of the tasks that Bryonne self selected was readily recognized by Sarah when Bryonne began to whine and become annoyed when she could not accomplish the task with the alphabet puzzle. Sarah moved her hand ,in this instance, to control frustration so that the risks that Bryonne took would yield positive results rather than a sense of failure or feelings of inadequacy.

This observation provided information about how a scaffolded relationship between a caregiver and child can produce accommodation and assimilation of new learning experiences. The observation demonstrated the effects of non-threatening risk taking when a child engages in exploration and how scaffolding presents a safe environment for the child to grow intellectually. The gradual release of responsibility from the care-giver to the child allowed for the child to sequentially progress through the developmental process.

The child was receptive to the play situation and was engaged very quickly. The child recognized her limitations and expressed those limitations in the rudimentary way that was available to her at her age.

She was engaged in activity willing to take risks even at a much higher level than she was ready to accomplish because of the supports that the care-giver was offering. When the care-giver recognized the incongruity between the child’s ability and the level of play she swiftly changed the activity to better suit the child’s needs.

Positive reinforcement was used to motivate but not to the point of becoming ineffective and meaningless to the child. The child responded to the reinforcement by continuing to take risks and venturing ahead with new learning experiences. The care-giver modeled play by guiding the child but not taking over the activity allowing the child to still be an integral part of the activity. Lessening the degree of complexity of the problem was an effective method of continuing to engage the child. In a trial and error fashion the child slowly accommodated the new information and slotted it into her existing schema present in past puzzle situations. Although, because of the background of the child, the observer has no knowledge of what puzzle play she had experienced in the past, but her demonstration indicated that she had prior knowledge of the puzzle activity. When the care-giver reduced the difficulty of the task she chose a puzzle that she thought would be more appropriate, which was the lowest level of puzzles that she had available to her. She worked with the child from both ends of the spectrum knowing that when the child self selected that the choice was way past her confidence level. She ended with an activity that was in the mid-developmental range because she recognized that the second choice was no challenge to the child.

Whenever frustration emerged, the care-giver would scaffold at that point and take a greater part of the responsibility of the task. The care-giver modeled appropriate verbal language when the child wanted to use non-verbal cues. The care giver modeled formative steps to take when trying to problem solve and armed the child with strategies to try when confronted with a problem situation.

This observer’s conclusion from the field data and the coding analysis is that scaffolded instruction provides for a very suitable model by which children can learn, feel safe, take risks, progress developmentally and strive toward the ideal solution to a problem. Scaffolding gives children the security of a safety net yet allow them to take charge of their own learning. The care giver’s role in a scaffolded instructional setting is a critical balance that takes a great deal of finesse to maintain. Too much assistance can be detrimental to development, and not enough can produce feelings of failure. The care-giver must know the limitations of the child and work from her strengths to achieve mastery of her challenges.