Recording an observation what should you consider? and write an observation about larry's situation.

[+Jasmine+]

Hi, I am struggling a little bit on this question. May I please get some help?

Question one: what are the four (4)indicators that the educator should consider when recording her observations?

My answer:
1. Use professional judgement
2. Take a reasonable level of care
3. Act according to your skill and knowledge levels
4. Work within the service policies

Question two:4. Educators are legally and morally bound to report if they have a reasonable suspicion of risk of harm that can be substantiated by recorded observations. Each service should have in place a child protection policy that clearly identifies reporting procedure. Locate a service policy and write an observation about Larry’s situation according to the guidelines of the policy. These observations would be available to the authorities if necessary.

(Larry Rainbow (4yrs born on 16th of August 2010) has just started attending Skittles Family Day-care 5 days a week and wears the same clothes often for 4 or 5 days in a row. His clothes show evidence of the painting activities done the day before and are quite smelly. The educator attempts to change him but finds no spare clothes in his bag.
Educator uses centre spare clothes to change Larry and finds multiple sized bruises on his upper right thigh and a large bruise on the left side of his ribs.
He is always the first to sit at the table waiting for his lunch and always says he is hungry. He has little food supplied daily in his lunch box despite asking his parents for extra food to satisfy the minimum daily requirements for nutrition and also to satisfy his hunger. On many occasions when his mum rushes in to drop him off in the morning, she says that there was no time for breakfast but that he can wait for morning tea which is not far away. The educator then supplies him with some toast anyways. As Larry is eating his toast he complains about a sore right wrist. Upon educator looking at his wrist believes it to be broken due to colouring and severe swelling.
The educator is sitting at morning tea with the children and starts talking about what the children do when they go home. Some of the children say they sit and watch TV and then have dinner. Others say they have to have a shower or bath and put their pyjamas on while mummy cooks their dinner. It is at this point that Larry says he never has to have baths, he just plays in his room and sometimes gets to choose biscuits for dinner time. The educator decides to not further question Larry at the morning tea table but later talks to Larry when he is at the painting table by himself and asks what sorts of things he has for dinner. Larry again repeats what he said earlier and further explains that he gets to have spaghetti sometimes which is his favourite but mostly has sandwiches and sometimes gets left over take away if mummy doesn’t eat it all. At all times the educator responded with nods and was aware of ensuring positive body language.When the educator checks Larry’s record she finds that he lives in unit 5/230 Brisbane Street, Neverland. She is also reminded that Larry’s mother is a single parent and is not currently employed and is behind on payments for care by 4 weeks. His file has other information such as Larry has a pet fish called Robert and has one cousin that lives nearby but no siblings. She has also observed that Larry loves painting and other craft activities but has difficulty identifying and remembering his colours.)

- I am not sure about how to approach this, nor write one for that fact. As i currently don't have a placement I can not look either. Any help would be appreciated.

[Lorina]

For your first question I think you're on the right track!

As for your second question see if the following helps:

Recording Child Abuse
Protecting Children
Child Protection Policy

,
Lorina