Painting Activity Analysis

The subject completed the activity of painting on a Monday afternoon. It was a hot fall afternoon in Miami Lakes, Florida when I arrived at the subject’s home. I pulled up to the driveway of a sizeable white house. The house had a big beautiful tree directly in front of it, which shaded the driveway and gave it a charming feel. I arrived at the front door of her two-story house at approximately 4:25pm and rang the doorbell. The door opened and I was instantly flushed with a sweet vanilla scent, coming from a candle and was greeted by the subject’s mother.

The house was tidy and had a warm, welcoming feel. Upon entering the front door, I saw the subject’s book bag and school shoes scattered near the staircase. The next thing I knew, a medium sized dog, which appeared to be a mutt, was jumping at my legs and licking my feet. The subject’s mother guided me toward the kitchen, where the activity was to take place.

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As I walked past the staircase through a narrow hallway, I noticed many family photos on the off-white walls. The kitchen was large in size, with white shaker cabinets and white quartz countertops. There was a large island in the center with a couple bags of groceries waiting to be put away. Across from the kitchen island was a grand wooden table with one bench and four upholstered chairs. The subject was sitting on the bench eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when she looked up and greeted me with a smile.

Behind the table was a large window looking out into the backyard. Through the window I could see a raised garden bed with herbs overflowing out of it and in the far left corner appeared to be a tree house with a swing set and a slide.

The subject will be painting freely. She will have to gather all of the necessary materials, including paper, paint jars and paintbrushes. The subject will also need to gather precautionary supplies to ensure that the surrounding area does not get dirty or stained with paint, as well as an apron to protect her clothing. The paper comes in a pad and is 12 inches by 18 inches in size. The paint comes in plastic jugs, 4 fluid ounces each, ranging in colors from blue, red, green, yellow, white, black, pink, orange, purple and brown. The subject will be using her hands as well as paintbrushes to paint freely. The paintbrushes come in five different sizes, ranging in thickness. The subject will have to put down a large, white plastic tarp to protect the wooden table and her dusty pink apron, stained with paint from previous paintings, will protect her clothing.

The subject starts off by walking to her bedroom, which is on the second level of the house. She climbs up the staircase and enters her bedroom where she crouches down and pulls out a storage bin from underneath her bed. The storage bin contains the jugs of paint and the paintbrushes. The paint and brushes are in a tote bag. The subject grabs the bag and sets it on the floor beside her. Next, the subject walks over to her closet and reaches for the pad of paper on one of the shelves. The subject chooses to organize the materials by placing the paper inside of the tote bag with the paint and brushes and transports the materials back downstairs to the kitchen. The subject’s mother hands her the plastic tarp and asks her to clear the dining room table and set the tarp down. The subject grabs her plate and cup and hands it to her mother. The subject then unfolds the tarp and positions it on the table. The subject then fills a plastic cup with water from the refrigerator and sets it on the table. The subject’s mother hands the subjects her apron and ties it in the back for her.

The subject is now sitting up right on the bench with her feet hanging. She is at a 90- degree angle and both elbows are propped up on the table. She sets the materials out in front of her, organizing the paint jugs to the left of her and the paper pad directly in front of her. She begins the painting process by gripping the paint jugs and uses a pincer grasp to pull the tops open. She flips the bottles upside down and stabilizes them using both hands to squeeze a dollop of each color on a paper plate. The subject then grabs one paintbrush with her right hand and handles it until she finds a comfortable grasp on it. She dips the paintbrush into the brown color and lifts it back up and onto the paper. She continues this process, flowing with the paintbrush in her right hand and stabilizing the paper with her left hand. The subject is demonstrating coordination skills while using both hands to manipulate the paper and the paintbrush. The subject then dips her thumb into the color pink and uses a stamping motion to dot the paper with paint. The subject goes back to the paintbrush and grasps it. She dips the brush in the water to remove the paint on it and then dips into the color green. As she is painting, she realizes that the brush is too thin and grabs a thicker one. The subject continues to stabilize the paper so it does not move with her left hand and uses her right hand to grasp the paintbrush and apply the paint. During the whole process the subject is very attentive and engaged. When the subject was satisfied with her painting she dipped her fingers in the water cup to remove the paint and used a napkin to dry them. The subject was able to restore the area back to normal by successfully cleaning up and returning the materials to their place.

The subject demonstrated a few behaviors that I could relate to one theory from the affective, cognitive and psychomotor domains. For the affective domain, I chose to elaborate on Erik Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory. Erikson’s theory is unique because it is one of the few theories that covers the entire lifespan of a human. Erikson viewed human development as a series of problems that must be solved (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). There are eight stages of development. According to Erikson’s life stages, stage three, Initiative vs. Guilt, occurs around the ages of 3 to 5 years old (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). In this stage, the child will begin to be more creative in play. They will start to construct things, create things and be imaginative (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). I found this to directly relate to my activity analysis because it was a creative activity. The subject had full reign over what she wanted to paint and she was given no direction. The subject demonstrated her ability to be imaginative and think of an image in her head that she wanted to put on paper. This situation clearly supports Erikson’s stage 3 because of her ability to construct a painting during a playful activity that she enjoys.

Next, I chose Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development theory. Vygotsky’s theory states, “that to understand cognitive development, we need to evaluate what is significant in the cultural milieu in which the child is living” (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). Vygotsky used the term zone of proximal development to describe how skill development beings, using assistance from others and assistance provided by oneself. Scaffolding is what the assistance and support from others is known as. Scaffolding is the first stage in skill development, followed by assistance provided by self, internalization and habit formation and recursiveness (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). I can relate my observation of the subject’s ability to set up and clean up the area to this theory. The subject was provided assistance from her mother to lay the plastic tarp down, put her apron on, gather the materials to put them back where they belong, wash her hands, etc. These set up and clean up tasks are skills that the subject will acquire and master with time. The mother providing the child with assistance is allowing the subject to form good habits, which will eventually become an automatic process.

Lastly, I chose Paul Fitts and Michael Posner’s stage theories. Fitts and Posner identified three stages of motor learning: cognitive, associative, and autonomous (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). The cognitive stage is the first step in motor learning. It is characterized by verbal cues. The subject in this stage will often recite the steps of the task while completing it. Next, follows the associative stage. This stage is characterized by feedback and education from others. Lastly, is the autonomous stage, when the skill becomes automatic and is done with little to no thought process (Cronin & Mandich, 2016). I observed the cognitive stage in my subject as she was gathering materials and painting. I noticed that the subject would narrate as she was transporting the arts and crafts supplies from her bedroom to the dining room table. Additionally, the subject would say things like “I am going to grab this brush and dip it in the green to make grass.”

I found this experience to be very fulfilling and eye opening. I learned how much we, as humans, use our hands. Even the simplest tasks require many skills when they are broken down. Before I started the activity analysis I thought that my subject would be difficult to observe, since she is just five years old. Surprisingly, she was very engaged the entire time and gave all of her attention to the task at hand. I think that this was because I chose an activity that she enjoys. I now understand the importance of choosing an activity that the subject enjoys, for that reason. Especially, if the child is very young and their attention span is not too long, it would be difficult to observe that child completing one single task. My preconceived ideas about how sporadic my subject would be while I was trying to observe, changed almost immediately. It was not until I started to sit down, write my paper and re-watch the recording of my activity that I really got to see the theories come to life. When I was there, I was more focused on being in the moment, rather than connecting the subject’s behaviors to theories. However, after watching the recording a few times and reading the textbook, I was able to easily spot behaviors that resembled the different theories. It was extremely neat to see the theories come to life. This experience has strengthened my desire to become an OTA because I enjoyed the process of the activity analysis and this activity only made me more excited for what’s to come. I enjoy critical thinking and I believe that an OTA needs critical thinking skills to analyze an activity and determine it’s therapeutic value. Lastly, I love to work with children and this activity solidified that for me.