Refer to the attached document for specific assignment guidelines and components to be addressed, and the attached rubric for grading specifics.

Canvas will alert me when the assignment is submitted, and will show you a confirmation of submission. I will provide individual feedback on each paper.

The student will assess an infant or pre-school aged child to obtain information on their nutritional status, growth and development. For this assessment it is not necessary to obtain a complete health history or to perform a physical examination. Obtain assessment information for the elements specified below. Note that while most of the information will be obtained from the parent, you can also obtain information from the child as appropriate. Be sure to read through these instructions prior to your assessment visit, as you will need to run off some material before your assessment.

Content

Begin the paper by providing a short paragraph introducing the paper as well as the child you are using for your subject. Include general information such as gender, age, and number of siblings. Also include the date and location of the assessment. You will also need to obtain the date-of-birth of the child, which will be used later in this paper. Assure the parent that none of this identifying information (their name, DOB, etc.) will be included in your paper.

Nutritional Assessment:

· Obtain information on the diet from the parent and/or child:

· Typical number of meals/day; number of snacks/day

· Food preferences: what foods does the child prefer? What types do they like least or will not eat at all?

· Any digestive problems: indigestion, constipation, vomiting, bloating

· Any food allergies?

· How would the parent rate/describe their usual appetite?

· Any recent weight changes?

· Does the child take vitamins or other dietary supplements?

· Does the parent have any concerns or questions about the child’s eating habits?

· Perform a 24-hour food recall of all meals and snacks; (you may tell the parent about this ahead of time so that they can have this ready, or obtain it that day). Try to obtain specific information, such as how large the serving was of the various foods. Would the parent consider this a typical day with regards to food intake?

· Using the 24-hour food recall, determine the number of servings consumed in the following groups:

· Breads/grains

· Vegetables

· Fruits

· Milk/dairy

· Meats/beans

· Fats and sugars

To create a food plan for Preschoolers (ages 2 to 5), go to

· Go to bottom of the web page and select My Plate Daily Checklist (formerly Daily Food Plan), the Super Tracker My Plan (for an eating plan) is there for your access. This will show the food group targets – what and how much to eat within the calorie allowance. A food plan is personalized, based on age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level. You will be asked to create a profile using your child’s information. You can register to save the profile if you want to. The profile area to enter the child’s information is in the bottom center of the page after you select My Plate Daily Checklist

· Here, enter the name (real or a code name, but you need to enter something here), gender, age, and amount of daily activity, if known. This brings up a personalized food pyramid with the amount of each food group to aim for each day.

· Back on the original preschooler site , go back to the center but lower part of the page and click on the topics to the left for a wealth of information (sample menus and serving sizes recommended for the food groups). You will need to choose the total number of calories desired to access the specific serving sizes. Of course, please feel free to explore this helpful site. It is not just for children and can be utilized for any age group.

· Compare the number of servings in the 24-hour food recall to the Food Plan obtained and explain your findings; based on this comparison, what recommendations would you make to improve or optimize nutrition for the child? You may communicate these to the parent, but this is not mandatory. You do not need to submit this Food Plan with your assignment.

· Note: the above choosemyplate site only ‘works’ for children 2 and older; if your subject is younger than this, instead of the directions above, go to your textbook Elsevier Evolve site (). Use the appendices provided there: use Appendix F for the nutritional information and assessment, comparing the information obtained in the 24-hour food recall to the information provided in this chart. For the growth and development section, use Appendix D: Growth Charts for the ones appropriate for your subject’s age and gender. On-line methods for calculating BMI for children under 2 yr. are not available, so just go by what you learn from these growth charts.