Factors influencing the child’s development
Discuss about the Understand & Respond To Family Influence Children.
- Birthdate: 12/5/2016
- Age: 24 Months
- Gender: Female
- Cultural background: Aborigine
- Place of birth: Western Australia
- Health status: Normal, healthy, no allergies, no systemic illness
- Vital Signs: Normal Blood Pressure, Pulse per min and body temperature
- Childs Centre participation: Active 3 hours per day, 5 days a week
- Siblings: Three ( two sisters and a brother)
- Family type: Single parent ( headed by the mother)
- Neighborhood: Low income level
- Language: learning to speak
As the playgroup teacher, I used the diagram below to create a summary of the background information. This is a contemporary environment with factors influencing the child’s learning and development (Oswalt, 2015).
With a goal to understand the child’s capabilities and potential, I collected data by checking the child’s family background for information. The findings are discussed using the ecological model.
Figure 1: Illustration of the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model
The child has a concrete family history and social background. These are experiences and events in the society such as family, teachers and role models (Anderson, 2014). The child comes from a single parent family in which her mother is the backbone of the family. The child showed signs of withdrawal on discussions about the family. She has poor memory of a father and social responsibility but has an idea about domestic violence. This is a single parent child with an experience of juvenile delinquency in the neighborhood and she does not like fairy tale stories on marriage and family (South, 2013). Though she has a poor social perception of her social environment, she has role models like her mum and teacher who give positive impression of feminine roles. She shares thoughts in drawings showing her mother as good, caring and fun. She speaks about her mother warmly, with laughter.
An interview about the child’s cultural values, beliefs and practices reveals that she overcomes fears of the unknown by differentiating the good from bad based on caregiver reinforcement. She has developed values such as sharing, apologizing and appreciating from her mother. She goes to church every Sunday and her teacher speaks about loving others and being honest. In her opinion, the dos, don’ts, come from cultural values. She believes that people who do bad things are punished by God while those who do good find happiness (Sigel, McGillicuddy-DeLisi, & Goodnow, 2014). She does not understand cross-cultural differences in her community but she respects her neighborhood. In her opinion, the police often arrest wrong doers. She is optimistic and shows concerns about her siblings. The child spends less time watching TV but she plays a lot with her mother and friends. Some of her friends own toys and video games. She has an idea about lifestyle choices such as dressing, food, religion and music from people around. She remembers global celebrations like Christmas, Easter, Birthdays and New Year celebrations. She is not aware of cultural or traditional events in her home environment.
Analyzing the child’s family background and social environment
The child has learned from role models like carers and those in the neighborhood. Her negative encounter with nanny as caregiver makes her to dislike strangers. She does not refer to the extended family. She has one home, feels connected to the caregiver, and responds to relationships (both negative and positive). She links people to human voices and sounds to things referring to people based on how they talk, look and present themselves. She likes young women because they look nice, wear make-up and lovely shoes. When playing with her peers they imitate people in the neighborhood. Her big sister is nice because she always comes home with gifts for everyone. However, she does not like her noisy boyfriend. She learns a lot from people around her and has people that she likes and those she does not like. She describes people’s characters with reference to this citing what she observes on a daily basis (Espelage, 2014). She likes socializing with boys and girls and clearly understands the differences. She has been a victim of domestic violence.
The child interacts well with a new and familiar environment. She is able to connect with people at home such as family and community members (Angela, 2018). She has good interpersonal relationships with peers and attends church regularly. She has friends from Sunday school and respects her mum’s church family because of their parental involvement in the child’s social life. Together with her friends, she often has sleepovers at home and in friend’s houses. She shows openness to criticism and has emotional balance. She feels a connection to the teachers, parents, and people in the neighborhood. She says the church has good people who visit her family. She can move about and interact with the physical environment effectively. She likes outdoor playing than indoor activities. She has both a positive and negative picture of her nurturing environment (Zimmerman, 2013). She has perceptions about individuals and experiences around her. She likes her school environment because it has a lot of toys and playthings. At day care, she meets new children from different places. She likes sleeping in the afternoons because she gets tired and her mother likes her to rest. Her emotional expression is good but she does not know how to handle pressure. She feels irritated by how some babies cry in class making noise for everyone.
The child lives in a closely-knit environment revolving around the school and home environment. Her mother takes her to day care and she engages in social interaction through play. Caregiver, teacher and family members easily influence her and she lives in a nurturing environment for improved childhood development. The child has siblings and occasionally experiences sibling rivalry (Kagan, 2018). She has conflicting thoughts about her best friends because they share things with her. She does not like her brother because he is a bully. He mistreats her and takes her things. Her personality shows an influence from interpersonal relationships. She is aware of social roles and wants to be happy as an individual. She has inner fears, which she expresses openly. She speaks about what she likes and what she does not. She develops her accent from her mother and tries to sound like her peers. Her fears include loneliness and she is afraid of darkness. She remembers a situation in which lights went off and she could hear funny noise.
Exploring the child’s cultural values and beliefs
On arrival, the child seems excited at the sight of toys. There is no sign of physical disability as the child moves well (Lloyd, Maacdonald, & Lord, 2013). She shows excitement to meet friends from the classroom. She is learning to communicate and knows about objects, people and animals. Has well-developed senses and is able to recognize through touch, smell, hearing and seeing. Her self-expression is developing and she can explain hunger, satisfaction and pain. Additional motor skills show that the child is aware of different colors and is able to make drawings with crayons. The child is learning to wear shoes correctly and her movement during play is stable.
Social skills evident depict a mutual influence from the interrelationships (Cross, 2014). The child learns from family patterns and interactions. The child has a well-developed language showing a mixture of English and local language. There is evidence of parent modelling depicted in the child’s attitude, beliefs and value system. Emotional is evident through facial expression of feelings with an aspect of mistrust to strangers. Shows automatic reflexes and cries with displeasure. With time and exposure, the child connects to caregiver and looks forward to day care time. The girl child has a developed cognitive element and is able to read other peoples expressions or feelings.
Play opportunities present an emerging development of the physical, mental and thinking abilities. The child is able to handle tasks effectively and is aware of other people’s feelings. The child shows clear facial expressions, has a social smile and expresses anger, happiness and discomfort freely. Child repeats actions, scribbles, knows how to use toys, has favorites and has an idea about learning. The child is in good condition and has a sound mind. She is able to follow instructions and copies what adults do. She likes an orderly play area and clean up after playing. The child is able to play her role effectively as a child, learner, and friend. She shows this in creative learning and play activities, artwork and social interaction (Dweck, 2013). She needs encouragement in potty training.
During departure, the child the child shows signs of disconnect from friends and a fun environment. This is a common sign of displeasure as the child’s interests emerge. This kind of attachment to the environment is reciprocal and there are signs of satisfaction with the interactive play moments. The child shows strengths and weaknesses when playing. Spends time relating and communicating through language and behavior. There is no sign of developmental disorder and the girl has a normal sensory ability. She needs further nurturing on emotional expressions, as there are signs of emotional needs such as love, affection and care. The child has potential to develop a confident attitude.
Understanding interpersonal relationships and their influence
From Urie Bronfenbrenner Ecological Systems Theory, it is clear that the child’s external environment is a major influencing factor. This checklist analysis considers the child’s interaction at home and in learning institutions (Oswalt, 2015). In order to understand the family and wider community, an analysis of five external factors or subsystems that support the child’s development became necessary. This is critical for personal development, in the micro and microsystems
An anecdotal record shows the child’s play and learning activities to reveal a normal development process with a mastery of physical skills. The child has an improved imagination as expressed in coloring activities. She walks independently and runs actively. She can peddle and kick during play. The child knows how to climb and fall down during structured play (James & Prout, 2015). She needs constant observation to prevent injury. She is only dormant when sleeping because she enjoys play activities.
As the Playgroup teacher, I prepared the following list of planning opportunities with a focus on the child’s strengths and weaknesses. In consideration is the expected development and possibilities for further development.
Language development: Created a reading center with picture books made of images and photos that the child recognizes easily. The child cannot read but easily recognizes symbols and photos of common objects in the home, classroom and external environment. This is a motivational center to cultivate a reading culture.
Sensory: The child can differentiate different tastes of food such as sweet and bitter. She has a good sense of sight from identifying common objects (Yu & Smith, 2012). Her sense of smell differentiates food, perfume and bad odor. She enjoys exploring with clay and blocks and creative toys. Additional exposure to different environment is ideal for a wider imagination.
Life skills for daily development: This includes a science center with general knowledge about animals and nature. Children at this age are able to recognize animal sounds and characteristics. The child would benefit from simple illustrations.
Music and movement: She participates in imaginary play with sound and music. She can recognize familiar music from TV adverts and singing games. This is an appropriate time to learn simple moves and words.
Learning colors and shapes: As part of the Math center, this plan introduces basic shapes to the child in preparation to preschool math. The child learns to solve problems through physical objects.
Learning letters and numbering: This plan introduces the child to the alphabet for literacy skills. The child is able to follow along with music sounds, and scribbling on the surface. The child looks at patterns and translates to objects.
Assessing the child’s sensory abilities
Creative arts: This plan focused on the child’s ability to construct things using toys. Evident is an effective use of blocks and simple shapes. The child is comfortable with soft toys and girlish toys. Role-plays also provide a good opportunity for developing creativity through performance.
From the learning profoma, it was evident that the child has fine motor skills and personal identity. However, there are gaps in community exposure hence communicators should focus on the child’s wellbeing and learner’s involvement. For example, introduction of music lessons is ideal for gross motor skills and coordinated movement in music. This is essential for performing precise actions like moving the head, hands and feet progressively. Suggestions for improvements include the use of nursery rhymes designed to shape motor skills. Technology applications provided a solution (Bukingham, 2013).
There is possibility for improvements in some weak areas such as sensory play. The use of musical instruments and creative play to help the child in learning helps in identification of numbers. She can handle single and double objects but she is yet to learn about signs and symbols but counts numbers randomly. There is potential to identify numbers up to 10. She is familiar with most geometry two-dimensional shapes for preschool. She scribbles unfamiliar patterns on surfaces and she is learning to hold the crayon firmly. She needs practice on group things because she shows an interest in collecting objects.
An evaluation of the skills indicates that the learner is ready for the preschool environment. This is because she has an ability to complete tasks, use hands, move about and manipulate objects. Besides the motor skills, the child has emerging language skills revealed in the knowledge of the alphabet, visual images and sounds. She has an interest in picture books and counting. Painting provides a wide variety of activities including finger painting, face painting, and sponge painting. The ability to grasp objects is a sign of emerging writing skills. She has good interpersonal relationships with peers, and caregivers. Her willingness to explore the new environment is successful based on creative improvements of the new environment for learning.
The learning plan emphasizes on the creative ability of the child. There are creative games and toys that bring out a child’s abilities through play. Sensory activities include playing with dough, sand, boxes, blocks, papers fabric and bubbles. These motivate learners at this level for a positive attitude towards learning (Dweck, 2013)
As the child begins gaining experience from the nurturing environment and learning from exposure to the day care environment, new knowledge and skills emerge. In order for the plan to succeed, the child needs emotional stability. Therefore, successful implementation of the plan involves parents and the teacher. The new learner has a wild imagination that thrives from social experiences and instructional learning. Supporting the child’s focus through individual interests and abilities, learning and development is an effective strategy. Having a holistic approach to learning through an analysis of the internal abilities and external factors in the family and community is important. These facilitate for smooth learning and exploration of strengths and weaknesses.
References
Anderson, J. (2014). The impact of family structure on the health of children: Effects of divorce. The Linacre Quarterly, 81(4), 378-387.
Angela, O. (2018). Child development & parenting: Infants ( 0-2): Infancy Introduction. Gulfbend Center. Retrieved from https://www.gulfbend.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=10106&cn=461
Bukingham, D. (2013). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture. John Wiley & Sons.
Cross, D. (2014). Using systems theory to understand and respond to family influences on childrens bullying behavior: friendly schools friendly families. Theory into Practice, 4, 293-299.
Dweck, C. S. (2013). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality and development. Psychology Press.
Espelage, D. L. (2014, July 31). Ecological theory: Preventing youth bullying, aggression and victimization. Theory into Practice, 257-264.
James, A., & Prout, A. (2015). A new paradign for the sociology of childhood? Provenance, promise and problems. In J. Allison, & A. Prout, Constructing and reconstructing childhood (pp. 6-28). Routledge.
Kagan, J. (2018). Galen’s prophecy: Temperament in human nature. Routledge .
Lloyd, M., Maacdonald, M., & Lord, C. (2013). Motor skills of toddlers with autism and spectrum disorders. Autsism, 17(2), 133-146.
Oswalt, A. (2015). Urie Bronfenbrenner and child development. Mental Help. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/urie-bronfenbrenner-and-child-development/
Sigel, I. E., McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. V., & Goodnow, J. J. (2014). Parental belief systems: The psychological consequences for children . Psychology Press.
South, L. A. (2013, February 25). Perceptions of romantic relationships in adult children of divorce. Divorce & remarriage, 126-141. Retrieved from https://www.mdrc.org/publication/effects-marriage-and-divorce-families-and-children
Yu, C., & Smith, L. B. (2012). Embodied attention and word learning by toddlers. Cognition, 125(2), 244-262.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2013). Theories of self regulated learning and academic achievement: An overview and analysis. In B. Zimmerman, Self-regulated learning and academic achievement (pp. 10-45). Routledge.
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