Unit 4: Child and young person development
Infancy 0-2 Years
Babies at this age can suck and swallow food and breastmilk. They can also recognise their own mother’s voice, cry when they need to be fed or need changing. They have gross motor skills such as turning their head to look for a nipple or to grasp an object.
Early Years 2-3 Years
Toddlers at this age can move around, crawl, stand and with support can stand. They can sit up alone and feed themselves.
Toddlers have some fine motor skills such as using their hands skilfully to move objects, wave “bye-bye”. They can communicate by babbling and saying two syllable words like “dada” or “mama”. Toddlers are aware of who their carers are and can recognise unfamiliar faces.
Toddlers/Pre-School 3 Years
At 3 Children this age can fully run, climb and ride a bicycle. They can walk upstairs and downstairs on alternate feet. They are bake to use the toilet alone, can talk clearly, undo buttons which is good fine motor skills as they are using their fingers to perform intricate tasks like threading beads etc.
At this age colours are fascinating to them so books which contain pictures are very interesting to them. Toddlers love to copy adults and help them.
Early Childhood 4-7 Years
At around 5 years old children can throw, kick and control a ball and ride a bicycle. They have grasped their fine motor skills and can cut with scissors and can hold a pencil and write a few words and sentences.
They can also draw with meaning and detail. Children have been introduced to friendships and sharing so they can take turns and play with friends and dress themselves.
Early childhood 8-12 years
Children of this age are very intellectual and can solve problems when given, they have a keen interest in hobbies and playing with friends and enjoying their company. Children can use good co-ordination in skills and by 12 years and above can start to see changes in their body as they are entering the early adult stage where they will hit puberty and also start to argue with parents and become ‘moody’ due to hormones in the body.
Adolescent 13-16 Years
Most Adolescents have gone through puberty by now and have an adult body. Most adolescents must have high levels of skills in certain areas specific to them, at this age they will enjoy the company of their friends or people around their age rather than adults. A lot of adolescents will feel quite anxious at times and then eventually will leave school, get a job and get married.
Aspects of a child’s development can affect other areas of development for example:
If a child has difficulty hearing it may affect their Communication and Language development
Also if a child has difficulty with communication and Language, they may find it hard to form relationships with their peers.
If a child has a disability affecting their motor function and they will find it hard participating in school and sport activities then they will feel isolated and this could lower their self- esteem as they cannot join in with their peers.
There are also influences in a persons life that can affect development such as:
Background
If the child comes from a difficult background then it is going to affect development for example if the child is in a poor or less privileged family then it will affect their development as the house may not be very well maintained as they cannot afford it. The child may get cold at night as there is no heating and as a result become sick and they will not be able to attend school therefore they are missing out on an education which means they cannot get out of the cycle of poverty.
Also the child may be in foster care with no permanent home which is a lot on a young child’s mental state. This can make the child feel isolated as they are not consistent in their living placement as they may move schools often and cannot make relations with peers as he is not in a stable home. The child may gain a low self esteem.
Also there may be parents that cannot afford the luxury of travelling abroad to different countries to experience different traditions and cultures which means that the child has not got a knowledge of different cultures making them ignorant to diversity and accepting other cultures, races and religions.
Poverty can also lead people to turn to crime if they cannot afford necessary items such as nappies and formula milk for babies and could lead parents to stealing them as they have no other option. This could then mean that the parent ends up being arrested and put in jail leaving the child in a form of foster care, therefore affecting the child’s development and mental health.
Health
Children may have medical issues that can affect their development such as severe Asthma which is Asthma but a severe type of it where you have to take additional medication to help cope with it and also have to be careful with the activities you are doing and putting-your body through as you can get easily tired and wheezy. This can affect a child’s development as they may not be bake to partake in the same activities as their friends and they feel isolated and left out therefore lowering their self esteem.
Environment
Children may live in a flat which is on a high floor which means there is no access to outdoors for children to play in. This is not good for children’s development as children should get out and play football and get exercise it’s also a good opportunity to make friends and form good relations with other people. Also if they are not going outside and exercising this is not good for their physical development as they will become unhealthy and could lead to obesity. If the children are in the house all day long then they may become isolated and depressed stuck inside all day with little interaction from the outside world especially if they are living in a dangerous area with a high crime rate where they cannot leave in fear of being attacked or worse. There may be parks nearby but in fear of being hurt they cannot walk to shops or parks close to them.
We as practitioners have to recognise and respond to concerns with a child’s development. If they are not fitting their age category of development then this is a concern as we need to find out why and what can be done to correct it. Early help is important as children can work towards Smart Targets and can develop with the encouragement, support and guidance from practitioners. Also we can see if the child has any learning difficulties, Speech and Language difficulties (SAL) and if they have Special Educational needs (SEN) then we can formulate plans to help support them.
Most children and young children will go through different transitions in their life such as:
Puberty- Every boy and girl when they come of age will go through Puberty which is the transition from childhood to adulthood.
- Learning to walk
- Starting school
- Starting Secondary School
- Taking Exams
- Marriage
- Making friends
However some transitions are only experienced by a few children and young people such as:
Bereavement- The process of losing a family member, relative or someone close to you.
- Moving Houses
- Being involved in a car accident
- Having a sibling
- Going to College or University
- Unexpected Job loss
- Redundancy
- Divorce
Transitions can affect children and their behaviours because they are unexpected and only some children and adults will face them so they can come as a shock. If a child has gone through bereavement if they have lost someone close to them a parent/carer then this could lead them to depression and become withdrawn as they are very upset and may not want to talk to anyone as they are going through a very hard thing at such a young age. They could also become angry and aggressive.
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