Child development is the process of how your child is able to do complex things as he gets older. Development involves learning skills such as tying shoes, skipping, kicking a ball and walking. Children develop their skills in five main areas: * Physical Development * Intellectual/Cognitive Development * Language Development * Emotional Development * Social Development Physical Development Physical development is the way in which children's bodies increase in skills. The acquisition of skills such as sitting, throwing and running, picking up objects and feeding describes the physical development of your child.
Developmental norms are patterns of growth that a child is expected to follow when growing. (Bruce T. Meggitt, C 2004) Physical development is grouped in two main areas: Gross Motor Skill are his/her ability to use their large muscles, Gross Motor Skills starts with head control and works down their body such as learning to sit, crawl, pull up and walk. They use their large muscles to acquire these skills. Fine Motor Skills are his/her ability to use their small muscles. During the first year of your child’s life, he/she will start to practice handling and manipulating small objects.
This develops their ability to use their small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers to pick up and hold objects such as pencil and spoon. (Bruce T. Meggitt, C 2004) Intellectual/cognitive development Cognitive development is the way in which your child manages their thinking, and talent to create sense of the world and what is occurring around them. When your child is able to deal with difficulties, telling about it in advance are examples of skills associated with cognitive child development. (Robinson, M et al, 1998) Language development:
Children's language develops through using visual and sound stimuli, especially in the acquisition of language, also in the exchange of thoughts and feelings. There are two identifiable stages; the first stage of development in the process of children learning to use language is the pre-linguistic stage. Babies use this stage to learn how to communicate with others. During the first stage of life, babies rapidly learn how to communicate with their carers, so that by the age of 12 months, most babies understand what is being said to them and are starting to communicate their needs by pointing or by showing their carer objects.
Then there is the Linguistic Stage - 15 Months to 8 Years, Children starts to use words around twelve months and by fifteen months they have developed their own word for an object or person and use it consistently. They then go on to use holophrases - using a single word to express several meanings by changing the sound and using gestures. As they grow children gradually put two words together to form a mini-sentence if your child is exposed to a rich language environment, this will be reflected in his speech development. (Robinson, M et al, 1998) Emotional development:
Emotional development is the growth of a child's ability to feel and express an increasing range of emotions appropriately. Children's emotional capabilities expand, allowing them to develop a variety of skills that they will need in their adult lives. Emotional development encompasses the feelings that we have about ourselves and others, as well as our capabilities to function well in the world from a social standpoint. (Robinson, M et al, 1998) Social development: Social development is the growth of a child's ability to relate to others and become independent.
As they develop and perceive their own individuality within their community, they also gain skills to communicate with other people and process their actions. Social development most often refers to how a child develops friendships and other relationships, also how well a child handles conflict with peers. (Bruce T. Meggitt, C 2004) This is not fixed or written in stone it is simply a guide to child development, It is dangerous to assume that children are abnormal if they do not all progress in exactly the same manner. Variations will always exist, since each child is an individual developing in their own unique way. (Bruce T.
Meggitt, C 2004) The significance of social and emotional development is seen in every area of a child's life. A child will have a strong foundation for later development if he/she can manage personal feelings, understand others’ feelings and needs, and interact positively with others. Differences in social and emotional development result from a child’s inborn temperament, cultural influences, disabilities, behaviours modelled by adults, the level of security felt in a child’s relationships with adults, and the opportunities provided for social interaction. (raisingchildren. net. u/preschoolers/preschoolers, 2006) Social and emotional development for a four year old: Your four-year-old should be able to learn lots about the world and how it works, about people and relationships, makes friends (often short-term) and plays group games. They are now more likely to, share toys, taking turns with assistance and initiate or join in play with other children and make up games. (/raisingchildren. net. au/preschoolers/preschoolers, 2006) At this age, children are more aware of themselves as individuals. They should show some understanding of moral reasoning (exploring ideas about fairness and good or bad behaviour).
Children become more interested in relationships with other children and start to compare themselves with others. Children should start to develop friendships, express more awareness of other people's feelings, show interest in exploring sex differences and most children enjoy imaginative play with other children, like dress up or house, they bring dramatic play closer to reality by paying attention to detail, time, and space. (raisingchildren. net. au/preschoolers/preschoolers, 2006) Children know a bit more about the idea of sharing.
But they might not be keen to put the idea of sharing into action, it would be great if children always played nicely together and never had fights over toys or over whose turn it is to lick the bowl after the cake has been baked. If a child is not sharing you can encourage them to share with other children, by reminding them how bad they would feel if someone took their toy. Talking to children about other children’s feelings, helps build their sense of empathy. Children need structures and routines to feel safe, and when their behaviour is ‘over the top’, they need you to set limits and bring them back to earth without making them feel bad. Raising children. net. au/preschoolers/preschoolers, 2006). Factors affecting child development There are various factors that may impact upon the development of the child, learning difficulties such as Autism, ADD/ ADHD disorder are a condition where children have difficulty concentrating and paying attention and may cause slowness in development in many areas. Children with learning difficulties or special needs will require additional help such as extra support at school/home, to resolve development problem and may or may not catch up. These children may even go through a process called statementing before they receive help.
Some children with learning problems do not get statemented as the parents may not want to admit that their child has a problem as they feel ashamed. Children with special needs can benefit greatly if attending a mainstream school that has the resources and funding to help them. (Browne. K. 2008. P. 360) Factors such as extreme poverty and emotional stress can have a devastating effect on children’s development. Poverty can have a profound effect on a child’s development; children who come from poor backgrounds will lack resources, live in over-crowded houses with lack of study space.
Their poor diet and ill health can lead to tiredness, absences and missed lessons. Low income or unemployment may mean lack of educational resources or a home computer is not available. This could affect the child’s educational progress. It could also mean the hidden costs of education such as calculators, sports equipment, and school trips are out of reach of many poorer families. Although many government places are available many low income families in lesser paid jobs cannot afford to send their children to pre-school or nursery. Such starts to education are proven to aid a child’s development and can help with social skills.
It can be argued that Material Deprivation also affects the working class. (Browne. K. 2008. P. 360) It can also be argued that although children lack educational resources at home such as computers and calculators they can still achieve developmental levels as many school are well equipped with these materials, also many schools now have breakfast/afterschool clubs and do lots of extra curriculum studies to help children. It can be said children will only benefit from these clubs and extra studies if parent are willing to encourage children to attend them.
Many things can cause emotional trauma in children such as death, illness, unstable home life, abuse, neglect, bullying and accidents. Children suffering from emotional trauma can exhibit displays of aggression, withdrawal, show signs of anxiety and have complaints of aches, pains and tiredness. Emotional trauma can leave children feeling frightened and even ashamed or guilty. All these signs and symptoms can cause developmental problems and impact upon their emotional ability which is important to a Childs personal and social growth, a child suffering from trauma may also revert to bed wetting or baby talk.
Children who are affected by extreme trauma can benefit greatly with the help of the Schools mentors/councilors who are trained to deal with traumatized children, a teacher with a heightened sense of awareness maybe able to pick up on any problems. (Marcus, M. Ducklin, A 1998) An inside school factor that can cause developmental progress is labeling, teachers’ judge and label pupils based on a number of different factors such as social class, gender, race, and behaviour rather than on ability and intelligence.
Pupils who have reputations and labels because of their behaviour and attitudes are unlikely to be innocent victims; they may have been in trouble before. It can be argued that it is often the case pupils will contest their label and work doubly hard to prove that they can do what they are told they cannot, therefore rendering the label useless, (McNeill, Blundell et al, 2003 Methods to manage behaviour In the classroom environment a teacher who is applying a behaviourist view would typically stand at the front of the class and direct how the lesson takes place and how the class responds to the stimulus provided.
It can be argued that the behaviourist approach does not allow for individuality or for spontaneity, it ignores people’s ability to have complex thought processes. It could be argued that the reward giver would need to know the learner to know what the correct reinforcement would be to ensure effective reinforcement. A negative factor would be too much adult involvement. (McNeill, Blundell et al, 2003) A positive classroom environment is one where the teacher adopts the cognitive style of learning.
The teacher allows more class involvement and often sits amongst the class rather than standing at the front. The lessons would have a more adaptable framework which allows students to be more independent, the student would be able to set their own targets /goals thus creating independent learning and thinking. The lessons would include role play, presentation discussions, group work, research and working in pairs. The teacher would empower her students to self learn so rather than being a role model would become a facilitator. McNeill, Blundell et al, 2003) Other methods of managing behaviour are rewards and sanctions, teacher can rewards children for good behaviour or finishing their work with verbal praise, stars, certificates or table points. Teachers may also give children sanction such as a time out or losing five minutes of playtime. When dishing out sanctions/reward the teacher must be consistent and they have to be relevant and meaningful to the child, it could be argued that to ensure the effectiveness of reinforcers the teacher would need to know the learner. Word Count 1998 Bibliography
BROWNE, K. (2008). Sociology. 3rd Ed, Cambridge: polity press. BRUCE, T, MEGGITT, C (2006) Childcare and Education, 3rd Ed, London: Hodder ; Stoughton. MARCUS, M, DUCKLIN, A. (1998) Success in Sociology London John Murray MCNEILL, P. BLUNDELL, J. GRIFFITHS, J. (2003). Sociology. The complete companion. 3rd Ed, Cheltenham: Nelson Thorne. ROBINSON, M. BEITH, K. PULLIN, L. (1998) Early Years Care and Education, 2nd Ed, Oxford: Heinemann. www. childdevelopmentinfo. com/ - updated 26th June 2007-accessed 5th June 2010 http://raisingchildren. net. au/preschoolers/preschoolers. html |
