v Introduction To look after andl work with children itis important that you Understand their clevelopment. It is impossible to think: about how you can meet a child's needs unless you know What to expect from him or her in terms of thinking, communication, and physical abilties for example. You will explore the principles of development and the five key stages from birth to age 16 years before looking at how physical, social and emotional, communication and) intellectual skils are developed. Inithis unit you wil 11 understand the growth and development of children 2. understand the role of observation of children's clevelopment in the workplace artihow to observe chicren’s development Lndefstand the required planning to support children's needs and development.1.1 Understand the growth and development of children Growth and development_/ What do we mean by growth and development? Growth is the increase in size of the body - in height, weight and other measurable areas, Development is the gaining of skills in all aspects of the child's life. The different types of development are often split into four areas: Physical development: this refers to the body increasing in skill and performance and includes gross motor development (using large muscles), for example legs and & fine motor development (precise use of muscles), for example hands and fingers. Social and emotional development: this is the development of a child's identity and self-image, the development of relationships and feelings about him or herself and learning the skills to live in society with other people. Intellectual development: this is learning the skills of understanding, memory and concentration. Communication and speech development: this is learning to communicate with friends, family and all others. However, it is important to realise that all the areas of development link together. Just stop and think about the changes that take place in the developing child,Understanding children’s development At birth there have already been huge changes from two tiny cells as the egg and sperm joined at conception to a complex new baby at birth. ‘Then from being a tiny helpless being at birth, by the age of 16 years the child changes to a highly complex young person who has all the basic skills for life, including talking, running, writing and the ability to think in abstract ways. Weight increases from 3~4 kg at birth to an average of 65 kg for a young man. m= From a length at birth of about 35 cm, height changes to more than 155 em. m= From being a relatively immobile baby, the child is able to walk, run, skip and climb, = From not being able to talk, the child becomes an able communicator. ‘= From being fully dependent, the child leams to dress, feed and think for him or herself m= From wide arm movements and automatically grasping everything that is put into the hand, the child leams to pick up and use a pencil developing to pens, computers and other technical equipment. Growth and development are connected, but are very different. Growth is the very visible increase in size of a child. It can be seen in many ways, including weight gain, increase in height and increase in head circumference, Children grow very quickly; ask your parents if they have kept a record of your weight and height gain, Principles of development _/ ‘There are three basic principles of human development that apply to everyone from birth. 1 Development starts from the head and works down the body. Anew baby cannot hold up his or her head alone. Yet, within a few months, the baby will be able to sit alone. This is because control of the spine and central nervous system develops from the top of the head down to the base of the spine. You can see this control developing in a baby as he or she starts to hold the head without support. Similarly, a new-born baby waves his or her arms around vaguely, yet in nine months’ time will find the tiniest crumb or piece of Lego easy to pick up with the thumb and finger. This is because the nervous system also develops from the spinal cord out to the extremities (hands and feet) 2 All development happens in the same order, but can occur at different rates. A baby has to hold his or her head up, learn to sit with support, and then without support, before he or she can stand by holding on to) BTEC First Children’s Care, Leaming and Development furniture and then eventually walk alone. No baby can learn to walk before sitting up. But it is perfectly normal for one baby to walk at ‘ten months and another not to learn this skill until the age of 18 months. 3 All areas of development are linked together. A baby cannot start to finger feed until he or she can sit up and is developing the ability to pick things up between the fingers and ‘thumb. The speech development of a child is affected if the child has Atskwens mest tates——guigeules in hearing eaty ori no one talks dtecly to him ot hee ae roots ‘A child who does not receive love and attention may fal to grow ee eee ee ne and develop. pesca ey Lave De Finally, remember that to develop to their best potential, children need ree ner aan huge amounts of support and guidance from others in their lives. Failure aa asl eee to meet all of the needs of a baby or child can have serious consequences, Sadly,notalbabies have | on nis or her development. loving carers, and fora sorts of reasons may not be smiled at and talked to. Milestones These babies may not amie Child development experts have carried out a lot of research on young atsicweets. Ababy who children to work out what most children can do at different ages and the has expeiencediots of gate at which they grow. From this research, milestones of development {aking anc communication rave been identified. A ‘milestone of development’ refers to the age at ‘may smile much earfer than which most children should have reached a certain stage of sk weeks, andwil vocals® development, for example, walking alone by 18 months, or smiling at with the carer gevelon Many children will have reached that stage of development much earlier, but what matters is whether a child has reached it by the milestone age. You will also read about average ages for developmental stages, and these will be different. An average age is in the middle of the range of ages when all children reach a certain stage, for example, for walking the range can be from 10 months to 18 months which makes the ‘average’ age for walking 14 months. The important thing to remember is that all children develop at different rates and may be earlier in achieving some aspects of development and later in others, aia Percentiles fl about Percentile charts are used to compare a child’s growth and weight measurements with those of other children in the same age group. This makes it possible to track a child’s growth over time and monitor how a child is growing in relation to other children. The charts can be used to recognise if there are problems with a child’s height or weight, especially if the expected rate of growth is not happening. Plotting a child's growth in this way isa standard part of any visit to a clinic or developmental check-up where a baby or child is weighed and measured. Ask your parents i they stil hhave the book that your weight was marked in when you were a baby to s00 hare you were on the percentile charts, Or ask someone, perhaps @ cousin, who has ayoung childnow There are different charts for boys and girls because their growth rates if you can look at their and patterns differ and different ones again for babies who are born weight records. prematurely. The charts show the normal range of heights and weights at a certain age of thousands of children from actoss the country.Unit 1 Understanding children’s development Stages and sequences of development_/ ‘We think about growth and development in five stages = infancy from birth to one year = early years from one to three years childhood from four to seven years puberty from 8-12 years adolescence from 13-16 years. Birth to one year New-bom babies can: fm see faces as fuzzy shapes = grasp an object that has touched the palm of their hand tur their head to look for a nipple or teat if their cheek is touched. suck and swallow try to make stepping movements if they are held upright with their feet on a firm surface = startle in response to a sudden sound or bright light stretch their arms suddenly and then bring them in if they feel they are falling recognise their mother's voice and smell cry when they are hungry, in pain, need feeding, changing or just cuddling. 1 Whoo sho is bom a baby can try to make Etepping movements he is held upright wth her feet 903 frm surface) BTEC First Children’s Care, Leaming and Development One to three years By their first birthday, babies can: m= move around, either by * crawling or shuffling or some Yip. may be standing with support and a ts small number walking alone lm sit up alone and feed themselves, at ildren’s Care, Learning and Development 2 years Walks up and down stairs with both feet on one step. Climbs on furniture Builds a tower of six bricks Uses a spoon for selt-feeding Puts shoes on Draws circles and dots Starts to use preferred hand 8 years Stands and waks on tiptoe Can kick a ball confidently Jumps from low steps Podials a tricycle ‘Tums single pages in a book Can draw a face Builds bridges with blocks when shown, Undoes buttons ‘Threads large beads 4 years Can aim and throw and catch a large bell Walks backwards and on a ine Runs and hops Builds a large tower Can brush own teeth ‘Cuts round an object with scissors and copies a square Buttons and unbuttons clothes: Can do a 12-piece jigsaw 5 years Skips Runs quickly Easily dresses and undresses Hits a ball with a bat Draws a person with a head, body and legs, and a house Gan do a 20-piece jigsaw Forms letters and writes own name Accurately uses scissors 67 years Enjoys hopaing, bike riding, roller blading and skating Balances on a wall or beam Has finer manipulation of building bricks, jigsaws, ote ‘Gan sew simple stitches Ties and unties laces Builds intricate models Controls pencil in a small area and does detailed drawing 812 years Improves physical sklls that have already developed Puberty starts around 10 for girls with a growth spurt and increase in body strength, 18-16 years Brains developing with increase in reaction times and ‘co-ordination For girls puberty is complete at about 14 and periods start For boys puberty is 13-16 and they will be stronger than gitls 1 Stages of physica development