TDA 2.1 Child and young person’s development.
There are lots of different aspects of development, whilst they can be separate they can also interlink, for example if a child had a health problem, such as asthma this could affect their physical development, such as, being unable to take part in some activities. This could also affect their social and emotional development as they may find it difficult to make friends, as they may miss pre-school/school due to their health or not being included in certain physical activities because the condition may restrict them which could lead to low self esteem and they may find it difficult to manage their feelings and behaviour.
There are many that can affect a child or young person’s development including background, health and environment.
Children and young people’s family backgrounds can be very different but overall this is a very important part of a child’s development. Nobody is a perfect parent but we all parent differently, a child who has come from a stable family with good relationships, is more likely to form good relationships whereas a child who comes from a family home that argues and shouts or has inconsistencies could struggle with their personal, social, and emotional development. Poverty can play a big part in a child’s development; if a family is struggling to afford good meals and a child is malnourished this will affect their learning potential. A family suffering in poverty may not be able to provide the same experiences that a well off family can for their children which can affect their development. Culture and religion could affect a child’s development in both ways, it may isolate the child from their peers or it could be beneficial teaching the child confidence in their identity. It is important to be aware and respectful of cultural and religious differences.
Health can also play a big part in a child’s development. Bad health can be because of many things, genetics, environment, poor diet. Some children are born with conditions such as autism which can be a social problem, where the child may struggle to interact with other people, and not being able to join in. Some children who are fed a poor diet may be obese which may cause ridicule from other children, causing low self worth and they may become withdrawn, this can also affect whether they are able to join in physical activities as this may restrict what they are able to do.
It is also important to have a safe and secure environment for a child to develop, every child deserves the same opportunities to flourish, for an education, access to good facilities that provide things they may not be able to access at home. Not every child and young person does have these opportunities which can potentially be damaging to their development.
Working with children we are always looking for patterns of development, sometimes theses are normal patterns and sometimes they are not typical patterns of development. Knowing these patterns is extremely important so that we can always give the right sort of support or quickly seek the right kind of support for that child/family. For example we work with other agencies to offer support such as learning support assistants, nurture groups and senco and inco who offer other support for children with extra needs.
Every child will experience a transition through their lives, these could be as simple as not being cared for full time by their parent, i.e.: a childminder, grandparent, pre-school, nursery whilst their parent is at work. It is important for us to support these children so that they learn to deal with these transitions or changes so that they grow confident and independent, we can do this by working with the family/carers by sharing information and having good links with them about their child’s development and other needs. It is important to allow a child time to settle in and adjust to new surroundings and unfamiliar people, we can achieve this by getting