Children and Young People Development

A pre-mature baby has delayed physical development as their bodies are smaller and often not as developed as a full term baby. Due to having to stay in special care baby units their emotional development can be affected as they can’t build bonds with parents and family members that healthy babies make due to staying in incubators and not being able to be cuddled or fed normally.

A disabled child (depending on disability) has their physical development affected by being in a wheelchair, being unable to walk properly or unaided as they can’t run, carry out simple daily tasks like washing, brushing teeth and getting dressed by themselves or playing physical games. Their language development can be affected if they are unable to speak properly which can cause behaviour problems. They can sometimes get frustrated at not being understood or being unable to get their point across as people cant understand what their saying so they sometimes have temper tantrums.
This can lead to social problems as they may not want to socialise with people through fear of them not being understood. This can affect their emotional development as they can get upset about not having many friends due to being unable to communicate with them.
Their intellectual development can be affected due to having to spend time off school to attend hospital appointments and recover from operations.

A child or young persons development can be affected by different factors in their background. Children or young people from single parent families with multiple children are more likely to act out for attention that they are not getting from their parent(s). This can cause other behaviour problems which can lead to academic problems like truancy.
Children or young people from families that are working can have emotional and behaviour problems. This can be due to not spending much time with parents due to them being at work for long hours and not being able to build the bond with them that children from families working less hours would have. Children or young people who get spoilt can also be stubborn and have temper tantrums when they don’t get their own way or don’t get things that they want. Children or young people with health problems can have problems with their physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social development. Their physical development can be affected if they are unable to participate in physical activities like running and jumping. This can affect their social development as they may not want to participate in games with friends as they may not be able to keep up with them or play the game properly.
Poor health can lead to needing a lot of time off school to attend appointments which can affect their intellectual development but also, their social development. This can lead to bullying due to not being as smart as other children in their class. This can affect their emotional development with other children although they may have a stronger emotional bond with family members due to spending more time with them.
Environment can affect a child or young persons development, if their house is over crowded or their from a poor family can have poor health and nutrition due to parents not having much money. This can affect their intellectual development because they can be too tired to pay attention at school, it can affect them emotionally because they can get bullied due to their family not having much money which can lead to them not wanting to socialise with other children in fear of being picked on which affects their social development.
Children or young people that have gone into the care system and move between foster families can have trouble building bonds with people and making friends due to not staying in one place for too long. They can have trust issues depending on the reason why they have been put into care which can make it hard to build bonds. They can have behaviour and academic problems due to being moved about often so their school work can suffer if there moved between different schools.

It is important to recognise any concerns in a child or young persons development so that the appropriate support can be put in place. Detailed notes should be taken which include date and time of the concerns. You should speak to other staff and see if they have noted the came concerns. You could try a reward system like a sticker chart with the child or young person to see if that improves their development. You could do some one on one support with the child or young person to help improve the development areas that have concerns commonly reading, writing and maths. If the child or young person has development issues and the previous don't improve their development then you could put their case to SENCO: Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator so that the child or young person can be tested for development issues. If SENCO find that the child or young person does have development issues then the appropriate support program can be put in place.
Transitions experienced by most children are: Weaning. Potty training. starting a pre nursery. Starting an educational nursery. Starting primary school. Stating senior school. Starting college/university Starting puberty. New baby brother/sister. Starting new school after moving house.

Divorce/
Separation
New partner

Terminal
Illness

Death of a pet

Military
Parent
Adopted/
Fostered
Transitions some children go through

New house

Bereavement

Being away from
Parents for long periods Live with
Grandparents

Different transitions can affect children and young people in different ways, some children can become frustrated or agitated. This can affect their behaviour as they can sometimes become aggressive. This can affect their intellectual development as they can be sent out of class or be sent home from school for being disruptive or aggressive.
Other children may become very quiet and withdrawn. This can affect their emotional development as they may not want to talk to people about the transition they are experiencing. This can also affect their social development due to not speaking to family and friends and spending a lot of time on their own rather than being out socialising with friends and piers.