(a) Personal factors (health), (2.1)
(b) External factors (environment), (2.2)
Answer:
(a) Personal factors that influence/affect children and young person’s development (health)
• Disabilities such as blindness, deafness, and other physical handicaps can cause learning loss as the child therefore is physically hindered and as we know all areas of development are interlinked, so the others will be affected causing delays and often full capability.
• Illnesses; especially life threatening or disabling such as Polio or Cancer causes delays in all round development as these can affect muscle development; both major and fine motor, and often never fully develop due to the damaging effects of these diseases to their body. Also, long terms in Hospital or confinement in bed, frailty of body etc. prevent them from physical exertion such as running, skipping, etc. Long absences from school, family, as well as limited interaction socially and physically with other children their age, can in many cases also affect their other areas of development; such as their social, physical, cognitive/intellectual development.
• Learning difficulties; ADHD, ADD, Autism, Down’s syndrome etc. all affect a child and young person’s ability to develop cognitively, therefore it inhibits the general pattern of development. For example, one of the symptoms of ADHD is low muscle tone which is due to abnormal chemical balances in the brain; “ADHD is caused by differences in neurotransmitter patterns in certain parts of the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that make it possible for nerve impulses to travel from one nerve cell to another, and therefore play an essential role in the functioning of the brain. The brain performs a vast range of tasks or functions, allowing us, for instance, to see, hear, think, speak and move. Each function is