sequence and rate of each aspect of development from birth – 19 years.
There are considered to be five main areas of development in a child. They refer to the development of ALL areas of a child, both physical and mental, skills and knowledge. These areas are:
Physical Development
Intellectual (or cognitive)
Language and Communication
Emotional
Social (or moral) development
By supporting each area fully you will help a child reach his or her full potential. All areas are closely linked and need supporting at the same time. The term milestones is used when describing what we would expect a baby/child to be doing by a certain age, an example is sitting up unaided between the ages of 6-8 months. Children all develop at different rates. It is important to note that as long as they develop within the normal time range, then there is no need to take any further action. However, sometimes a child may have a delay in their development which means their development falls outside of the normal range. This should be discussed sensitively with the parents so they can seek help from appropriate professionals. An example in my setting of this is with child AT who appeared to have a slight speech delay. I have discussed this with the parents after providing information on the “norms” as provided by our children’s centre. They have spoken to the health visitor team who have arranged a hearing test as the first step.
Physical Development:
Physical Development is a huge area in children. There are some terms which are commonly found when discussing it as follows:
Gross Motor Skills – moving a whole arm/leg such as kicking or hitting
Fine Motor Skills – Moving the whole hand, such as clapping or holding a cup
Fine Manipulative Skills – Using fingers for drawing or writing or crafting
Balance – Using controlled co-ordination for the body such as hopping or walking on a balance bar
Co-ordination – Moving parts of the body together, for example eyes and hands when writing or drawing.
Locomotion – This is running or walking –
Physical Development
Intellectual (or cognitive)
Language and Communication
Emotional
Social (or moral) development
By supporting each area fully you will help a child reach his or her full potential. All areas are closely linked and need supporting at the same time. The term milestones is used when describing what we would expect a baby/child to be doing by a certain age, an example is sitting up unaided between the ages of 6-8 months. Children all develop at different rates. It is important to note that as long as they develop within the normal time range, then there is no need to take any further action. However, sometimes a child may have a delay in their development which means their development falls outside of the normal range. This should be discussed sensitively with the parents so they can seek help from appropriate professionals. An example in my setting of this is with child AT who appeared to have a slight speech delay. I have discussed this with the parents after providing information on the “norms” as provided by our children’s centre. They have spoken to the health visitor team who have arranged a hearing test as the first step.
Physical Development:
Physical Development is a huge area in children. There are some terms which are commonly found when discussing it as follows:
Gross Motor Skills – moving a whole arm/leg such as kicking or hitting
Fine Motor Skills – Moving the whole hand, such as clapping or holding a cup
Fine Manipulative Skills – Using fingers for drawing or writing or crafting
Balance – Using controlled co-ordination for the body such as hopping or walking on a balance bar
Co-ordination – Moving parts of the body together, for example eyes and hands when writing or drawing.
Locomotion – This is running or walking –