Anyone working with children of any age should have a strong detailed knowledge of the different aspect of development from birth to 19 years. These areas are, • Physical development • Communication development • Intellectual/cognitive development • Social, emotional and behavioural development • Moral development
Physical Development This is where children learn to grasp and conquer control over their body movements. Physical development is normally split into 2 groups.
Fine motor skills- this is used to refer to movements that are seen as delicate and done with the fingers i.e. holding a pencil, fine motor skills is also linked to vision and is normally known as hand eye coordination and is used together when a child may be tying their shoe lace.
Gross motor skills-this is used to refer to whole body movements for example a baby sitting up, crawling, learning to walk then to progress to things like kicking or throwing of a ball. Throughout the first 5 years of a child’s life this skills are developed at a fast rate.
Communication Development This is where children learn to communicate with others and understand their own communication. This done in many ways depending on the child age and ability, starting with just making a sound to get attention, to learning to read, write, use sign language to starting to understand communicating with the use of body language. Communication development is linked to intellectual/cognitive development as children learn to think and understand before they communicate.
Intellectual/cognitive Development Intellectual/cognitive development covers a huge area of development within the brain. Covering things like memory, concentration, imagination, creativity, problem solving, knowledge and understanding. The brain learns to processes and development information that the child is learning on daily basis from their surroundings and other people. Examples of
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