Unit 2 the Developing Child Essay Example

This assignment looks at observing children, every day care routines and how the child’s social development can affect them. During the pre and early school years, children’s motor skills and social development change dramatically. Practitioners need to be able to recognise the pattern of development that children go through, right from birth up to 16 as these are the years that children develop their personalities, any disabilities will come to light and the basic foundations of the child’s identity will form. Every child will go through milestones at some point in their lives, although these may be at different times as every child learns and develops at different rates. By having an understanding of children’s development from birth to sixteen, practitioners can create a nurturing and healthy environment which will enable children to get the most out of life and learning. If for some reason a child is really behind in hitting a certain milestone or not developing as they should then practitioners can question why and then if needed they can put in extra support such as extra help from a teacher or they may need to refer the child onto other agencies for instance speech therapy if there is a problem with speech. All children will learn to sit up, crawl, walk, talk eventually at their own pace. Practitioners use guidelines to measure milestones and below are two examples of what the guidelines are for a 4 year old and 5 year olds expected development. There are no vast differences for these age groups.

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Children at the ages of 4/5 are becoming increasingly independent, they can play with other children and they are learning about why they need rules. They are getting better at communicating their needs and frustrations therefore us as practitioners can understand what the children’s needs are.

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We can help develop these new skills by providing stimulating tasks which in turn will help the children gain in confidence, we can