1, Summarise the main development of a child from the age 0-2, 3-5 and 5-8 years.
The word development is a term used for growth in all areas of a young person’s life. There are 5 stages in which development is monitored and assessed according to age, they compromise of physical, language, emotional, social and intellectual development. All young people will grow and develop at varying speeds though there is an understanding that young people will achieve specific milestones between certain ages.
Achieving these milestones can be dependent on many external factors therefore resulting in children developing at different times. For instance a child that has come from a large family with several siblings would more likely adapt to social environments quicker than an only child. There are many theories on how children learn and develop. Albert Bandura claimed that children learn from copying others through a process of observational learning. Sigmund Freud outlined the importance of events and experiences in childhood and suggested that this paves the way for personality development. There are many theories aiming at behaviour, social and cognitive development there are no yes or no answers to these theories but they have come together through different bodies of research. Practice is therefore influenced by numerous theories, in order to achieve a balanced approach to child care and development
0-2 Years
Intellectually children between the ages of 0-2 will begin to explore their world using their hands and mouths, a child from the ages of 0-1 will put objects in their mouth and will bang and explore noises. They will begin to develop skills to include how we use objects in everyday life such as drinking from a cup and using their own cutlery.
Physically a new born babies’ first development will be to hold up its head, gradually they will begin to explore movement in their bodies and will on average sit up unaided at the age of 6months. They will continuation to develop quickly by this point and typically by 12 months will have walked holding furniture, and walked several steps without help. At the age of 2 children can actively move around they will begin to run and actively move around.
Socially from 0-12 month’s children will begin to babble and mimic what others are saying, they will imitate facial expressions and gradually will be able to respond to simple questions. From the age of 1-2 years children will begin to play alongside each other acknowledging presence though will not yet begin to interact in imaginative play.
Emotionally new born babies’ prime communication outlet will be crying, this being a way of getting their needs met, they will develop skills of understanding emotion and will smile and laugh when they want more of something and cry when they have had enough.
Language of an early age will generally comprise of babbling and mimicking words, typically a child at the age of 2 will have a vocabulary of around 50 words and will begin to put these words into short sentences to obtain needs such as being picked up, wanting more food and items of play.
3-5 Years
Intellectually children will now start to develop skills using their imaginations, this is caused by stories being read to them and the child rein acting their favourite characters during play. They will begin to understand numbers and colours and will start to understand the concept of time.
Physically children between the ages of 3-5 are becoming very active they are running, hopping, and climbing, by the age of 5 balance has been introduced and they can typically stand on 1 foot for around 10 seconds. They will start to recognise the physical look of their bodies and will draw a person with up to 4 body parts, they learn how to use scissors and will copy capital letters and shapes. At the age of 5 children will tend to have many slips and falls due to wanting to participate in physical activities which are beyond their