Sequences of Development Essay Example for Free

Sequences of Development Essay The explanation of the sequence and rate of aspect of development from birth to 19 years. Ans. Following the timeline given the below illustrates these sequence of development from birth : 0-6 months – At this stage, the baby has just come out of the womb. There is a huge reliance on the environment and the mother for the survival of the baby. The baby is learning aspects of movement and coordination. He/she is grasping more awareness of surroundings. Food and warmth is exclusively supplied by the mother. 6-9months – The awareness of him/her to the environment becomes sharper. The muscle coordination and movements of the baby become more definite. The baby becomes more â€Å"free† with the environment and interactive. At this stage the young tot can crawl and sit up confidently. 9-12 months – Judging by the baby’s growth, (physically and mentally), It can be said that he/she is moving into the â€Å"toddlers stage†. Here he/she is taking some steps gradually. This stage is quite important in infancy as the muscular development is getting quite advanced. The child is aware of other children around him/her and is interacting with them. 2-24 Months – A lot of more definite changes are happening in the child’s life at this stage. He/She is moving into a greater deal of psychological development. Also, the mental development at this stage is getting quite advanced. The child is learning how to be more reliant on his/her own judgements and interestingly, a lot of changes in behavior can be seen at this stage. The child i s much more aware about the environment and can choose options on what to play with, how to play e. t. c. He/she becomes more responsive to education as the brain is much more advanced at this stage and actually â€Å" is eager to learn educational stuff†. The stage is vital in getting a child educationally involved as he/she is â€Å"ready to take on† so to say. 2-3 Years A behavioural pattern emerges here. The child suddenly starts to become a bit resolute and wants to have his/her own way. There is a certain amount of self dependency that is seen here and not seen in earlier stages. It might give his/her parents a fright and they can start to think if there is something wrong with the child. The brain is getting much more developed and the child is eager to learn. There are definite physical changes as well. The body becomes less susceptible to easy injury as the child’s skin toughens. He/she also becomes more immune to infection. 3-5 Years – The child is thinking like a â€Å"mini adult†. There is more confidence in speech. More assertion in expressing self. The child is looking more at the â€Å"behavioural pattern† of his/her parents and other people he/she is in care with. This is one of the most if not, the most important stages in the childs growth pattern as this is where the â€Å" Character forming† element can begin and will definitely form the rest of the child’s life. The main concentration on children at this stage must definitely be a form of positive character development and essence on positive thinking and acting. The child will grown from this stage into more adult ways of thinking and positive self reliance will result. For instance, some children may start to learn how cook and feed themselves even at this stage!! As the physical out look of the child takes on a more mature form, the child’s identity starts to express itself and in a psychological and social sense, the child takes on his/her awareness of self. 5-8 years The child is taking on more responsibility and is seeing him or her self as â€Å"part of the world â€Å" so to speak. The environment takes on a different dimension with him or her and a lot more emphasis is given to friendships and what they mean. The behavioural pattern in the child at this stage is formed for life. The child is having his or her own identity and is willing to share it with the world. An opinion of things start to take form in his or her own mind and as a consequence, certain forms of behaviour emege. It is important to note that at this stage of the child’s development, he or she is directly influenced by what mum or dad says and can be heavily affected by what is said to him or her. This is the stage where abuse can be much more destructive. As he or she may form opinions and be influenced by them easily, life’s truths and hardships will need to be passed down in a very â€Å"gentle† manner to him or her so there is understanding that these steps are taken for the child’s own good. 9-11 Years – The difference between boys and girls between them individually and to each other start to appear sharper and more permanent. The girl child sees herself as more expressive, will start to â€Å"grow â€Å" (in clear psychological and social terms) more and be more assertive. Despite this show of bravado, there is still a huge reliance on adults especially the parent or guardian. The males in their own case , will take strength from being in packs and express themselves more openly. There is a clear segregation of the different sexes at this stage and probably for the first time, a clear distinction between the physical characteristics of each other start to appear to the male/female child and an hints of an attraction start to emerge although initially very very subtly. Despite all this, the child is still very very dependent on his/her mother indeed. 1-19 Years – These years are more environment dictated to the child’s development than ever before. As the child starts to see more of what adults do (especially in the mid teenage years), he or she copies and will start to act it out. For instance, a boy may start to take interest in adult discussions more than before and will be spending time asking dad and mum certain questions. It is essen tial that parents and guardians spend much more time with their teenage children in understanding†them. This has been a very important aspect that has been lacking in parent/children relationships over the years. As this child in this case grows up into ages 14,15, 16, there is a natural â€Å" I wan to know all† syndrome. The support of the parent in understanding the psyche of their children will greatly influence and help them in the child’s journey to becoming an adult. As this is a very important aspect of his/her life, every support must be given from other adults to let this teenager know that life isn’t that challenging as an adult and welcome him of her into this final stage of development in life as one of them with mistakes to learn from and life to live in. Difference in the â€Å"sequence and the rate of development† The sequence in development in a child show the journey through each stage of development in a child and how this child moves through them. The rate of development highlights the progressive time span the child develops from childhood into teenage years. †¢ An explanation of how children and young people’s development is influe nced by {a} A range of external factors : 1, Socioeconomics – The wealth status of a child’s parents and economic environment will inevitably reflect on the child’s development. Children do depend on food, water, warmth and a suitable environment to move about freely. In some countries in the world, this basic requirement is a tall order and inevitably, the level of development in these kids is adversely affected. The access to quality education could also be impeded hence affecting a child’s intellectual, mental progress in life 2, Nutrition – nothing needs be said much about this factor as it is impossible to child to grow as he or she should without adequate food and water. This is key as food and water do have the biggest role to play at this stage of a child’s life. This is not just about three square meals a day but also a balanced diet which will include Proteins, carbohydrates, mineral salts and vitamins. 3, Family and Society – The major psychological development in a child’s life is fed through his or her family (in this context the father, mother, brothers and sisters and cousins external family). As we learn certain ways of life and conduct from our family members, a child will inevitably, pick up certain forms of habits and behaviour which may or may not be socially favoured. The set of friends a child mixes with can also influence the way he or she sees things hence influences the level of development in his or her psyche. 4, Physical Environment – The environment has a part to pay in physical development and otherwise in a child as there are different elements that makes up an environment for a child. E. g some environments such as war zones may not be the best place to bring up a young child.. There have been very strong images of children in Sierra Leone carrying guns and shooting people at a very tender age. Also, it was reported that a lot of children died in Japan following the second world war due to heavy radiation from the atomic bomb . It is not difficult to see why it is said that a child is the product of his/her environment. (b) A range of personal factors 1, Pregnancy stage : If the child while in the womb has been dosed with cocktails and cocktails of drugs, this will in effect, affect the child long term. The child could develop problems with breathing or even more permanent damage to the blood or other organs in the body. This is found quite common in developed nations especially in the west e. g here in the UK. This will be a debilitating situation to the child in their later life. 2, Health – Health problems can be genetic or caused by environmental factors. If the environment a child is raised up is not conducive, the child can be adversely affected by suffering from different diseases such as Cholera, Measles, Polio and so on. In over crowded and poorly ventilated areas, airborne diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis may spread and affect children more easily. , Physical Disabilities – This applies especially in cases of mental disability e. g downs syndrome, degenerative mascular dystrophy and these can restrict a child from exercising their God given abilities to do certain things and carry out certain tasks. This can also be seen in physically disabled children as they are not able to run and perform certain physical tasks. Their development as individuals is severely affected. â € ¢ How Current Practice is influenced by A) Theories of development There are many theories in which the most important influential factors ffecting the growth of children and young ones are based. For simplicity, they can be put into three broad areas which cover what the earlier child behavioural psychologists and sociologists based their conclusions. In terms of children’s educational needs ( on which this question is based on), there are three main areas to consider : 1, Maturationist Theory : This theory is based on the work carried out by Arnold Gessell. He advocated that the development occurs due to biological factors in predictable, sequential stages over time (Hunt 1969). The general belief by child education specialists is that children will learn automatically and naturally as they grow older (Farquhar and Stein,1993). With this theory comes the preparation of children at certain times for basic education. If a child can recite the alphabet, then they are with time and patience by the parents and guardians due for Schol. It is a very stage related progress. Being ready for nursery school, will be a stage when they can perform well in Arithmetic (sums) and can also display a good grasp of basic word spelling. In the current time, this is a method used or applied by schools for children when they seem to be lagging behind on the average level of learning. (2) Environmentalist Theory : With the environmental influence as stated earlier playing a significant part in the overall growth and development of a child, the educational side is revealed by John Watson and B. F Skinner for example, as a contributory factor. The idea is that children learn a lot from their environment and surroundings and as a result, can pick up â€Å"inspiration† in learning from how they can correlate what they learn with what goes on around them. An example of this is when the child can respond to what is on going in the class room that child has been placed. Learning qualification so to speak is based on what the child can see happening around him or her rather than an actual educational assessment. An example of this is the assessment given to children back in Africa in the 1960/70’s. In order to qualify for Primary School education, the child is asked to place his arm over his head in order to see if the hand can reach the ear lobe on the other side of the head. If the ear lobe is reachable, the child is accepted wether in the real sense of the word of assessment he is qualified or not. Children that suffer from slower learning under this theory are brought to be encouraged to use the environment around them as a teaching tool. (3) Constructivist Theory : The theory relates to the idea that children pick up learning attributes for development faster by interacting with friends and family In other words, the rate of learning is faster if the child can see close family as mum and dad as well as close friends around him or her while study. Theorists such as Jean Piaget and Maria Montessori conclude that the children actually â€Å"initiate† the whole learning process. An example can be seen when a toddler suddenly picks up a plastic bowl toy from the ground and places the lid on top. Parents can encourage their children in story telling activities at home and other activities that encourage reading out letters and counting. In the event of difficulty in learning, the child is given more close assessment and detailed teaching guides are put in place to give the young tot some more rigorous level of coaching.