Dev

The sequence and rate of each aspect of development normally expected in children and young people from birth to 19 years. There are four main areas of development which are; physical development, communication and language development, Intellectual development and social, emotional and behavioral development. Children’s growth and development enables them to explore their environment and to make sense of their world, to achieve new skills, to change the way others perceive them, and most importantly it aids their development of self. It is important to understand that not all children necessarily progress sequentially through stages of development. Each child is a unique person who is a competent learner from birth, albeit within their own individual time frame. As a practitioner we must meet the individual needs of the children by carrying out effective observations and then planning play and activities in order to enable each child to reach their potential.

Physical Development
To measure children’s physical development, professionals look at the skills that children have acquired. These skills are sometimes referred to as milestones and are linked to children’s ages. The milestones have been determined by looking at large groups of children’s development and considering what the ‘norm’ (normative measure) for each age is. This means there will always be some variation with some children showing development that is in advance of or is below the milestone. Significant delays in reaching milestones are likely to be monitored and investigated.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills
In the first year of a baby’s life various milestones should be reached, these include fine and gross motor skills.
At birth babies have very few skills, they should have the basic reflexes such as opening and closing their eyes when they see bright lights or hear loud sounds. Some gross motor skills babies should have at birth include their head should be turned to one side when lying on