Development of child between 0 to 8 yeras.

Q1: Summarise the main development of a child age 0-2, 2-5 & 5-8 yrs.

0-2 Years

As a child grows the changes in weight and height size are measured on a centile chart, these charts show the expected pattern at the particular ages. Development refers to the skills and abilities that you learn through life, but as we all know children are all individual and so when centile charts are used they are based on the “average” child but all children meet these different goals in their own time and don’t always fit nicely into the correct average box.

A new born cannot its support own head as it has not learned any skills yet. By three months the baby is now able to hold its head and to look around. By six months or about that they can sit unsupported and start to learn how to move by crawling and shuffling. By 1 year they can usually manage a few steps holding on to an adults hands and enjoy being on their legs and bouncing whilst being supported. By the time they are sixteen months most should be mobile and walking around independently. This would start by walking along furniture. A baby gains 700-900g a month in weight up until it is six months old, but this slows to 450-600g per month after the age of six months. It is expected by 1 year they should have tripled their birth rate.

By 3 months a baby has learnt to imitate facial expressions and learns how to smile when being talked to. They explore with their mouths and hands and babbling as they get older helps to develop speech. By 2 they have learnt to use key objects like spoons. At around 19 months they will play, they only tend to play alongside other children as they haven’t learnt how to play or interact with other children yet.

Crying is the only way for small babies to communicate when their needs are not being met and they learn to turn head, shut eyes and cry when they do not like something. Equally they learn how to smile and giggle to express when they want more of something. They start to use and develop the 6 senses seeing, learning, smelling, touching and tasting.

By the age of 2, children should be able to say 40-50 words.

2-5 Years

Once a child reaches 2 it starts to become stronger, taller and leaner and will lose the baby shape. They will continue to gain a steady weight. Between 2 and 5 they develop their vocabulary and by the age of 5 they should be able to hold a conversation and know thousands of wards and they should be able to start to tell stories.

At 2 most children should be able to climb the stairs one by one and also to kick a ball. They should be able to do simple mark making on paper with a pencil and by 5 they should be able to writs some letters and start to dress themselves.

From 2 they start to learn letters, colours and counting and start to thing and reason more. Between the age of 2 and 5 most children slowly start to learn how to manage their feelings, The “terrible two’s” refers to them not being able to master the feelings and not understanding they that can’t always get their own way. By 5 they should have learnt how to control their feelings and understand why “yes” is not always possible.

By 5 friends have become a lot more important. By 5 a child should have developed their fine motor skills enough that they can draw pictures that resemble objects such as a “man” or a “house”.

5-8 Years

Between the ages of 5-8 years children have a great desire to fit in, to be liked and to be accepted by their friends. This is sometimes essential to self-esteem. During these years children start to understand rules and understand why we have them. During these years children will often learn how to climb, swim, throw a ball and ride a bike without stabilisers. Between these ages children will start to better understand tenses; “past, present, future” and will start to tell jokes and start to really enjoy reading. They continue to grow taller and gain weight. By the age of 6 they should be able to start writing independently.
As stated, all children will develop at their own rate and so when some can already read others are still learning simple words. Under no circumstances should children ever be compared as they are individual. In their own right and children are always good at something and should never be made to feel less important than others.

Q2: Analyse key social economic and environmental factors which influence development.

Children can be affected by many social economic and environmental factors some of which can be positive and some are negative. Young children are vulnerable and things can affect them much more than adults.

One main factor of social development is love. Is the childe loved and made to feel safe? If these factors are not being met then a child’s development can be hindered greatly. A child that is shown a high level of love and affection is normally happy both emotionally and physically and will be able to progress and develop in line with its peers.

Parental interaction can be such a positive thing. Parents who spend time playing and teaching their children through reading, games and other such activities will have a positive effect on their children, whereas parents that ignore and don’t interact with their child will have a negative effect on their development.

Children with a supportive home nursery school life will thrive best, children that live with ridicule learn to be shy where as children who live with encouragement learn to be confident.

Nutrition can impact life greatly too. We all know that if you consume unhealthy foods you will gain weight, you will feel lethargic and not feel your best, if a child in not taught this then they will continue these bad habits in later life. This in turn can affect the heart, liver lungs and have a knock on effect on their whole lives. Illness allergies and other health conditions can also play a huge part in the development of a child and can sometimes effect height and weight.

Unfortunately in this economic climate many people are living on the bread line sometimes just feeding the family is hard enough without the added worry of healthy food too.

Other things can effect children’s development, divorce, death, illness moving house can all take its toll on a venerable child.

A child that is taught to deal with their emotions and encouraged to talk about things will help then to deal with future life.

Q3. Describe children’s overall development needs.

Children need to be loved nurtured and made to feel safe. When a child feels loved, support, cared for and affection then in turn they feel content, confident and secure. They need to know that their home life is stable, if they don’t feel this or if parents separate it can lead to unsettled nights, bed wetting and general feelings of insecurity.

A good healthy diet with lots of fruit and vegetables with lots of exercise and fresh air will help aid a child’s development.

Praise, support, encouragement and adult and child interaction will help a child to develop a well-rounded balance to be able to advance on to make friendships, to do well in school and to grow into respectable adults.

A child that lives with negativity will likely end up being negative.

Every child deserves a happy childhood with lots of wonderful memories.