Discuss The Influence Of Personal And External Factors On Child Development

A childs development can be affected by both personal and external factors. Personal factors are those that are sepcific to an individual child and external factors are those that could theoretically affect each and every child.

Personal factors include the following:

Health
Some children’s development may be affected by a pre-existing health condition. For example a baby’s development can be affected during the pregnancy, if a mother smokes, takes drugs, drinks alcohol or contracts certain infections such as rubella.
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome occurs when a mother drinks large amounts of alcohol during her pregnancy. This condition will usually affect a child’s cognitive and physical development. The amount of alcohol consumed, as
A hearing impairment can mean that speech is unclear and words pronuounced incorrectly. This can lead to a child avoiding social interaction, affecting emotional and social development, if they feel unable to express themselves properly. One of the main areas of physical development is hand-eye co-ordination and for a child with a visual impairment this take a lot longer to master.
Learning Disabilities
A child’s cognitive development will be affected by learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD, until it is picked up on. A Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (Senco), which all schools have, will ensure that the extra educational support needed by the child is in place by working with the child and their parent/carers. The social and emotional development and wellbeing of a child with learning difficulties may also be affected if they are seen as ‘different’ by those around them and are teased and/or bullied and the effects of this type of treatment can cause issues well into adulthood.
Genetics
As soon as a child is conceived their development begins. Their genetic information is made up from both the egg and the sperm. This information can sometimes be faulty and will affect the development of the health of the
People with Down’s syndrome have an extra copy of the chromosome 21 in the cells of their body. There are some facial and other physical features that are common with this disorder as well as certain medical problems. For example atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD). This is a condition where there is a hole in the muscle that usually separates the different chambers in the heart. Typically speaking the rate at which most children with Down’s syndrome will develop will be affected because they have some degree of learning difficulty. However, the level of difficulty will vary from one person to another. Generally the usual speech and physical milestones will be reached but at a later stage than other children.
External factors that may affect development include the following:-
Poverty
Poverty will probably have a major effect on development. Statistics show that children from poor backgrounds are less likely to flourish and achieve well at school. Parents will find it harder to deal with their children’s requirements which will have a bearing on all areas of development. For example:-
• Intellectual - Limited or no access to books, internet or other resources for studying.
• Social – May not have the money to be able to take part in activities that their friends