Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools L2 Unit 1, 2.2

The following things would cause concern about a child or young person’s development. If the problem was left unidentified then things could get worse, and a delay in intervention could mean that the outcome is not as good as it would have been if intervention was started sooner.

Speech / Language.
If a child or young person does not talk to anyone or even only speaks a few words compared to others, this may cause concern. This would socially affect the child or young person’s because they would find it hard to make friends, work within groups or even interact with adults. It would also affect their communicational development because they would find it hard to speak to people and also may find it hard to listen to instructions etc. Early intervention would be the best way to respond to this concern, the first step would be to have the child or young person’s hearing checked because if they have poor hearing they will find it hard to hear people so will not want to communicate with others in case they get anything wrong.

Poor reading and writing.
If a child or young person has difficulties with their reading and writing skills it may cause concern, but this may not be noticeable until the child is around the age of 6 or 7 because by this age they should have learnt how letters are formed and start to string words together. These are the main skills a child needs to help them develop in all areas. Due to poor reading and writing skills the child or young person will start to fall behind his peers of the same age. They may find it difficult to interact or make friends with others who are more advanced than them, in case they are bullied etc. They would struggle with their intellectual development not only with the reading and writing, but they would struggle with their memory and even their concentration