UNIT 18 ASESSING
CHILDREN’S
DEVELOPMENT AND
SUPPORT NEEDS
OBSERVATIONS ON CHILDREN TO EXPLORE HOW FACTORS
CAN IMPACT A CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT
MAISIE SMITH
, P3 – discuss the influence of factors on children’s growth and development
M3 – assess how one area of development affected by factors may impact on other areas
of development
There can be a wide range of factors that can have an impact on a child’s growth and
development, causing either a positive or a negative impact. These can include personal
factors, prenatal factors, socio-economic factors, environmental factors, emotional factors,
and transitions.
Health has a great impact on how people grow and develop, a healthy lifestyle will promote
good holistic development. Good health can include wellbeing, a positive emotional and
social outlook and being part of a community alongside being free from disease and
illnesses. For a child to be in good health they need to feel secure and cared for in a positive
relationship, they require their physical needs to be met by a healthy diet, warmth, shelter
and provision for movement and exercise. Children need to be protected from disease,
when possible, this includes health care and monitoring and screening, taking advantage of
immunisation programmes and promoting good hygiene practices. Things like chronic
illnesses in children will affect their holistic development, this is especially the case if they
are in the hospital for extended amounts of time as they will not be mixing with their peers
and their emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development may be affected.
If my selected chilren has delays in their physical development, they may have difficulties
with keeping at the same pace of their peers, they may find it harder to explore and to
engage in physical play, as a result they may find themselves having fewer opportunities to
interact with other children and there may be some degree of social isolation, this may
result in bullying, which can affect a child’s behaviour patterns and self-esteem.
A child that has been left disabled either before, during or after birth can have vast effects
on a child’s growth and development. Some disabilities are caused by genetic inheritance, or
they can be caused by alcohol or substance abuse by the mother, additionally certain
diseases can be contracted during the development of the foetus such as rubella,
abnormalities can also develop during pregnancy, or the mother being physically abused
during pregnancy can cause a disability during pregnancy for the child. During birth a child
can experience a lack of oxygen, there could be a long birth process, or a lack of medical
attention could cause disability in a child. After birth disabilities can be cause by accidents,
abuse, disease, or illness. Some diseases and conditions will be present prior to birth but will
not be identified until much later. Autism and other conditions may only become evident as
a child matures, many autistic children are highly intelligent, but they may often have some
difficulty with communication, behaviour, and some aspects of cognitive development.
Children with autism to need specific support, particularly during the developmental years.
There is a high number of children who have congenital hearing loss which can be rectified
but may create some delay in language and social development.
One of the children that I observed did not talk much and she only talked when a member
of staff talked to her first. If my child has delays in their language development this might
mean that they struggle to express their feelings and that they find it difficult to
CHILDREN’S
DEVELOPMENT AND
SUPPORT NEEDS
OBSERVATIONS ON CHILDREN TO EXPLORE HOW FACTORS
CAN IMPACT A CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT
MAISIE SMITH
, P3 – discuss the influence of factors on children’s growth and development
M3 – assess how one area of development affected by factors may impact on other areas
of development
There can be a wide range of factors that can have an impact on a child’s growth and
development, causing either a positive or a negative impact. These can include personal
factors, prenatal factors, socio-economic factors, environmental factors, emotional factors,
and transitions.
Health has a great impact on how people grow and develop, a healthy lifestyle will promote
good holistic development. Good health can include wellbeing, a positive emotional and
social outlook and being part of a community alongside being free from disease and
illnesses. For a child to be in good health they need to feel secure and cared for in a positive
relationship, they require their physical needs to be met by a healthy diet, warmth, shelter
and provision for movement and exercise. Children need to be protected from disease,
when possible, this includes health care and monitoring and screening, taking advantage of
immunisation programmes and promoting good hygiene practices. Things like chronic
illnesses in children will affect their holistic development, this is especially the case if they
are in the hospital for extended amounts of time as they will not be mixing with their peers
and their emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development may be affected.
If my selected chilren has delays in their physical development, they may have difficulties
with keeping at the same pace of their peers, they may find it harder to explore and to
engage in physical play, as a result they may find themselves having fewer opportunities to
interact with other children and there may be some degree of social isolation, this may
result in bullying, which can affect a child’s behaviour patterns and self-esteem.
A child that has been left disabled either before, during or after birth can have vast effects
on a child’s growth and development. Some disabilities are caused by genetic inheritance, or
they can be caused by alcohol or substance abuse by the mother, additionally certain
diseases can be contracted during the development of the foetus such as rubella,
abnormalities can also develop during pregnancy, or the mother being physically abused
during pregnancy can cause a disability during pregnancy for the child. During birth a child
can experience a lack of oxygen, there could be a long birth process, or a lack of medical
attention could cause disability in a child. After birth disabilities can be cause by accidents,
abuse, disease, or illness. Some diseases and conditions will be present prior to birth but will
not be identified until much later. Autism and other conditions may only become evident as
a child matures, many autistic children are highly intelligent, but they may often have some
difficulty with communication, behaviour, and some aspects of cognitive development.
Children with autism to need specific support, particularly during the developmental years.
There is a high number of children who have congenital hearing loss which can be rectified
but may create some delay in language and social development.
One of the children that I observed did not talk much and she only talked when a member
of staff talked to her first. If my child has delays in their language development this might
mean that they struggle to express their feelings and that they find it difficult to
