Child Development Overview

1. Child
Development
Foundation Apprenticeship
Children and Young People

2. Development
In this section we will look at –
• What is meant by the development of children and young people?
• The progression of development of children and young people?
• Ways that Development is individual to each child and young person
Throughout this unit we will be looking at the principles and
perspectives of child development as well as the influences and
circumstance that can effect the development of children and young
people

3. What is Development?
 Child development is the way in which children change and develop as they grow into adults.
 Growth and development go hand in hand, and can often be difficult to separate.
 Growth means an increase in size, while development means an increase in complexity.
Child development can be defined as the process by which a child changes over time. It covers the whole period
from conception to an individual becoming a fully functioning adult. It’s a journey from total dependence to full
independence.

4. Why do we study Child Development?
By studying children, we can learn more about why they develop the way
they do and also the most effective ways to help them to develop as
responsible citizens with positive contributions to make.
So we are able to:
• Understand some of the changes that take place in
our lives
• Assess progress in individuals
• Find out if there are unusually fast or slow
changes in individuals
• Plan activities to encourage development
• Meet developmental needs

5. Other benefits include -

6. How do we measure child development?
There are lots of different ways
child development can be
measured.
A traditional approach measured
development against what we might
call milestones. When you measure
children against the “normal” rate
of development.

7. What are the pros and cons of using this
method to measure development?

8. Children may do things at an earlier
or later stage than their
Peers. Measurement against norms
can result in anxiety for
Parents or carers or even result in
the labelling of a child
With additional support needs.
Measuring a child’s
development against a set of
stages or milestones is
useful in providing a
framework that can be
studied easily.

9. The stages of development we will look at in this unit are:
• Infancy – 0-3 years
• Pre-school – 3-5 years
• Early childhood – 5-8 years
• Childhood – 8-12 years
• Adolescence – 13-18 years

10. Principles of Development
Growth
The word growth is used to describe how
things get larger.
How children's bodies grow larger and
heavier with age.
Development
Development is more complex and
explains how the children learn and gain
new skills that help them through life.
Child development
studies the way
that children
change and develop
into adulthood.
Growth and
development go
hand in hand and
can be difficult to
separate.

11. Development follows a sequence
Although children develop at different rates they all go through
a similar sequence of development

12. • Children generally sit before they stand; stand
before they walk; walk before they run.
• They babble before they say words; use single
words before phrases; phrases before sentences.
• At 16 weeks only the lower back of the
supported baby is curved, the Head wobbles if
the body sways.
• By 20 (5 months) weeks there is no head or leg
wobble and the baby pulled to sit Keeps his back
straight.
• At 24 weeks (6 months) he lifts his head to be
pulled up, and sits supported in a high chair.

14. Physical Development
Physical development is the development of the body. This includes changes in body size and shape
and the development of sex characteristics at puberty.
Children will grow and develop motor skills. These
require co-ordination between the brain and
muscles, and require practice for the child to
become confident at using them.

15. Motor Skills
These can be separated into two categories
Gross Motor Skills
 These involve the use of the big muscles in
the body – walking, running, kicking, throwing,
catching.
Fine Manipulative Skills
 These involve the use of the hands and
fingers – pointing, holding a pencil, doing up
buttons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93BTYyHG0c&t=15s

16. Decide whether these are Gross Motor Skills or Fine Manipulative Skills:
Turning a Handle
Holding a pencil
Climbing a tree
Skipping with a rope
Fastening a zip
Running a race

17. Social Development
Social development or socialisation is the process of learning the skills and
attitudes which help us to live easily with other members of our community
• Meeting and mixing with others;
• Sharing, taking turns and accepting rules
• Having acceptable standards of hygiene
• Eating in a socially acceptable way

18. Children go through the following
stages of social development:
1) Learning to interact with others
2) Learning that they are part of a family
3) Learning to co-operate as part of a group

19. Think about the social skills, such as meeting and mixing with others, sharing
and turn taking, accepting rules, good levels of hygiene, eating an caring for
yourself.
Note down the part you think your family played in developing them.

20. Emotional Development
 Emotional development is about learning about feelings, understanding them and developing ways to express
feeling appropriately.
 Feeling safe and secure is an important part of emotional development and the bonds we develop during infancy
with family and carers enable a child and later the young adult to feel good about themselves and in turn, raise
their self-esteem and confidence.
 Social and emotional development is linked together as it is often not possible to separate feelings (emotions)
from social relationships. Much of our emotional development is closely linked with out social development and
the forming and breaking of relationships.

21. Cognitive Development
 Cognitive (Intellectual)
development is the
development of the mind. The
mind is the thinking part of
the brain.
 Learning, thinking,
remembering, reasoning and
understanding are all included
in intellectual development.
 The development of the
imagination is also an aspect
of intellectual development.

22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5z0zMU23k
Learning through senses
How do babies learn?

23. Children learn about the word around them by:
Investigating and
exploring
Asking questions Using books
Acquiring basic concepts
(ideas)
Copying other people

24. Play is an important tool for learning, it enables children to find out
about themselves and the world they live in.

25. Language Development
Communication involves sending and receiving messages.
These messages can be sent by our faces, bodies and voices.
- This is known as non verbal communication.
We can also communicate with the words we use.
- This is known as verbal communication.

26. Children learn to talk by:
• Other people talking to them
• Listening
• Practising making sounds
• Copying sounds made by others
• Listening to what the sounds mean
Like other strands of development, the development
follows a sequence.

27. All aspects of child development are interconnected. For example, a child’s
ability to learn new information is influenced by his ability to interact
appropriately with others and his ability to control his immediate impulses.