Development from Conception to 16 Years Essay

E1- The age group I have chosen to describe is birth to 3 year olds on their physical development and communication and language development. In this age range the physical development changes from birth where they generally don’t do anything which develops as between 3 – 6 months the child can hold a rattle for a moment, reaching for a toy, putting toys in their mouth, lifting their head up, moving their arms to indicate wanting to be picked up and rolling over. This development changes much more as when the child is 9 – 18 months as they can grasp objects, can sit unsupported, can crawl , can point at objects, start to use a spoon and self-feed, start to walk, start to scribble and build a tower of three blocks. Then at 2 years the child can draw circles and dots, can use spoons to feed their self’s effectively, can run, climb on furniture and use sit and ride toys. At 3 years the child can do all the stuff from the ages before but also turn the pages of a book, wash and dry their own hands, run forwards and backwards, kick a stationary ball and throw a ball as this develop is done with the help of the child’s family as the encourage the child’s physical development. The communication and language development happens because at this age there co-operation from early motherese by asking them to show you objects and then learn to follow simple instructions but their communication and language develops as first all the can do is cry and make cooing noises which then turns to babbling at 6 – 10 months where they â€Å"goo† and â€Å"ma† as the child blends vowels and consonants together to make tuneful sounds. Then at around 12 months this develops to the child saying â€Å"momma† and â€Å"dada† as they start to show facial expressions and gestures but can now combine sounds. From 1 – 2 years they learn more words so they can make mini sentences when they speak and manage to name things when you point to something, and from 2 – 3 years they can communicate well and manage to ask questions and say full sentences as at this age there is a large increase in a child’s vocabulary combined with an increase in the use sentences. E2- The age group I have chosen to describe is 3 – 7 year olds on their physical development and communication and language development. In this age range the physical development changes from being 3 years and being able to just learning to walk and run, walk on their tiptoes, wash and dry their hands, put a coat on and off and use a spoon to feed them self’s without the  food spilling. To when they are 4 – 5 years where the child should start being able to button and unbutton their own clothing, cut simple shapes, put puzzles together specifically for their age range, write their name, form letters, draw recognisable pictures, cut out shapes with scissors, draw around a template, walk on a line, hop on one foot, skip with a rope, run quickly avoiding objects and use a variety of large equipment on their own (e.g. slide, swings†¦). Then at the age 6 – 7 years the child should be able to join handwriting, cut shapes out accurately, make detailed dra wings, tie and untie shoelaces, hop, skip and jump confidently, chase and dodge others, balance on a beam and use a bicycle. This is because in this age the child is helped through their physical development by their parents, family, teachers and peers as they encourage the child. Communication and language development happens very effectively in this age range as at 3 – 4 years they are able to ask questions and be fascinated with answers given to them by saying â€Å"if† to find out what happens, say their name age address and be more accurate in speaking how they pronounce words. At 4-7 years the child tries to understand the meaning of words, talk more confidently and begins to be more and more fluent, manages to add vocabulary all of the time in their speech, begin to share ideas, begin to realise different situations and define what objects are, this is because in this age range a child masters the basic skills of language and masters the reproduction of most sounds. E3- One theoretical perspective linking to E1 and E2 is Chomsky’s theory of language development. His theory is a nativist theory as he suggests that humans have a built in ability to learn a language. Chomsky states that children have a â€Å"Language Acquisition Device† (LAD) which encodes the major principles of a language into a child’s brain. Chomsky’s theory also states that children are able to use language so accurately from an early age because they only have to learn the new vocabulary and apply the structures from the LAD to form sentences. Chomsky believes that they cannot be learning the language purely through imitation as the speech around them is often broken and ungrammatical. Even with extremely complex languages children will become fluent in their native language by the age of 5 or 6. A second theoretical perspective linking to E1 and E2 is Skinner’s theory of language development. Skinner’s theory is a nurture or behaviouristic theory. According to Skinner’s theory a child initially  acquires through an operant process this means that the child learns voluntarily without any external force so learning of its own free will and without any sort of pressure. According to Skinner the whole process is based upon 4 elements as it is stated on slideshare.net which are â€Å"stimulus, response, reinforcement and repetition†. For example a child will make a sound if they want something. If the child gets the response it wants they will associate that sound with the act or response and will continue to use it to achieve that response. Skinner believes that learning language is no different from learning anything else and anything which is lodged in the mind of the child becomes part and parcel of the child’s life. E5- for my observations I have done a tick chart, time sample and written narrative on a child aged 3 years and 11 months E6- In order to maintain confidentiality throughout the observations each child is referred to as child A, B or X rather than their names being used so that other people do not recognise who we are observing should they know the child. Each setting is referred to in a general form such as primary school, pre-school and nursery. The information gathered is only accessible to the observer and in some cases the teacher or a high member of staff if something is noticed that is either of a concern or needs addressing. Also maintaining confidentiality is very important in a setting as it shows respect to people so then they can trust you so if they have any concerns then can come and tell you. But if a child is at risk confidentially may be broken if a practitioner thinks child protection should know. D1- The observations that I carried out show that child A struggles to recognise numbers and letters in general. This may be because they are a kinaesthetic learner and is more confident in absorbing information through practical methods rather than through visual methods. This suggests that child A needs more help with their numbers and writing so to help we could plan activities to help do these which are more appropriate to the child’s learning style and suggest at home they practise counting and writing to develop on this to get them up to the same or a similar level as the rest in their year. Also the observations show that child A is not yet confident about showing and talking to the rest of the class at show and tell, this may be because the child is very shy which could be because the child is not used to being at the school yet and doesn’t feel confident enough as they might still not know everyone and become shy because they  have never noticed or spoke to s ome of their peers. D2- the observations in E4 can help with planning to meet the child’s needs as from observing you can see the child’s interests and find the best way to help them reach the next level of development or ways to maintain a desirable behaviour. Doing observations also helps early years practioners learn more about the age group they are working with so then they will be able to plan activities to each individuals learning styles and individual needs. For example the child I observed in E4 is not very confident talking to the whole class at show and tell so from knowing that I would plan for them to do group work with friends at first then try and mix groups so she still has 2 friends with her so they can make new friends with the people in the class they haven’t spoken to, to try and gain confidence to talk to all other peer’s in the class. Also the child turned out to be a kinaesthetic learner so while planning I would make sure there are activities to just get on with and do so the child can do activities that are to their interest and learning style as well as trying things that are not their favourite learning style but my help them in some way. C- Confidentiality and objective observation are both subjects that are seen as important; this is because confidentiality is very important in teaching and for practioners to keep confidentiality which means they can only speak of things they have seen in the workplace to other members of the staff or supervisors if it is a concern, but no one else outside of the placement should be informed. By using confidentiality we are assuring the safety of the child and their family. Also we are able to make and keep a reputation for ourselves and the setting so we gain the trust of parents, guardians and the local community by protecting information and the children plus working to a child’s best interest. Each child and their family are diverse as they all have their own differences so if we include every child in an observation it shows to be unbiased. The issues which are essential to confidentiality are personal attitudes and values, sharing information, safe storage of information, working with parents, legal requirements and polices.