E1 Describe the development of children in a selected age range and in TWO (2) areas of development. 3-7 12-16 Language and social development. The development of children is extremely important, so it is important to know what a child should be doing at different ages. Two particular areas are language and social development. When a child reaches the age of three they should start to develop their social development so they should recognise their gender role, they also start making friends and negotiate with other children as well as begin to have a sense of control when interacting with other children.
Children of three years are easily afraid and begin to imagine and pretend. With communication development a three year old should begin to use full sentences and tenses, also the child should be talking quite often and start to ask questions however they may make grammatical errors such as ‘I goed there’ instead of ‘I went there’. The child may enjoy more complicated stories and have favourite books which they ask for frequently, the child will be trying very hard to get their speech right so may stutter when talking to adults and this may frustrate them.
A child at four years old where social development is concerned should start to be more independent and show their sense of humour more often, they should also start being able to undress and dress themselves but possibly not laces or buttons. They should also start being able to wash and dry their own hands and brush their teeth but may need some help from their parents/carer. When talking about four year olds in language development they should be able to be taught to say their name, age and address.
They should also be using past, present and future tense and become more accurate when speaking as well as laugh at sentences that they make up and begin to use proper grammar. When looking at social development between the ages of 5 and 7 the child should be able to begin to control their feelings and can think of other people’s feelings as well. The child also starts to take responsibility in everyday things such as helping other people.
The child’s language development should be progressing between these ages and the child should be able to understand the meaning of most words and be able to talk confidently, they also begin to associate objects buy their function. Children within this age range should begin to realise that they should talk in different ways when in different situations. Word count: 402 E2 Describe the development of children in a selected age range, different from E1 and in TWO (2) areas of development.
During the ages of 12 to 16 in language development a child should be more independent and spend a lot of time with friends doing different activities inside and outside of school. The child should be able to communicate with more maturity and be able to write appropriately and neatly, the child should also be able to understand more complicated writing and different contexts. The child’s social development between these ages is also increasing rapidly, they might become more self-conscious and aware of physical changes as well as developing their sexual identity.
The child may feel like they are misunderstood and have mild to severe mood swings. They may go out of their way to be accepted into a certain group of people and be less dependent on their family. Word count: 130 E4 Include THREE (3) observations as appendices. E5 Identify and use THREE (3) different observation techniques. The three types of observations that I have used are narrative, checklist and event sample.
Narrative observations are written observations of a child doing an activity, this observation should be written in present tense and should be at least an A4 page, it should have every detail about what the child is doing however when writing it is easy to miss details when using this technique of observation, the narrative observation is for assessing the child in detail during a certain period of time. The checklist observation is for assessing a child’s development by looking at specific things that they should be doing depending on the age range and type of development.
Checklist observations are usually completed over a day and show whether a certain type of behaviour or activity has been seen by the practitioner or not and is to assess where the child is in a certain area of development. An event sample observation is a description of a certain type of behaviour shown by the child after the behaviour has happened so it should be written in past tense. This type of observation is to assess whether someone or something triggers a certain type of behaviour in a child however could have missing details as the practitioner needs to remember what happened and then write down the event sample.
Word count: 222 E6 & C •Explain how to maintain confidentiality throughout the observation. •Analyse the issues which are essential to confidentiality and objective observations. When completing observations the practitioner should always ensure that they are maintaining the confidentiality of the child and the setting. The practitioner should always make sure that they do not include the Childs name or gender in their observation nor the name of the setting or the specific age of the child however they may be able to include the age range depending on what the child is doing.
The practitioner needs to be aware of the people who are allowed to see the observations and that they should be filed away and not left around the setting. The observations should be put away with the Childs personal file and should only be shown as evidence if the practitioner suspects that the child may be at risk or have a symptom of something. The Childs confidentiality and welfare is always paramount so the practitioner must ensure that they keep it at all times during observations and that nothing personal about the child is written down unless absolutely necessary.
Practitioners shouldn’t show parents observations that aren’t about their child. Confidentiality is very important in a setting so to keep confidentiality the practitioner should only talk about events which happen in the setting to other members of the team if necessary. By keeping confidentiality in the setting in the setting you are assuring the safety of the children and their families, you are also creating professional relationships with the parents as well as creating a good repution for your setting as this shows that you are protecting the children.
Confidentiality within the setting also shows that you have respect for the privacy of children and their families which is important as practitioners will be entrusted with personal information about the children and it is exremely important that they do not abuse this trust. The information given to the practitioner may be sensitive so they have to take into consideration the needs and wellbeing of the child before persuing any action.
Confidential information should be kept in a locked file in the office and should not be removed from that area without being signed out for a specific reason. The only people that are allowed to see a childs file are appropriate staff members, consultants and the child and child’s family however they cannot see another child’s file. Confidentiality when making observations is important as well as observations are used for analysing the child’s development and learning abilities.
Any observations about the child should be kept in their file and the observation should be written so that no one can identify which child the observation is about as it may have some specific activities that the child has done and how they have behaved which would be breaching the child’s confidentiality. Some observations may not be correct as the practitioner might of missed detail because of the child moving quickly and therefore may have come to an inappropriate conclusion about the child which may lead to the parents or professionals in the setting being alerted of something about the child which isn’t true.
Word count: 510 E7 Show an understanding of diversity and inclusive practice. E8 Include references and a bibliography. D1Discuss the child’s needs in relation to the selected area of development. A child’s needs are paramount in the setting so observations and correct assessments of observations are very important for managing a child’s needs and making sure that their needs are met within the setting.
When observing I found that the child wasn’t communicating as much as they should be at the age that they are, the developmental norm for this age is for the child to become more interactive with both genders of children and be able to share and communicate as part of a group. To meet the child’s needs the setting could arrange for the child to be put into groups of children more often to do different activities and possibly do more in depth observations to assess whether or not the child has any social problems.
If the setting feels that the child could have some social problems then they could bring a professional into the setting to assess the child and talk to the child’s parents about giving them more support at home to address the lack of communication. The developmental norms however are not solid as we know that each child develops at their own pace in each area of development so practitioners know that if a child is not as developed as other children it is not an immediate worry unless the child is severely behind in their evelopment then they may get someone into the setting to observe the child and alert the child’s parents but this is unlikely as the child may just not have enough support at home or may not be concentrating when in the setting which may lead to lack in different aspects of the child’s development. Practitioners in the setting are aware of this and will take any action required to meet the child’s needs and ensure their wellbeing. Word count: 301
D2 Explain how the observations can be used to support planning to meet the child’s Needs. Observations can be very useful for planning activities either with a whole class or one to one planned activities. Observations can help a practitioner collect information about a child and assess whether or not that child needs extra help with any areas of their development and by knowing that information they can successfully plan a specific activity for the child or a group of children to do either independently or part of a group.
If a practitioner uses observations with correct assessments to plan for a certain child or group of children then they should be meeting most of the child’s developmental needs and also helping other children by knowing what children are working at different levels which would mean that all of children in class will be able to concentrate and work at a standard of work that they are comfortable doing and can do within the time provided.
Practitioners know that observations will help their planning especially for children who are lacking in development and need specific teaching methods. Observations will also help the practitioner to know the children’s learning styles which will add to the successfulness of their planning as the children will be able to carry out the task easily and have an increased understanding of what the activity involves and what they need to do to achieve the end product of what the teacher is asking them to do. Word count: 234
B Reflect on the implications for practice of the assessment of children through Observation. The implications of using observations to assess children are that when carrying out some types of observation the practitioner could miss out important details which may result in the practitioner making a wrong judgement of either a conclusion that the child may have a condition or that the child does not when the child has. Practitioners could tell other people this misleading information which could result in the professional relationships of the setting being hindered.
However assessing children through observations is mostly an accurate way of seeing where a child is in their development as well as whether or not they have behavioural problems. Depending on what type of observation is used to assess which area of development the conclusions are usually correct and can help practitioners to plan for a certain child or group of children which will ultimately help them with their development and ensure their wellbeing in the setting as long as the observations are being filed away properly.
If the observations which take place in the setting are not filed properly then the setting would be breaching the child’s confidentiality and the setting could possibly get into trouble by leaving the observations which could be seen by anyone who is coming in and out of the setting. Observations which are being used for assessments on children should not breach their confidentiality so should not have any details which could let someone know the child’s identity such as their name, specific age, class number or gender.
Reliability is important for assessment through observations as well because if the practitioner does not complete the observation correctly or fails to complete it on time then the setting will receive different results so whether or the observations are reliable is an important part as to their implications on the setting and the child’s needs and wellbeing. Word count: 303 A Evaluate the influence of theoretical perspectives on aspects of practice which affect the development of children. E3 Explain TWO (2) theoretical perspectives relevant to the areas of development.
Chomsky & Vygotsky Vygotsky’s theory on social/emotional development is about imagination and presentation to enhance a child’s learning. He believed that children should learn through kinaesthetic techniques such as watching someone older than them do something which the child then copies and learns from however this may teach the child things that they shouldn’t do if they have not got appropriate role models. Parents in his theory were thought of as the child’s first educator which means that they should be very involved in their child’s learning and development.
An advantage in Vygotsky’s theory when in practice is that the children interact more with friends and other children which means that they are enhancing their social and communication skills meaning that they are improving their development. Another advantage is that children can share their experiences with others during social times such as break and golden time however they will also be able to share with practitioners on a one to one basis. Moreover children’s stage in the area of social development will help them understand their experiences and make sense of different situations.
The disadvantages to his theory are that using social skills and others knowledge to learn may prevent them from figuring out the answers and learning for themselves, being totally dependent on another person. Another disadvantage may also be that children will find it harder to become an individual in the future and struggle to perform tasks, as well as losing confidence and self-esteem after being so close to an adult where they are being so attentive may cause problems for those children in the future.
