Child Development (AO1)

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A level Coursework

Case Study

Jayden lives in a nuclear family, with his mother, father and two younger siblings. He is 8 years old and is now in year 3 of his junior school. He was born on the 11th December 1998 in Hillingdon Hospital, and his due date was the 29th December. This indicates that he was 2 weeks and 4 days premature. During the birth of Jayden, his mother was going to have a normal labour. However, Jayden became very distressed and his heartbeat was dropping rapidly. Therefore, the mother had to have an emergency caesarean.

When he was born, he had jaundice. This meant that Jayden’s skin was very yellow, which could have affected his liver. However once he was born, they put him under a light for two to three hours and injected him with Vitamin K to solve the problem.

His birth weight was 5lb 4oz, which was very small compared to the average birth weight between 6 to 9lb. He also had a head circumference of 33cm, which was below average of 35cm. Lastly; Jayden’s length was 45cm, which was also below the average length of 48 to 50cm.

Gradually over the first few weeks of Jayden’s birth, his height started increasing; at 3 weeks his height was 49cm and at 5 weeks it increased to 52cm. He was breast fed for the first 2-3 months of his birth, which may have helped his growth and development. As a baby, Jayden would whine and cry a lot, he was also quite slow at developing his speech. He would babble a lot and try to say words but could not clearly say many words. He only started talking properly at the age of 2.

From the age of 2 years, his developmental skills improved quite dramatically. This was because at 2 years his parents sent him to a Private Montessori Nursery. The nursery definitely had great affect on Jayden’s development. He started eating a greater variety of foods (as before he wouldn’t eat a range of different foods). He stopped whining and crying, he was potty trained, and above all, his speech developed significantly. Due to Jayden’s parents being unable to fund his education at private nursery anymore, Jayden was forced to stop attending at the age of 3½.

Once he had started attending primary school, his skills developed more. He was a quick learner at school and he was particularly good at maths. However, the teachers did start noticing a problem with Jayden’s memory, concentration and speech. He found it difficult to remember certain instructions and to concentrate in class; this was identified as a memory and concentration with language retention problem. For example, if the teacher asked Jayden to pick up a blue, red and two green pencils, he would come back with the wrong pencils. This problem could have a link to Jayden’s premature birth and his mother having a caesarean. This wasn’t a major problem; it just meant that he was a little slower at certain things than others in his class and needed extra help with this. Therefore he had a speech therapist that would do certain activities with Jayden during school time to improve his ability. His memory and concentration started improving within a year from the help of the therapist and his parents. His language development was slow at first but later that too improved. His parents started taking him to college once a week after school, this was for extra help with his education.

He is now in year 3 and is coping very well in school, maths still being his strongest and most favourite subject. He still sees the speech therapist occasionally, to make sure he is coping ok. This is just for a safety precaution to make sure the problem does not occur again. Jayden is very fortunate to have his family’s love and support throughout his education and general well being. He has always been equipped with the best toys and resources to improve his development and skills, which has had an affect to his progress in school. Physically also, he is an average height for his age and is very active in sports. He is the fastest runner in his school and loves sports day. Out of school he used to attend swimming classes. Now that his classes have stopped, he occasionally goes swimming with his family and enjoys it.

Introduction

Development is what happens to every individual at every stage of his or her lives. Developing something means to learn different skills, physical aspects, etc and involves gaining control of the body.  For example, a baby will develop physically because it is still going to grow, which means the body will still be changing. Another example is if an older person is learning a new skill, like how to use a computer. That person’s computer skills are developing as he/she is learning a new skill and is gaining control over it physically and mentally. When you are developing, you are learning and growing into a better person than what you are now. You begin to understand more than what you already know. This means your body is changing and has to retain a lot more information every time you develop.  

Therefore, a developmental milestone is what the average child does at each stage of their development. It is a basic functional skill or age specific task that most children develop at a certain age range. When the baby is new born, for the first few years of the baby’s life, he or she visits a paediatrician for regular check ups. The paediatrician checks how the baby is developing using milestones. Although there is a specific age for when the child is expected to meet each milestone, this is not always the case. Every child is unique and therefore each child develops and reaches its milestones at different ages. The level of age that a child should reach each milestone is just an average estimate. There could be a number of different reasons as to why a child is not reaching the milestones are the expected ages, some of these reasons could include:

  • Genetic factors – a child inheriting the parents genes,
  • Parent involvement – the amount of time the parents have for their children, to encourage their childrens development,
  • Health implications,
  • Environmental factors – the quality of the child’s home and area.

(Neil Moonie, Et Al, 2006)

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Growth is different to development. Growth is being able to grow into a bigger person. ‘It involves changing in size through gaining height and weight.’ (Neil Moonie, Et Al, 2006 – page 155). The growth process not only involves a child’s height and weight, it also involves the growth of their teeth, when a child gains teeth, they then fall out and gain new teeth. For a teenager it involves starting puberty and for any person it involves the growth of hair and nails. All these different growth processes occur as the body matures. Although growth and development have different meanings, they are closely linked. They usually follow the same pattern, although sometimes this is not the case. For example, if there is something wrong with the child or they have a disability, this could be because they are still growing but not developing.

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There are different factors that could influence a child’s growth and some of these include:

  • Genetic factors – inheriting the parents genes
  • Environmental factors – e.g. living in cramped spaces could lead to poor growth.
  • Financial factors – e.g. the child’s parents may not be able to afford new shoes for their child, therefore if the child continues to wear the same small shoes, their feet will not grow properly.
  • Emotional factors – e.g. if the child is emotionally stressed and upset, they may not eat very well or lack sleep, preventing them to grow.
  • Intellectual factors – e.g. the child not having the knowledge to know what is a healthy diet. Therefore, if the child eats a lot of junk food instead of fresh foods it could prevent a healthy growth.
  • Physical factors – e.g. having a problem or condition, which affects a child’s growth.

Growth and development is very important, especially throughout a child’s childhood. This is because at these early stages of their lives, they develop and learn the most. It is important for a child to have the right foundation of growth and development in the early stages of their lives for them to increase their growth and development throughout the rest of their lives. Good development enables a child to increase their skills and knowledge, which will help them throughout their lives. For example, when they are looking for a job they will be equipped with a good development of knowledge and intellectual skills, which will result to a better job. Another example is if when a child attends school, they will be able to learn and develop quickly which will result to better grades. Good growth on the other hand, enables a child to have a healthy weight, height and an overall healthy body. Good growth also helps a child’s development.

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Physical growth and size

Physical growth occurs from 0 to 18 years. This is from the time the baby is born to the time the baby matures. The child will grow according to the individual child and the different parts of its body; this also depends on the rate that the child will grow at throughout the years. The child may experience a ‘growth spurt’, which is when the body tends to grow at a much faster pace than the child’s usual growth rate. Parts of the body also grow quicker than other parts at different times. For ...

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