n this piece of coursework I am going to focus on the case study of my child Marie. I am going to explain a range of factors that have affected and influenced Maries development in a physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social matter.

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AO2 – Factors that influence development and norms of development

Child development is a process that every child goes through. It refers to the changes that occur as the child grows and develops in relation to being physically health, mentally alert, emotionally sound and socially competent. In child development, children learn and master skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping and many more. These master skills are enhanced and encouraged by the physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social development of the child. All children should be able to crawl, walk, and talk and follow sequential pattern of development; unfortunately however there are some children who do not follow a pattern and have a delay in development.

Development delay is where a child has not learnt the skills that are expected in that time point. For example a child would be expected to walk between 9-15 months, however if a child cannot walk by 20 months, the child would be considered to have a developmental delay. Development delay can occur in any of the five key areas of development.

There can be many different factors that can cause development delays but the main factors that can cause it are the biological and social factors. Genetic inheritance or chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome, can contribute to a child having development delay. These illnesses and conditions cover the biological factor. The social factor can cause development delay if a child’s life experiences are bad for example if they are exposed to harmful chemicals or suffer from bad parenting, this factor can contribute to a child having delay in development.

In this piece of coursework I am going to focus on the case study of my child Marie. I am going to explain a range of factors that have affected and influenced Marie’s development in a physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social matter.

There can be many different factors that will have an impact on the development of a child, some can be positive and some can be negative. The factors I am going to discuss are;

  • Family
  • Economic circumstance
  • Environment
  • Education

Family

A family is a group of people in your life who you may be related to by blood, marriage or choice. A family is where you give each other emotional support and you help them whenever they need you. Family may be people you see daily or infrequently but the bond remains and stands the test of time, distance, and overrides almost any challenges. Belonging to a family can have many advantages. Each member can feel consistently accepted, valued, appreciated and loved. Family relationships provide a safe care setting for children. Family can guide and teach children and they provide social and emotional support to the child.

Overall a family ensures a sound, stable environment to enable children flourish. children will learn what is expected behaviour from the group of people closest to them, and this is the family.

Types of families

There are four main types of families. They are;

  • Nuclear family
  • Extended family
  • Lone parent families
  • Reconstituted family

Nuclear Family

A nuclear family consists of two parents. A father, a mother and their children, all exclusively sharing living quarters. The parents support the children financially.

Extended Family

An extended family is a group that consists of parents, children and grandparents that all live together or near each other so that they are often together.

Lone parent family

A lone parent family is a family consisting of children that is led by one parent who supports the children on their own.

Reconstituted family

A reconstituted family consists of a parent and a step parent who is not the biological mother or father of the children they live with, but they support and love the children like a biological family.

Case study in relation to the family

In relation to the case study of my child Marie, I know that Marie lived in a nuclear family until she was 18 months and then her family became disrupted to a lone parent family were her mother is now the one who supports the her, When Marie’s mum and dad split up Marie occasionally seen her father up to three years old. Within the family is Marie and her twin sister. Marie has two older siblings which are aged thirteen and fifteen but they were put into care as her mother could not handle them but Marie sees them regularly. Marie is also part of an extended family as her mum remarked she was brought up around a large family. Marie mother is on Child benefits and she has never had a job. Lastly Marie has had a lot of trauma in her life as three members of the family passed away. Her granddad passed away when Marie was 4 years old, another granddad died when she was 6 years old and an auntie died when she was 7 years old which was quite recent as Marie is still 7 years old. This family factor could affect Marie’s physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social development in a number of ways.

Physical development

Infant

When Marie was born she was premature and weighed just 4 pounds 5.25 ounces. We are informed that Marie had to be put into an incubator for ten days; this was because Marie was born premature. Linking this problem to the family I believe Marie could have been born early due to her mother being stressed as she could have been having continuous arguments with her partner, the reason I am suggesting this is because we know that Marie’s father left after 18months, this conflict was most likely going on during Marie’s mothers pregnancy, therefore this could be the possible reason why Marie was born early. Throughout the rest of Marie’s infant life, Marie is continuously underweight and not reaching the norms, however even though she is not reaching the norm, she is still putting on weight like an infant is supposed to because from effective researching, I acknowledge that an infant gains 1 pound in weight every month from Newborn to twelve months. At 3 months Marie weighed 7 pounds and at 6 months she weighed 10 pounds, therefore this shows that Marie has put on three pound over the three months which equals a pound each month, therefore her physical growth is developing fine, however she is still under the norm but as we know Marie is putting on weight, this tells me Marie is being fed and is getting the nutrients needed to grow, therefore the family is impacting on Marie is a positive way, she is not being neglected, she is being cared for and looked after no matter what the circumstance of the family structure is. Looking at Marie’s height for infancy, Marie is still not meeting the norm throughout her infant months, for example at 3 months her height was 44cm and the general height for an infant at 3 months is 52 cm, Marie is 8cm under the norm and continues to be 8cm below the norm throughout her infant life. The family could be impacting on this as being small in height could be a contributing hereditary factor.

   When Marie was an infant her gross motor skills where advanced as I had observed that she was ahead of most of the milestones. For example, at 3 months old Marie could sit up with support. A typical infant usually reaches this milestone at 4 months. Marie is 1 month ahead of the norm and this suggests that Marie was constantly being bonded with and nursed by her family by having her being sat on their knees etc, this could be the reason why Marie met this milestone 1 month ahead of the general age. At 7 months Marie could sit alone without support and hold her head erect this milestone is usually conquered at the age of 8 months, again Marie is one month ahead which suggests that the family were constantly bonding and nursing her on their laps and also the fact that she could observe her twin being nursed may also have impacted on her being able to reach this milestone at an early age. There are two milestones Marie never met and these are linked to crawling. I observed that she never raised arms and knees into crawling position and that she never crawled. A typical infant meets both these milestones by 8-9 months, Marie never met these and this is called development delay. Linking this to the family, I believe the cause of Marie not crawling is because the family bonded with her so much as she was premature. Naturally a parent would be protective and eager to build attachment with the young child and as Marie’s parents missed the first 10 days of the start of Marie’s life due to her being in an incubator, they were probably nursing her and holding her constantly, instead of letting her down to develop to crawl and this could be why she never met this milestone. Another reason could be that Marie never lived with her siblings; therefore she didn’t have anyone to look up to, to know that you need to crawl and this may be another possible reason why she never met the milestones.

  When Marie was an infant, I observed that her fine motor skills were quite advanced as she was ahead of most of the norms. One of the milestones really stands out, which is that Marie could pass objects from hand to hand at 6 months. A typical infant meets this milestone at 8 months which means Marie is advanced in this milestone by 2months, the family could be contributing to her being so advanced in this because as we already know Marie had a twin sister therefore Marie’s mother probably would have been trying to feed her twin and nurse her therefore she probably gave Marie an object to amuse herself and this could be the possible reason why she is advanced in this milestone at an early age.

Toddler

During Marie’s toddler life her weight was still below the average age. For example at 18 months Marie weighed 21 pounds and a typical toddler should be 24.58 pounds. Marie is extremely below the norm. As we know Marie’s father left her family at 18 months, therefore Marie’s mother was looking after her and her twin on her own, the possible reason why Marie is underweight could be that Marie’s mother allowed her and her twin to be picky in the food they ate, maybe Marie and her twin didn’t want to eat the nutritious food that was given, therefore her mother didn’t force feed them as she would become upset and then it would be double trouble for her mother to settle both children. Marie’s height throughout toddlerhood is also below the norm and again this could be a genetic factor or inheritance that runs in the family.

  In Marie’s gross motor skills throughout toddlerhood they are quite advanced, in fact Marie is ahead of the average age by 2-3 months throughout all the milestones. At 33 months Marie was able to kick a football; the average age a toddler can kick a football at is 36 months so Marie is 3 months ahead of the norm. This shows that Marie’s family bond with her quite a lot, she is probably advanced in this particular milestone because her older siblings probably spend their time with her teaching her, or else she could have been observing them kicking a ball and copied them whenever she got to play with a ball. Marie could also pedal a tricycle at the age of 34 months and the normal age a toddler meets this milestone is at 36 months. Here we see again she is two months ahead of the norm and this could be due to the family. As we know Marie was brought up around a large family she probably observed her cousins pedalling tricycle and through observing Marie most likely picked up this skill.

  Marie’s fine motor skills as a toddler where fairly advanced too. Marie could put on her shoes at 2 and a half years of age and an average toddler would be able to do this at 3 months. As Marie had a twin, Marie most likely observed her mother putting on her twin sisters shoes and probably copied this.

Pre-school

As a Pre-schooler the weight of Marie is still under the norm but not as much under the norm as she was throughout her infant and toddler life. At three years old Marie weighed 30 pounds and the weight a typical pre-schooler is 30.8 pounds, here we can see she isn’t drastically underweight, this indicates to me that Marie is getting the correct nutrients she needs, she is being fed well and the family is taken care of her. Marie’s height as a pre-schooler is under the norm also. At 3 years of age she is 80 cm and she should be 88cm, she is continuing to be 8cm under the norm and again like I had remarked before, this could be a genetic inheritance that runs in the family.

  Marie’s gross motor skills as a pre-schooler are exceptionally good. She could catch and bounce a ball at the age of 3 years and a child can’t do this until 4 years old. Marie is one year advanced in this area and again she probably observed her relations doing this and this may be why she is so advanced. I can also detect that Marie is not deprived from play, even though she comes from a low income family, she is still encouraged to play.

  Looking at Marie fine motor skills, I observed that she is 1 year ahead of the norm throughout her pre-school life. Marie could brush her teeth, wash her hands and get a drink at the age of three and a typical pre-schooler can’t master these tasks until at least 4 years of age. Marie is probably advanced in this because she had to be independent as she has a twin. Her mother probably showed Marie how to do these tasks and this may be why she could do this a year before most pre-schoolers.

School age

At school age Marie is still under the general weight norm. At 6 years of age she weighed 39 pounds and the weight she should be is 46.2 pounds. This is a very big gap and it is quite worrying. She may be underweight because her mother is not learning her good dietary habits or there could be many visitors in the house during dinner time and she has a limited attention span at meal times. For Marie’s height again she is below the norm. Her height is 96cm at 6 years of age and she should be 100cm. She is only 4cm below the norm, this indicates to me that Marie is getting the correct nutrients to grow because as I observed before she was below the norm by 8cm in her height during infancy, toddlerhood and pre-school, this shows she is progressing well and maybe her mother is encouraging her to eat.

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  Marie is just in line with the norm throughout her gross motor skills. I expected her to be advanced as she was ahead of the norm throughout infancy, toddlerhood and pre-school. This indicates to me that her family may not be spending as much time with her as they had been when she was an infant, toddler and pre-schooler.

  Throughout her fine motor skills Marie is advanced and ahead of the norm by at least 1 year. She could tie her shoe laces at the age of five and a typical school age child encounters this challenge ...

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