To support a child in their environment, the adult needs an understanding of the developmental milestones. Although many of the developmental milestones are intertwined. Goognik, Metzoff and Kohl (1999) said “Children make predictions, they do experiments, they try to explain what they see and they formulate new theories based on what they already know”. Each child has their own ideas about the running of the world around them. These can be both from a positive or negative aspect. A child’s life is full of trial and error, this helps them to learn from previous mistakes and move forward with their learning. To promote language development, children can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories, actions and talk. This will all support their understanding of the world around them. Children enjoy taking part in activities; an adult can support the shy and unsure children by not forcing the child to participate. If an adult is doing a group activity where they are doing a song with actions, some children may not feel secure enough to participate; or they are confident enough not to feel that they need to participate. Cognitive development is linked with language development. Cognitive supports thinking, reasoning, problem solving and amongst others, memory development. All these factors are the child attempting to make sense of the environment around them. Children will often look and talk about items around them and attempt to remember certain facts or pieces to add to their ever increasing language ‘database’. To promote emotional development, adults can assist the child to find emotional bonds with a small group of adults who provide their consistent care. This can be reinforced by providing the child with self confidence and self esteem by praising and encouraging through emotional positive messages. Social development is closely linked to emotional development; it is the basis of emotional well-being and safety that will allow a child to socialise. When exploring physical development, children need space to move and react. Physical development needs to be a positive experience, it should allow for creativity and imagination. This can be enriched with both indoor and outdoor play.
The strong child possesses above average emotional and language attributes. A strong child is extremely aware of themselves. The world, they feel, centres around them and the feeling of being acknowledged and valued by their peers, family and community is vital. This will in turn lead them to find their own capabilities and helps them to develop a positive self image. They have the need for a sense of belonging. This will then allow the child to explore from a sense of a stable base. When thinking of a strong child, their social confidence and competence will be foremost in their personality. They are outwardly confident and internally competent. In order for this child to develop their already existing skills, an adult carer needs to provide support in their choices and a positive response to successes and challenges. The strong child will benefit from adult support that allows them choices free from adult intervention. The adult should support the child through the process of seeing why it would have perhaps been viewed as a negative choice. This will intern allow the strong child to develop their self awareness and project a positive self image. The child needs to be acknowledged for their views and opinions. When they express themselves, the strong child feels the need to feel safe and valued within their community. Their community can be family or peers; important people in their world.
The skilful communicator has needs that are slightly differing to the strong child’s. They have strong emotional and language capabilities, but also social interaction. A skilful communicator is a social and effective communicator. They are confident in the use of language on all levels. They extend their vocabulary by intently listening to the language of others. With the language they have then learnt, often by listening intently to adult or peers conversations, they make meaning of by using it constantly. When referring this to children, when a child learns a new word they will use the new word over and over again. If they are told that a picture is of a giraffe, a small child will then point to everything that day and asks if it is a giraffe. A skilful communicator would not be scared to try this new word out in other contexts in order to extend their vocabulary. A child does not just imitate language; a child will look for patterns in grammar and attempt to apply them. A skilful communicator will make their own meanings about words. They are confident enough to ask questions when they are unable to come to their on conclusion. The child will try and interact on an adult level to broaden their social capabilities and interaction. In order to develop a skilful communicator, they require rich and meaningful interaction.
The competent learner also has emotional, social and language needs, but also a cognitive understanding. The child naturally connects ideas and relates these to the world surrounding them. This in turn leads to a better understanding of the world; they make natural connections through senses and movement. They respond to their environment creatively and imaginatively, finding out about the environment and other people. The competent learner responds to the world with marks and symbols. The competent learner will find ease in problem solving and would enjoy targets and challenges, with the correct level of adult support. Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) believed that children were ‘active agents of their own learning … (the) ability to organise experiences and learn from them in a way which enables them to make sense of the world’. The child will become engaged and involved through play. They will enjoy making patterns, comparing, categorising and classifying. The competent learner would use a jigsaw and try to fit the pieces altogether correctly. They will try and fix the ‘wrong’ part into place. A child may feel that this particular piece is definitely correct. They force the piece in; the adult would therefore need to support the child into making their choice and following it through the finding the right piece for the puzzle. This would be best achieved through trial and error. This would need to be initiated by the child for the best learning. Once the puzzle has been achieved, by the child alone, the child would respond positively and would have the social confidence to move on and try something new. They would therefore be using previous experience and moving it onto another level; thus developing themselves with adult support, without even being aware of adult intervention.
The healthy child has emotional, social, language and physical needs; as well as spiritual. A healthy child depends upon emotional stability and resilience. Much depends upon their physical well being. The child has the need to feel safe and protected as well as the feeling that they are able to make choices. To support a healthy child, an adult needs to ensure the child has the opportunity to develop physically. They ideally need indoor and outdoor space in which to develop, primarily, their physical skills. Healthy children need an all-round education; they need comfort and support through difficult situations and the opportunity to practise their conversation and to speak on different levels. The child depends upon being ‘scaffold’ throughout their learning experience and the adult should be close.
With all the key areas of development, the child’s awareness of self, self knowledge and self esteem are always prominent. Linden wrote that ‘children build their sense of personal identity partly through the way other people react to them on the basis of various social labels’ By the age of two, a child is aware that they have different cultures, emotions, race, gender etc. Gura (1996) said ‘The main aim must be to help children develop a sense o control over their lives and build on their own aspirations’ . Children need to be supported and helped to learn and develop in the world. They need to find their own ideas and perspectives and an adult may only be a catalyst in their views. An adult needs to be aware that a child’s self esteem is not fixed. It is the practitioner’s job to ensure that a child maintains a good level of self esteem.
In conclusion, an adult, whether a carer or practitioner forms a bond with a child. A child needs a safe and secure environment in which they feel they can try new challenges. The adult needs to scaffold the child throughout their learning. This will then form a secure base for a child to develop their new skills and ideas. The child needs to feel appreciated and challenged. Their view on the world will only be a positive one if the child feels they are a valued member of society.
Bibliography
Smith, P.K., Cowie, H. & Blades, M. (2003) Understanding Children’s Development, London: Blackwell Publishing
O’Hagan, M. & Smith, M. (2002) Early Years Child Care & Education: Key Issues, China: Bailliere Tindall
Robson, S. & Smedley, S. (ed) (1996) Education in Early Childhood, London: David Fulton Publishers
Fisher, J. (2002) (2nd Edition) Starting from the Child, Buckingham: Open University Press
Eliot, L. (1999) Early Inteligence, London: Penguin
