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2. Understand the factors that influence children and young people’s development and how these affect practice.

Decent Essays

Understand Child and Young Person Development

2. Understand the factors that influence children and young people’s development and how these affect practice.

2.1
Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors.
Personal factors are those which are part of the genetic make-up of a child (nature, not nurture). As such, they cannot be changed, although their influence upon development can be addressed to give children the best possible chance to achieve their potential. Personal factors influencing development include:
• Health status: From common colds to serious illness, a child’s health status will impact upon their development in some way. Frequent colds or other mild illness, for …show more content…

These children will need additional support in order to maximise their potential in class. A dyslexic child will struggle more than her peers to acquire confidence in reading and writing, which can affect other areas of cognitive development. Her confidence may also suffer, and she may suffer frustration and anger at not being able to do what her peers can do with ease (read a sentence; differentiate between b and d). Whilst considering the effects of personal factors on child development it is worth mentioning that some factors may influence development in an advantageous way. For example, a dyslexic child may be able to think more creatively about certain types of problem solving, or they may be very artistic. This can have a positive influence on social and emotional development. Every child is an individual and the better that personal and external influences on development are understood, the better that child can be supported as she grows, learns and develops.
• Genetic inheritance: A child not only inherits physical attributes from his parents, but also character traits such as sensitivity or gregariousness. Both will influence his development, along with other personal and external factors. For example, a child who inherits long limbs from his parents may develop physically at a different rate than his peers. He may be more prone to growing pains, which may affect him emotionally and he may look older than his real age which can cause

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