Assessing Child Development

When looking at children and young people’s development it is important to recognise and respond to concerns to ensure that the child or young person receives the help and assistance needed.

2.1 Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors

Assessment criteria 3.3- give examples from own practice of supporting children or young people to access and manage risks.

II. Have the necessary information of the children in my care beliefs, views and preferences recorded safety

It is important that children and young people are allowed to exercise their rights and choices, whilst health and safety requirements are maintained. This can lead to a dilemma when children and young people wish to undertake a task that you may feel is not within their capabilities, or that is not safe for them to do so

When assessing a child you must be careful to take into account confidentiality before carrying out an observation you must have parents and the settings permission and not to leave confidential material lying around they must be secured in a locked cabinet. Only talk to authorized personal about

* Analysing the child’s and families need’s and the level of risk or harm the child may be suffering

It is very important to let children asses’ danger for themselves in a secure environment. It is not good for them to be cooped up and have somebody tell them that one thing is bad and will hurt them and another will keep them safe they need to identify these things for themselves to enable them to live a positive life as an adult and to gain confidence in themselves and their own abilities. At the same time the children need to be given this chance in a safe and secure place whereby I as the carer know they will not come into any danger.

Children love to play and explore. For example while in a park a child will want to climb a ladder to go on a slide. Natural reaction may be to hold or even pick up a child and put them up. Children learn best when trying and experiencing things themselves. There is a risk of a child slipping and falling of the steps but a child also has a right to experience facilities to aid their development. Children need to learn how to predict and avoid dangerous situations.Another potential dilemma may be confidentiality. I must ensure that all personal information is kept confidential and is not shared with anyone else unless permission form is signed. But if there is a case of concern that a child’s welfare may be at risk social services have to be informed.There is also a possibility of conflict with parent’s wishes due to their culture and religion.

Understand how to monitor children and young people’s development and interventions that should take place if this is not following the expected pattern.

Referring to the relevant policy and procedure relating to ‘responding to children at risk of harm’, complete the following tasks:

Therefore, measures must be taken to prevent this, such as every member of staff that works in a school having a valid DBS check, in order to ensure that they are suitable to work in a childcare environment. Many accidents could happen within a school environment that could cause harm to pupils. Therefore, teachers must carry out risk assessments before children take part in any activities, in order to make sure that they are not at risk of harm. Finally, it is beneficial to give children the knowledge that they require on how to protect themselves from abuse. For example, teaching children about how to handle situations of bullying will enable them to know who to talk to if this situation ever

When assessing a child you must be careful to take into account confidentiality before carrying out an observation you must have parents and the settings permission and not to leave confidential material lying around they must be secured in a locked cabinet. Only talk to authorized personal about confidential material. This confidentially can only be broken when a child is at real risk. When carrying out observations you must take account of the child’s wishes and feelings if a child is upset or wants you to stop then you must stop. Ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds when we asses a child we must take account of their ethnic,

Attachment is important to the development of children in order for them to establish bonds and feel security with primary caregivers. Children who are adopted or placed in substitute care often times experience major breaks in caregiving. This results in children lacking the ability to feel safe, loved, wanted and apart of another human being. This break in attachment sometimes leaves the child reeling lost and anger with those providing for them. The feeling of attachment, or lack of attachment, can determine and affect the future outcomes of children as they grow in to adults.

“Development is a dynamic and reciprocal process that occurs between the child’s internal and external environments” (Burns, 2013, p44). The assessment of a child’s development is important because it helps to recognize the normal and abnormal infants, children, and adolescent’s performance when compared with others of the same age