Explain The Theoretical Milestones Of Child Development

In this writing it will be discussing childhood development, as well as some vital issues that might come along during those stages of development. Child development consist of the stage where the child is developing physically, cognitively, socially and spiritually. During these stages of development a child is maturing from infancy to becoming a young adult. For many years theorist such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Lev Vygotsky’s have researched how children mature from infants to adulthood. Each of the theorist have profound facts to how children develop, but which of the three men are correct on their findings?

All children and young people develop at different rates, but the order which they advance in differs very little. Children’s development tends to progress from head to toe, inner to outer, from simple to complex and from general to specific.

In order to apply theories and models of child development to support children’s development we must get to know each individual child by building a good relationship with the children through play, communication and answering to their personal needs. Observation and assessment is also key so that we know what each child is capable of and what they are working towards/could be encouraged towards. Good communication with parents is also beneficial as it helps the carer to see what the child is doing at home and to identify if there are things they do or don’t do at nursery that is different from home. It also helps to work out ways of encouraging development at home and at nursery.

Child`s development must be seen holistically as each area of development are connected with and affects every other area of development.

Each child follows a similar pattern, but each child can vary in their development and reach milestones at different times in their development. This is called the Holistic Process.

Explain the sequence and rate of each aspect of development from birth – 19 years

The difference between sequence of development and rate of development is that a sequence of development is the order in which the development of a child will occur. The rate of development is in which speed/ time this development would happen. Child development experts have carried out a lot of research on young children to work out what most children can do at different ages and the rate at which they grow. From this research, milestones have been identified. A ‘milestone of development’ refers to the age at which most children should have reached a certain stage of development. We think about stages and sequences of development in stages:

Development is holistic means that each area is dependant on the other to ensure the child develops to their full potential. Although development is described as different areas: physical, social, emotional, language and intellectual, each area needs to connect in order for the child to develop. So for instance a child might be highly intellectual and then be unable to butter bread. This isn't because the child is incapable of buttering bread, it just has not had the chance to practice the physical skill. Another example is a chid needs to wear glasses for school (physical) and other kids start bullying him, this can mean his self esteem

The expected pattern of children and young people’s development from birth to 19 years has many areas of development, starting from birth.

* Become more interested in small objects, paying attention to them; able to find hidden objects.

There is a plethora of child development theories that have a degree of influence over current practice. Each of which both have criticism and contrasting theories.

A child’s development can be measured through social, emotional, intellectual, physical and language developmental milestones. This is the Holistic Process when dealing with every aspect of the child and their environment.

All children are unique and a lot of their developmental milestones happen naturally as they get older, however some can be affected by different life factors, such as health, environment and background and more specific skills can be learnt and encouraged. I have outlined below the usual expected patterns of development for children showing the rate and sequence in which development takes place. However all children are individual and this is an outline of expected development.

It is important to remember when looking at child and young person development that development is a learning and holistic process. Each child is unique, they will develop at their own rate and in their own way.

The sequence of childrenâ€TMs development for each age from birth to 19 is divided into five aspects which are physical, language, social and emotional, and intellect. Childrenâ€TMs development is continuous and different ways, the sequence in which they develop will about the same as they