Physical and Social Factors That Influences Growth and Development

- While children are influenced by many things, there are no stronger influences that that of their parents as they are usually their child’s first playmates and while the world expands with each passing year, parental influence is still one of the greatest factors in determining the ways in which a child will grow and develop.

A child that has a hearing impairment may suffer physically through loss of balance or socially through having to communicate in alternative ways such as sign language/makaton. A physical disability such as Cerebral Palsy can be physically challenging due to being restricted in taking part in certain activities. This can affect social situations due to these restrictions and can affect a child/young person emotionally questioning why they are different causing low self-esteem.

If a child is in poor health then this will have an impact on their development. For example, a child with uncontrolled asthma or cystic fibrosis may not be able to run around and be as active as their peers. Therefore, this would mean that his physical development might not be the same. Not being able to play outside would almost certainly affect the social development, as children make many friendships on the playground and at after school clubs.

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.

While children are influenced by many things, there are no stronger influences than that of their parents. Parents are usually their children’s first playmates, and while there world expands with each passing year, parental influence is still one of the greatest factors in determining the ways in which the child will grow and develop.

There are many factors that influence a child/young persons development such as health issues, personal characteristics, motivation to learn, behaviour, sensory impairment, disability and learning difficulties. Even before birth a child needs to reach many milestones and however small or large they can cause a delay in a child’s development and in many cases are completely out of the child’s or parents control. Faulty genetics for example is a factor that is completely out of our control.

There are different things that can affect a child’s development in their background these are just a few of them: -

Factors such as gender and income affect development in numerous ways. Biological and environmental influences are not limited to those discussed, however these influences are the most commonly seen. While these influences frequently affect development and can be directly related, they do not always result in a developmental delay or handicap. Infant and toddler development are influenced by a wide variety of things and can be affected by any number of those factors. Both biological and environmental factors interact frequently, sometimes directly linking one to

When looking at the expected pattern of children and young peoples development from birth to 19 years, it is important to remember that each child will develop and grow at different rates. Reaching milestones at a more advanced pace or a slower pace than the broad average. This expected pattern includes physical, communication and intellectual, and social , emotional and behavioral development.

A child’s development can be measured through physical and language milestones, intellectual, emotional and social development.

The childhood development of the individual followed the normal development patterns that are expected. In the childhood stage the individual development changed rapidly and their ability to be active and learn new skills improves on a daily basis. During childhood a child will grow steadier compared to an infant. A child’s body and organs size grows at a steady pace. By the age of 6 a child’s head will be 90% of a full adult size even though the rest of a child’s body has a lot more to grow and to develop. Until a child reaches late childhood, and entering adolescence, an individual’s reproductive organs are still not fully developed. Infants and children can suffer from delayed development. This could cause potential effects

For example a child born with Autism might not mix well with his peers which in return could affect his behavioural, social and communicating development. There could also be health issue where a child could have contracted Meningitis as a baby and subsequently lost part of their limbs making their physical and development more difficult. Or a child who is not very nicely treated at home might not have the confidence to make new friends which will in turn affect all aspects of his development, make him shy and withdrawn.

"Virtually everything a young child does is affected if physical development is delayed" (Charlesworth, 2000). Adults and teachers need to do everything possible to keep physical development from being delayed. Adults can provide children with opportunities to help them in development.

Children’s development is influenced by a variety of different personal factors. Such factors can include Cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, dyslexia, and many more.

Child-care or non-maternal care of a child also has an impact on a child’s development. Research has found that child-care quality is positively correlated with family income indicating that those children living in poverty would be more likely to receive poorer child-care (NICHD, 1997). Studies show that quality early child-care