Social Child Development

* The baby turns its head towards light and stares at bright and shiny objects (1 month old)

Within the area of child development there have been many scientific studies which have formed our understanding of children’s social and emotional development, within this essay I am going to look at some of the theses developmental theories and how they have impacted modern day society in understanding the development of a child’s social and emotional development. Development is "the pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the lifespan" (Santrock, 2008, p.5) Emotional development is the development of a child’s expression, understanding, and how they regulate their emotions from birth through late adolescence.

2.1 Describe with examples the kinds of influences that affect children and young people’s development including:

Child development theories are currently being taught in colleges and universities around the world. It is therefore imperative that individuals wanting to work with children in a counseling compacity learn how to interview, observe, report, and utilize teachings from prevailing theorists to determine if an individual is in the “normative” range of development. Drawing on learned knowledge and theoretical instruction, as well as other documentary sources, this paper examines the interview processes of a child and the popular theories surrounding cognition, language, and morality development. A review of the text, Life Span, theories by Piaget, Brown, and Kohlberg, and intentional observation and interviewing brings a better understanding to

Social development consists of learning the values, knowledge and skills that allow children to relate to others efficiently and to contribute in positive ways to family, school and the community. Children must learn the rules and conventions associated to socially and culturally accepted behaviour(kidsmatter.edu.au 2012). This kind of development is gained by the children in many different ways firstly, directly by parents and teachers and other educators and secondly, indirectly via social and cultural interactions. Children, as they develop become more conscious of the social and cultural standards and opportunities and will learn a sense of self. This development will come from relationships, cultural influences and interactions with the community .Education workers pay a huge part in enabling children to

Choosing a child to interact with is a complicated process; however I have decided that my niece, Paige, with whom I spend a comfortable amount of time is a great candidate for this assignment. She is at ease in my presence and I can accurately assess her developmental level without too much bias. At two years old, Paige is in Piaget’s preoperational stage of development, which is characterized by the ability to use symbols and language to “represent objects in the environment.” Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development include the abilities: “visual acuity, hand-eye coordination, planning ahead, and caution.” Developmentally, Paige is not exceptionally advanced in the preoperational stage, as her language skills are not fully

My view on child development best aligns with Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. Children are around parents, siblings, and other caregivers as they grow so they pick up what they see and hear. As Bandura says people are models to children and “encode their behavior” (McLeod). I believe that the environment that a child is in they adapt to it and as they get older they can process what is going on and make their own decisions. It is important that caregivers act in a way they want their children to grow, especially when they are young because children are constantly growing, learning and storing their observations in their memory. We do not always see that the way parents/caregivers act and react to children’s actions, affect them, whether it is the way they think or how they do things in their everyday life. They reflect our own selves, even if they perceive it differently.

Social competence development requires children learn to mobilise and coordinate their own behaviour encounter environmental demands, balance their and other’s needs, all the while keeping in mind and updating information from the (social) environment (Rose-Krasnor, 1997; Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker 1998). In this review, the association between false belief understanding, executive functions and social competence will be discussed. Implications for early childhood professional practice will be suggested.

Sociocultural is defined as relating to, or involving a combination of social (relating to human society) and cultural (taste in art and manners that are favored by a social group) factors.” (Socialcultural , 2010) You might ask why we are defining these words. It gives a better understanding of Vygotsky beliefs “that children seek out adults for interaction, beginning at birth, and that development occurs through these interactions.” (Morrison, 2009 sec 14.6) I agree that his theory is the best process for learning. Many people feel that social interaction and learning begin at birth, but there have been research conducted that fetus can learn through parental interaction. According to Fetal memory “Prenatal memory may be important

A sweet, innocent, newborn baby is taken home by the parents for the very first time, which means that it is now the parents’ vital responsibility to create a secure home for their child. Since children’s learning foundation is built in the home from the time they are born, it is important for parent’s to create a safe learning environment as their child grows and develops. Parents can create a safe learning environment in the home in order to support their children throughout the different milestones, by creating secure parent to child attachments starting at birth, by helping the brain and personality develop, and by keeping objects and spaces safe for each stage.

Systems perspectives include various social and economic structures in which people live and function. Within any given environment, a person is bound to be affected one way or another by interaction with or exposure to various elements. This paper focuses on the psychosocialbehavioral effects which various types of systems have on childhood development, and ultimately how adults may land on any particular end of the normal curve, as a result of their childhood experiences. Hereto is a review of three separate journal articles which focus on the effects social systems and family environmental systems have on the individual.

Developmental social work is emerging as a new paradigm in social work internationally that seeks to infuse social developmental theory and practice into social work processes (Midgley and Conley, 2010; Patel, 2005a). The growth of poverty in some regions of the world, the growing and wide-ranging social development issues and challenges continue to form the development dissertation globally. Clearly, social work cannot be separated from the broader changing aspects of development.

Social constructivist psychologists have confidence in that human behaviour can be understood by learning how people think and learn. They take into consideration modern research regarding how children think and learn at home, school and the environment around them. They believe that children’s development is assisted by adults as a natural progression instead of children’s developmental capacities occurring in stages at specific ages. (SMITH, Early Learning and Child Care, 2012)

Physical, Cognitive, and Socio-Emotional developments are ones that every growing individual goes through. The EDC 307 course specifically focuses on these developments in middle childhood and adolescence. This course has taught me an enormous amount about each of those stages. I learned that in middle childhood, cognitive development entails changes in self concept, the child relates their real self to an ideal self that they created. However, in adolescence the cognitive changes are centered around egocentrism and abstract thinking. As for physical development, in middle childhood the changes are few, slow, and regular. Puberty is the most significant physical change that happens during adolescence, ad it happens fast and suddenly . Socio-emotional development concerns social behaviors with peers and loved ones. During middle childhood, kids normally judge themselves based on the opinions of their peers, parents, and teachers. I found out that this differs in adolescence in that teenagers try to find their real identity regardless of opinions. Although I mentioned a few things that I learned in this course, it is only a small percentage of all that I have actually acquired. Moving on in my life, this information will be a great beneficial factor not only in my career, but in my personal life as well. If I end up working with kids, it will help me better understand them and, in turn, communicate

“Kia puāwai koe ki te ao Ka kitea ō painga” (Ministry of Education Te Tahuhu O Te Matauranga, n.d.). Social and cultural experiences are important for children to enhance their knowledge through mutual relationships with people, place and things. The curriculum upholds major principles such as empowerment, holistic development, family and community and relationship. These concepts support to build a strong socio cultural environment for children. It futher emphasises that responsive and reciprocal relationships are the key to a child’s learning and development. (The Ministry of Education, 2017, pp. 17-21). Many learning theories and models were introduced by highlighting how relationships become a key factor for a child’s development. I have chosen theories developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner and Lev Vygotsky for explaining the importance relationships.