transition faced by the children/young people Essay

The experiences of a child or young person when dealing with transitions will affect, positively or negatively, his development, and can have an important role in learning the skills to cope with other

Transitions may also involve other changes in the child's life which may be unforeseen or only happened to them E.G death illness. These changes may result in many different outcomes in the Childs education and behaviour. Below is a list of transitions that only happen to some children and young people:

The Two-Track Model of Bereavement is a model that states loss is conceptualized along two axes. Track I pertains to the biopsychosocial functioning in the event of a loss and Track II pertains to the bereaved’s continued emotional attachment and relationship to whoever is deceased. The effect of Track I is seen through the bereaved’s functioning, including their anxiety, their self-esteem and self-worth, and their depressive affect and cognitions. Noting the ability of one to invest in life tasks after experiencing a loss indicates how they are responding to the loss of the deceased. This Track is seen as an expression similar to one of trauma, or crisis. Track II holds that the bereaved has difficulty physically separating from the deceased. This can be seen in emotional, interpersonal, or cognitive ways. It is shown through imagery and memories that the bereaved experiences surrounding the deceased, whether positive or negative, as well as the emotional distance from them. These pictures in the bereaved’s head explain both the cognitive and emotional view of the person who has died (Rubin, 1999).

Through out our lives we are confronted by changes. People, places and even our own bodies change. We are faced by ongoing periods of transition as things alter from how they were to how they are now. Transitions can positively or negatively impact on children and young people’s development depending on how they are supported and the change is managed.

Emotional: affected by personal experiences, for example bereavement or the divorce or separation of parents

Explain the changes faced by young people as they move from childhood into adulthood in relation to their: freedoms, rights and responsibilities.

Staff should observe, assess and plan to meet all children and young people’s needs, working with parents to ensure this is achieved

One of the key theorists of attachment is John Bowlby and his ‘Attachment theory". Bowlby believed ‘the attachment of a caregiver is an inherited mechanism to

I have learned that the same transitions can be hard for some children to tackle while other children might not be affected too much by the transition. By undertaking research on this theme I was able to identify that some children may need an individual transition plan to follow when going through transitions while other children will follow the general plan. By knowing this in the future I will be aware that some children may need an individual transition plan and I will be able to accommodate a plan for the children who needs one. This will have an impact on the children I will be working with because I will be able to accommodate for their needs and identify children who may be more in need than others.

There are many issues that cause life stress to children and their families e.g. bereavement, separation /divorce, long-term illnesses. This report will employ a holistic approach, incorporating life span development, and will focus on transition within early year’s education. It will assist practitioners in supporting children and their families and will focus on the effect it has on their lives.

J. William Worden’s adaptation of early grief theories focussed on the role of therapists and counsellors in caring for grieving individuals. He described the grieving process in terms of four tasks to complete rather than four phases to progress through. The first task he labeled “Accepting the Reality of the Loss” in which the individual attempts to accept their loss both intellectually and emotionally. The second task, “Working Through the Pain of Grief” involves working through the intense emotions often associated with grief, such as anger, sadness, and guilt. The third task, “Adjusting to an Environment in Which the Deceased is Missing,” comprises a series of adjustments, which Worden defines as external, internal, and spiritual adjustments.

John Bowlby was the founder of attachment theory. Bowlby (1988) states that attachment behaviours are a biological function that serve the purpose of gaining security and protection from attachment figures who are perceived as being “better able to cope with the world” (p. 26). These biological functions can be recognised in specific conditions and behaviours that will assist in us in gaining or maintaining closeness and proximity to attachment figures. Attachment figures can be our parents, or can be other

Wittouck, Van Autreve, De Jaegere, Portzky, and Van Heeringen (2011, p. 69) reviewed “preventive interventions” and “treatment interventions “for individuals dealing with “complicated grief”. In order to be part of the analysis, researchers had inclusion criteria. The first is the intervention must be offered to individuals “over 18” dealing with a “death of a loved one” (Wittouck et al., 2011, p. 70). Another standard is the intervention must have two groups with one receiving the intervention and the other being the “control condition” (Wittouck et al., 2011, p. 70). The studies must also have a pretest and posttest (Wittouck et al., 2011).

It appeared that infants that had a lack of affect that often continued this into adulthood with no significant changes even when their environments were different. Bowlby explained in his third volume of his trilogy on attachment (1980), “Intimate attachments to other human beings are the hub around which a person’s life revolves, not only when he is an infant or a toddler or a school child but throughout his adolescence and his years of maturity as well, and on into old age” (p. 442). Bowlby (1980) explained the children he worked with at the home as “affectionless children” that show signs of “partial and complete deprivation” (p.9). Partial deprivation is described by Zucker in The Birth of Attachment Theory as “extreme desire for love or revenge, guilt, and depression. Whereas complete deprivation gave rise to feelings of listlessness, unresponsiveness, developmental disruptions, and a lack of focus and concentration.” With these observations Bowlby developed a theory on the infantile reactions on separation. This can be explained as an infant relies totally on others to get their needs meet. If an infant is not getting their needs meet they cry to alert or protest their needs then they will develop feelings of despair If these needs are not being met or addressed this can eventually lead to detachment. When an infant goes into the despair mode they show this by lack of

In general, there is no one single definition of transition but transition can be defined as a process of changes involving contexts, relationships, activities, culture, and view of self and the world (Rosier & McDonald, 2011). For young children and their family, transitions can be defined as a process that includes all those involved in children’s early years. Transition is also a change event with time limit, continuity of experience and a multi-layer, multi-year process (Petriwskyj, Thorpe, & Tayler, 2005). It is widely recognized that transitions play important roles in children’s development, learning and lives (Brooker, 2008).