Unit 18: Assessing children’s development support needs .

P1: Explain patterns, principles and theories that contribute to an understanding of

growth and development from birth to eight years. 
M1: Analyse stages of growth and development across different areas for selected
children of different ages.
Growth is the increase in size, weight and height. An example of this is when a baby is born
one of the first things that is checked is the weight, length, and the circumference of the
baby’s head. Development is the possession of skills and abilities over time. An example of
development is when a baby can be able to grip a person’s hand. There are different factors
on how growth and development is determined e.g. through genetic inheritance
environmental issues and such. Some children can take longer than others to grow and
develop because of these factors. 
Developmental milestones are an important stage in development, an example of this is
between birth to eight years old children would be able to develop the main types of
milestones e.g. crawling, walking, sitting upright without support and such. When a baby is
between 6 and 10 months they begin to crawl. It was also said that between 12- and 18-
months babies would normally start to walk. Knowing these types of information would
allow people to assume on how the baby is developing. 
Physical development is a process that starts in infancy and continues into late adolescence.
Physical development focuses on gross and fine motor skills as well as puberty. Fine motor
skill development is the ability to use small muscles by moving your hands and fingers.
Gross motor skill development is the ability to use your larger muscles which requires
whole body movement such as running, jumping, walking and such. Locomotion is when a
child can move from one place to another. This could be by crawling or rolling within the
first couple of months. The child is usually using their large muscles to do this. Balance is
important when you are still and when you are on the move it is linked to your larger
muscles an example of this is standing on one leg. Hand-eye coordination helps in
developing balance because the eye receives information for the brain so that it would
guide and direct your hands to accomplish tasks. Hand-eye coordination is important as it
helps with life skills such as reading, writing, drawing, and such. To have good coordination
you must have a good balance, a sense of rhythm, spatial awareness, auditory awareness
and visual awareness. Coordination helps with tasks such as walking up and down stairs and
such. 
Intellectual/cognitive development is the process in which a child can use their thinking
skills to complete tasks and solve problems. An example of this is completing a jigsaw puzzle
or knowing their colours. As a child grows and develops new experiences, their brain cells
would also grow and mature. When the brain matures it goes through two different types of
processes such as the development of new connections this depends on the child’s
development process. This and example of neurological and brain development. At the
earlier stages of a child’s life there is a significant growth and development which includes
many factors that influence the connections that are being made. The brain of a 3-year-old
is much more active than the brain of an adult. If a child is extremely stressed it could affect
their cognitive and emotional development. All children develop at different rates and their
abstract though develops over time. One way in which the ability to think about abstract
concepts is that is depends on the child’s previous knowledge e.g. if the child has never seen
snow before when the teacher explains how it looks and how it feels the child would
understand but imagining something else that is similar to it. For the process to fully
develop the child needs to have a balance of knowledge and practice. This is an example of
the development of abstract concepts. When trying to solve problems and make decisions
you must use thinking skills which are the mental processes to make sense of experience
and such. There are 3 main processes that are involved e.g. gathering information. This is by
using your senses such as hearing, smelling, touching and seeing. It is also said that you are
also allowed to retrieve information from passed experiences that is stored in your memory.
Another example of a process is understanding which is when you can organise information
and create clear concepts that helps to link relatable experiences together. The last example
is productive thinking which is the ability to use information and understanding to create,
analyse, evaluate and make decisions. Memory is an important intellectual/ cognitive
development as it is a prime aspect of emotional and social development examples of this is
self-image and self-esteem. There are 3 main stages of memory e.g. encoding this is when
you organise information to be stored. Another example is storage which is when you are
keeping the importation. Lastly is retrieval this is being able to remember the information.
Speech language and communication is vital in a child’s development. Children learn
language and conversations from a young age due to seeing and hearing adults’
interactions. A child can start to speak and use words at roughly the one-year stage of life
due to them developing sounds and gaining control of their tongue and mouth. There are
three main categories of language such as phonology. This is connected to the sounds of
language e.g. a, b, m. it is essential to have the ability to identify the different sounds as
some words such as cat and bat had distinct and different meanings. Phonics is having the
ability to use the sounds that you make to build up words. Another example is semantics
which connects to the words or units of language and how meaning can be changed by
adding another unit e.g. adding dis to appear. Lastly syntax is how the structure of a
sentence is changed due to the placement of a word. An example of this is “the boy chased
the dog” and “the dog chased the boy”. In these phrases the same words have been used
but the order in the sentence has changed. Communication is the ability to receive and
transmit information to other people in different ways e.g. though symbols, pictures, touch,
musically and verbally.
Emotional development refers to your feelings and how you express them. Emotional
development begins to develop at a very young age and progresses positively if strong
attachments have been made. There are different types of emotional development such as
the development of self-identity. Self-identity is important as it is how a person views
themselves through what they look like, who they are and their gender. This is a gradual
process as a child starts to recognise themselves between the ages of 18-24 months and
realises that they are human beings. Another type of emotional development is self-esteem
which is also linked in with self-confidence. Having a high of low self-esteem can come from
friendships, relationships, care givers, school and your own character. Having a high self-
esteem means that the child would feel worthy and have the upmost respect for
themselves. If a child is then always being put down by friends, family, school and such they
would have low self-worth, no respect for themselves, low-confidence and low self-esteem.
This is why children need to be given activities that they are able to succeed in so that they
don’t feel like they are failures which would make them have a low self-esteem and self-
worth. A type of emotional development is attachment. Attachment is the ability of the
infant to form a bond with their care givers due to having powerful positive feelings towards
them. Infants usually start to build an attachment towards their mothers and there are
different ways to build attachment and example is eye-to eye contact. This is when the
infant is staring at the parent’s face. Another example is skin-to-skin contact this is when the
mother lays the new-born baby on her skin for about an hour maternity hospitals would
usually encourage this. Familiar voices are also a way to help with attachment because the
infant is used to hearing the care givers voice making them feel secured when hearing them.
Lastly familiar smells help with attachment because the child would be able to get used to
the parent’s smell and would understand that they are their care givers. This shows that
attachment is important because it allows children to build bonds with other people and
show affection to other. Independence is also another form of emotional development. For
a child to learn and develop independence they need to be given love, support and positivity
which would help to encourage them. Children will learn and develop new skills and feel
emotionally stable if they have good parenting. This is because they would have parents
that would support them and allow them to make informed choices such as what outfit they
want to wear or what they want to have for breakfast. This would allow the child to have a
sense of responsibility which links in with independence. Moral development is also an
example of emotional development because it teaches a child to learn the difference
between whats right and whats wrong. The child will learn this through their experiences
and the environment that they live in. Infants between 18-24 months might not understand
right and wrong but are aware of certain types of dissatisfactions for some types of
behaviours. An example of this is hitting another child is wrong. Children learn to avoid
disapprovals but may not understand why it is wrong. Between early childhood children
start to understand and think about other people’s response to what is happening and start
to empathise with others.
Social development is the ability to make friendships and relationships which others. Social
development links in with emotional development because from a young age children start
to learn about relationship with the people that they are close to such as their care givers.
An example of social development is friendships. This is essential because it allows children
to interact and communicate with others which is a part of social development. Children are
also able to observe facial expressions and understand body language which allows them to
believe that what is happening is positive, enjoyable of even upsetting. Building friendships
allows them to interact, play and imitate others. The interactions being made allows the
children to form deeper relationships with others. Another example of social development is
cooperation. This is when children have the ability to work together and pass through
different stages of play. An example of this is that children would start to observe
interactions and develop relationships as they move from playing next to children instead of
playing with them which is called parallel play to associative and cooperative play which
means that they would explore and communicate more actively. Children start to work
together by solving problems and play intensely. The children would also learn and develop
when they feel like they are in a safe place and start to cooperate by sharing and helping
each other.
As an eight month old infant Shajah is physically developing at a normal rate. This is because
at around eight months the infant starts to lift their head, can be able to roll over and wave
their arms which is an example of gross motor skills. They are also able to hold toys which is
a sign of fine motor skills. Shajah has shown that she is developing at a normal rate as she is
able to sit on her own, hold her head upright and started to try turn herself over. Shajah is
also able to pick up an object, shake and bang them then drops the object. This shows that
Shajah is able to use her fine and gross motor skills which means that she is physically
developing. At eight months intellectually the infant should develop the ability to vocalise
some words, and be able to find their care givers by hearing their voice. This shows that the
infant would be using their knowledge on how their care givers sound to know who it is and
were the voice is coming from. Vocalising some words is an example of intellectual
development because the child first learns to imitate their parents then start to vocalise the
words that they have imitated. Shajah has started to intellectually develop by constantly
babbling which shows that she is trying to vocalise some words. This suggests that she is
intellectually developing as she is trying to communicate by babbling. At eight months old
the infant starts to develop an anxiety of being separated from their care givers. This means
that the infant starts to be upset around strangers and does not want to leave their care
givers side. Shajah has shown emotional development as she screams and is upset when she
is approached by strangers. This is because she is at a stage when she is developing
separation anxiety and does not trust anyone but her care givers. Shajah attends a nursery
which means that she is able to play and socialise with other people such as the staff
members and other children. This means that Shajah would be able to develop the ability to
interact with someone else other than their care givers. It is also said that playing peek-a-
boo at eight months old would help the infant to develop social skills. This is because if a
stranger plays peek-a-boo with and infant they will start to laugh and play with the stranger.
This links in with Shajah because she enjoys playing peek-a-boo as she giggles when playing
the game which means that it would help her to develop social skills.
As a four-year-old Ben is developing at a slow rate. This is because physically Ben should be
more active and should be able to throw a ball and catch it. However, Ben is unable to kick
and catch a ball which means that he is developing at a slower rate that others his age. Not
everyone would be able to physically develop at the same rate but it is important to help
Ben to learn how to catch and throw a ball so that he can develop physically. For Ben to
develop his intellectual skills he must be able to learn how to problem solve and know his
colours. To be able to learn how to problem solve and know his colours Ben must be taught
by his teachers. However, Ben does not like to mix with others and does not communicate
with teaching assistance or teachers and only communicates at home. This means that if
Ben does not like communicating with staff he will find it hard to learn and understand how
to problem solve. This would slow his rate of intellectual development. When Ben does
communicate at home he will say short sentences of two or three words. This means that
Ben might have low-confidence or have a low self-esteem which is part of emotional
development as he finds it hard to communicate and mix with others. Having low self-
esteem and self-confidence would impact Ben because he would always feel afraid to meet
others and interact with them. This links in with social development because if Ben has a
low self-esteem and self-confidence he would find it hard to makes friends and
communicate with others. An example of this is that Ben does not speak with his teaching
assistant or his teacher and does not like to mix in with other children. Another thing is that
Ben like to play solitarily this would impact him as he gets older because he would find it
hard to make friends and build relationships. This shows that Ben is developing at a slower
rate than others his age.
Daisy is seven years old and loves to play on the playground which is good as she would be
active and develop physically. At her age Daisy should have a good balance and a well-
developed hand-eye coordination. This is important because is would help with Daisy’s life
skill such as reading and writing. Playing at the park would help Daisy to develop with her
gross motor skills such as skipping and jumping. This would also help Daisy with her social
development because going to the park would help her to build friendships with other
children. This is important because at seven years old children start to build strong
friendship groups and going to the park would help daisy to build a friendship group of her
own. Daisy is intellectually developing at a normal rate as she can play formal games and is
able to understand numbers, colours, and symbols. This is good because it would help Daisy
to develop skills, knowledge, and problem-solving which would help her in the future with
education, work, and experiences in life. Daisy also enjoys stories and children’s films on
television, this would also help her to develop intellectually. Seven-year olds usually develop
an interest in numbers, reading, and writing, this shows that Daisy is developing at a normal
rate. Daisy tends to get aggressive at times as she hits other children when she doesn’t get
her own way, stamps her feet, and disregards what adults tell her to do. Daisy might be
expressing her emotions in an aggressive way due to the environment that she lives in. This
is because if a child is exposed to violent behaviours, they would imitate it and become
violent and aggressive themselves. As a seven-year-old Daisy should be able to control her
emotions and feel that friendships are very important.
P2: Explain principles and theories that contribute to an understanding of the children’s
growth and development.
M2: Assess how theories can be used to identify the children’s stages of growth and
development.
D1: Evaluate the extent to which theories of growth and development can be used to
support the selected children’s growth and development.
One way in which principles contribute to an understanding of children’s growth and
development is through rates of growth and development that vary between children. Not
everyone will develop and grow at the same rate there are many skills and attributes that
have a wide rage of time for development. However, if there is a significant delay in a child’s
growth and development it would be investigated and monitored over time. There are
different reasons as to why a child may grow and develop at a slower or faster rate than
others. This could be because of genetic inheritance, illnesses, accidents, environmental
issues, and nutrition.
One way in which principles contribute to an understanding of children’s growth and
development is through how growth can impact on each of the areas of development.
Without growth you may not be able to develop in some aspects as growth is important for
the development of physical skills and fine muscle control. Once a child’s muscle and bones
start to grow in their hands and wrists, they would be able to learn and develop how to
write with their hand. Without the growth of their bones and muscles in their hands and
wrist they would not be able to develop the ability to write and draw. The ability to speak
first starts with the growth of the tongue as a muscle which then helps a person to develop
how to speak. This show that growth can impact a person’s development.
One way in which principles contribute to an understanding of children’s growth and
development is through patterns of typical development. This is important because most
children start to develop skills and abilities at roughly the same ages in equivalent patterns
or sequences. Knowing the milestones of development and which order that they are
achieved in is important. Milestones are shown at a common time frame rather than a
particular age. It is achievable to predict the what the next stage of development is for a
child, for example if a child is able to stand while holding on to furniture it will be predicted
that the next stage of development is being able to walk. Showing love, support and
attention will help to encourage a child in the development process.
One way in which principles contribute to an understanding of children’s growth and
development is through different areas of development that advance at different rates. As
a child starts to mature it becomes evident that they are developing at a different rate. This
could be through gender related such as puberty when boys that to get taller and develop a
deeper voice. As a child matures their physical development changes e.g. growth spurts are
noticeable and is usually obvious in boys as they start to get taller rapidly and cloths cease
to fit properly. Intellectually a child’s brain would develop at a fast rate and can be able to
take in more information. Children develop their language as they mature especially when
they are in school and are around their friends. As they build friendships the use of language
becomes essential. Emotionally as a child matures, they can cope with their emotions better
and do not have a temper that is due to frustration or tiredness. Another thing is that
children would also develop socially as they get influenced when in contact with other. This
is good because it will become evident in a child’s improvement to interact with others as
they start to mix with other children and adults.
One way in which principles contribute to an understanding of children’s growth and
development is through the understanding that development is holistic. It is
understandable that when a child grows, we focus on separate parts of their development.
However, it is also important to focus on the child’s development as a whole. An example of
this is when a child tries to build a tower with blocks without it falling. Fine motor skills
would be used as the child would use their hands to pick up the blocks. Intellectual
development would be used as the child would have to think and use their knowledge to
find away in building the tower without it dropping. Hand-eye coordination would also be
used so that the child can be able to place the blocks appropriately. Lastly when the child is
explaining the process of what they are doing they would be using and developing language.
This shows the focus of the child as a whole in their development as they are completing
their task.
One way in which principles contribute to an understanding of children’s growth and
development is through atypical development. Atypical development is the opposite of
typical development because it is when a child experiences delayed or enhanced
development. If a child’s development is considered irregular or unusual for their age and
such it would be called atypical development. If an 8-year-old who has a developmental
pattern of a 3-year-old they would be described as globally delayed. This is because the
child’s development as a whole has been delayed and even though they are 8 years old their
developmental pattern is of a 3-year old’s. If a child is showing signs of delay in
development in one area it may still have an impact on other areas of development. This is
called specific delay. An example of this is if a child is showing signs of delay in their physical
development it could impact them socially. This is because if a child is not able to physically
take part in activities, they may find it hard to make friends as they would not be included in
those physical activities. Another example is if a child is showing signs of delay in their
language development it could have an impact to their cognitive and social development.
This is because if the child is unable to communicate, they wouldn’t be able to socialise and
make friends with others. Children that are gifted display an advance development in
specific areas such as intellectual and language development. They reach the cognitive
milestone at an early age and have an increase academic ability. Children who are gifted
demonstrate early writing and reading development. They thrive for knowledge and have a
greater ability for memory. Children who are talented are seen to have an advanced ability
in certain skills and interests such as music, sports and art they usually spend their time
practising their talents. It is essential that when observing a child’s development, you are
assessing them against the norms of development instead of making a final decision without
any evidence. If your child is showing any signs of delayed or enhanced development it is
important that you consult a doctor or a specialised health care professional in the area to
confirm the child’s development.
One way in which theories contribute to the understanding of the children’s growth and
development is through cognitive development. The information processing theory is part
of cognitive development and is based on how people learn. This theory suggests that a
child’s ability to process information improves as they grow and that they process
information differently compared to adults. In this process memory is said to be important
and that past experiences improves your ability to solve new problems because you would
then be able to use your past experiences to solve the new problems. As children have not
gained a lot of experiences it would take them longer to process information and solve new
problems. Intelligence links in with how long it takes a person to process information as
children with a high level of cognition are good at remembering past events and
experiences.
One way in which theories contribute to the understanding of the children’s growth and
development is through behaviourism. Bandura’s theory suggests that children learn from
observing what others do and imitating those actions. There have been many experiments
that bandura has done to confirm his theory which shows that children do learn from
copying others and that observation is more powerful than what you are told when
learning. An example of this is that if a child has a role model they would start to observe
their role model and imitate what they are doing. An example of bandura’s test is the bobo
doll test which showed how the children copied the adults when they were aggressive with
the doll. This shows that visual learning has a significant impact than learning verbally.
One way in which theories contribute to the understanding of the children’s growth and
development is through emotional and social development. Abraham Maslow developed a
theory which suggested that in order for a person to move to a higher order of need they
must have met their basic needs first to do so. This theory is known as the hierarchy of
needs. Maslow believed that children cannot develop or learn cognitive skills unless their
physical and emotional needs were met. Maslow developed a diagram on hierarchy of
needs which showed that in order to meet self-actualisation, self-fulfilment, purpose, and
mental stimulation of needs you first have to meet physiological needs such as food and
water then safety and security needs e.g. feeling safe and secured. You then have to have
respect, self-worth and self-esteem achievement to then meet self-actualisation of needs.
One way in which theories contribute to the understanding of the children’s growth and
development is through moral development. Jean Piaget developed a theory on moral
development that occurs in three stages. Pre-moral starts from 0-4 years of age and it is
when children learn right from wrong as they become aware of their own actions and the
reactions of the adults around them. Moral realism is from 4-7 years of age and is when a
child is influenced by the adults that they know and see on a regular basis. Through what
the child thinks of what the adults would expect is how the child would make their
judgment on. Moral relativism is from 8-11 years of age and is when a child becomes busy
with following rules and justice. At this stage the child believes in fairness and would get
upset if they experience unfairness and deceitfulness. The child would also become aware of
reasons for actions and understand that treating everyone the same might not always be
fair.
One way in which theories contribute to the understanding of the children’s growth and
development is through language development. Chomsky developed a theory that
suggested that people develop how to speak through a language acquisition device that is
programmed in the brain. Chomsky believes that because of this device children are able to
learn languages quickly and use it efficiently. Chomsky believed that we were all born with
the ability to learn and understand language and also learn the rules of language.
One way in which theories can be used to identify Shajah’s stages of growth and
development is through Chomsky’s theory of language development. As Chomsky believed
that when a child is born they learn how to speak through the language acquisition device
that is programmed in the brain. This means that through Chomsky’s theory Shajah who is
an eight-month old infant is pre-wired with the ability to learn how to speak and understand
the basic rules of language. Shajah has started to babble which is one of the earliest stages
of language acquisition. This suggests that Shajah is developing the ability to learn a
language as she is babbling which will soon turn into real words. This would then allow
Shajah to grow her vocabularies as Chomsky believed that because of the device children
are able to learn a language and use them effectively. A strength of this theory on how this
can contribute to Shajah’s growth and development is that this theory suggests that Shajah
would be able to learn and understand a language as it is pre-wired in her brain meaning
that she wouldn’t have any difficulties in how to grow and develop in her language. A
weakness of this theory on how this can contribute to Shajah’s growth and development is
that there is no evidence of a language acquisition device that is programmed to the brain.
This means that Shajah would not learn how to speak through the device as there is no
evidence that it exists.
One way in which theories can be used to identify Ben’s stages of growth and development
is through Abraham Maslow’s theory of emotional and social development. As Maslow
believed in order for a person’s need to be met they must first meet their basic needs which
is shown on the hierarchy of needs. This links in with Ben because in order for him to meet
self-actualisation he must meet his physiological needs. As Ben is four years old his parents
would be the one’s making sure that his physiological needs are being met by providing him
with food, water, warmth, shelter and clothes. After that Ben would then have to meet the
safety and security needs which is ben being able to feel safe and secured, and feel
protected emotionally and socially. This is by his parents providing him with the love and
affection that would make him feel safe and protected emotionally and socially. Social
needs would then be the next part that Ben would have to meet and this is by him creating
friendships and feeling a sense of belonging and value. In order for ben to also meet his
social needs is by him receiving love and affection by those he is surrounded by. The next
part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that Ben should meet is having a high self-esteem,
respect, and self-worth. This is met by Ben receiving support at home and feeling that he is
important by receiving the affection from those he is around. After this is met Ben would
then experience self-actualisation, self-fulfilment, purpose and mental stimulation. A
strength of this theory on how this can contribute to Ben’s growth and development is that
it provides a summery on how to meet the needs of Ben of that he can be able to grow and
develop at a normal rate. A weakness of this theory on how this can contribute to Ben’s
growth and development is that this theory cannot be tested or measured on how satisfied
one stage of need is met before moving to the next hierarchy of need. This means that
because there is no measurement of this we wouldn’t know if Ben actually met his needs at
a satisfactory level.
One way in which theories can be used to identify Daisy’s stages of growth and
development is through the information processing theory of cognitive development. This
theory states that as a child grows their ability to process information improves. This is
linked in with Daisy because she is able to understand numbers, colours, and symbols and is
also able to give her address but not give directions. This shows that as Daisy is seven years
old she is able to process information more than someone who is younger than her because
as you grow your ability to process information improves. This theory supports growth and
development because without you growing and experiencing things you will not be able to
develop the ability to process information quickly. A strength of this theory on how this can
contribute to Daisy’s growth and development is that by her processing information quickly
it would improve her memory and knowledge which would help her in solving new
problems. A weakness of this theory on how this can contribute to Daisy’s growth and
development is that some children who may develop at a different rate than others may not
process information quickly at the same age as others who do, this may be because of
environmental factors and such.