Explain How to Monitor Children and Young People’s Development Using Different Methods.

352 Words2 Pages
Monitoring of children and young people’s development is mainly carried out by observations which are methods of gathering information about the behaviour and stage of development of a particular child. There are various methods which can be used to carry out observations of development. Some are very basic or cover a single situation or activity whereas others take into account a range of factors or involve observing a child regularly over a period of time to build up a picture of their stage of development. Some simple methods which can be used to monitor all the children in a setting include: • Checklist – this is a list of “milestones” that a child should reach at a particular stage of development. They can be compared against the list or checked off as they achieve each milestone or are observed to have attained it. • Graphs and charts – a general tool which is simple to collate but does not provide detailed information. • Naturalistic – an objective observation of what is occurring, without interference. The observer notes down what they see and hear while each child is doing what naturally happens at that time. • Structured – a planned observation whereby a child is given a specific activity and is then observed carrying it out, giving a factual account of what happens. There are also methods which can be used to follow a particular child in more detail. These are useful when there is an area of concern, a need to prove that a milestone has or has not been reached, or a requirement for detailed observations to assist in diagnosis of a developmental delay. • Focus child – a particular child is observed for a specific amount of time. Categories are pre-coded to allow for events to be recorded in a consistent way. • Time sample – during a session, information is recorded at regular intervals. • Event sample – a particular behaviour which
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