Middle Childhood and Adolescence PSY/280 April 23, 2013 Middle Childhood and Adolescence Middle childhood and adolescence are important times in a child’s life in terms of development. Children at these ages are greatly affected by their environment. Development is greatly affected by family dynamics – structure, function, and shared or non-shared environment (Berger, 2010). Children in the stages of middle childhood and adolescence also experience changes in the dynamics of peer relationships, which can have an impact on the way they view their environment (Berger, 2010). They will also begin to develop moral values, which will come into greater focus during adolescence (Berger, 2010).
We all go through all kinds of transitions in our life time, most happen when we are young. Different types of transitions: Emotional Affected by experiences such as changes to the family structure. * New baby * parents separating * new step parents/siblings * grandparents/other family members moving in Another transition could be a bereavement or an illness * illness or death of family member/friend Being with a new/additional primary carer * starting with a child minder * moving into foster care * moving into adoptive care A child can be affected by leaving care. Physical A child can be affected by moving home or the change of location. Intellectual Changes such as moving setting * changing
The child may feel anxious, nervous, upset or confused but given the right support they be feel content, excited or proud and this can give their self esteem a boost. The child may not have mixed socially outside of the family before starting school and they may feel nervous about having to make new friends which may not be easy for the child and they may become anxious and become shy or dismissive. A child that does not mix with his peers much could develop communication problems. When a child moves from nursery school to primary school hey may
CYP core 3.1 LO 2.3 Explain how theories of development and frameworks to support development influence current practice. We have different types of theories of development to monitor a child's development process. It can help recognise any problems that arise whether it is physical, social, language, emotional or intellectual development. It also shows reasons to children’s behaviour and how not only internal, but external factors can affect development. Theories of development.
Children’s development is shaped by both what they are born with, personal (health, learning difficulties or disability) and external (what experiences they have, environment, home life etc). The main factor is learning disabilities or health problems. If a child has a common learning disability, like ADD/ADHD or Autism, then it will always be hard for that child to learn and develop the way they are suppose to. Health problems can slow a child's physical development. Children’s development is mapped out from conception, as their genes develop this will determine everything about them in the future, sometimes through pregnancy if the mother has picked up an illness, is a smoker or addicted to drugs or alcohol these can cause problems with the growth and development of a child.
Piaget thought that, as learning is based on what we experience, childrens thinking and learning was directly related to their age and stage of development. Therefore the more they experienced the more they learnt. As children experience new things, they adapt their previously held beliefs and also gain different understanding. In order to learn and evolve their thinking, children need to have a vast amount of experiences so that they can extend and build upon what they already know. Eventually children will begin to decide for themselves which gaps they have in their learning that they like to be filled.
To develop to their fullest potential, children need a huge amount of support and guidance from others in their lives; failure to meet all of the needs of a baby or child can have serious consequences on his or her development. A child’s development in the first few years of life is rapid, with milestones being close together; this rate of development slows as the baby grows to a young child and then a young adult. In the first year of a child’s life, health professionals will monitor the rate of development to ensure they are meeting ‘milestones’, are healthy, and are progressing normally. These ‘milestones’ provide a guide to the progression of an ‘average’ child, but are used only as a rough guide, although a significant delay in reaching one of more of them may point to a problem which needs to be addressed. From 0 – 3 years 0 - 3 months Newborn babies
Some people cringe of just the thought while others embrace it. As we explore these questions we will find that there are some advantages to the foster care system, but we will also find that there are some disadvantages. How is the effectiveness of Foster Care often inhibited? Foster care is often a traumatic time due to the separation of children from their parent. This can cause conflicts and resistance.
Such pressures as family structure and marital status of the parents, contribute to an adolescents perceptions and social views. Adolescents are thought to believe that others are always watching and evaluating them, and so some think they are special and it gets to them. They think believe that because he or she is so concerned with themselves, then so must be everyone else and that’s a child falling into egocentrism. Their feelings about themselves stem not only from their inner crises, but from their peers' acceptance or lack. Their self-conscience is highly regarded as conceited which can cause personal distortion.
3.3 Describe with examples how transitions may affect children and young people behaviour and development…. Transitions may affect the child in many ways for example, A new sibling coming into the family whether being born onto the family adopted or fostered, the child/ children already in the family may feel exited, happy, giddy on the other hand upset jealous may become withdrawn and start attention seeking among other things, this in turn would affect their development in many ways if they are exited their Emotional development will progress due to wanting to help be in there doing lots of things for baby, their intellectual development will progress due to learning new things talking to the baby telling it stories. Their social development can go in two ways, if they became withdrawn they will end up on their own and lonely or with the new baby they will be getting a lot of attention and will end up in the thick of it. Their physical development again can go either way too, they could develop trying impress others and new baby, or they may regress due to not getting enough attention and wanting more whether its good or bad attention. Another example, Puberty, a sudden change to the body hormones raging through the body, changing things dramatically.