Qualification: NCFE CACHE Level 2 Diploma for the Early Years Practitioner
Unit: EYP 5: Understand how to support children’s development
Learning outcome: 1. Understand the stages of child development from birth to seven years
Assessment criteria: 1.1 Describe sequential development from birth to seven years in the following areas: cognitive, language, physical, emotional, social, brain development
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- Sequential development refers to the process of learning things a particular order
- E.g. a child learns to stand before they learn to walk, or they learn to hold a pen before they learn to make deliberate marks with it on paper
- Understanding the typical development of a child can help practitioners to identify when a child may need additional support or help them to plan activities/provide resources that support the next stage of a child’s development
- Cognitive development
- A child’s knowledge, understanding and problem-solving skills
- 0-6 months – recognise familiar faces, imitate facial expressions, demonstrate anticipatory behaviour, react to familiar sounds
- 6-9 months – understand the difference between animate and inanimate objects, stare longer at things that appear ‘impossible’, understand that the apparant size of an object relates to how far away it is
- 9-12 months – object permanence (e.g. unseen objects still exist), imitate gestures, manipulate objects
- 1-2 years – notice similarities and differences between objects, learn through curiosity and exploration, understand and respond to some words
- 2-3 years – identify their own reflection, name objects and understand their uses, sort objects
- 3-4 years – begins to ask ‘why’ questions, be aware of past and present, maintain focus for 10-15 minutes
- 4-5 years – counting up to 20, draw shapes, understanding and articulating rules, increased vocabulary
- Language development
- A child’s speaking and communication skills
- 0-12 months – cooing, smiling, babbling, recognises parent/carer’s voice
- 12-18 months – first words, follow simple instructions, enjoys nursery rhymes, more control over volume of voice
- 2 -3 years – has a larger vocabulary, enjoys simple books, articulation of words improves
- 3-5 years – improved vocabulary and articulation, asks more questions, begins to understand grammar, can be understood by strangers
- Physical development
- Gross and fine motor skills
- 0-6 months – pass an object between hands, move head, roll over, sit up (with support)
- 6-12 months – sit up (without support), eat food with hands, point, begins to stand and crawl
- 1-2 years – pincer grasp, walk, climb, push and pull toys, use a spoon and a cup
- 2-3 years – throw, kick, ride a tricycle, traverse stairs, basic mark-making, undressing
- 3-5 years – cutting with scissors, build towers, dressing, manipulate small objects (e.g. threading etc.), hopping, skipping
- Emotional development
- A child’s awareness of themselves and their identity and how they express and manage their emotions
- 0-6 months – cries to express distress, soothed by hearing parent/carers voice, talking and cuddling
- 6-12 months – become wary of unfamiliar people, learn to self-sooth (e.g. sucking thumb etc.)
- 1-2 years – develops anger and has tantrums, changing emotions
- 2-3 years – may show concern if others are upset, distress if parent/carer is not close
- 3-5 years – better able to express how they are feeling verbally, begins to be able to control emotions, can separate from parents more easily
- Social development
- How children understand and interact with others
- 0-6 months – enjoys time talking, playing and being held by parents/carers
- 6-12 months – distressed if main carers are not present, enjoys simple games, curious about other children,
- 1-2 years – likes to observe other children, enjoys imaginary play
- 2-3 years – parallel play, concern for others
- 3-5 years – will play cooperatively with other children
- Brain development
- How a child’s brain develops to facilitate holistic learning and development
- Birth – brain controls basic reflex functions, such as swallowing, crying etc.
- 0-1 year – cerebellum trpiles in size, senses develop (e.g. binocular vision etc.), growth of hippocampus which improves recognition and memory, language circuits develop
- 1-2 years – increase and development of synapses facilitating language development, pruning of weak or unused neural networks
- 2-4 years – brain grows to about 80% of adult size
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