Essay Sample on Children Development

Define the Terms: Biological

Biological factors refer to aspects that relate to biology or living things. Biological factors are passed from the parents to the offspring through genes. The passing of genes starts after fertilization where the aspects of two parents are combined to form an embryo and then a fetus that develops under control of genes. The genes are the main determinants of the characteristics observed in offspring in relation to the parents. Offspring and parents show related characteristics. For example, physical characteristics such as height, masculinity, the color of hair or eyes of the child are likely to show some similarities with those observed in parents (Gallo, Angst, & Knafl, 2009). Both ideal genes, as well as harmful genes, can be passed to the child. Some of these genes affect the normal development of the child. The abnormal genes are classified under three categories; dominant, recessive and chromosomal defects. The genes lead to genetically-inherited illness such as Turner syndrome, sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis (Theisen & Shaffer, 2010).

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Define the Terms: Environmental

Environmental factors refer to the aspects surrounding humans. They have a significant impact on the growth and development of a child. The environmental factors include housing and the compound available for playing. The living condition also has a major impact on development. Appropriate living conditions will be connected to the ideal development. Parent's stability has a role in the environmental exposure of the child as determined by aspects such as economic status to provide an ideal environment. Studies have shown that the environmental factors exposed to the child in the early years of development have a major impact on long-term development. The impacts at 0-4 years will influence how the child performs in school and even in higher levels of education (Tierney & Nelson, 2009; Spratt et al, 2012; Brown & Downing, 2015). There are several environmental factors that affect the development of a child; they include pollution, poverty, housing, poverty, and lifestyle.

Analyze the Impact of Biological Factors on Children’s Development

The main biological factor that affects children involves the effects of diseases. Some of the conditions are inherited from the parents. There are several inheritance diseases that can be acquired from the parents; however, the severity and resultant effects on the development can greatly vary. The affected children may not be able to engage in several physical activities required for healthy development. For example, a child with cystic fibrosis usually experience difficulty breathing and thus cannot be involved in physical exercises that require intense breathing since the condition affects the lungs. This occurrence means that the child will not be able to breathe normally during the activity and other complications may follow (Davies, Alton, & Bush, 2007). Some conditions go beyond physical development to affects other areas required by a child. Color blindness is an example of a disease that affects and demands special facilities different from other children who have shown normal development. The affected children may require the papers to be photocopied in black and white to allow them to comprehend what is clearly written in the paper. Playing with colors forms a major area of children learning in the early stages. Children suffering from color blindness will experience major problems at this stage.

The degree of impact of the conditions on child development will be dependent on the severity of the condition and the level of support extended to the child. Practitioners should ensure that the child receives the required support to enhance their abilities.

Analyze the Impact of Environmental Factors on Children’s Development

Pollution

Pollution has become a major challenge in the modern world. Various forms of pollution affect children development in various ways. Common pollution aspects include water, air and noise pollution. Water pollution is linked to waterborne diseases such as diarrhea. Young children are at higher risk of diarrhea diseases than other populations (Trowbridge, 2004). Air pollution causes various diseases to the child. These diseases include cystic fibrosis, asthma and various forms of respiratory infections that affect childhood development.

Poverty

Poverty is linked to poor nutrition leading to malnutrition disease that affects the normal development of a child. The provision of facilities such as playing space is also affected.

Housing

Proper housing involves ideal structures free from negative impacts such as damp or overcrowded houses. The lack of space is linked to aspects that affect social as well as emotional development.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle covers both what is done by the parents as well as the child. Smoking parents are likely to cause passive smoking in their children a factor that has been linked to effects on cognitive abilities (Chen, Clifford, Linda, & Anstey, 2013). Passive smoking is also a major cause of various cancers. Eating some foods and lack of exercises are also associated with poor development. One of the most common lifestyle diseases in children is obesity that affects physical, social and emotional wellbeing.

Analyze the Impact of the Stage of Development on Children’s Learning

There are various forms of development crucial in children learning. The developments are unique in every stage; however, each stage is crucial in the development.

Cognitive, Neurological and Brain Developments

These developments involve the changes that occur in the mind. These three aspects will show varying developments under various development stages. Rapid developments in the mind are realized from birth to the age of five years. The development is crucial as the child is adapting and learning new things in the new world (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

Birth- 6 Months

Children will develop senses to recognize and respond to their surroundings. The child becomes aware of various things such as physical aspects surrounding them. In addition, they recognize the physical attributes of their body such as hunger and can respond to emotional changes through aspects such as smiles. They associate with their parents or caregivers and easily associate and respond to soothing voices expressed for specific tasks such as sleeping or feeding.

6-12 Months

Babies recognize some sounds such as mama. They will also recognize objects such as toys and may tend to search things they love once they are hidden in their presence.

1-2 Years

Children engage in the exploration of various objects trying to understand what they do and how to use the objects. At this level, the child will be in a position to appropriately use some objects. They will use objects such as cups. The child will be in a position to use around 40 words.

2-3 Years

The development of vocabularies will continue and they will be able to understand some thoughts. They understand other people as well as some consequences of engaging in specific actions. They learn common rhymes in nursery and preschool level and can sing some familiar songs.

3-4 Years

Children will continue to understanding the surrounding. They now understand why something happen and develop time factor by understanding the past as well as future (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

4-5 Years

Children will continue to understanding the surrounding. They now understand why something happens and develops a time factor by understanding the past as well as the future (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

Language, Speech and Communication

This requirement refers to understanding specific language, construct sentences and communicate with other people. The first five years of development are marked as the most crucial in this development as the child makes sense of the world and things that are in their surroundings (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

Birth- 6 Months

At this level, children interact by looking and listening to people, recognize their mothers sound and may respond with smiles or cries. They also respond by cooing or gurgling. Few weeks old children may respond to their names; however, there are suggestions that they might be responding to the tones of their mothers rather than the communication itself. Response to the speech is mainly through smiling or crying (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

6-12 Months

Babies recognize key voices and their names. They make a simple speech by making some sounds and talking to themselves.

1-2 Years

Children understand simple instructions and can speak understandable words. Echoing what others say is a common scenario.

2-3 Years

Children will speak about 200 words with ease. They will know the names of common objects.

3-4 Years

Children can express their own thoughts through talking, make simple conversation and participate in nursery rhymes.

4-5 Years

At this level children will be able to solve different problems and clearly express themselves, use tenses and they will have developed large vocabularies (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

Physical Development

Physical development involves motor and sensory skills. The developments vary among distinct children as children learn how to crawl, walk and use the potty and toilet. The training on these aspects will depend on the development that determines the readiness to learn.

Birth - 6 Months

A child develops rapidly at this stage. They usually move their legs and hands. They also move their head trying to look at what is on the surrounding.

6- 12 Months

Children at this level are involved in activities such as pushing themselves, sitting on their own and roll. They show will to move and start picking up things around them.

1-2 Years

Children will learn how to stand and walk while holding objects such as chairs. They will eventually stabilize their balance and steadily walk. They may learn how to feed themselves and use potty.

2-3 Years

At this stage, children can do various things on their own. They can throw things such as a ball. They can ride a tricycle, drink using a cup and hold a spoon to feed.

4-5 Years

The children have well developed abilities to use objects such as forks and knives to eat. They can easily walk and run as well as use pencil to make simple drawings (Pearson schools and FE colleges, 2018).

Describe Factors Which Affect Children’s Development in The: Short Term

There are various factors that may affect children's development in the short-term. Sudden diseases and accidents are the main factors that make a child miss school for several days. The lost days translates to lost chances of learning.

Contagious diseases require extra care in their control. A child may be required to stay away from school to avoid transmitting the disease to other children. Common contagious diseases in children include chicken pox, common cold, and conjunctivitis among other diseases (Cordell, Pickering, Henderson, & Murph, 2004). These diseases affect children on a short-term period and the children reunite with the other children at school once they recover. The children will only be affected for a short period without any major impacts on long-term development.

Accidents are usually sudden. While some accidents may have major effects on the child development, minor accidents such as a broken limb or hand may keep the child away from school for a short period or will affect their engaging in some activities such as participating in physical exercises (PE) lessons. Despite the effects, the accident will on...