Theorists of Children's Development Essay

Introduction

The EYFS framework utilises theories of child development in daily practice to positively influence child's development. These theories provide many activities that help to equip the parents, adults, and everyone who works with children with appropriate knowledge concerning children's development. The EYFS framework sets standards that every early year provider needs to meet to ensure proper child learning and development and ensure that the children's health and safety are guaranteed. This framework examines seven areas of learning and incorporates them into the curriculum.

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Theorists of Children's Development

Jean Piaget

The first stage of child's development, sensorimotor stage, is characterised by the development of a child's mental and cognitive attributes. This is manifested through the appearance of language and gradual development of object permanence. Another key attribute of children at the sensory stage of development is the ability to link numbers to objects. The sensory stage is used to inform mathematics EYFS area of learning. This is because a child at this stage is expected to know concepts of counting and numbers. Additionally, the second stage of Piaget's stages of cognitive development (preoperational stage) is used to inform communication and language EYFS area of learning.

Noam Chomsky

Chomsky's theory of language acquisition posits that language is an innate faculty. This means that every person is born with a set of rules about language in their minds, what he referred to as the 'Universal Grammar'. The universal grammar is the foundation of all human languages. According to this theory, children do not just imitate the language that they hear from their surroundings. Instead, they infer rules from what they hear. These rules are then used to construct sentences that the children have never been exposed to before. Chomsky's theory of language acquisition is used to inform the communication and language EYFS area of learning. This is because children's language development can only take place if a child a child listens and be attentive to the sounds of languages in his or her environment. By listening to the language being spoken in their surroundings, a child can deduce the rules of a language through what they hear from their surroundings.

In conclusion, a healthy child in any part of the world is born with a special syntax. That is capable of making them understand the basic mechanisms of any language. Consequently, when a child hears other people speak, he or she can choose a specific grammar or language from the many options in the hard-wired syntax of his or her brain. Because of this, one of the seven areas of learning, communication and language, emphasises the need for a child to listen and be attentive as a pre-requisite for an understanding of a language and speaking.

Identifying Appropriate Stage Opportunities for Children

Children should be exposed to opportunities needed to ensure proper cognitive, physical, and emotional growth. Cognitive growth can be enhanced in several ways. First, early year practitioners can improve cognitive development through by ensuring that children practice good sanitary habits. Good sanitary habits ensure that the child is brought up in a clean and healthy environment that promotes self-development. Development theorists, such as Piaget and Vygotsky, have also put forward a suggestion for enhancing children's cognitive development. For instance, according to Louw (1998), cognitive development can be promoted in children through exposure of children to new and interesting situations. By exposing the children to these situations, a state of disequilibrium is created. This makes the children change their cognitive structures.

Cognitive development can also be accelerated through the promotion of interaction among children. By promoting such communication, the preschoolers learn that different individuals experience situations and perceive things differently. Additionally, cognitive development can be accelerated through play. Apart from fostering cognitive development, the play is a good indicator of a child's proper cognitive functioning. The importance of play in child's cognitive development is manifested through the opportunity to gain new skills, to learn new ways of handling objects, and to exercise their competence.

Strategies to enhance language development in children have also been suggested by different authors. According to Anning and Ball (2008), children's language acquisition can be improved through child-oriented strategies such as following the child's lead by talking about the same topic and pay attention to the child's activity. Additionally, it has been suggested that adults should slow down the pace of their language use to give the children ample time to process. Furthermore, the adults are required to be good models of language and also to provide models that can speed up language acquisition. These strategies are useful in providing opportunities for the child to equip himself or herself with language skills through imitation.

On the other hand, child's physical development can be promoted by an early year practitioner through several ways. One of these ways is through the practitioners' optimism, enthusiasm, and participation in physical activity where the practitioner act as a role model that can be imitated by the child. Secondly, promotion of physical development in children can also be achieved through the training of the children in movement skills. The children should also be given the resources needed to enhance physical activity at a tender age. Furthermore, children can be encouraged to participate in physical exercises through videos, photographs showing the participation of children in physical exercise. It is also vital to note that a child's development can be promoted through the provision of a play environment that gives the child a lot of time and space for active play. Families should also set aside time for hiking, walking, or visiting a nearby park with children as a way of promoting physical fitness and development. Other measures for promoting physical development include discouraging inactivity, such as watching television, encouraging the children to play different types of games by purchasing balls for them and playing with them.

Lastly, children's emotional development can be promoted through many ways. For instance, parents should always be at the forefront in realising their children's feelings and equip them with social skills needed to cope with different types of feelings. The children should also be supported to show their feelings and also be supported in dealing with strong emotions.

References

Heiman, G. (2014). Behavioral Sciences STAT 2. Nelson Education.

LeBlanc, D. C. (2004). Statistics: concepts and applications for science (Vol. 2). Jones & Bartlett Learning.