Sequence and Rate of Each Aspect of Development from Birth – 19 Years

The development of children is continuous; the development a child makes can be measured in a variety of ways. Children will develop at different rates, so some quicker than others. But, the sequence in how children develop is usually the same such as; walking, a child has to be walking in order for them to develop more so that they can then start running or jumping etc. the child development is normally looked at on a timeline and is then broken up into different ages. The development is quickest during the early years and the milestones will be close together, but as the baby becomes a child these milestones will become further apart from each other. The development of children is measured on their physical, language, social and emotional and also their intellectual development. Physical development;

I am going to start by talking about physical development; the physical development is normally very quick early on. It only takes a few weeks after a baby being born in which the baby will start to smile and will begin to respond to sounds and the environments that surround them. By the age of one, the baby is now starting to crawl or if not will most likely be able to shuffle themselves to where they want to go. The baby will also be able to pull or push on the furniture. The baby should be able to sit without support and the way in which they handle and hold things will have changed. They will begin to look for things that are hidden or they cannot find. The baby’s first teeth will start to show and solid foods can now be introduced. Between the ages of one and two, the baby is now becoming a toddler, they will start to walk and will pull or push toys along with them whilst walking. They will pick a few objects up and will bang them together. They can also start to choose what hand they do things with such as holding a pen and making marks on the paper. This is the age where they like to get messy when eating! They like to feel independent and will like to feed themselves whether this be with finger foods or with a spoon. They will also drink from a cup using both of their hands and they can often get a little bit excited when waving bye bye.

If they want something they will show us this by pointing to the object. Between the ages of two and three, the mark making on the paper will eventually start to turn into scribbles on the paper and they will start to use pencils and pends. They are now able to kick balls around and throw other objects. They can build big towers using bricks or blocks and they will begin to explore with different messy play liquids by pouring them. At the age of three, the toddler is now becoming more a child; this is the age where they will gain more independence. As the child is growing up, their skills with their mobility and climbing will be getting better as they run, catch, jump, and walk up and down stairs. The child will start to help with dressing and undressing themselves by this stage. At the age of four, the motor skills in boys will be a lot more developed with their aiming, building, throwing, climbing etc. whereas the girls fine motor skills are more developed than the boys, so using scissors, holding a pencil to draw etc. By the age of five the child now has a lot more control with the pencil and they will start to copy letters and shapes, and will start to draw people. Any ball games that they take part in will develop more as well as there will be structure with their aim when kicking etc. they will start to learn how to hop on one foot and skip. When the child is six they can now dress themselves on their own as they will learn how to do their laces, buttons etc by themselves.

The way they write will become more fluent as they will copy the shapes of letters which will have developed into words and sentences with their pencil control which has also become a lot stronger. The confidence in the child will have increased when they play outside, whether they are climbing, riding a bike or jumping. At the age of seven, children enjoy playing team games as they can now hit a ball, run, jump, skip and swing. Although sometimes they may judge what they can do up to the age of 9. So, between the ages of 12 and 19, this is when children will hit adolescence. The psychical development in each child is very different and varies at what age they go through adolescence. I will talk about what boys experience first, it will usually begin around the age of 14.

They will have a growth spurt and the shape of their body will change as their muscles will get bigger and they will develop body hair. Their strength and coordination will increase and their voice will become deeper. During the early stages of puberty their testicles and scrotum will start to grow and their penis will also grow bigger. In girls, breasts will begin to develop but can cause a bit of swelling. They will develop pubic hair and also hair under the armpit. Their body shape will also change as it will become more rounded and curvy. Around the age of 13, girls will begin menstruation. Language development;

I am now going to talk about the language development in children. Between siz and twelve months the baby will start to like making new sounds and will show their feelings by crying, laughing etc. By the age of two years, the speech in the child will start to develop as they will start to understand more words as they listen and will copy sounds. They can understand simple instructions such as ‘tidy up for dinner’. The child can have a vocabulary of up to 150 words and the use of single words will start to develop into small sentences. At this stage the child will ask a lot of questions. From three to four years children start to develop their language skills further, their vocabulary will carry on progressing up to 1500 words and mark making will be more controlled. In the speaking and singing that they do they will use pitch and tone. When the child is reaching the age of five, their language is a lot more accurate and their conversations and questions will become more complex . the child now understands that the use of pictures in story books can help them follow the story in the book and they can enjoy a story whether it has pictures or not.

The control of their pencil is a lot steadier and they are now forming letters and will copy patterns. They can spot and recognise their name when it is written and other words that are commonly used. Between five and seven years of age the child is still continuing to build on their language (written and spoken). They can have conversations and imagine stories. In books, they will understand the meaning of the text and can recognise sounds, letters and words. The vocabulary of a child will carry on developing and growing between the ages of seven and twelve, and the adults that surround them will help them with this. The child can read out loud and speak fluently. Sometimes they might need a bit of help with spelling but should have an understanding of the different tenses. When they are a teenager, their language skills will still be developing but in a lot more complex manner. The humour that they have might change as they will start to understand and use sarcasm. Their confidence will grow and they will develop the skills that are needed to debate and argue. Social and emotional development;

Socially and emotionally babies will develop by responding to voices and faces that surround them, especially people that they are familiar with such as their parents or carers, they will begin to smile. They don’t have a lot of independence but this is because obviously they need a lot of help and support with things as they are learning every day. The baby relies on adults for reassurance and likes to have cuddles to feel secure and safe. By 9 months, the baby will still be quite shy around strangers and people they are unfamiliar with but like to show affection towards their carers. They enjoy playing little games such as ‘hidey boo’. Between the age of one and two years the child might start to show anxiety when they are separated from people they are close with. At this age the child may want a certain object to comfort them, such as a dummy, blanket or teddy etc. paly time becomes more fun for children and they like to please adults. They can be very easily distracted and from two to three years the child will start becoming a lot more independent as they will want to do things by themselves but they will often get frustrated when they cannot do something by themselves and will need help.

The child might sometimes get jealous if they can see another child getting attention. Although they will still like and enjoy playing alongside with other children. Their independence is still growing and the age of four the child will be self-motivated in some of the things that they do. They will begin to cope more with new surroundings and new people. Their social skills will still be progressing as playing will be more cooperative with the other children. They will start to share things and will look at the feelings of other people. Between the age of four and seven children learn a lot about how things work and about people and the world. They like having more responsibility and like helping other people. They understand rules and like to have a routine. Playing in groups is fun for them but sometimes when it comes to taking turns it can be difficult for them, friendships are made and due to taking turns these friendships are broken quite quickly. As children develop and progress towards their teenage years they become a lot more independent and will rely less on adults for support and help.

They become more aware of their gender and will begin to form stronger friendships, will play with friends of the same sex, although they are very independent at this age they will still need some adult reassurance to help solve arguments. They have a strong understanding of what is right an wrong and the peer group that the child has can be very influential as children want to fit in with others. As teenagers reach adulthood, they might need a big deal of reassurance. Their bodies are going through a lot of changes and they can become quite self conscious of themselves. They will also be going through a lot of emotional changes, these changes can be hard to control. They like to distance themselves more from their parents and will become very close to their peers. They will have their own opinions and values and some of these values will be different as to what their parents values are. Strong friendships will be formed with others of the same sex, but they will also become attracted to people of the opposite sex. Intellectual development;

The intellectual development in babies is very simple, they will imitate and ‘try out’ new behaviours and playing. Their confidence will start to grow, but they will still need the reassurance from adults. The baby will also begin to notice that we are all separate individual beings. At three to four years the child will be able to sort objects out by the size, shape, colour etc. they will understand a lot of simple instructions that are given all at once such as ‘go and get a cow from the yellow box and bring it here’. At the ages of five and seven they will be aware of differences and similarities, they will understand that differences can still exist side by side. When the child is seven they can start to read by themselves and by the age of nine they can develop certain things that they like and are interested in. Adolescents will become more responsible for their own thoughts, words and actions. They will start to think about what they want to do in the future and will think about relationships.