Unit 1

• Emotional development

  The way an individual begins to feel about and value themselves and other people. This forms the basis of emotional literacy and empathy.
• Emotional development

  • Begins with attachments which an infant forms to their main caregiver
  • If a child forms a strong attachment to their main caregiver, it can help to ensure a positive self-image and good self-esteem
• Stages of emotional development

  • Infancy 0-2
  • Early childhood 3-8
  • Adolescence 9-18
  • Early and middle adulthood 19-65
  • Later adulthood 65+
• Attachment to caregivers

  A secure attachment to a main caregiver means that a child will feel secure, loved and have a sense of belonging. Caregivers are the secure base from which children explore the world around them. They are protectors and help the child to feel happy, secure and confident.
• Secure attachments in childhood lead to happier and healthier attachments with others in the future.
• If there is a lack of a healthy attachment, then a mistrust of care givers or adults in authority could develop. Insecure attachments can lead to behavioural issues, a lack of ability to receive affection or manipulative behaviour.
• Children may not develop the secure base necessary to cope with life events
• Reasons why attachment may not go smoothly

  • Prematurity
  • Post-natal depression (PND)
  • Separation
  • Foster care/adoption
  • Emotional unavailability
  • Disability - parental or child
• Emotional literacy

  The ability to recognise, understand and appropriately express emotions. Emotional literacy is essential for forming positive social relationships.
• Empathy


  The ability to identify with or understand another's situation or feelings, 'walking a mile in someone else's shoes.
• Attachment

  A strong emotional connection between a child and caregiver.
• Self-image

  The way an individual sees themselves, their mental image of themselves.
• Self-esteem

  How a person feels about themselves, self-worth or pride
• Life stages


  • Infancy - 0 to 2 years
  • Early childhood - 3 to 8 years
  • Adolescence - 9 to 18 years
  • Early adulthood - 19 to 45 years
  • Middle adulthood - 46 to 65 years
  • Late adulthood - 65+ years
• Growth


  Change in physical size and weight
• Growth


  • Can be determined through height and weight
  • Can be represented on a centile chart
  • Principle of growth - as height increases, weight increases
  • Rapid growth in infancy during the first 6 months
• Development


  Increasing acquisition of skills and knowledge gained by a person
• Development


  • Measured using milestones
  • Happens from inside to outside
  • Happens holistically
  • Occurs from head to toe
• Physical development in infancy and early childhood

  • Gross motor skills - movement involving large muscles of the body e.g. legs, arms, torso
  • Fine motor skills - movement involving smaller muscles in the hands, fingers and toes
• Physical development in infancy and early childhood

  • At 3 - run, ride a tricycle
  • At 4 - kick a ball
  • At 5 - can dress and undress themselves, can draw in detail
  • At 6/7 - can skip, ride a bike
• Adolescence


  Development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics
• Menopause


  • Reduction in oestrogen leads to the ovaries stop producing an egg each month. This is called perimenopause.
  • Menopause occurs after perimenopause where the ovaries stop releasing eggs
  • Perimenopause usually lasts for 4 years but it can last from a few months - 10 years
• Menopause symptoms


  • Hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings, trouble sleeping, urinary urgency, and urine leakage when sneezing
• Intellectual development across the life stages

  • Language development - essential for organising thought and to express ideas
  • Problem solving - to work things out and to make predictions
  • Memory - required for storing, recalling, and retrieving information
  • Moral development - allows for reasoning and making choices, and how to act with situations, yourself and others
  • Abstract thoughts - essential for thinking and discussing situations and events that cannot be observed
• Social development


  Ability to interact with others in society and build relationships
• Social development in childhood

  • In childhood, social development is how children develop friendships with peers, cooperate with others and become aware of role models
  • Between 18 months - 2 years, children essentially play on their own, and are emotionally dependent on their primary carers
  • Between 2-3, children start to engage with other children and respond well to adult attention, they start to share and take turns
• Self-image


  The mental picture we have of ourselves
• Factors influencing self-image


  • Personal appearance, the media, comparison with other people, the comments of other people
• Self-esteem


  How much you like, accept and respect yourself / value yourself
• Self-esteem


  • High self-esteem leads to confidence and is useful in work and in maintaining personal relationships
  • People with low self-esteem may believe they are worthless and that no one will like them
  • It can change on a daily basis and is affected by: the attitudes of parents, carers and families, success or lack of it at school or work, the comments of friends
• Physical environmental factors


  Where you live and work can effect your health and wellbeing
• Physical environmental factors


  • City centres - high crime rates, air pollution, and noise pollution
  • Air pollution has been linked to increases in illnesses such as asthma
  • Housing can be cheaper in rural areas but there it's usually less work available and its usually low-paid occupations that are available
• Expected life events


  • Starting/leaving school
  • Moving house
  • Retirement
  • Marriage
  • Parenthood
• Unexpected life events


  • Death of a partner, relative or friend
  • Exclusion/dropping out of education
  • Accident/injury
  • Ill health
  • Imprisonment
  • Unemployment/redundancy
• Piaget's model/stages of intellectual development


  Piaget's theory focused on how children acquire the ability to think
• Piaget's model/stages of intellectual development

  • During these 4 stages, our schemas are constantly accommodating new ideas as they pass through periods of equilibrium and disequilibrium
• Criticisms of Piaget's model

  • His theory is based on a small group of children
  • Brunner believed that children can be helped to progress to higher level thinking skills
• Chomsky's language acquisition theory


  • Language is genetically programmed into individuals - it is innate
  • Children are born with a 'language acquisition device' (LAD) that enables them to develop language. There's a critical period of 10 years
• Chomsky's language acquisition theory


  • Chomsky based his theory on the idea that all languages contain similar structures and rules (a universal grammar), and the fact that children everywhere acquire language the same way, and without much effort, seems to indicate that we're born wired with the basics already present in our brains
• Criticisms of Chomsky's theory

  • Lack of scientific evidence to support theory
  • Overemphasises on grammar in sentence structure
  • Not enough information on how children construct meaning from their sentences
  • Does not take into consideration children with conditions such as Down's Syndrome that may affect or delay their language development