The Main Stage of Development of a Child and Young Person 0 – 19 Years of Age

A child and young people’s development is holistic with each area being interconnected. Remembering to look at the whole picture not only what they can see in front of them. You have to take into consideration their; * Physical development (both fine and gross motor skills) * Intellectual development

* Language development and overall communication skills
* Social development (interaction with others)
* Emotional development (behaviour).

Development from birth to three years of age Social
* Cries to communicate their needs to others. Stops crying to listen to others * Responds to smiles and positively to others e.g. family members and friendly. * Considers others in relation to their own satisfying needs for foods, drink, warmth, sleep, comfort and reassurance. * Begins to see them as self separate from others.

* Communicates by making noises and two syllable words and finally talking. * Begins to make friends
Physical
* Sleeps most of time and grow quiet fast
* Able to support and lift head and able to make arm and leg movements at three months. * Begins to hold on to things, looking for support especially when learning to walk for balance. * More alert when awake

* Enjoys finger rhymes
* Hand eye co-ordination develops
* Needs opportunities for play and exercise including soft toys, board books, bricks and Intellectual
* Recognises parents and familiar voices.
* Aware of different smells
* Explores by putting things in mouth
* Shows interest in everything especially toys and books. * Observes what happens at home and out and about

Communication and Language
* Recognises familiar voice and stops crying when hearing them as feel comfort. * Awareness of other sounds develops month by month
* Recognises their own name and family names
* Enjoys looking at photos and books
* Responsive to music and well as voices

* Shouts to attract attention
Emotional
* Becomes very attached to those closest to them (parents/carer and family) * Experiences extreme emotions e.g. very scared, very happy or angry. Mood changes happen quiet quickly. * Requires the security and reassurance of familiar routines * Demonstrates strong emotions through body language, gestures and facial expression * Dislikes anger in others and becomes distressed by it.

* Has clear likes and dislikes. E.g. pushing away food, drinks and toys.

Three to Five years of age
Social
* Shares toys with others
* Can follow a series of simple directions
* Shoes some understanding of right and wrong
* Develop friendships and interaction with other children Physical
* Runs around obstacles
* Able to balance on one foot
* Pushes and pulls toys
* Throw and catch a ball
* Can build a tower using toy blocks
* Manipulate clay
* Can dress and undress themselves
* Toilet trained
* Basic drawing
* Use safety scissors and cut on line continuously

Intellectual
* Able to count 20
* Understand order and rules
* Plays with words
* Learns by observing and listening
* Tell others their name and age
* Group and match objects
* Ask ‘why’ and how’ questions
Communication and language
* Talk about day to day activities at school, at home and with friends * Use sentences
* Understand simple questions.
* Tell stories that stick to a topic

Emotional
* Starts to understand their own emotions and others around them * Still may not want to be separated from parents or carers * Instead of acting out with physical behaviour they communicate their frustration * Can start to share and take turns with others

Five to Seven years of age
Social
* Home is still very important as it’s a foundation of that child becoming more independent. * Developing more social skills to gain more friends
* Starting to mimic people behaviour, both good and bad
Physical
* The child will be able to do a series of motions in a row to do a more complicated activity. E.g. swing, skipping, jumping rope and swimming strokes. * Development on visual-motor coordination and be able to catch, bounce and throw balls more easily. The ball can even be smaller now. * Balance should be better and able to balance for longer duration. * May begin to loose baby teeth around the age of 6.

* Tie own shoe laces
* Draw pictures of people
Intellectual
* Learning about grades or scoring a goal to measure their own performance
* Be able to understand and answer who, what, where, when and why question * Will be able to follow two step instructions. For example, if I said to your child, “Go to the kitchen and get me a bin bag” they will be able to remember that instruction. * They know their own age, name, date or birth and address and in some cases will be able to write it all down when asked. Communication and language

* Be able to recognize opposites and define objects by their use * Relatively good sentence structure
* Understand the rules of conversation and is able to talk and listen * Carers/parents should be encouraged to listen to their stories. Emotional
* Developing self-esteem is a central issue at this age
* Start to feel sensitive about how others feel about them. For example, friends in the playground saying they don’t want to be another person’s friend. * Don’t like change to a routine, extremely emotional.

Seven to twelve years of age
Social
* They start school properly.
* Learning to fit in with their peers can give them the confidence and sense of competence to also excel academically * Joining after school clubs and out of school clubs can further develop the social circle. Physical

* Pedal bike and over time ride without stabilisers.
* Swimming lessons begin roughly around this time.
* Lose the remainder of the baby teeth.
* Eyes have completely developed, reaching their full size and function. * Beginning to show first signs of puberty
* Increase awareness of their body.

Intellectual
* Thought becomes more abstract, incorporating the principles of formal logic. * Can handle size scale i.e. maps
* Capable to solve problems
* There is the ability to classify many tasks, order objects in a logical sequence * Age 11 they’ll be going into secondary school
Communication and language
* As this stage they’ll be able to have a full conversation and using a variety of sentences and complex words. * They might even be learning a second language.
Emotional
* Old enough now to know when to express the emotions and feelings and when to control them. * Tend to express anger and frustration more with friends rather than parents to avoid negative Reponses or facial expressions. * Most children tend to express and talk more with their mothers rather than fathers.

Twelve to sixteen years of age
Social
* Withdrawn from parents. “old-fashioned and boring”
* Usually feels parents are too restrictive; rebels.
Physical
* Experiences sudden and rapid increases in height, weight, and strength due to adolescence * Girls are gradually reaching physical and sexual maturity. Boys are beginning to mature physically and sexually. * Acne appears, especially with certain types of skin.

* More concerned with appearance.
Intellectual
* Thrives on arguments and discussions.
* Increasingly able to memorize; to think logically about concepts; to engage in introspection and probing into own thinking; to plan realistically for the future. Communication and language
* Can be more interested in the new craze/ slang words then talking proper English. This can be increased or decreased by their social circles. * May rebel towards teachers and parents. Comes across in the body language. Emotional

* Have sudden, quick mood swing. Can over react easily.
* Worries about grades, appearance, and popularity
* Boyfriend and girlfriends can be a source of emotional behaviours.

Sixteen to nineteen years of age
Social
* Greater sense of humour.
* Less likely to follow peer pressure
* Peer groups not as important as their friends
* Concerned with serious relationships
Physical
* Firmer identity of themselves
* Have their sexual identity
* More sexually active

Intellectual
* Thinks ideas through and the consequences of those ideas. Positive and negatives. * Sense of humour has developed more intellectually.
* Make independent decisions.
* Can compromise
* Thinking abut careers
Communication and language
* Start listening to parents and teachers advise again
* Can set themselves goals and follow them.
Emotional
* My confident and comfortable with the way they look and who they are. * Hormones have calmed down, so they’re able to express feelings in word. * Pride in their work
* Self-esteem is based on the adolescent’s view of himself/herself, rather than other people

It’s essential that all five aspects are developed, as one can affect the other. The above is only the average age of which children should reach these milestones’s as we all work at different rates. As some people might be quicker at one thing but slower at another. For example if a child is behind in their learning ability this may have an effect on there, social circle as their confidence could be lacking as they feel different or below everyone else. Another one would be if a child’s gross motor skills are behind others they might not have the ability or confidence to join sports clubs or music clubs, where they could meet me friends. Also if someone has a speech problems like stuttering not only does this affect their communicational development but their emotional too as they might have low self-esteem, also their social development as their condition is likely to affect their confident there for their ability to create or meet new people. It’s the knock on affect, how one little thing can then develop into several little things, and if not noticed or a help plan put into action it could then snow ball into something bigger.