Children and Young People’s Development Essay

A child development is influenced in many ways such as their background, health and environment. These factors will have an impact on the child’s different areas of development. Background Children come from all different family environments, cultures and circumstances. Children go through significant family changes such as a family break-up or a new step-family. These can affect a child’s emotional and intellectual development. A child may also change their behaviour, which means there ability to learn is decreased. This can affect their emotional development because they may feel like it is their fault for the break up. Having a new step-family is a big change for some children, this may affect their emotional development, as they may feel as if there mother/father is replacing each other. The child may also have difficulty bonding with their new family. Some children may be deliberately hostile towards a step-parent as they may feel it is the only outlet for their feelings, and those who do not express their feelings openly may become withdrawn. This can have major effects on their intellectual development, as they may become withdrawn at school and unable to concentrate on learning. Read more: Explain how children and young peoples development is influenced by a range of personal factors essay Coming from a low income family may have a significant effect on a child’s development. Burnham and Baker state ‘Statistic show that children who come from deprived backgrounds are less likely to thrive and achieve well in school’. Coming from a low income family may affect a child’s intellectual development, as the family may not be able to afford to pay for extra activities such as swimming lessons or dance lessons. This could also have an impact on the child’s physical development. This may affect the way a child is able to respond in certain situations. There communicational development may be affected as they may not have interacted with children their own age before. Cultural differences may also impact a child development, as they may feel isolated at school. This would affect there communication and intellectual development, as they may be unable to communicate with other children. They my also feel excluded because they are brought up different, this can affect their emotional development. Not interacting with other peers can have a large impact on different types of development, such as emotional as they can feel isolated and excluded. Children’s with different cultural beliefs or practice may cause emotional conflict. Such as if they want to participate in an activity which goes against their families wishes or religious beliefs, they would feel excluded. Other issues would be if the child has moved countries their intellectual development may be affected due to the fact that they have to ‘catch up’ with new languages and cultures. Health If a child suffers from poor health or impairment, this may have an effect on their development. If a child suffers from a medical condition this may lessen their ability to participate in activities than other children. This will affect their physical development, as well as their emotional development. Depending how aware the child is about their needs, they may feel excluded and isolated from other children. Other health factors maybe that the child was born premature, as they are more likely to develop slower than a healthy born child. There may be an effect on their physical development, as they are a smaller and behind on developing. This may also have an in pact on their intellectual development, as it has been shown that premature babies struggle with maths. Burdo-Hartman says. â€Å"Memorizing math facts in particular has been shown to be difficult for some preemies,† Environment A child’s environment, for example, family or school, plays a huge part in their development. A family that abuses or neglects a child will damage the child’s natural development. The indifferent family style has a negative effect on the child. The child may not have much opportunity, they may just watch television or play video games all day, will not gain the experiences and interactions needed to further their development. Where a child lives is an important factor for their development. If they live in poor areas, there are less services and opportunities. This can have a negative effect on their intellectual development as they are not able to access services such as playgroups or afterschool clubs. On the other hand, wealthy areas are more likely to have better services and opportunities, this means that a child’s development may not be affected. Burnham, L. Baker, B. (2010). Support Teaching and Learning in schools. Essex: Heinemann Learning.