Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors

- While children are influenced by many things, there are no stronger influences that that of their parents as they are usually their child’s first playmates and while the world expands with each passing year, parental influence is still one of the greatest factors in determining the ways in which a child will grow and develop.

Describe the expected pattern of children and young people’s development from birth to 19 years, to include:

Children and young people often experience many things which have a direct impact on their development; things such as their family environment and structure, personality, hospital visits, childcare arrangements, and culture.

Other factors that can affect a child’s development can include genetic problems passed on by a parent, mental or physical disabilities, poor living conditions causing illness such as asthma, learning difficulties, autism, dyspraxia, aspergers, poor communication skills due to sensory impairment such as deafness, blindness, partially sighted.

There are many factors that can influence a child and young person’s development, particularly in relation to their background. The formative years can be termed as crucial in regards to development and any major setback can create many problems for the future.

A child’s development can be measured through physical and language milestones, intellectual, emotional and social development.

Describe the expected pattern of children and young people’s development from birth to 19 years, to include:

D1) Evaluate how nature and nurture may affect the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development at infancy and adolescence.

Each child’s physical, social, emotional, and intellectual and language development will be looked at through age stages. All of these categories are as important as each other and can each have a substantial impact on the child’s full adult potential.

If for example a child has not attended a nursery or play group in their early years this can often set them back from what development stage they should be at when attending school. This could be the lack of nursery places, not good enough teachers to the child having a learning disability that has not been identified yet.

If a child is in poor health then this will have an impact on their development. For example, a child with uncontrolled asthma or cystic fibrosis may not be able to run around and be as active as their peers. Therefore, this would mean that his physical development might not be the same. Not being able to play outside would almost certainly affect the social development, as children make many friendships on the playground and at after school clubs.

Different disabilities may affect development in different ways. However, with support from teachers and parents, these affects can be minimalised. A learning disability such as Dyslexia (a common type of learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling) could lead to a child becoming frustrated which could further lead to behavioural issues. Moreover, without assistance, Dyslexia will allow for the child to become unmotivated and prove to be a hindrance to them as they look to strive in later life. Physical disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy (a neurological condition that effects movement and coordination) will affect development as children will have difficulties communicating, eating and drinking and with their

There are many factors that influence a child/young persons development such as health issues, personal characteristics, motivation to learn, behaviour, sensory impairment, disability and learning difficulties. Even before birth a child needs to reach many milestones and however small or large they can cause a delay in a child’s development and in many cases are completely out of the child’s or parents control. Faulty genetics for example is a factor that is completely out of our control.

There are different things that can affect a child’s development in their background these are just a few of them: -

Throughout this essay we discussed factors that contribute to a person’s growing up. There are many aspects. For example, hypercritical parents, the environment one grows up in, and how much you are nurtured as a child all combine to create a healthy member of