Child assessment and development

Introduction

Child assessment is essential to understand the personal needs and preferences of a particular child, so that the care givers can acknowledge the child’s requirements and protect the child efficiently throughout the developmental phase (Fajarianto et al., 2018). Through child assessment, it is possible to discuss the behaviour of the child, his or her activities, and norms of development, objectives, communication style and social skill of the child. The study focuses on developing child assessment practice by recognising the needs of a particular child, and identifies the features of developing communication among the children. In this study, the child, who is three years old, and he do not have any siblings, will be assesses where the care givers and parents give full support to develop communication of the child. In the nursery care setting, it is possible to assess the child and observe his behaviour and actions successfully. Through this study, it is also possible to analyse the communication skill and the ways that the child react towards sounds, learning activities and others. The findings on child assessment will be represented further which is mandatory to identify the daily activities and reaction of the child (Fajarianto et al., 2018). On the other hand, through this study, it is also effective to identify the importance of child communication development as well as analyse the importance of working in partnership with parents and other professionals. Partnership working practice in the nursery care home is effective to engage the parents and develop strong bonding to take care of the child after effective child assessment. Continuous engagement and child developmental activities are important for protecting the child and ensuring successful physical and mental development of the child.

Child assessment

For successful child assessment, it is possible to adopt suitable techniques, so that it is possible to observe the particular child and assess their activities and daily reactions successfully. The major two types of observations are jotting and narrative. Under Jotting observation, the nursery care staff try to conduct child assessment through everyday routine, while the child in interacting with peers, parents and engaged with the activities. On the other hand, Narrative observation indicates that practice of conducting child assessment through child language, communication style, activities and different events and it is the long term practice, which is recorded in a written format (Gove and Black, 2016). Both the style of child assessments is effective for the care professionals for identifying child behavior and skill as well as communication practice in the care home. In this particular study, Jotting observation is fruitful for identifying the activities and behavior of the child through observing the daily routine of the child. The child is observed daily at the care home in order to identify his needs and personal preferences. The activities and daily interactions are also assessed where the child would like to interact with the care givers in order to improve language and communication skill. The child do babbling sounds in different activities, shouting and sharing joy with smiling reactions. Through the assessment, it is possible to identify the behavior of the child. The child is an only child at home, he has no siblings and he is 3 years old. He needs to have continuous support from the parents and care givers so that he can improve social skill and abilities to interact with others. The child is talkative and tries to interact with others where he is babbling with certain sounds as per different activities around him. Also, he tries to feel the objects by touching as well as he is attracted to the pictures and study materials in the nursery care home.

He is trying to explore new pictures continuously and he is interested in learning more through attractive pictures, music and videos. He tries hard to talk with others with different sounds, and call the near and dear ones at home with babbling sounds. Additionally, smiling face, eye contact with known person at home and nursery care home are also effective where the child tries to interact with others around him. Through continuous smiling, babbling sounds and being interactive, the child tries to communicative with others around him. He is interactive and tries hard to communicate with others. His parents are collaborative and spend quality time with the child, and it further help the child to develop mother tongue. Continuous interaction with eye contact, sign language, babbling sounds and smiling face, the child is able to interact with others around him. These are effective activities of the child where the nursery care professionals try to interact with him for better communication and developing strong bonding. As per the child assessment, the care professionals try to acknowledge the personal needs of the child which are preferred to be pampered always and needs attention from his parents, near and dear ones at home and care givers, where he tries to be centre of attraction. He is always trying to interact with others and also babbling with sounds which further attract other individuals for further interaction. He also needs food timely and play with different objects and games around him. To have the sense of control and predictability is also another need of the child. Another basic need of the child is safety and security, where he tries to feel safe in living at home or in school. This is important for the parents and care givers to maintain safety and security of the child to protect him and give him secure place (Mimmo et al., 2019).

Findings on child’s behavior

The day to day observation or jotting observation is hereby effective for the care professionals to take care of the child and observe his movements, communication and language and daily activities over the specific period of time (Nguyen et al., 2018). The child loves to be pampered by the care givers, peers and parents and he tries to be the centre of attraction for which he seeks attention of others around him. He laughs at funny things and is also attracted towards pictures, playing objects and others. The child prefers to get recognition for his activities. He is babbling with new sounds and he is attracted towards new videos and music and tries to react happily. He tries to walk and play happily with others. His friendly behaviour and smile further attract others to interact with him and it is beneficial for enhancing communication of the child in long run. He is also talkative and tries to interact with others. He loves to take active part in the learning and development activities and also explore new things and objects for further development of social skill. As he is three years ole, it is crucial to involve him in the learning and developmental activities and the activities further help him to boost his interest to learn and improve knowledge in different activities. Exploring objects and participating in the learning and developmental activities are effective for improving language of the child.

Additionally, through jotting observation, it is also possible to analyse the social skill of the child. During learning and child development, it is mandatory to acknowledge the social skills and behaviour of the child. As per the observation, he is active listener, where he observes the activities of the care professionals and parents very closely and tries to understand the activities around him. He is interactive and talkative which also helps him to increase communication with others. He has empathy where he understands others feelings and it further improves his behaviour throughout the phase of child development. Empathetic behaviour and politeness are important for child development, so that the child would be able to the way to interest with others and give values to others while talking. He acts actively with Music-making and rhythm games where he is interested to explore new videos and pictures for further learning and developmental activities. During the stage of child development, he is hereby efficient to give response to different learning and developmental activities. Respecting others and showing love for them are also the behaviour of the child, which help him to get effective assistance and improve his social skill successfully. As per the observation, the child is interactive as well as his behaviour is good according with social skill, which have contribution on child development including communication, behaviour and mental skill.

Evaluating child development

Child developmental activities are effective to improve the cognitive skill and social skill as well where the child is able to interact with others and under the activities around him. As per the Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory, there are four stages which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Between the age of birth and 2 years the child understands the world through senses and actions. Between 2 years to 7 years, the child tries to understand the world through language and mental images. During 7 to 12 years the child is able to acknowledge the world through logical thinking and categories. After that, the child tries to conduct hypothetical thinking and scientific reasoning for understanding the world. For enhancing the communication skill of the child of three years, it can be stated that the child is under the preoperational stage (Turnery and Ruch, 2018). During the child developmental phase, the child must be guided and monitored efficiently. The care professionals and parents must provide support and encourage the child to develop language and enhance communication skill. The mental images can also be developed as well as the child is also guided by the care professionals. Through jotting observation, it is possible for the care professionals to observe the child’s reaction and understand the activities of the child. The child is very talkative and he is interested to interact with others around him (Mutton, Burn and Thompson, 2018). The child also observes the activities around him and provides reactions through eye contact, smiling, shouting and babbling sounds. These are effective for child development and improving language of the child. The care professionals are also cooperative to support the child and give response to each activity and reactions of the child, which are beneficial for the child to develop communication skill.

Importance of development of communication

Communication is important among the children throughout the child development phase on order to support the children in developing their language and improve communication skill in long run. The communication skill for the child of three years is important to help them for expressing their feelings with others clearly and convey their message in a better manner. It is the crucial factors of developing communication skill, where the child can learn the language and discuss own feelings with others around him. It is also important for the child in this case to improve communication skill in order to enhance their learning and developmental activities by ensuring meaningful exchange of information with others (Nguyen et al., 2018). Communication will increase the interest of the child to interact with others and express their thought in front of others in a better and simple way, through communication skill, the child can also learn more and explore new things and objects throughout the learning and developmental phase. It is also helpful for tackling the behavioral disorders like anxiety, stress and derision, social withdrawal and low self-esteem. It is the role of the care professionals and parents to interact with the child and improve his communication skill and language so that the child is able to express his thought and share his emotion with parents and care professionals. It is hereby beneficial for the children to tackle their behavioral disorders and develop own behavior and self-esteem in long run.

On the other hand, there is great role of communication skill among the children, where the child tries to write property and develop their skill of writing and seeking, communication skill helps to boosts the seeking activities where the child can interact with others and communicate efficiently. Expressing own thought, learning more and exploring new information through communication are also the advantages of improving interactive skill among the children. In this particular case, the child is interactive and he likes to interact with others through smiling, doing babbling sounds and other body movements, the expression and non-verbal communication through body language are also improved over the period of time through communication skill, where the child can understand the way of developing eye contact, interacting with others and develop own language further (Kelly et al., 2019). Clear seeking and learning are the other importance of communication as well as the students also can understand the right grammar and punctuation to develop any content. Checking own behavior and encouraging self-control are also possible for the child through communication skill developmental activities. The art of entering into a conversation politely, the right way to behave with somebody is already talking as well as greeting the person and encouraging with smile are also the advantages of communication skill, where the child is able to interact with others and develop his language further. The body language, expression and self-esteem are also improved through communication skill and it further helps the child to cooperate with others and enhance the learning and developmental activities throughout the child developmental phase.

Features of supporting child’s communication skill

It is important for the care professionals and parents to arrange strategies for improving communication skill of the child and in this regard it is possible for the child to understand the conversation and improve his language in long run. Building open line of communication is important where the child can easily interact with others and express himself without hesitation. Hence, one to one interaction is mandatory where the parents or the care professional must interact with the child and encourage him to express his thought and emotion (Gayatridevi and Velayudhan, 2019). Continuous motivation and support to the child are effective to encourage the child and let him seek in front of others even if he does some mistakes. While communication, proper eye contact is mandatory where the child is encouraged to develop eye contact and display attraction for his active participation. The children usually learn best by imitating the adults and it is hereby necessary for the parents to present a good communication models to their kids to help them interacting with others. Positive body language and eye contact must be maintained while interacting and the children are also encouraged to maintain smiling face as well as manage positive mood while interacting with others. Picture storytelling is one of the effective tactics to enhance communication skill and it is considered to be innovative features to enhance child communication skill (Hutchison, Müller and Iarocci, 2020).

The child is three years old and it is high time for the care professionals to encourage him to tell story by showing the pictures and activities. The care professionals must provide several pictures like scenery, colors, people and other details and ask the child to arrange them in logical sequences and tell a story related to the pictures. This provides a scope to the child to interact and tell story (Huda et al., 2017). This is beneficial to improve language and help them to share their thoughts in front of others in a systematic way. Identifying the objects is another feature of communication, where the child explores different new objects and shares the activities with others. Developing different innovative indoor games as well as arranging outdoor games is also fruitful for the children to ensure physical and mental health development. It is also helpful to improve communication skill of the child, as the gaming activities influence the child to interact with others and tae active part in the games to win. Hence, verbal and non-verbal communication, both are important to develop language of the child and help the child to improve interactive skill while communicating with others. The child is talkative and he tries to interact with others through babbling sounds, eye contact and smiling. These activities are also helpful for the child to improve communication skill. The child is also encouraged to talk with others and express his thoughts so that he can share the information in a clear way. The child is also encouraged to recite his favorite story with expression and it is also considered another important feature of enhancing communication skill of the child, where the child has the scope to share his thoughts and recite clearly.

Importance of working in partnership with parents and other professionals

Working in partnership with parents and other professionals has crucial impacts on child development, where it is possible to develop strong bonding and trust among the care professional and parents to guide the children efficiently (O’Connor et al., 2018). For the child of three years, it is mandatory for partnership working practice so that the teaching professionals, care givers and parents can collaborate and protect the child in developing his skill set and knowledge. The cooperation among the parents and other professionals is fruitful for the child, where he can get safe environment to learn different activities and develop skill set. Social skill and cognitive skills are also important which can be developed through continuous support and encouraging the child efficiently (Susanti, Pamungkasari and Adriani, 2020). The parents try to interact with the care professional to share the activities of the child and they try to develop planning to engage the child in the learning activities and help him to improve social skill, empathy, trust and social bonding and interactive skill.

Conclusion

Child development is a crucial activity where the care professionals, teaching staff and parents must be collaborative to provide safe and friendly atmosphere to the child for developing his skill set and knowledge. Social and cognitive skill development is possible for the child, where the child is interactive and talkative. He tries to interact with others and give reactions on different activities around him. Through the learning and developmental phases, the parents and care professionals try to support the language developmental activities of the child, where he is encouraged to talk and share his expression with babbling sounds, expression, eye contact and smiling faces. These are effective for the child to develop verbal and non-verbal communication skill where he can understand the way of communicating with others with trust and respect.

Reference List

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