Factors Affecting Development

Skinner views are that children learn language through imitation, and they copy from how their parents talk. He thought that children learn mostly through positive and negative reinforcement. When an adult feels as if the child is learning how to say a word from their babble such as ‘baby’ they will repeat it continuously so that in the end result the child will learn how to say the word. (6-12 months) Bowlby thought that a mother and a new born would need to bond with close contact for a good long term development.

His views were that babies wanted to be close with the main parent/carer at all times to feel safe and when it was achieved, the babies constant need for attention would stop. When the baby is put in a new environment or separated from their main carer they will feel unsafe and start their crying for attention so they can be close with their carer again. This theory is called ‘attachment’. (0-3 months) Darwin believed that children were born with basic emotions; babies learn appropriate emotional responses from watching other people around them and observing how they react to things.

They check their parent’s facial expressions or body language before responding positively or negatively to a situation (Squire 2007:105). (0-3 months) Schaffer views were that there were three stages of development in infancy, in stage 1 it showed that the baby was more drawn to people than inanimate objects and would smile more around a human than if left with inanimate objects like toys. In stage 2, the baby will be around 3 months and will be able to recognize the difference between their parent/carer and other strangers, babies may not mind being held at this stage because they’re too young to see the strangers as a threat.

In stage 3, around 6 months a baby will form a stronger bond with their main caregiver and will try to seek attention. The child may become distressed when their carer is out of sight and will also cry around strangers because they may be scared. (0-3 months) Piaget believed that children learnt through first-hand experience and discovering things and exploring rather than just being told or shown. He thought that that the parents/carers should make sure that they are providing resources to help the child develop further.

Letting children play freely will benefit the child as long as there are boundaries put in place to make sure it is safe for the child to explore e. g. if the child was playing outside in the garden, they will need to be supervised because they may hurt themselves or eat something they shouldn’t. The gates should also be checked to make sure that the child can’t get out. (1-2 years) Vygotsky believed that the level of development for a particular child was known as ‘the zone of actual development’ but he thought that a child was capable of more if encouraged and assisted by their parents.

The difference between the two levels was the ‘zone of proximal development ‘Adult intervention is necessary if the child is to move on from one level to the next. For example if a child is learning how to stand up without holding onto anything the next step would be for their parents to assist them in taking a few steps with them or providing a walker for the child to learn independently. (2-3 years) Factors affecting development

Smoking while pregnant will cause the baby to have low birth weight and there will be a higher change of you’re the baby being stillborn. There will also be a higher chance of cot death. Smoking may cause miscarriage or premature birth. Smoking around new-born can affect new-borns even though they are outside the womb because they are inhaling second hand smoke, it can cause severe respiratory diseases and it can delay growth of their lungs. (0-3 months)

Children in the age range of 7-12 mostly socialize with their own gender because they go through the stage when they may dislike the opposite gender and think there gender is the best. The NIH Study shows that girl’s brains develop before than a boys brain does and that girls reach maturity before boys. (7-12 years) Children living in better conditions are more likely to have a healthy lifestyle which affects their physical development, they will be more likely to be able to go on a lot of holidays, pursue hobbies like music and dance and art.

They will be more likely to have the clothes that everybody wants and the school may be in an area where there are better schooling opportunities which will increase the chance of emotional stability. Children living in poverty are unlikely to have poor housing, diet and education. There may be higher crime rates in the area which would influence the children’s social and emotional behaviour. They may also have fewer chances to join clubs or join into hobbies they like or to go on holidays. (3-7 years)