Early Child Education and Care Psychological and Cognitive Developmen

Question: Discuss about theEarly Child Education and Carefor Psychological and Cognitive Developments. Answer: Introduction Physical, psychological and cognitive developments of a child play a significant role in the upbringing of a child. Development delays and disabilities can at times impact negatively during the whole learning process of a child and should be recognized early, and appropriate interventions are taken to prevent further deterioration as well as promote recovery. Equally, the causative and risk factors should be identified early in the effort of enhancing the health of a child. Various factors influence development of a child across lifespans such as environmental factors, malnutrition, sociocultural factors, heredity, socioeconomic factors and health issues The environment in which children grows in influence their early learning significantly. The environment can be a home surrounding, school, daycare or any place where a child spends a considerable amount of time. The people with whom a child interacts contribute in the shaping of their personality. The child learns by observing how people interact with each other and if the skill is nurtured through motivation and reward, they and develop well cognitively, mentally and psychologically. Other factors that impact on the development of a child within their environment are the size of the family, family structure and friendliness of the school environment can determine the success in the acquisition of essential life skills. Additionally, accidents and hazards to which a person if exposed can prevent healthy growth (Cutter-Mackenzie, Boyd, Moore, Edwards SpringerLink, 2014). Malnutrition is another factor that affects the wellbeing of a child. Malnutrition predisposes a child to infection due to reduced immunity. Therefore the general health of a child is affected, a phenomenon that leads to altered interaction between the environment and learning of skills. It may also lead to poor neurocognitive development and maturation due to lack of the essential requirements that are necessary for the establishment of a healthy nervous system. Poor physical development may also affect the childs ability to learn various life skills (Gonzalez-Mena Eyer, 2012). Sociocultural factors such as the cultural beliefs, practices, values, norms and the society interaction at large influences ones development from childhood to adulthood. It also results in discrepancies in the proper development from one place to another due to the variation in the cultural aspects of different communities. According to Termini (2015), social discriminations associated with gender, age, social status and physical disability among others impact on the childs intellectual and social development negatively. This can be due to the anxiety and reduced self-esteem associated with the discrimination. Heredity and genes determine the physical characteristics of an individual such as gender, race, physique, cognitive abilities and interests (Gonzalez-Mena Eyer, 2012). Consequently, these features also determine how a child interacts with the environment. They also contribute significantly to the shaping of ones personality. Since hereditary factors cannot be altered, disability related to it cannot be treated, but supportive strategies can be used to help the affected children assume a normal development process. Socioeconomic status of the family one is brought up and the entire society influences interaction with other people, activities one involves themselves in and the facilities to which they have access. Financial capability of a family determines the kind of neighborhoods, educational and health institutions and services a person received which in extension have a direct impact on their general development. Moreover, it also determines nutrition of a developing child beside also affecting self-confidence, self-perception, self-consciousness, and self-esteem. Health issues and factors affect growth and development of a person across the life span. Mental health problems can lead to emotional and behavioral health problems and the general interaction with other people. Reaction from the environment can also impact on the child in all aspects of health-physical, mental, spiritual and mental health. Anxiety, stress, and depression due to health issues may lead to drug abuse and dependence which has detrimental effects on personal growth and development. Certain chronic medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions that require frequent prolonged hospitalization may affect the childs intellectual and social development due to lack of attending school (Gonzalez-Mena Eyer, 2012). Developmental delay is a lack of milestone achievement by a child within the expected age ranges leading slow growth and development and even disability. Language and speech delay is characterized by the inability to effectively communicate with people through verbal expressions within the appropriate age ranges (Petty, 2016). It symptomatically presents with failure to exhibit verbal expression by the age of more than two years. It may also be identified when a child of more than four years speech id usually incomprehensible and incoherent. Use of gestures by the end of gestures and imitation by 18 months is expected in a healthy child whereby the contrary indicates delayed development or disability. Motor delay includes the inability of a child to balance, ambulate, and making use of various body parts including upper and lower limbs and coordination of the eyes. Children usually have difficulty in assembling items, walk, sit or stand. Furthermore, they express extreme reactions in response to mild pain or touch. Motor delays can be associated with poor neurocognitive development that affects the nervous system (Petty, 2016). Social and emotional delays involve the reduced or later achievement of ability to have meaningful relationship and interaction with other people including peers in a socially acceptable manner. Children with social and emotional delayed milestones display play skills that are inappropriate for their age. They may not correctly read and interpret social cues and hence resulting in inappropriate behavior. In the same way, they have emotional problems while relating with peers (Ritblatt, 2016). Cognitive delays are observed through assessment of a childs ability to learn, memorize and display age appropriate thinking skills. Signs of delayed milestone achievement may be through lack of following simple instructions by above the age of 2 years. Children may also find it difficult to imitate actions and speeches. In most cases, early detection can be made through realizing a child of 1 year not searching for hidden items while they are seeing (Gonzalez-Mena Eyer, 2012). Dyslexia is a learning disability that presents with difficulties and problems with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor decoding and poor spelling abilities (Luby, 2016). Children with this disability may be generally intelligent but read at a level lower than their peers. As stipulated by Marjanovic?, Kranjc, Fekonja and Bajc (2016), some of the known causes are heredity of traits that affect the auditory and visual processing and physical agents such as infections and chemical exposure during language development. Low birth weight, child exposure to nicotine and positive family histories are risk factors of disorder. Therefore, the auditory and language processing as well as visual interpretation of objects and words may be affected. Anxiety may also contribute in the worsening of the condition. The signs and symptoms that are observed are challenges in spelling words, rapid uncoordinated visual-verbal responding and challenges in the manipulation of sounds, reduced reading, fluency and comprehension. On the other hand, dyspraxia which is also known as developmental coordination disorder affects the physical and motor coordination of a person (Luby, 2016). It, therefore, results in restriction in the performance of physical activities. It can be observed as clumsy behavior. Furthermore, performance in daily activities and sports does not meet expectations of their age. It can be caused by a premature delivery which leads to poor development of nervous system, low birth weight, alcohol exposure of a child during pregnancy and consumption of other illicit drugs. Heredity and a positive family history of the condition are the primary risk factors (Britto, Clure, Stansbery Fenn, 2014). References Britto, P. 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The Early Childhood Socio-Emotional and Behavior Regulation Intervention Specialist (EC-SEBRIS) training model: a crossroad of mental health and early childhood education.Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice,11,1, 48-60. Termini, A. M. (January 16, 2015). Preschool Development.Cooperative Parenting Blog,1, 4-26.