Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

The needs of the pediatric patient differ depending on age, as do the stages of development and the expected assessment findings for each stage. In a 1000-word paper, examine the needs of a school-aged child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old and discuss the following:Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

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1. Compare the physical assessments among school-aged children. 2.Describe how you would modify assessment techniques to match the age and developmental stage of the child.
2. Choose a child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. Identify the age of the child and describe the typical developmental stages of children that age.
3. Applying developmental theory based on Erickson, Piaget, or Kohlberg, explain how you would developmentally assess the child. Include how you would offer explanations during the assessment, strategies you would use to gain cooperation, and potential findings from the assessment.

The needs of the pediatric patient differ depending on age, as do the stages of development and the expected assessment findings for each stage. In a 500-750-word paper, examine the needs of a school-aged child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old and discuss the following:
Compare the physical assessments among school-aged children. Describe how you would modify assessment techniques to match the age and developmental stage of the child.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay
Choose a child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. Identify the age of the child and describe the typical developmental stages of children that age.
Applying developmental theory based on Erickson, Piaget, or Kohlberg, explain how you would developmentally assess the child. Include how you would offer explanations during the assessment, strategies you would use to gain cooperation, and potential findings from the assessment.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

As children grow older they go through a process known as child development which is defined as the discipline dedicated to the understanding of all characteristics of human development from birth to adolescence. I reflected on each of the eight chapters that we covered in class and will use that information to apply it to my neighbor Sebastian. Sebastian is a 7 year old child who lives next door to me and I have taken care of him since he was four months old. I have had the opportunity to apply my knowledge over to him for this assignment. I get to visit Sebastian two days a week to look after him while his both parents are at work.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay
The first chapter in our class talked about nature and nurture. The nature aspect means that it comes from the individual’s ability to attain greatness is thanks to his or her parents and their level of intellect to be seen as a reason for why he or she is so successful. Possibly the youth developed initial skills quickly and would be considered to show that the child was, “born smart” or “naturally smart”.

The child I chose to write about for this assignment is two year old Danjuma from Wayne, Ohio. He is the youngest of three children and attends an Early Head Start Program two days a week. The child’s parents have jobs; when the mother is working her sister takes care of Danjuma. The family has financial problems but don’t qualify for any type of public assistance. Danjuma is twenty-four inches tall and twenty-eight pounds. He walks well and has good coordination; he can be seen running, jumping, creeping, crawling, and rolling. He can kick a small ball forward as well as catch a ball using is full body; he can also throw a ball overhand. At home he can turn doorknobs, get himself undressed, and can feed himself using eating…show more content…
When someone approaches the child to help him complete his task, he refuses it, saying “Me do it.” This child can also count to five but has no knowledge of how many each number word represents. He also knows the words “same” and “different” as well as the concepts behind them. Danjuma is very verbal at home; his family can easily understand what he says. His teachers have said that he is difficult to understand as he has many substitutions for different words. For example: “Coat” is “boat” and “hungry” is “bungy”. His family often has to step in and translate for others outside the family. This child can understand simple directions as well as other phrases used in typical everyday situations. When his mother prompts him, Danjuma can tell his two older siblings about his day at school. He loves “reading” books and is often seen looking at familiar books in his own. He also knows the A B C song but has no understanding that the letters he sings correspond to specific graphic designs. He also loves drawing and makes a variety of scribble marks using a fist grasp on his crayon.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

A nursing assessment must be comprehensive and focus on specific developmental assessments that are appropriate for the child’s age, developmental phase, and needs. The nursing assessment provides opportunities to identify illnesses or conditions and time to educate patients and families about the body and its growth and development. Physical development and growth typically correlates to genetic background, nutritional status and may indicate if a child’s health and well-being are at risk. For nurses to properly assess their patients, an understanding of the different stages of development and tasks to be accomplished in each stage are crucial. Assessment of growth and development focuses on physical, cognitive, social and emotional millstones. When comparing children between the ages of five and twelve we see an enormous amount of developmental and physical change from one year to the next.
A child entering grade school is five years old; this specific age group is classified by Erickson as functioning within the Psychosocial Stage of Industry vs. Inferiority. During this time, children begin to develop a sense of pride and self-esteem. If they are encouraged by family and teachers they develop self-esteem and belief in one’s self, if they are not given emotional support they may end up doubting themselves, and finding balance at this stage leads to competence. If the development of specific skill they feel the world deems important, then they may develop a sense of inferiority. At the same time, failure is needed for development of modesty and the balance between competence and modesty is needed for successful completion of this stage and the virtue of competence.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay
Nurses must learn and adapt our assessments to the developmental level of the patient changing our approach and even the way we speak. With the youngest of this group, the five year old, we want to encourage parents to be present and help with care as much as possible; this is still an age when distraction is the nurse’s friend. Offering choices helps the child feel empowered while helping the assessment process at the same time. Respiratory muscles used are exclusively abdominal or diaphragmatic, as opposed to thoracic, as in older children.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

School-age children most often have smooth and strong motor skills. However, their coordination (especially eye-hand), endurance, balance, and physical abilities vary.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

Fine motor skills may also vary widely. These skills can affect a child’s ability to write neatly, dress appropriately, and perform certain chores, such as making beds or doing dishes.

There will be big differences in height, weight, and build among children of this age range. It is important to remember that genetic background, as well as nutrition and exercise, may affect a child’s growth.

A sense of body image begins developing around age 6. Sedentary habits in school-age children are linked to a risk for obesity and heart disease in adults. Children in this age group should get 1 hour of physical activity per day.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

There can also be a big difference in the age at which children begin to develop secondary sexual characteristics. For girls, secondary sex characteristics include:

Breast development
Underarm and pubic hair growth
For boys, they include:

Growth of underarm, chest, and pubic hair
Growth of testicles and penis
SCHOOL

By age 5, most children are ready to start learning in a school setting. The first few years focus on learning the fundamentals.

In third grade, the focus becomes more complex. Reading becomes more about the content than identifying letters and words.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

An ability to pay attention is important for success both at school and at home. A 6-year-old should be able to focus on a task for at least 15 minutes. By age 9, a child should be able to focus attention for about an hour.

It is important for the child to learn how to deal with failure or frustration without losing self-esteem. There are many causes of school failure, including:

Learning disabilities, such a reading disability
Stressors, such as bullying
Mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression
If you suspect any of these in your child, talk to your child’s teacher or health care provider.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Early school-age children should be able to use simple, but complete, sentences that contain an average of 5 to 7 words. As the child goes through the elementary school years, grammar and pronunciation become normal. Children use more complex sentences as they grow.

Language delays may be due to hearing or intelligence problems. In addition, children who are unable to express themselves well may be more likely to have aggressive behavior or temper tantrums.

A 6-year-old child normally can follow a series of 3 commands in a row. By age 10, most children can follow 5 commands in a row. Children who have a problem in this area may try to cover it up with backtalk or clowning around. They will rarely ask for help because they are afraid of being teased.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

BEHAVIOR

Frequent physical complaints (such as sore throats, tummy aches, or arm or leg pain) may simply be due to a child’s increased body awareness. Although there is often no physical evidence for such complaints, the complaints should be investigated to rule out possible health conditions. This will also assure the child that the parent is concerned about their well-being.

Peer acceptance becomes more important during the school-age years. Children may take part in certain behaviors to be part of “the group.” Talking about these behaviors with your child will allow the child to feel accepted in the group, without crossing the boundaries of the family’s behavior standards.

Friendships at this age tend to be mainly with members of the same sex. In fact, younger school-age children often talk about members of the opposite sex as being “strange” or “awful.” Children become less negative about the opposite sex as they get closer to adolescence.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

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Lying, cheating, and stealing are all examples of behaviors that school-age children may “try on” as they learn how to negotiate the expectations and rules placed on them by family, friends, school, and society. Parents should deal with these behaviors in private with their child (so that the child’s friends don’t tease them). Parents should show forgiveness, and punish in a way that is related to the behavior.

What is Child Development?
Child development refers to the sequence of physical, language, thought and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. During this process a child progresses from dependency on their parents/guardians to increasing independence. Child development is strongly influenced by genetic factors (genes passed on from their parents) and events during prenatal life. It is also influenced by environmental facts and the child’s learning capacity.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

Child development can be actively enhanced through targeted therapeutic intervention and the ‘just right’ home based practice, recommended by Occupational Therapists and Speech Therapists.

What does child development include?
Child development covers the full scope of skills that a child masters over their life span including development in:

Cognition – the ability to learn and problem solve
Social interaction and emotional regulation – interacting with others and mastering self-control
Speech and Language – understanding and using language, reading and communicating
Physical skills – fine motor (finger) skills and gross motor (whole body) skills
Sensory awareness – the registration of sensory information for use

Why is child development important?Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay
Observing and monitoring child development is an important tool to ensure that children meet their ‘developmental milestones’. Developmental milestones (a ‘loose’ list of developmental skills that believed to be mastered at roughly the same time for all children but that are far from exact) act as a useful guideline of ideal development.

By checking a child’s developmental progress at particular age markers against these arbitrary time frames, it allows a ‘check in’ to ensure that the child is roughly ‘on track’ for their age. If not, this checking of developmental milestones can be helpful in the early detection of any hiccups in development. This ‘check’ is usually carried out through child/mother services and Paediatricians as infants and toddlers, and later through preschool and school term skills assessments.

The earliest possible detection (and early intervention treatment if appropriate) of developmental challenges can be helpful in minimizing the impact these developmental hiccups can have on a child’s skill development and subsequently their confidence, or serve as an indicator of a possible future diagnosis.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

Developmental milestone checklists or charts are used as a guide as to what is ‘normal’ for a particular age range and can be used to highlight any areas in which a child might be delayed. However, it is important to be aware that while child development has a predictable sequence, all children are unique in their developmental journey and the times frames that they meet the many developmental milestones.

Problems in Child Development:
Problems in child development can arise due to: genetics, prenatal circumstances, the presence of a specific diagnosis or medical factors, and/or the lack of opportunity or exposure to helpful stimuli. Specific assessment by the best fit professional (which may initially be the GP or Paediatrician, and then Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Psychologist and/or Physiotherapist) can provide clarity about the developmental issues and extent of concern as well as can help to formulate a plan to overcome the challenge(s). As the process of child development involves multiple skills developing simultaneously, there may then be benefit in consulting multiple professionals.Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay

Overcoming the developmental challenges is crucial to maximising the ease and speed of development, minimizing the gap that occur between a child’s ability and those of their same aged peers, the confidence of the child as well as the frustration that can be encountered by the child’s parents and/or care-givers. Developmental Assessment And The School-Aged Child Essay