Children's Mental Health Essay

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.

According to the author Smidt (2013), childhood is a social construct which means that the ideas of childhood life consists of what is determined by the adults. She also stated that children lives are represented through culture and group change. However, the changes can occur over a period of time, place and circumstances of the child. As I read chapter one, I was impressed about the author views concerning early child development. The characteristics of development recognized by Smidt (2013), was how prenatal development of the fetus can change over time before birth. The child’s mother can contribute to the changes, through the economic and culture factors. Therefore, this can also influence the environment during the prenatal stages.

In this writing it will be discussing childhood development, as well as some vital issues that might come along during those stages of development. Child development consist of the stage where the child is developing physically, cognitively, socially and spiritually. During these stages of development a child is maturing from infancy to becoming a young adult. For many years theorist such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Lev Vygotsky’s have researched how children mature from infants to adulthood. Each of the theorist have profound facts to how children develop, but which of the three men are correct on their findings?

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.

Students in the classroom come from a variety of backgrounds. Their lives are shaped by their families, their communities, but also their peers in school whom they will spend hours a day with throughout their educational career. The ability to form relationships with others, to create lasting friendships that grow and evolve with time, is detrimental to all children and their development. Lacking the ability to do so, whether it is directly because of their conditions or because of how other students perceive them, can dramatically harm them emotionally and mentally.

Child`s development must be seen holistically as each area of development are connected with and affects every other area of development.

The purpose of this assignment is to closely observe the development of a child through an interview and apply the theories and concept of child development in his particular cultural and educational context. I selected the child who lives in my neighborhood for the interview and began with seeking the permission from his parents. The child’s name is ‘Abdullah’ and he is seven years old. He lives with his family in Terre Haute and his family consists of parents and two sisters. Abdullah goes to Sugar Grove Elementary School in the Terre Haute city along with his two sisters and he is in grade 2. The interview was conducted at his home and I ensured his convenience. He was cooperative and provided insightful responses to the questions and he provided significant detail in the interview. I was able to track his development stages and connect it to different theories of Developmental Psychology including psychoanalytical perspectives and Piaget’s stages of development. In the following paragraphs, I will explain my observations about Abdullah’s development in the light of developmental theories with special focus on cognitive, social, linguistic, and emotional development followed by making connections between his socioeconomic and cultural background and development. Lastly, I will conclude paper by highlighting that the observations during the interview can facilitate my future practice as a teacher.

Socially and Emotionally the family is a big influence in a child’s development. Parents have a big role by providing care and guidance for their development. Unfortunately some families cannot promote the development of a child because of the conflict among the parents. A single parent can have difficulties in boosting a better development in children and young people, sometimes a child is separated from its siblings and this can affect them too.

The theories/approaches established by historical and contemporary pioneers provide valuable insight, underpinning the understanding of how children develop, allowing teachers to enhance the holistic development of every child. This essay will analyse the: behaviourist theory; cognitive-developmental theory; and socio-cultural theory.

Once a child is born and their development continues, then starts the controversy and wonder as to whether how the child is raised effects their outcome in adult hood, or whether they are just born to be a certain way. Child psychology looks into the many different factors that affect the pregnancy and raising a child. Such as, parenting styles, and how the environment (nurture) and the genetics (nature) play an important role in the child’s development.

It is becoming more recognized and well- known around the world that the mental well-being of one’s parents largely affects the development and or the emotional and mental states of oneself. Research is becoming much more widespread and researchers could make important recommendations on how to intervene in the lives of children with parents suffering from mental illness to best prevent harm to their health and well-being as they grow. It has been found that the most common mental illnesses among people of child-bearing age are anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Most policy however deals with the care of children whose parents must be hospitalized due to their conditions. Much of the current research though aims to show that even those which do not require extreme medical intervention can impact children physically, emotionally, socially, cognitively, etcetera.

Psychology involves studying the mental functioning and general behaviors of both humans and animals. Social behavior and mental functioning of an individual are explained by exploring the neurological and physiological processes. These include emotions, cognition, perception, motivation, attention, brain functioning and personality. Child psychology is as well stated to be the application of psychological techniques to children where it involves carrying out research on mental states and development of children. The development of the child both physically, mentally and emotionally, with the help of a parent allows the identification of helpful information to any evolving challenges in child’s behavior and

A child’s development occurs when various factors such the environment, physical health, mental, social and emotional levels and parents are all in sync. Understanding in what ways psychodynamic, social learning, constructivist, sociocultural are essential to a childs development. As Victor of Aveyron, Wild Boy, was a young boy who noticeably lived his whole childhood lonely in the woods before being found in France. He was captured but kept running back to the wilderness. However, in early 1800, he was found, nonetheless his inadequacy regarding

Anxiety is a common reaction in the human body. So becoming a little scared when watching a movie, or beginning to become nervous right before a test, or maybe even a little shy talking to your crush is completely normal. It starts to become a problem when anxiety takes control and cuts out important things in our life. Children with anxiety might start to feel more often than usual fear, nervousness, shyness, and often will try to avoid social events. Anxiety is a normal part of childhood, and usually the child is just going through a phase and will grow out of it. But when it continuously keeps recurring it begins to become a problem. There are a multitude of anxiety disorder ranging from General Anxiety Disorder(G.A.D), Panic Disorder, Social

Age specific variations of growth and development At the preschool age, children are farsighted, have 20/30 vision, and are visually discriminative. Health Promotions Strategies Through the Life Span (2009) describes, “ Eye-hand coordination improves. By age four and a half, the motor nerves are fully myelinated and the cerebral cortex is fully connecter to the cerebellum, permitting better coordination and control of bowel and bladder” (Murray et al, 2009, p. 340). At three years of age, children react to sound and turn their head in its direction. Towards the end of age three to before age five, children now know multiple words, their meanings, as well as the names of family members. They are now learning to “Control and adjust own response to sound, such as learning for the sound to occur again” (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2015, p. 415).