Child Development And Communication Flashcards
Define the biological idea of attachment in terms of child development.
Attachment is a biologically based system that functions to maintain proximity to the infants care-giver.
What behaviours are children predisposed to display as a result of attachment?
Proximity seeking behaviour
Contact maintaining behaviour
Around what age will children show signs of distress in the absence of ‘key people’?
Around 7-8 months
What is the importance of attachment?
Attachment allows the infant to form a relationship with their primary care giver.
When is the critical period for first attachment?
During first year
During what period can separation cause problems to arise?
During first 4 years
What 3 phases can be seen in the behaviour of children separated from their primary care giver?
Protest (distress, look for mother)
Despair (withdrawn, signs of helplessness)
Detachment (more interested in surroundings, apathetic upon return of career)
What are the second two phases often mistaken for?
Recovery
What behavioural changes can be caused by separation?
Anxiety / aggression / clinging
Bed wetting
Detachment
What physical effects can separation have on children?
Less sleep
Depression
Less play
Separation at what age can cause the most distress?
6 months to 3 years
What implications may separation have on health outcomes?
Decreased adherence to treatment
Worse experience of pain if anxiety is high
Patients may suffer from adverse effects of stress
Give examples of good practice in hospitals to avoid the adverse effects separation
Allow parental/carer access
Allow attachment objects
Reassure child they are not being punished
Make environment like home
Provide stimulating toys
High quality substitute care
Continuity of staff
What are the four stages of Piaget’s childhood development model, and at what ages do they occur?
Sensorimotor (0-2)
Pre-operational (2-7)
Concrete operational (7-12)
Formal operational (12+)
What are the features of the Sensorimotor stage?
Experience world through senses
Development of motor co-ordination
No abstract concepts
Develop awareness of where they ‘end’ and the world starts
Develop understanding of permanence around 8 months (understand that objects out of sight continue to exist)
What are the features of the Pre-operational stage?
Development of language, symbolic though, able to imagine things
Egocentricism - difficulty seeing things from other people’s points of view
Lack concept of conservation
Classification by single feature
What are the features of the Concrete operational stage?
Think logically, but concrete rather than abstract
Understand conservation of number, mass, and weight
Can classify things by multiple features
Able to see things from another’s perspective
What are the features of the Formal operational stage?
Abstract logic
Hypothetic-deductive reasoning
Outline Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development.
Cognitive development requires social interaction
Child learns as an ‘apprentice’, through shared problem solving
With able instruction, the child can achieve some increase in understanding (x+1)
There needs to be focus on the zone of proximal development (the +1 bit) i.e. The people around them
How can communication with children be improved?
Adapt consultation style to capacity of the child.
Younger children will not understand abstract concepts.
Some children may have a good knowledge of their condition if they are exposed to it regularly.
Use parents/carers to help communicate if appropriate
Use toys to catch attention or explain concepts
