Lifespan Development For Health Assessment
Lifespan Development for Health
Introduction
Lifespan development is defined as the process of continuity and change throughout the lifespan. Theorists such as Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget have explored how physical, psychosocial and cognitive domains interact in complex and profound ways to influence human behaviour. They have established parameters which are used to identify if development is occurring slowly, normally or rapidly. Early childhood is a stage of lifespan development considered of paramount importance due to the effect on overall development and subsequent wellbeing during adulthood.
John is a five year old male who currently resides in Townsville with his parents and younger sister, Julie. He is currently attending his local state school and is halfway through his first year of prep. John is independent in many domains including self-hygiene, grooming, eating and drinking. He is an active child who plays soccer and participates in swimming lessons. John also enjoys riding his two wheel bicycle and scooter. John enjoys playing with cars and often builds with Lego. John demonstrates an understanding of following instructions and is at the top of his class for reading. He also demonstrates progress in his writing and spelling. This written assignment aims to stipulate an in-depth analysis on John’s cognitive skills and an evaluation on his gross motor, fine motor, language and communication, and psychosocial skills. These skills were compared to various psychoanalytic and cognitive theories, as well as the five year old Child Developmental Milestones established by the Queensland Government.
Cognitive Development
Changes in methods and styles of thinking, language use and strategies for remembering and recalling information is the development of cognitive skills. The development of the cognitive domain is closely linked to psychosocial development and these areas of psychology often complement each other. At five years of age, John falls into the preoperational stage of cognitive development as outlined by Piaget. The preoperational stage represents a period of considerable development in children’s thinking. Children begin to use symbolic representations allowing them mentally manipulate their world. Their language begins to mature, and they develop conservation and classification skills. Despite these advancements from infancy, early childhood is still based on illogical thinking and an ability to grasp the concept of cause and effect, time and comparison.
Building The Seaplane
The ability to visualise objects in space and time to be able to solve multi-step challenges is referred to as spatial-temporal reasoning. The Australian Government Department of Education and Training Handbook on Age-Appropriate Pedagogies for Early Child outlines successful reading and writing development necessitates cognitive prerequisites which include perceptual development, language development and spatial reasoning development. When asked to build the seaplane following step-by-step instructions John completes this activity with little difficulty. He only required limited prompts from the supervisor in the last steps. This reinforces his spatial-temporal reasoning as well as satisfying the Child Development Milestone; ability to compare objects. In addition, part of the preoperational stage involves the development of classification skills.
According to Piaget, throughout early childhood, most children can only classify things into figural or thematical groups.6 John exceeds this expectation during his construction of the seaplane, as well as building with Lego. It is clear John does not categorise these objects he is using into superordinate class. He is able to identify that wheels are not selective to all machines (i.e. Lego car) and he demonstrates that a seaplane is in a different category to firetruck. John’s spatial-temporal and classification skills demonstrate a high-level cognitive ability and competence in the Child Development Milestone; ability to compare and categorise objects.3Counting Piaget maintained counting is essentially a rote activity in early childhood and children in the preoperational stage do not grasp how the conventional number system works.
During this observation, John was able to count to 10 during a ball throwing exercise, however, he was stuck at number four for some time. John struggling with ordinality reinforces Piaget’s theory regarding numbers. Nevertheless, John may be influenced by his external environment. He shows signs of hesitation signifying ‘shyness’ and he is also playing alongside his sister indicating this mistake could simply be due to distraction. John does demonstrate cardinality skills by counting how many fingers he had drawn in his illustration. In accordance to the Child Developmental Milestones, a five year old should be able to count 10-20 objects and should not show any unawareness of number and time concepts.
Despite Jon’s mistake during the ball throwing exercise, he was able to reach 10 successfully and demonstrated awareness of number and time concepts, particularly when he understands that 100 is a ‘big number’ and that he did not have 100 pieces of Lego to play with. It can be concluded he has reached this Intellectual Milestone.Moreover, throughout the preoperational stage thinking is egocentric. During this developmental period, the child is very focused on themselves and has a ‘me, myself and I’ orientation. A egocentric child, according to Piaget will also have difficulty understanding life from any perspective beside their own.
Throughout observing John, it was evident he engaged in egocentric behaviours. He was quick to announce he wanted to have the first turn in the game ‘Pop the Pirate’ and when he did not win, he wanted to swap to another game. It was clear John did not understand taking his turn first could be unfair and he was unable to celebrate the supervisor winning. John also engaged in collective monologue (thinking out loud) in an egocentric way. He sometimes spoke at the therapist as opposed to talk with the therapist e.g. “I am playing with my Lego.”John has advanced language and communication skills. He participates in complex conversation and indicates he may have a vocabulary of over 2000 words which is one of the Queensland Governments Physical and Cognitive milestone requirements for a five year old. John also understands concepts and demonstrates this knowledge when he names ‘boy’ colours.
John still shows some inability to understand cause and effect. He is continually asking to go to the toilet and may be unware he is not toileting correctly and thus continually needing to go. Ultimately, John demonstrates he is in the midst of preoperational stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory. He has successfully progressed from the previous stage (sensorimotor) and there is no reason to doubt his transition into the next stage concrete operational) with the foundation he has set. John has an extensive understanding of counting and numbers, spatial-temporal reasoning, language and communication, and colours. John meets all of the Child Development Milestones established by the Queensland Government. It can be concluded John’s cognitive skills are adequate for a five year old child, as well as advanced in some domains.
Fine Motor Skills
The five year old Child Development Milestones for fine motor skills comprise of ability to thread a large needle, copy basic shapes, learn to write letters, showing more detailed drawings, improved scissors skills and having a clear hand preference. John can independently tie his own shoelaces which indicates proficiency in threading a large needle. He has a correct pencil grip with a clear right hand preference and can independently write his own name. John incorporates detail and two dimensional parts into his drawing (i.e. includes fingers in his portrait). John also mainly uses his finger to write and draw rather than the whole arm and shows progression in making letters smaller, well-spaced and well-lined up. He is also reported to be mostly independent in his grooming skills. Several of these skills are part of the 6-8 year old Child Development Milestones and thus can be concluded John is well advanced in meeting the milestones for age five.
Gross Motor Skills
In accordance to the Queensland Government, children at five years old should be able to display an array of gross motor skills. These include running lightly on toes, skipping on alternative feet and catching a ball in hands whilst easily throwing and kicking. As observed John is proficient in a majority of the expected gross motor skills at age five. He is able to skip on alternating feet, hop, and catch a ball with ease. John does lack some skill to his running style as he still displays characteristics of an early runner; lateral leg swings and heels flicking outwards instead of tucked close to buttocks. John does display an equilibrium when running and it is obvious his muscle groups are working synergistically around his body axis to maintain balance and composure. His running style is not a cause of concern as his skills will continually develop as his skeletal system continues to grow.
Language and Communication
Language and communication is closely related to cognitive development and involves the ability to show expressive and receptive language. In the entirety of all three videos, John was clearly understandable and had consistent grammar. John was asked to recite the alphabet which demonstrated his ability to pronounce most letters. John did mispronounce the letter G, however, he did rush through this activity. John understands all the content being discussed and even answers some questions directed at his sister. Additionally, John displayed an understanding of similarities between objects and understands prepositions particularly demonstrated whilst building the seaplane (i.e. able to identify bigger and smaller parts). He also understands he needed to lie the puzzle pieces flat in the box in order for it to close properly. These skills reinforce John’s advanced with his language and communication skills and therefore he is concurrent with the Child Development Milestones for a five year old.
Psychosocial John’s psychosocial development coincides with Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stage of ‘Initiative versus Guilt’ (3-5 years), as well as the ‘Industry versus Inferiority’ stage (5-13 years). John is seen to tests the limits of self-assertion and purposefulness. John is very assertive and made his disdain at having to complete certain activities, such as reciting the alphabet or skipping. He also exhibited development of initiative and sense of responsibility, this was evident during the ball throwing exercise. The supervisor discusses with John whether throwing the ball to his sister is a good idea as he may throw it too hard. She then suggests that John should throw it to her instead. John is seen to pause and reflect, and then chooses to throw the ball to the supervisor. John shows productivity when constructing both the seaplane and finishing his puzzle. He is also able to work cooperatively and efficiently with his sister alongside him. John does not display any antisocial behaviour and engages in appropriate parallel play. As a result, John appears to have reached and exceeded the psychosocial developmental standards for his age.
Conclusion
Physical, cognitive and psychosocial processes are integral to lifespan development. John’s domains was evaluated by using psychoanalytic and cognitive theories, as well as the Queensland Governments Child Development Milestones. In this observation it is evident John has adequately met his developmental milestones. John’s psychosocial, cognitive, gross motor, fine motor and language and communication skills were well developed and he demonstrates competency in all areas. It also evident that John may be well advanced for his age in numerous domains, however, it is hard to make a proficient judgement on this as there were several skills not addressed and some confounders influencing his behaviour in the videos.
