Social development

One to Two years (infant/toddler):
During this year, children learn more social skills. They are able to play with their prmary carers and are comfortable with other familiar adults. They start to explore their environment but need the reassurance that their primary carer is nearby. At the end of this year, children often start to notice other children and are able to play alongside them (parallel play). Emotionally, children are very dependent on their primary carer.

15 months:

• Begins to explore their environment if an adult is close by.
• Begins to use words to communicate with.
• Emotionally dependant on familiar adult.
• Has a stronger feeling of being an individual.
• Helps with dressing.

18 months:

• Language is increasing.
• Points to objects to show familiar adults.
• Explores environment and shows some independence but still needs familiar adults.
• Strong emotions - e.g. anger, fear, joy - are shown.

2 years:

• Plays near other children (parallel play).
• Begins to talk when playing - pretend play.
• Imitates adults' actions.
• Strong emotions - e.g. anger, fear, joy - are shown.
• Is aware of physical needs.
• Little concept of others as 'people'.
• Socially very immature.
• Solitary play dependant on adult guidance.

Two to Three years(toddler/young child):
Childen in he first part of this stage are keenly aware of what they want to do, although they become easily frustrated because their own physical and language skills are not developed enough to meet these desires. they also find it difficult to understand why they cannot have what they see, because they lack the concept of ownership or objects being unsafe. Frustration is often vented through temper tantrums or inconsolable crying.
it is common for children to cling to objects of attachment (comforter, teddy) at this stage to help them feel more secure.

During this stage most children will:

• Have a strong sense of their identity, including their gender and age.
• Be happy to leave their primary carer for short periods of time.
• Start taking an interest in other children and playing with them.
• Show concern for other children - e.g. telling carer if baby is crying.
• Begins to take turns when playing.
• May have imaginary companions.
• Tries very hard to please.

Three to Four years (young children):
This is a more settled year for children. Their first real friendships start to develop, with other children seeking out particular friends. Emotionally, children still need reassurance from their imediate carers, but are more independent and may play by themselves for longer periods. They still feel strong emotions, and quarrels and temper tantrums are still apparent at times.

During this stage most children will:

• Be affectionate towards family, friends and carers.
• Want to help and please primary carers and other familiar adults.
• Imitates, in play, actions seen - e.g. putting teddy to bed, feeding dolls.
• Shares playthings.
• plays with other children - mostly pretend play.
• Shows concern for other people.

Four to six (young children):
In some ways the expression 'I can do' sums up this period of a child's life.
Emotionally most children are feeling confident and express themselves in terms of their achievements - e.g.'I got a sticker today' or 'Look at me. I can climb this now.'
They may start to use words and actions in imitation of other people.
At this time, children start to play with children of their own gender which may link to their understanding of gender roles.

During this stage most children will:

• Enjoy other children's company /  highly cooperative play.
• Argues with other children.
• Develop a sense of humour.
• Choose own friends.
• Be eager to carry out some responsibilities.
• Enjoy games requiring turn taking and observing rules.

Social development- Newborn to Infant (birth to one year)

Important social skills are learnt in the baby's first year.
This first year is critical in terms of emotional development. Babies need to develop a strong bond - or attachment - with their carers. babies who have a strong bond or attachment with their primary caregiver at the end of their first year will be more comfortable when they socialise with others.

One month:

• Watches primary carer's face / bonds with mother.
• Smiles at mother / main carer.

Three months:

• Chooses when to smile and coo.
• Squeals with pleasure appropriately.
• Reacts with pleasure to familiar routines.
• Enjoys being handled and cuddled.

Six months:

• Laughs and enjoys being palyed with.
• Responds to different tones from main carer.

Eight months:

• Fears strangers.

Nine months:

• Plays peek-a-boo.
• Discriminates between strangers and familiar adults.
• Imitates hand clapping.
• Clings to familiar adults.

Twelve months:

• Is affectionate towards family and primary carers.
• plays simple games such as Pat-a-cake.
• Waves goodbye.
• Cooperates with dressing.

Developing empathy

Infants:Babies learn about empathy by the way parents treat them when they are cranky, fussy or frightened.

Toddlers:Toddlers have strong feelings but they are not always capable of identifying or managing those feelings. Caregivers can help children name what they feel and show them how their actions are tied to those strong emotions. In this way, caregivers can lay the groundwork necessary for the child to connect their feelings and actions with those of others as they mature.

Young Children:During this developemental stage learning how to share is a great tool for nurturing empathy. By the time a child is four their cognitive developmetn has progressed enough that they are able to associate their emotions with the feelings of others. before this point, they assumed everyone saw and felt the very same things they did. They are now starting to recognise peoples emotions through observing facial expressions and are beginning to understand the effects their behaviour has on others. The time a child is five they begin to see that people's emotions are similar irrespective of their age, ethnicity or gender.

Language developement- A continuum

A newborn will begin to communicate through their cry soon after they are born

by around six weeks a baby begins to study people's faces, particularly when they are talking. You may notice that infants move their mouths, copying the movements that are made when someone is talking to them.

Between two and three months an infants vocal cords and other parts of their throats have developed enough to allow them to begin cooing and making soft, exaggerated vowel sounds to show pleasure or excitement.

Between four and five months babies will begin to laugh and squeal. They also begin to experiment with the consonant sounds, particularly b, d, m, g and p. It is not long before they can put vowel sounds and consonant sounds together to form nonsense words such as 'ga-ga', 'ahpoo', etc. At this age infants can blow through their lips and may blow bubbles to practise using and controlling their lips and mouth.

At around five months infants are beginning to process the musical sound and speech patterns that they constantly hear when their caregivers speak. They will practice these sounds, imitating  their first sound patterns. Infants will also begin to communicate non-verbally at this age, often clinging to their caregivers, pushing then away when they are upset and tunring their head when they do not like something.

By around seven months infants often begin taking turns 'speaking' with others instead of at the same time as others do. They may also initiate conversations with others as they begin learning how conversations between people works. Many infants will also begin to imintate sounds their caregivers make, especially animal sounds such as 'moo'.

By eight months babies will begin to connect sounds they and their caregivers make to actual ideas, e.g. 'moo' = cow , or 'ta' = thank you , and will begin to use these sounds to identify objects or convey messages. Also around this stage, babies will build on the syllables they mastered earlier and link them in understandable words such as 'da-da'. They will also continue to add new consonant sounds such a t and w.

At around one year most infants put together all the language lessons they have learned so far and will begin to say their first real words. These first words are usually the names of important people or familiar objects. Some infants have 2 or 3 words in their expressive vocabulary by one year of age, whereas others will have mastered many more. These words are often unrecognisable by anyone other than the infants main caregivers.

by two years, a toddler may be saying and repeating words, and starting to join words together. They will also chat away to themselves in their own baby language. On average a two year old has approximately 30 to 50 words in their vocabulary.

Three years old have greatly expanded language skills. During this year the length of a young child's sentence increases from around three words to five words or more by the time they are around four and they are able to express their feelings. By this time, most children have also become fully understandable and beginning to ask lots of 'why', 'when', and 'how' questions.

Most four year olds make good use of their language skills. During this year a young child masters language well enough to put sentences together into full stories. it is very common that children this age talk non-stop!

By five years children can understand and apply more difficult concepts such as 'under', 'over', 'before', 'after'. Their vocabulary can exceed 2000 words. It is not uncommon for children at this age, with normal developement, to experience difficulties pronouncing all the consonants and sounds properly in the English language.

Other forms of communication-drawing and painting:
In the same way thay children pass through other developemental stages, they also pass through drawing stages.
Typically these stages are:

1. Scribble.
2. Beginning to draw circles within the scribbles.
3. Circular shapes become more regular/ lines are eventually added to represent features and limbs.
4. Trunk and more features are added.
5. Drawings become more detailed and recognisable.

Examples of milestones of language development

-Newborn:

• Aware of sounds and noises (may move arms/legs in response to sound of voice)
• baby may try to copy mouth movements when you talk to them.

-Up to 6 months:

• Baby uses a different cry for different situations.
• By 3 months baby is making cooing sounds which will begin to change to babbling
• At 4-5 months baby may start to laugh and squeal

-Up to 1 year:

• At 1 year baby may be saying 2 to 3 words and repeating simple sounds.
• Baby will begin to use a variety of tuneful sounds that resemble speech patterns.
• Baby may begin to start taking turns waiting for you to speak, then babbling back.
• Baby will understand lots of words.
• Baby will let you know what they want through gestures.

-Up to 2 years:

• Toddlers may be saying and repeating several word.
• Beginning to join words together.
• Will chat to self using their own baby language.
• Toddlers will understand a lot more than they can say.
• may be starting to learn colours and shapes.

-2 to 5 years:

• Most young children will understand most simple words by 3 years.
• At around 3 you can expect a child to know know lots of words and join words together in short sentences.
• At around 4 years a child will be able to make up their own imaginative stories.
• By 5 years old most young children will speak clearly enough to be understood.
• By 4-5 years most will be using long and detailed sentences.

Cognitive development:Young children (2 and a half to school age)

From between 2 and a half and 3 most young children are beginning to use symbols to represent objects, are using most mature language and their memory and imagination is developing.

During this stage young children do not yet understand concrete logic and are usually unable to differentiate between what is real and make-believe play. They often give non-humane items human traits, e.g. if a child trips over a chair he will place blame on the chair for tripping him up.

They are still very egocentric and are generally unable to understand the point of view of other people. They see the world entirely from their own perspective, which means that a child's explanation of events to an adult can be very uninformative, yet highly entertaining1

Young children are beginning to be able to concentrate for longer periods of time. They are typically asking lots of questions such as "how come" or "why" as they try to understand why things are the way they are.

By school age many young children will know their colours, be able to match shapes, count up to five, be able to recite the alpahbet and recognise, and in some cases write, their own name. They are beginning to understand the concept of time better and usually have a concept of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Cognitive development: toddlers (1-3 years)

Primarily a toddler learns by:
-Using their senses - e.g. Every time a toddler uses senses to learn about smell, sound, texture, feel, sound they are catergorising their experiences in a way that helps them make sense of the world.
-Experimenting - e.g. A toddler might drop a spoon on the floor over and over again, not to aggravate their caregiver, but to memorise the cause and effect of things.
-Manipulating objects - e.g. A toddler learns a great deal by accident. Accidental learning, a form of experimentation, is the beginning of problem solving.

Between 18 months and three years of age most toddlers understand that objects and people continue to exist even when they are no longer visible, can visually follow the displacement of objects and will begint o use instruments and tools.

It is common to observe toddlers flitting from one activity to another. This is often referred to as a child having a short attention span, however it may in fact be that the child is exploring a particular idea or schema in some depth.

Examples of schema may include but are not limited to:
-Transporting:

• A child may carry all the bricks from one place to another in a bag.
• A child may push a friend around in a toy pram

-Enveloping:

• A child may wrap a doll up in a blanket.
• A child may cover their whole painting with one color.

-Enclosure/ Containing:

• A child may fill up and empty containers of all kinds
• A child may sit in the tunnel in the playground.

-Trajectory:

• A child may drop things from their cot.
• A child may throw objects.
• A child may climb up and jump off furniture.

-Rotation:

• A child may be fascinated by the spinning washing machine.
• A child may enjoy spinning around or being swung around.
• A child may love running down a hill.