Assignment: In a 500-750-word paper, examine the needs of a school-aged child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old

Parents, educators, and health care providers optimize child development based on the information they have about a particular child. Since child development is multidimensional, the assessment should be broad and examine both typical and special needs as much as possible. A thorough evaluation should provide adequate information for supporting the child in all the deserved ways. This paper describes physical assessments and their modifications based on the needs of an eight-year-old girl while applying Piaget’s theory of development.

Physical Assessments among School-Aged Children

o obtain data vary with age. The modes of evaluation are also dynamic since the needs of five-year-old and twelve-year-old children differ profoundly. Also, their cooperation in the assessment is different. Growth charts are a reference point when physically observing a child. A health care provider can compare the details in a growth chart with the child’s visible state and make verifiable inferences. The observation method is also reliable. Here, a health care provider interacts with the child and makes deductions based on the child’s conduct. Standardized tests can also be used, although for children somewhat advanced in age and without special needs.

Since the assessment approaches cannot be effective if used universally, modification is necessary to match the age and developmental stage. For instance, if a health care provider was assessing a child using a standardized test, the best way to engage a five-year-old is to read out the questions and write answers for them. In the case of observations, children can be placed in an environment where they can move around, play, and interact with peers as their behavior and visible health problems get recorded.  Engaging parents and interpreters can also be considered modification since it eases collecting information and ensures that data is not collected and interpreted based on perceptions.

Choosing a Child

Health and developmental problems are typical in children. According to Moore et al. (2015), children’s developmental issues stem from the environment, access to health resources, and genetics, among other factors. Deborah, an eight-year-old girl, was born normally at thirty-eight weeks. She was not breastfed exclusively since her mother was supposed to travel back to Qatar due to job demands. As a result, the girl was left under the care of a nun as early as four months. Due to some inattention, Deborah was hospitalized for severe malnutrition when she was one-year-old, an issue thought to have contributed a lot to her developmental delays.

The typical development stages at her age include the concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11) under Piaget’s stage of development. She is also in the industry vs. inferiority stage of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. At the concrete operational stage, the social world expands, and children begin to take pride in their accomplishments as they interact with peers (Börnert-Ringleb & Wilbert, 2018). Important events at this stage include attending school, growth in confidence, and a high rate of physical growth and cognition.

Applying Theories

The most fitting theory in this scenario is Piaget’s stages of development. According to Piaget, children develop in four stages that follow each other: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages (Raeff, 2020). Deborah fits the concrete operational stage. To developmentally assess the child, the central focus should be their understanding of logic. Children are relatively good at using inductive reasoning in the concrete operational stage (Overton et al., 2015). They can understand reversibility and conservation. A suitable way of assessing whether Deborah has a developmental problem is cutting two candy bars of the same size into different pieces. One can be cut into two pieces and the other into four. The girl should know that both sizes are equal despite different pieces. I would offer explanations during the assessment through illustrations and active engagement. Active listening and engaging the child would help to gain cooperation. Potential findings include the child’s ability to apply inductive reasoning, awareness of external events, and expression of feelings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the development assessment helps to obtain the necessary data about growth and development. It is a suitable reference of what needs to be done depending on the child’s physical, cognitive, and social-emotional needs. Deborah’s assessment can help identify mental and physical health problems and the interventions necessary depending on the severity of her problems. Active engagement is essential to ensure that the child cooperates to give as much information as possible.

References

Börnert-Ringleb, M., & Wilbert, J. (2018, May). The association of strategy use and concrete-operational thinking in primary school. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 3, p. 38). Frontiers. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00038

Moore, T. G., McDonald, M., Carlon, L., & O’Rourke, K. (2015). Early childhood development and the social determinants of health inequities. Health promotion international, 30(suppl_2), ii102-ii115.

Overton, W. F., Molenaar, P., & Lerner, R. M. (2015). Handbook of child psychology and developmental science: Theory and method, Vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

Raeff, C. (2020). Exploring the complexities of human action. Oxford University Press.