Diversity in Child Development for Social Skills -myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theDiversity in Child Development for Social Skills. Answer: Introduction Children are humans and their needs and desires are no less than adults. In fact they also have some unique needs as per particular situations. Some of the basic needs of a child are food and shelter, emotional security and physical safety. Other developmental needs of a child are social skills, career abilities and internal skills. Needs of various children differs from each other. There are children who suffer from mild cognitive and learning disability and there are also bright children whose educational and development needs are quite different from the normal children. Children belonging from culturally diverse background require different levels of education and care. This report throws light upon the various learning and the developmental needs of kids (3-8) years. It also aims to focus on the different pedagogical strategies for improving the learning techniques in children having differential needs and the roles of the educators in accomplishing them. Learning and developmental needs of a child The need for physical activity- Children needs to exercise and develop their growing bodies. The need for achievements and competence- Many children are self conscious about theory abilities and needs a lot of opportunities for exploring wide varieties if experiences and career experiences for acquiring some levels of success an mastery (Arthur et al., 2015). Need for self definition- The children those who are between the age 3- 8 years are rapidly growing and requires a lot of opportunities for exploring their goals and what they are becoming and how do they relate to the world around them as a member of their family culture, race, community. Self determination starts after the age of 8 (Lewis et al., 2017). The need of creative expression- The mind of a child grows as the body accepts the change and they become more involved beyond the home. They start to interact with their friends. Although children of 5- 8 years are more inclined towards their parents. They get the opportunities for the creative expression that is essential for their development (Lewis et al., 2017). The need for positive and social interaction- Although the family is of primary importance for the children of 3- 8 years, they all require opportunities for experiencing the positive relationship of the child with the peers outside the family. The positive relationship can help to provide comfort, security and support as they are faced with new ideas, values and feelings (Arthur et al., 2015). The need for a fruitful participation- Children require opportunities for developing new talents, skills and interests for shaping up their own lives. The requirement for strong attachment with positive elders- every child requires to develop a solid and strong attachment to some positive adult during their course of life, who can help them to re-bounce despite of all the difficulties in life (Lewis et al., 2017). A gifted child may be evident in the following domains, Linguistic, logical mathematical skills, where the child possesses extraordinary skills in abstraction and logic. Some of the students may show great sense of sensitivity towards music. Some of the children are skilled in interaction with others and develops a sense of leadership skills from the very beginning. Children with disabilities like autism of Downs syndrome require special behavioral therapies apart from learning. Children belonging to culturally diverse background can find the school environment hostile or may suffer from cultural shock (Goodwin, 2012). Hence the teaching strategies have to be more conducive for the comprehensive development of the child. Pedagogical actions and strategies According to Stockall and Deenis, (2012), children with special needs such as those with language delays require special attentions such as inclusive programs. Inclusion does not merely refer to a strategy but it is about belonging, having choices or being valued. It is also about accepting and valuing the diversity of the humans and providing necessary support to the children. Inclusion is all about accepting and valuing the diversity if the human and providing the required support to the children. In relation to this there had been many public education policies - Education for All handicapped Children Act in 1975. According to this law, every one having disabilities are eligible for a free and public education. According to Wall, (2011), every child with disability should require a least restrictive environment for the education. Children with specialized needs should be like the normal educational environment of his peers. The first step of implementing such an environment is the mainstreaming, which refers to the enrolling of children with disabilities in the same class room with other normal kids. Integration has also been described as a program for the typically developing children. According to Allen and Cowdery, (2012), there is a small difference between integration and mainstreaming. In mainstreaming the child have to get ready to enter the mainstream. Reverse mainstreaming can also be used where the class would require some typically developing students. The inclusive education has got three outcomes- memberships, relationship and development. Membership includes the child's education with the groups. The concept of relationships refers to the different roles that children lay while their interaction with the peers. The developmental concept looks at the traditional types early childhood special types of education, changes in the functional skills (Allen Cowdery, 2012). Just as a developing child, there are certain children who are exceptionally bright and start reading independently from the age of three. Arthur et al., (2015) have described the strategies that would help the educator to create a richer learning environment, where the exceptionally bright children are boosted to take the learning beyond the books and the curriculum. Among the classroom strategies for the gifted children, the first step is to familiarize himself with the characteristics of the child who is intellectually gifted (Biggs, 2012). Gifted students may come of all kinds of ethnic groups and may display characteristics such as ability to hear and process the complex information rapidly and explore the in-depth knowledge of a topic (Biggs, 2012). The teacher has to think out of the box and should provide the child with the opportunities to come across challenging tasks unlike the backlog students (Gadzikowski, 2013). According to Jean Piaget, he had placed the gifted students in his formal operations and developmental stage that requires the learning experiences at the upper levels of the Bloom's taxonomy. The National system of the Western civilization had put forward some of the conditions that a classroom has to follow in order to integrate the gifted students, such as the classroom with gifted students should contain lesser number of students such as more attention could be given to individual students (Derman-Sparks Edwards, 2010). The teaching should be flexible for cultivating autonomy in thinking and learning. There should be cognitive training methods for promoting problem solving in everyday life. Arthur et al., (2014) have discussed about some approaches for bright children such as , acceleration, Enrichment, Differentiation and Grouping. Supplemental services for the students belonging to the LGBTQ community include independent guided study, proper mentorships, and flexible groupings. There should be consultant services for assisting the teachers for expanding the experiences in the regular classrooms (Payne Smith, 2013). Respect for the cultural diversity is the key principle and cultural competence is one of the competencies of the childhood educators (Hydon, 2014). The Australian curriculum that provides special consideration to the Indigenous Australians operates at the school setting with children above the age of five (Mundine Giugni, 2006). Some of the biggest difficulties about teaching the indigenous culture are the fear of causing offence, the belief that is way far political for the early childhood care and education (Hydon, 2014). Some of the pedagogical approaches that can be taken for the brightest students are- Through early entry to the Kindergarten, development of self paced instructions, curriculum compacting, telescoping of the curriculum so that the learning occurs at a faster rate, extracurricular programs and the correspondence courses. Advanced credit can be provided to the gifted students (Biggs, 2012). Educating the children with autism involves a team of professionals with specific instructions and therapies for addressing the behavioral, social and the developmental needs of a student (Kagohara, et al 2012). According to Gadzikowski, (2013) Applied behavior Analysis (ABA) technique helps in redefining the behavior of the autistic child. Additional teaching methods such as Discrete Trial teaching (DTT) or the Lovas model can be used, where each of the children is given repeated opportunities for learning and practicing. Verbal praising can be done if the child achieves any desired results (Kagohara, et al 2012). Differential relationship model (DIR) can be used for a child to expand communicative circles .This can be accomplished by play activities. Picture exchange communication system (PECS) involves communicating with the pictures. This method can be useful for the children with language delays. An educator can help the child to develop the vocabulary and articulate the desires by using the pictures consistently (Kagohara, et al 2012). Pivotal response treatment (PRT) can be used to improve the communication, social among the children. The Verbal behavior (VB) involves a behavioral research on the language development by developing a connection between the world and the value. Role of an educator The childhood educator should have the desire to nurture, empower or teach children and families for developing their utmost potential. Clinicians and the educators who focus on the early child hood years always wants the children off to the best start and support of the families is extremely necessary for doing the same. This sharing responsibility between the parental and the non-parental caregivers takes place what Bronfenbrenner have termed as the mesosystem of the different levels of environment of the ecological models of human development (Kagohara, et al 2012). As an educator it is necessary to identify and develop the cultural competency. That can be done to identify the cultural identities of the children within the community, families (Gay, 2013). Valuable information can be gathered from daily interactions and children's written records. It is necessary to engage the children in reconciliation, help in incorporating the family culture and wishes. Families should also inform about their traditions and expectations to the service. Local community members may volunteer to share the skills with the children such that the staffs learn regarding the community beyond the service. It is important to plan and explore the heritage, culture, background and the traditions of each child within their community (Gay, 2013). Constructive relationships have to be established with each of the aboriginal children that would ultimately help to generate a non-hostile environment for the children belonging to culturally diverse background (Goodwin, 2012). Inclusive movement has been a movement for special education. Individual education plans were initially developed for the special education classrooms with the intent of promoting the inclusion of the children having the disabilities (Richardson, 2011). IEP could not address the needs of every learner. In order to do those inclusive pedagogical approaches were taken, such as the Universal Design for learning (UDL) (Biggs, 2012). UDL is a philosophy for learning and success for all the students. The framework of UDL is based on three core principles which include multiples means of engagement, multiple means of action and multiple means of representation and multiple means of expression and actions. The first means multiple means of engagement involves the student trait and catering to the instructions for suiting the wide variety of interests, learning styles (Richardson, 2011). The child can be given group projects. Teachers would be able to provide a variety of options for the comp rehension. The languages, vocabulary and the signs and the expressions used should be easily understandable to the students. Teachers should be able to provide options for multiple modes of communications, including the visual, verbal or written communication skills. Visual aids with bright colors can be useful in teaching the students with special needs. Gay, (2013) have stated the importance of the socio-emotional learning in school, where the students will be compassionate, and safe and valued. This type of learning can develop positive self concept among the kids, helps the students to understand the diversities. This type of learning is particularly suitable for the kids belonging to the culturally diverse background. Conclusion High quality of child care helps in the development. If the children are social then it helps in the cognitive growth and the social development. Stimulating and responsive care in child care is linked to provide social and cognitive outcomes. A specific learning environment might not be suitable for all the kids hence there has to be specific strategies for all. For example, bright students would require extended learning other than the curriculum, whereas those with autism and learning disabilities would require learning complimented with therapies. Kids coming from diverse cultural background would require a non-threatening environment for overcoming the cultural shocks. Educators, in collaboration with the families and organizations can help in providing the students with a more fruitful learning. References Allen, K. E. Cowdery, G. E. (2012). The exceptional child: Inclusion in early childhood education. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. Chapter 4: Normal and exceptional development (pp. 80-97). Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., Farmer, S. (2015). Programming and planning in early childhood settings. 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