Contents. Before you begin

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© Aspire Training & Consulting

As a support worker, the knowledge and understanding you have of the various stages of human development will help you in providing care and support that is appropriate and well matched to the needs and expected abilities of a client. Do not automatically assume that someone of a certain age is at a particular stage of their development.

Clients who are at an age that is close to a change in developmental stage; for example, the change from childhood to adolescence or from adolescence to early adulthood, may show wide variation between individuals and how they perform and function.

The following example illustrates a selection of the different attributes of infancy through to preschool age. As you read it, think about how the lines between developmental stages could vary between individual children.

Example

Sally has been asked to give a briefing to a group of students before they undertake a practical work placement in a community-based childcare setting. She needs to explain to them about several stages of human development, and what they can expect to observe. She prepares a chart to show some of the features of each stage.

Language

skills Movement

skills Social skills Independence/

need for supervision Infant May use

gestures and pointing to communicate Learns to use some words

Many controlled by involuntary reflexes initially

Becomes able to lift head, sit and roll, crawl and walk

Limited, and mostly centred around primary carer (often mum or dad) Smiles and follows movement of people, likes to look at faces

No sense of danger and needs constant direct supervision

Toddler Greatly increasing vocabulary Begins to use sentences

Able to walk, run, jump

Loves to explore places and areas Can be frustrated when can’t do a physical task

Beginning to interact with others Does well in small groups

Limited ability to solve social problems

Needs constant direct supervision

Preschooler More complex sentences Larger vocabulary

More physically capable of tasks such as running, hopping, skipping and jumping

More capable than a toddler at being in a group situation Able to take turns and share in some situations (often with adult help)

Some sense of danger and able to follow simple rules in a safe setting Can be left for short periods unsupervised in a safe place

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Practice task 1

1. You are working as a class tutor for a group of work experience students who are about to enter a low-care hostel for older clients for the first time. They will be working with clients who are aged between 65 and 90 years of age. Your students need to know what they can expect to observe in people in this age group. Write four dot points about each of these stages that you could share with these students as a PowerPoint presentation.

Middle adulthood Late adulthood Very elderly 1.

2.

3.

4.

2. Answer ‘True’ or ‘False’ for each of these statements.

Statement True False

The ability to use abstract thought is an indicator of a child entering the toddler stage of development.

Levinson was a researcher who proposed a model of adult development based on transition and life structure stages.

A person who is very elderly is unlikely to show signs of diseases or conditions of old age, such as dementia or arthritis as they would have already happened in earlier adult stages if they were going to occur at all.

Early adulthood is the time from around age 40–60 years.

Conditions such as eating disorders and depression can often present as a health problem for the first time in adolescence.

You could assume that most children in the middle childhood period could read and write their own name, were able to hop, skip and jump, but would need adult support to make wise nutritional choices.

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Example

James is 15 months old. He discovers that pushing his food dish off his highchair tray with his hands gives an interesting visual, auditory and behavioural reaction from both the bowl of food and his mother. He later expands this behaviour to discover new outcomes, such as pushing the bowl with one hand, or lifting it up and tossing it towards the cat as it walks past his chair. He is learning that varying the behaviour changes the outcome in new and interesting ways.

Phillip, who cares for James while his mother is at an appointment, knows that his behaviour is related to his developmental stage, and that the child is not being deliberately ‘naughty’.

Childhood development

Physical development

As children grow through childhood, they change body shape and size. Their limbs lengthen and their heads become more in proportion to their bodies. They develop more refined movement skills and learn to:

hop

skip

jump

run with more skill.

They also learn to play games, dance, swim and participate in sports. This helps build physical skills, muscle strength, aerobic fitness and endurance. Most children move along a similar pathway, although this can vary with the impact of disabilities and health conditions.

Example

Ben runs an activity group for children, some of whom have developmental delays.

He knows he must structure games so all the children can enjoy them, so he avoids directly competitive games in favour of team activities and individual tasks that can be completed without a time limit.

Psychosocial and cognitive development

As children develop their psychosocial and cognitive skills, they become more aware of the world, their place within it and how relationships and interactions between people work.

Children learn about and develop:

the ability to process new information and relate it to things they already know

about and understand

a memory of people, places, objects and events

an ability to repeat tasks they have done before, and to get better at doing these

tasks

new skills that have been taught to them by adults or older children.

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Discussion topics

Learners in a classroom can form a discussion group or have a debate. Those in the workplace might like to brainstorm these ideas with their colleagues. If you are learning independently, you might like to set up a chat room with other learners or ask a friend for their opinion.

‘Dementia is going to have a much greater impact on society in the future as our

population ages. This means support workers need to learn more about later stages of human development and less about infant and child development.’ Discuss this with a group of colleagues or classmates.

‘Adults are always free to make their own choices, no matter how stupid or dangerous

they seem.’ Do you agree or disagree? Explore your thinking with your colleagues or classmates.

‘Most children these days spend more time playing computer games than being

physically active. This is why most kids can’t do basic movement skills properly, like hopping, skipping and running. It has nothing to do with development.’ Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

‘Researchers who write about childhood development should just ask a parent.

No-one knows about childhood development like a parent does.’ Discuss the relative merits of parental knowledge and skills compared with theoretical knowledge and research findings.

Chapter summary

Human beings pass through various identifiable stages of cognitive, physical and

psychosocial development.

Support workers need to understand human development to ensure the care and

support they provide is suited to the age and developmental stage of a client.

Factors such as disability and health conditions can affect developmental rates.

By adulthood, the human being is mature and fully developed.

In late adulthood and old age, there is a risk of cognitive skills deteriorating through

conditions such as dementia.

Checklist for Chapter 1

Tick the box when you can do the following.

 Use accepted terminology to describe life stages

 Use knowledge of stages of human development to guide work practice

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Assessment activity 1

Applying knowledge of human development

The following table maps the assessment activity for this chapter against the element and performance criteria of Element 1 in CHCLD315A Recognise stages of life span development. The activity has been designed for all learners to complete.

Part Element Performance criteria

A 1 1.1

B 1 1.2

C 1 1.3

Part A

Draw a line that links the correct life stage term with each of the clients listed.

Clients Life stage

Rebecca is just beginning to learn how to hold a cup and drink milk from it. She still needs help to stand but she can sit unsupported.

Pre-operational stage

Sam is finding his life stage very challenging, as he is constantly trying to work out who he really is and thinking about how to make sure his peer group like and accept him.

Elderly

Margo needs lots of help at home now, as she often forgets to do simple tasks like putting the washing out or doing the shopping. She has arthritis and osteoporosis, although her doctor says that for her age group this is very common.

Infancy

Claire loves to try on hats, coats and dresses and pretend she is someone else. Her favourite game is ‘being a queen’, which she plays by putting on a red coat and wearing a crown made from a plastic ice-cream bucket.

Adolescence

Part B

You are going to organise some group activities for a youth group of adolescents aged 14 to 16 years. Some of the members of the group are young people who have mild intellectual disabilities. These members have physical skills in line with their peers, but have lower cognitive skills. You need to think about how to organise the activities in a way that suits the needs and characteristics of this life-stage group.

1. Write an outline of your activities for a single session of the youth group (a time frame of two hours).

2. Give two reasons to explain why you feel these activities are suitable for an adolescent age group.

3. Give two reasons to explain how an intellectual disability might affect how a young person functioned in this youth group.

4. Write two ways you could support a young person with an intellectual disability in a youth group setting.

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Practice task 8

Read the case study and complete the tasks.

Case study

Trish has observed that Alby Notting, a client in her care, is displaying some worrying signs. Alby is a 45-year-old man from an Aboriginal background who has an unstable housing situation in a remote community. Alby spends some nights in a shared house but other nights he spends sleeping rough. He was involved in a car accident last year and has an acquired brain injury and some physical disabilities as a result of it. Trish has observed that this man is:

having trouble talking directly to her without being distracted

showing evidence of increasing alcohol use

showing evidence of use of other substances, including marijuana

appearing on at least two occasions to not recognise her or respond when she calls his name

complaining of having increasing problems getting to sleep and staying asleep

complaining of feeling very tired and ‘down’ in his mood.

She has observed these problems in her last three visits with Alby and is becoming increasingly concerned about his need for a medical and possible psychological assessment.

1. Discuss whether Trish should record her observations.

2. If Trish wanted to communicate this information about the client to her supervisor, how could she do it?

3. Imagine you are Trish. Write a note in your diary that records your observations about this client. Ensure you add all the details you think are needed to meet workplace requirements.

Discussion topics

Learners in a classroom can form a discussion group or have a debate. Those in the workplace might like to brainstorm these ideas with their colleagues. If you are learning independently, you might like to set up a chat room with other learners or ask a friend for their opinion.

‘I can’t stand all this paperwork! Why can’t I just get on with doing my job?’ How

would you respond to this statement from a co-worker?

‘Who would be a manager? All it means is even more forms to fill out!’ How do you

feel about career development? Talk with others about the role of a manager and how it is different to that of a direct care worker in a ‘hands-on’ role.

‘It doesn’t really matter how I write a sentence about a client. They’re never going

to read it anyway, so who cares if it is written using “person first” language or not?’

Explore the concept of ‘person first’ language with your colleagues or classmates.

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Final assessment

CHCLD315A Recognise stages of life span development

To be assessed as competent in CHCLD315A Recognise stages of life span development, you must provide evidence of the specified essential knowledge and skills. Details of the essential knowledge and skills can be found in the ‘Before you begin’ section of this workbook.

Assessment mapping

The following table maps this final assessment activity against the elements and performance criteria of CHCLD315A Recognise stages of life span development.

Part Element Performance criteria

A All All

B All All

C All All

Detailed mapping of this workbook against the methods of assessment, the elements, the performance criteria and essential skills and knowledge is available in the Aspire Trainer’s and assessor’s guide for this unit.

The following activity forms part of your assessment of competence. You may also need to provide various workplace documents or third-party reports. Your trainer will give you guidance in this area.

The following activity has been designed for all learners to complete.

Contents. Before you begin

Contents

Before you begin v

Introduction: Recognising stages of life span development 1 Chapter 1: Applying knowledge of human development 3

Chapter 2: Applying knowledge of factors that influence 27 human development

Chapter 3: Identifying and reporting observable variations 45

Final assessment: CHCLD315A Recognise stages of 67 life span development

Employability skills 71

Glossary 73

Human development in community services work

Example

Practice task 1

Example

Childhood development

Physical development

Example

Psychosocial and cognitive development

Discussion topics

Chapter summary

Checklist for Chapter 1

Assessment activity 1

Applying knowledge of human development

Part A

Part B

Practice task 8

Discussion topics

Final assessment

CHCLD315A Recognise stages of life span development

Assessment mapping