Developmental Assessment and the School-Aged Child
The needs of the pediatric patient differ depending on age, as do the stages of development and the expected assessment findings for each stage. In a 500-750-word paper, examine the needs of a school-aged child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old and discuss the following:
Compare the physical assessments among school-aged children. Describe how you would modify assessment techniques to match the age and developmental stage of the child.
Choose a child between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. Identify the age of the child and describe the typical developmental stages of children that age.
Applying developmental theory based on Erickson, Piaget, or Kohlberg, explain how you would developmentally assess the child. Include how you would offer explanations during the assessment, strategies you would use to gain cooperation, and potential findings from the assessment.
You are required to cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Sample Paper
Child Developmental Assessment
The child development assessment process aims to obtain a child’s basic data on their growth. Various types of data are collected to ensure that the child is evaluated as a whole. The assessment areas include cognitive functionality, social-emotional aspects, physical/motor area, and language. According to Kaufman (2018), the assessment helps establish the child’s needs in offering additional support as a caregiver or professional related to child development. The assessment allows the assessor to identify a specific need that requires physical or psychological assistance to help the child regain the child’s development normalcy. Children’s needs differ as they advance in age, and thus, the assessment strategies differ. This assessment involves a seven-year-old boy known as Job.
As a child’s age advances, various physical expectations are considered in evaluating their development. School-aged children are different from toddlers and preschool children since school-aged children appreciate and understand reality. The school-age children can thus comprehend the effect of particular actions and evaluate their consequences (Leifer & Olson, 2019). The children of five to seven years may not coherently express themselves of their specified needs, and thus the assessor should majorly rely on personal observations and information from the parents, caregivers, or guardians (Gesell, 2021). Reliability to personal expressions through speaking is limited to help understand the child’s development process. The child aged 11-12 years can coherently express themselves, and thus, the assessor should focus on the information given by the child more than from the guardians, parents, or personal observations. The modification of the techniques in matching the child’s developmental stage is equally questioning the children in addition to what the parents, caregivers, or the guardian said about them, and above the personal observations.
Applying Piaget’s Human Development Theory
The human development process, according to Jean Piaget, is classified into four stages which include sensorimotor from birth to 2 years, preoperational stage of 2 to 7 years, the concrete operational stage between 7 and 11 years, and formal operational, which is 12 to 19 years (McLeod, 2018). Job fits in the third stage of child development, the concrete operational stage. According to the theory, a child has a developed mind with logical thinking ability, but not to the fullest. I would thus focus on asking the boy pointed questions that do not require lengthy explanations, complex thinking, or difficulties in expressing the answers. The questions will add to the parent’s explanations about Job, especially on the questions that the parent lacks certainty. Some of the questions that I would direct to the child include his company in school, what he likes, what he doesn’t like, what he prefers, and how he feels. The answers in response to the questions will thus be simple and understandable since the boy is acquainted with basic information about himself and the environment and thus can provide feedback in understanding him better. I would praise the child for the good things he does and not comment negatively on the negative actions in improving the cooperation for the assessment. The explanations on the feedback acquired from the questions would be majorly simple without many complications. The explanations would be much directed to the parent since the child may not understand most of the developmental reasons for assessment and results. Information such as what to feed the child and to understand the child is essential for the parent. The child was brought for a well-child appointment, and thus the potential findings are expected to be normal.
References
Gesell, A. (2021). Child development. Prabhat Prakashan.
Kaufman, A. S. (2018). Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, tests, and issues. Guilford Publications
Leifer, A. D., & Olson, D. R. (2019). C. Television and the development of social behavior. In The Developing Individual in a Changing World, Vol. 2: Social and environmental issues (pp. 495-504). De Gruyter Mouton.
McLeod, S. (2018). Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Simply Psychology, 1-9.
