Social and Emotional Development of Children - Assignment Example

Swarna Word count 2427 ID 5448 Order # 142165 10th December 2006. Impact of social and emotional development of children on Community Developmentin the urban context in United Kingdom. Introduction: The socio cultural environment certainly shows significant influence on community development. All strategies aiming to improve early education, housing, employment, and access to health care contribute to healthy and safe environments and better community development. Children who constitute core component of any society must be treated in professional manner so that their mental and emotional development is improved. However it is saddening to note that still several children have not been provided with basic amenities needed for better mental and social development. United Kingdom is also no exception for this scenario. It was reported that very high number of children in England suffer from cognitive impairment and other behavioral problems. The negative impact of impeding social and emotional development of children would certainly be very high on community development in United Kingdom. Keeping these views in consideration, the present study has been conducted with following objectives: 1. To study and analyze the factors affecting social and emotional development of children. 2. To evaluate the impact of social and emotional development of children on the community development. Methodology: The literature related to the different aspects of social and emotional development of children was reviewed and analyzed. In addition, theories of learning and teaching were studied. The effect of social and emotional development of children on overall community development was also reported by several researchers and the same has been reviewed and logical conclusions were drawn. Results and Discussion: Factors affecting social and emotional development of children: One has to analyze whether there are any factors which affect the social and emotional development of children? The literature review suggests that social and emotional development of children is significantly influenced by several socio cultural factors. They include societal resources like social institutions, economic systems, political structures, physical surroundings like neighborhoods, workplaces, built environments and social relationships. The type of care taken during the period of child development from birth to age 5 years is critical for better adult cognitive and emotional function. Key to social and emotional development is the childs early relationship with parents. Hence sincere attempts are needed to support parents in understanding and fulfilling their childrens emotional needs which will form a sound base for emotional dvelopment of children and cimmunity development. One should also put argument that whether these factors can be managed? Yes. They can be modified. Low socioeconomic status during childhood interferes with cognitive and behavioral development and is a modifiable risk factor. Overall both genetic and environmental factors affect the emotional and social development of children in United Kingdom. Hence research and development of some institutes has been focusing on areas like improvement and understanding of the complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors on social and emotional development. The theory and practice should be coherent and dissemination of information relating to the factors affecting social development must be proper. Hence no research study on child emotional development should proceed in isolation, it should analyze the impact on society simultaneously. The importance of emotional and social development in promoting overall personality development of children and need for taking enough care was confirmed by Cohen et al., 2005 and Landy, 2002. However some innovative treatment methods hold relevance in this context. For example in the early 1990s, some researchers developed a competing method known as Floortime, that concentrates on core autism deficits i.e. emotional, social and imaginative abilities. The reasons for the success of these types of treatments lies in integrated approach in tackling the emotional and social aspects of children in mind (Cathryn Garland and Michael O’Hanlon, 2006). Any learning theory which can bring change in the situation? These factors will be positive once the integrated approach of different theories of learning is followed in teaching process with an aim of enhancing social and emotional development. The integration of traditional sensory stimulation theory (effective learning occurs when the senses are stimulated), reinforcement theory (Burns, 1995) (behavior is a function of its consequences), cognitive gestalt theory (experience, meaning, problem-solving and the development of insights are crucial in enhancing the learning experience in urban learning process) will certainly result in social and emotional development in urban context. Similarly, holistic learning theory (the intellect, emotions, the body impulse, intuition and imagination of persons require activation for effective learning), facilitative learning (learning will occur by the educator acting as a facilitator, that is by establishing an atmosphere in which learners feel comfortable to consider new ideas and are not threatened by external factors) and experiential learning (four-stage learning process i.e. through concrete experience, through observation and reflection, through abstract conceptualization, and through active experimentation) (McGill & Beaty 1995) will also result in bringing desirable changes in cognitive behavior of children and adults in urban learning programs. One should not forget that learning is not only situated in physical situations (social learning theory) but is culturally and experientially situated in ourselves. This explains the ways for promotion of competence and knowledge among children and adults and development of deep relationship between individual identity and the participation in communities in the social world. Impact of social and emotional development on community development and strategies to be followed for effective community devlopment: Whether the social and emotional development ositively affects the community development? Yes, certainly it does in the following manner. childs social and emotional development has significant implications for current and future social functioning, for educational, and employment success and sustainable community development. The contribution of organizations like SureStart in providing good start for children in their early stages is quite significant. If emotional development is fostered at a young age, children are more likely to settle well into school, work co-operatively, confidently and independently and to behave appropriately. Similarly a child with poor social and emotional development is at risk of poor relationships with peers, academic problems, and of later involvement in crime. Efforts to support parents in understanding and fulfilling their childrens emotional needs can help to provide a secure base from which to grow into well-rounded, capable adults with robust mental health. This explains the coherence between children’s social and emotional development and community development. Hence there is increasing interest across Government and across the various departments in United Kingdom in promoting the social, emotional development of children. The functionaries are currently piloting some curriculum materials and training around social, emotional and behavioural skills (SEBS). The materials emphasize on developing a positive environment which enables children to develop social, emotional and behavioural skills, and thereby to foster resilience. All these above points of discussion will certainly reflect a situation in which children emotional development can be guaranteed by effective teaching and learning process as it will positively help in personality development of children which in turn aids in wholesome community development. These programmes help in generating positive behaviour and higher school attendance among children and young people, and help in the identification and support of those with, or at risk of developing, emotional and behavioral problems. The early excellence centres programme was set up in 1997 by SureStart in England with an objective to offer high quality practice in one-stop-shop integrated education and day care for young children, and services and opportunities for parents, carers, families and the wider community (EN 1). Similarly, urban learning provides world class facilitation standards dovetailed with post-program project delivery by the attendee and aims at lifting the individual performance as apart of whole community development. Urban learning provides world class facilitation standards dovetailed with post-program project delivery by the attendee and aims at lifting the individual performance as apart of whole community development. It also comprises of review of results so that significant enhancement in leadership capability can be achieved. It was admitted by the researchers at this stage that implementation of all the stages of urban learning process are essential to achieve the solution for children’emotional development problems and in promoting the community development. For understanding about the role of children emotional and social development in community development one has to thoroughly analyze the meaning of community, community development and community capacity building. The community may be defined as a group of people living in same locality under same governance. How can we correlate the social and emotional development with community development in all the stages of community development? It is as follows: 1. Identification of level of concern (It includes the recognition of specific needs of the community like social and emotional development etc.) 2. The stimulus for action (It involves the motivational component that encourages the active functionaries to continuously engage themselves in children emotional evelopment and community development) 3. Laying the ground work (Development of profile for over all program to be executed in a children community). 4. Developing profile of each community (This underlines the necessity of developing a specific profile for individual components for higher efficiency and convenience). 5. Making efficient utilization of available information (Systematic arrangement of information on positive factors affecting social and emotional development and making the children and teachers and community leaders aware about the same) 6. Developing community renewal project (In some of the cases where the community development in general and social and emotional development programs in particular needs the renewal for sustainable community capacity building). 7. Identifying areas of action (Recognition of important areas of action relating to social development and prioritizing the same). 8. Developing strategies that have maximum impact (Once the actions are prioritized select only the best strategies that result in maximum impact on community development). 9. Evaluation (Final evaluation is very much needed for selecting the necessary steps to repeat and for eliminating the negative points) 10. Implementation (It includes the final implementation of social and emotional development and educational campaigns and community development programs). The setting up of out of school clubs or kids clubs either in the morning (breakfast clubs) or in evening (foot ball or basket ball clubs) will certainly enhance the emotional and social development of children. This also facilitates the parent-children combined participation and would result in better community development. SureStart has been instrumental in these activities in England. It also contributed for community development by encouraging family support, early education, and advice on nurturing. Some other potential strategies: The need of the hour is that the learning programmes must include elements of emotional literacy which will certainly enhance the social and emotional devlopment of children and adults. Emotional literacy, the ability to recognize, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions’ (Sharp & Faupel, 2001) and emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive accurately, appraise and express emotion and the ability to understand emotions and use emotional knowledge (Salovey and Sluyter, 1997) must be enhanced at early childhood stage which will indirectly help in community development in United Kingdom. In addition, the concept of social competence also helps a lot in this direction. The social competence includes processing and using the ability to integrate thinking, feeling and behavior to achieve social tasks and outcomes valued in the host culture and context (EN 2). Instruments used in training programmes must improve the emotional and social competence which in turn aid in integrated community development. Community capacity building also plays crucial role in benefiting the children’ emotional and social development. It means making a positive difference to the capacity and skills of the members of the community in question because they participate with other members of that community in activities directed towards meeting their needs in some way which may be described as ‘empowerment’. For early childhood development, the focus must be made on publicly funded, center-based, comprehensive preschool programs designed to promote the cognitive and social development of children aged 3--5 years who are at risk because of poverty. This will aid in community development. Detection of problems at early age would be a better strategy for reducing the cognitive behavioral impairment. Carter et al. (1999) in a laboratory-based study has noticed that mothers can provide competent ratings of their child’s problem behaviors as early as one year of age. Other successful models like Head Start can be attempted for better social and emotional development programs. Similarly, Academy for Sustainable Communities was established by Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to become the centre of excellence for the skills and knowledge needed to create sustainable communities including children. National School of Government works to help public sector organizations build capacity in good governance and offer more effective, better value services. Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) also offers a range of services designed to help councils improve, including on the sustainable communities agenda . Similar type of programs must be implemented in large scale to enhance the social and emotional development of children and overall community development. Conclusion: The present study reveals that the social and emotional development of children decides the proper shaping of personality of adults and finally leads to effective community development. However they are influenced by several socio-cultural factors which have to be managed efficiently for integrated community development. For meeting this objective, one has to analyze different theories of learning and fit the suitable theory according to the specific context. In addition, the community programs like SureStart must be implemented at large scale for effective social and mental development of children and community development. End notes: EN 1: http://www.surestart.gov.uk/surestartservices/healthrelated/socialandemotional/ EN 2: Topping (1998). ‘Promoting social competence’ http://www.dundee.ac.uk/psychology/prosoc.html Bibliography: Burns, S. 1995 Rapid changes require enhancement of adult learning HRMonthly June, pp 16-17. Carter, A.S., Little, C., Briggs-Gowan, M.J. & Kogan, N. (1999). The infant-toddler social and emotional assessment (ITSEA): Comparing parent ratings to laboratory observations of task mastery, emotion regulation, coping behaviors, and attachment status. Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol 20(4), 375-392. Cathryn Garland & Michael O’Hanlon. (2006), Studying autism isn’t enough. The NewYork Times dated 21st November,2006.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0CE5DF123EF932A15752C1A9609C8B63. Cohen, N.J., Kiefer, H., & Pape, B. (2005),  Handle with care: Early childhood care and mental health promotion. IMPrint, 43, 11-13. Landy, S. (2002), Pathways to competence. Encouraging healthy social and emotional development inyoung children. Baltimore: M.D. Paul H. Brooks, Publishing Co. McGill, I & Beaty, L 1995 Action Learning, second edition: a guide for professional, management and educational development Kogan Page, London. Salovey, P. & Mayer, J.D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol 9, 185-211. Sharp, P. & Faupel, A. (2001), Promoting Emotional Literacy. Guidelines for Schools, Local Authorities, and Health Services. Southampton, Southampton City Council Emotional Literacy Interest Group (SELIG). Read More