Supporting Child Development: Assessment, Programs and Strategies

This report delves into the crucial aspects of child development support, emphasizing the significance of assessment programs and intervention strategies. It highlights the various challenges children face, such as family circumstances, mental health issues, and exposure to domestic violence, and how these factors can impact their growth and development. The report underscores the importance of practitioners conducting thorough assessments to identify children's needs and create tailored programs. These programs include activities like childminding, exploratory activities, and sessional services, all designed to support children's well-being and address potential developmental hindrances. The report also discusses the role of early childhood education and paediatric practices in addressing issues like trauma from family violence and provides examples of support mechanisms like social and emotional learning, mental health consultations, and 24/7 helpline services. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of early childhood assessment as a tool for gathering critical information about a child's personal growth, which helps in planning proper activities for their support.

3.1 Support use of assessments to develop programmes of support
Children encounters with a number of issues, especially at the age of 1 to 4 in their life
which impact positive or negative on the expected growth and development. Such issues include
family circumstances, mental health, complications faced by mother during pregnancy, domestic
violence, chronic or acute issues, social deprivation etc. Therefore, it is essential for practitioners
to perform the duty of care by running assessments to ensure that there will be an improvement
in life-chance of such children (Baldwin and Carruthers, 2019). Support assessment programmes
are prepared when a child face difficulties to express their preferences as well as make life
decisions. Achievement of such standard requires the involvement of advocates for representing
the views with interest child. Childhood assessment can be defined as a process of gathering
information related to a child whose background hinders the definite pattern of development,
after then information is reviewed the information and then use to plan activities, which support
them to live a better life. Assessment programmes include a number of activities as per basis of
age group of child, like childminding for children and toddlers; exploring and thinking activities
for children; sessional services like identifying and belongingness for toddlers; and more. These
assessment programmes give support to children in accessing needs for proper growth and
development.
For developing assessment programs, it is also essential for practitioners to gather proper
information about background of child that hinders their growth. For example – to support a
child at early age to prevent mental abilities that may create due to exposure of domestic
violence, assessment activities are based on early childhood education and Paediatric practices. It
includes changing their environment where they have faced traumas because of family violence
will prove helpful in raising their positive attitude towards proper growth and development.
Along with this, prevention efforts are also made by putting such children in educational centres
where training will provide them for the same (Williams and Chinn, 2019). The assessment
process includes a number of steps to support child for well-being as engagement of children in
rehabilitation activities; determine their background to gather addition data; screen process for
detecting the co-occurring disorders; identify care, linguistic and support needs; then develop
programs for growth and development. Furthermore, to develop programs of support, early
childhood assessment can also use as a tool for gathering critical information about personal
growth of child, which helps in planning proper activities for their support.

For this purpose, a number of ways support can be provided to children as given below -
 Prioritize social and emotional learning
 Confront bias
 Investment in mental health consultation
 Pay attention on how child acts on different situations
 A 24 x 7 hours helpline services which include National Toll Free numbers.
 Screening, Basic Assessment and Treatment Planning for COD (co-occurring disorders)
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baldwin, N. and Carruthers, L., 2019. Developing Neighbourhood Support and Child Protection
Strategies: The Henley Safe Children Project. Routledge.
Williams, J. and Chinn, S. J., 2019. Using Web 2.0 to support the active learning
experience. Journal of information systems education. 20(2). p.6.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals