Challenges in Early Years and Primary Education

Employing critical thinking skills during turbulent times

Estelle Tarry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032139869
• eBook ISBN: 9781000591651
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Challenges in Early Years and Primary Education focuses on the teaching and learning of children in early years and primary school settings and creates awareness and a deeper understanding of current and critical education issues such as wellbeing, global education, online teaching, and teaching and learning in a multicultural society.

This book encourages the development of the underpinning knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning, recognising good mental health and the solid principles of working with children, families and other professionals. Through discussions on a range of interrelated factors that contribute to children's development, and learning and progressive participation, expert contributors explore ways to respond to and ameliorate the effects of the pandemic and other possible challenges that education professionals and children might face in the future.

Challenges in Early Years and Primary Education is ideal reading for educational practitioners including teachers and anyone working in aligned educational settings, as well as students in the field of early years and primary education.

Part I

Children and the Curriculum

DOI: 10.4324/9781003231813-2

1 Child Development and Neurodiversity

Every Classroom, Every Child and Every Family are Unique

Anna Neale and Sabrina Connolly

DOI: 10.4324/9781003231813-3

Introduction

The foundations of this chapter are within the field of developmental psychology, one of the largest subdivisions of psychological research. Within the field of developmental psychology there are several overarching aims; firstly, to understand how physical, psychological, and social behaviour change as we age and secondly, what factors drive and influence these developmental changes.

The first section Child Development will review the concept of child development, what this encapsulates and examines how nature and nurture interact to determine an individual’s development. A range of factors, genetic, teratogenic, and environmental, which can disrupt development will be considered. Further, this section will examine how the recent social environmental changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/21, with the associated isolation phases and social distancing, have impacted upon child development.

In the second section, Neurodiversity, the neurodiversity paradigm will be explored, to determine the difference between disability and disorder. Two common childhood psychological disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), will be discussed in terms of their aetiology to argue the need to promote a supportive approach and to move away from seeing such diagnoses as disordered and problematic. Here a range of contemporary and progressive research will be reviewed to illustrate that not all atypical development is problematic and some childhood disorders are examples of different neural wiring, unique and diverse, with associated strengths in a range of cognitive, social and emotional skills. The importance of appropriate and timely intervention through reasonable adjustments and support and potential intervention strategies will be discussed.

Child development

Child development is the term used to describe the maturation of the child, from conception through to 18 years of age. The maturation process is influenced by an interaction between inherited genes, which set out the unfolding of a biologically determined sequence of events, nature, and environmental and social factors, nurture. Studies in psychobiology have emphasised the importance of the central nervous system and genetic and hormonal influences in explaining development. Alternative approaches within social and cognitive psychology emphasise the importance of the social environment and relationships, particularly during early childhood, as fundamental in shaping behavioural traits. Research relating to brain plasticity has demonstrated that environmental factors and social interactions directly impact upon our neural circuitry, which consequently shapes and alters our subsequent behaviour (Kolb et al., 2003).

There are four broad categories of development taking place at incremental stages during infancy, childhood and adolescence: physical, social and emotional, and intellectual and language development. When an individual’s development is in line with what is expected within specific life stages, this is known as typical development and when patterns of development do not occur in the way expected in the human species, this is regarded as atypical development. The following developmental overview will explore some of the key facets for each of these four categories.

Physical development

Physical development encapsulates the maturation of the brain and the body in terms of physical growth and the acquisition of physical skills. In the first few weeks of life, infants demonstrate reflexive behaviours and automatic responses to stimulation. These reflexes have an adaptive function, they are needed to promote survival; for example the eye blink, which is intended for protection of the eyes and sight, and sucking, to ensure satiation of hunger. The measuring of reflexive behaviours in infancy by health professionals is essential, as the absence of reflexive responses or a delay in the disappearance of these responses can indicate an issue with the health of the nervous system. Our brain, body and motor skills develop rapidly in the first years of life and on average, during this time an infant will triple its weight and double its height.

Motor skills development

There is a chronology to the emergence of motor skills which can be seen to develop in a two-fold pattern. Firstly, development proceeds in a cephalocaudal sequence; here motor skills develop from the head downwards, so an infant will be able to support their own head before they are able to roll over. Secondly, motor skills development follows a proximastidal sequence; skills develop from the trunk then proceed outwards, for example an infant is able to make movements with their arms before they can manipulate objects with their hands. This predictable pattern in the emergence and development of motor skills across infancy and childhood has led to the development of milestones, which are measured by a range of health and educational practitioners to indicate potential delay and provide intervention for support as early as possible. However, caution needs to be applied in the use of milestones to monitor development as each child’s development is unique: for example, some children may crawl before they walk, others will not.

Perception, the act of interpreting sensory information, and motor skills development are closely linked in that they are both required for the development of new skills. Coordination of motor behaviour with perceptual information is necessary for balance, movement and manipulation of objects from the environment. Perception enables an infant to explore their environment; this exploration is necessary for enhanced development of motor, social, emotional and cognitive skills (Adolph et al., 2018; Smith and Thelen, 1993). Both perceptual and motor activity are linked with the development of the nervous system.

Brain development

The brain undergoes rapid change and development in the first years of life, progressing from approximately 25% of its adult weight at birth, to 50% by six months of age, 75% by two years of age, and 100% of adult weight by seven years of age. However, despite the brain reaching its full adult weight by age seven, brain development continues until about 30 years of age (Kolb et al., 2014). Most neural cell birth, neurogenesis, is completed prenatally but continues in several regions of the brain throughout adult life. Synaptogenesis, however, is a long developmental process which occurs across our life span and involves the formation, maintenance and refinement of synapses between neurons supporting and promoting communication within the nervous system. Pruning, a form of phagocytosis, is a neural process with the function of reducing unused or weak synaptic connections formed during infancy; an essential process which supports optimal plasticity, allowing the brain to adapt to new and different environments (Thomas, Knowland and Karmiloff-Smith, 2011). Synaptic pruning occurs in several phases across infancy into early adulthood, occurring in different regions of the brain during each phase, firstly in areas associated with motor skills, followed by regions associated with perception and finally the pre-frontal cortex; the area responsible for a range of complex behaviours relating to an individual’s personality (de Silva, 2018; Courchesne et al., 2011).

Additional to pruning, the developing brain undergoes a process called myelination. Axons, the structures that extend from the neuron, allow communication with neighbouring neurons via the release of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) across the synapse to the neighbouring dendrites. The axon of certain types of neurons has a myeline sheath, made up of a mixture of proteins and phospholipids, which protect the nerve fibre and allow the electrochemical impulses that propagate down the axon to travel at a greater speed (de Silva, 2018).

Research has shown that brain development is not only altered by direct experiences, such as by attachment type, peer relationships and substance misuse but also by indirect events, such as prenatal and even preconceptual experiences, for example gestational stress and the quality of the environment of the mother whilst pregnant (Kolb et al., 2003; Kolb et al., 2014).

Case study: Isaac (six-year-old boy)

Isaac is a six-year-old boy with ADHD who he has always been a very active child. Isaac is very capable at several sports but struggles with his fine motor skills. Since starting school he has struggled with his letter formation, and now that he has moved into year 2, he is finding it difficult to record his ideas and answers.

Reflection

What activities could you incorporate at school to support Isaac with his letter formation and writing?

What alternative methods could be instigated to ensure that Isaac does not become frustrated with writing and give up?

Intellectual development

The term intellectual development refers to a child’s growing knowledge and understanding of the world. Theorists within the social constructivist approach view learning as an interaction between the developing child and the environment, where children construct their own knowledge and understanding about things around them. Key theorists within this field include Jean Piaget (1926; 1977) and Lev Vygotsky (1978).

Piaget emphasised the importance of cognitive structures for learning, describing the way in which the mind processes new information through schematic processing. Schemata can be thought of as mental representations or categories we use to breakdown complex information to help us understand and act on the world; for example, grouping together items which have similar characteristics. Piaget believed schemata were essential cognitive structures as they enable us to be efficient thinkers and allowing the processing and organising of a vast amount of diverse sensory experiences into meaningful and manageable memory units. For Piaget, children are active learners, using first-hand experiences and prior experiences to learn. If the experiences fit with our current knowledge, we exist in a state of cognitive equilibrium. However, when we experience new things, or information that is received is inconsistent/incongruent with our existing schema, we enter a state of disequilibrium. At this point we either assimilate the new information into existing schema, or through the process of accommodation we modify existing schema to fit the new information or create new schema. The information stored in a schema is organised in a hierarchy from general to specific where just a small amount of information can activate a whole structure of information.

Knowledge and understanding of cognitive structures such as schema can be crucial for practitioners in terms of creating environments that foster creativity and support effective learning. Firstly, learning is a personal journey and involves building on and making neural connections. Every learner is unique, and for learning to be effective, practitioners need to build on the existing knowledge structures held by each child – thus it is imperative to establish the individual’s prior learning and build from that point. Secondly, deep learning involves making the links clear between existing and new information, enabling the child to reason with the new materials, ensuring...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Introduction
• PART I: Children and the Curriculum
• PART II: Professional Practice
• PART III: Child Protection and Beyond
• Index