Developmental Assessment for School-Aged Child

Developmental Assessment for School-Aged Child

            Children grow and develop differently. They do in the way they learn and do things.  However, children reach various stages and achieve specific growth and development milestones at approximately the same time. It is, therefore, essential that a physician understands the significant changes happening at different age milestones. Such an understanding helps the physician in deciding and developing assessment techniques. This paper explores the physical assessments among school-going children and establishes an assessment plan guided by Erikson’s developmental theory.

Although school-going children lie under the age bracket of 5 to 12 years, this assessment plan narrows the description to 5 years. Children in this age group exhibit almost similar characteristics. However, combining the conventional developmental milestones with your observations as a pediatric nurse, and incorporating developmental theory will help in establishing the thin lines between different ages (Dersch-Mills, 2019).  The following are the typical developmental changes for a 5 years old child;

1. Cognitive Development

This has to do with thinking and reasoning. Children at the age of 5

Can count up to 10

Recognize letters of the alphabet

Understand the concept of time

Knows several household equipments and their use.

1. Emotional and Social Development

Mostly mean to others

They want to please and be liked

Can agree and abide by rules

Can identify good friends and exhibit considerable levels of independence

Can distinguish between reality and fantasy

• Language and Communication

They exhibit 100% intelligibility in speech; for instance, they can tell stories that are clearly understood.

Able to differentiate tense

Can rote

1. Sensory and Motor Development

For general motor skills children can;

Skip on one leg for 10 seconds

Hop, swing, and climb

Use the toilet on their own

For fine motor skills they can;

Have a firm grip on the pencil

Copy geometric shapes such as triangles

Draw a person with major physical body parts (head, body, arms, and legs)

Write in both capital and small letters

Children need developmental assessment from time to time to make sure they grow to be complete human beings. Such assessment helps in identifying any problem that might need special attention. As a pediatric nurse, one has to understand how to appropriately assess a child based on their age developmental milestones indicated above (Chiocca, 2019). To this end, developmental theories become an integral tool. The theory guides the nurse in combining the milestones with the technique to be used, and the outcome expected.

According to Erikson, 5-year-old children lie between two stages of development. They carry the traits of preschool and children and those of school age (Kropf & Greene, 2017). In his analysis, preschoolers exhibit initiative vs. guilt. Initiative means that children can initiate activities that help them gain control of their own world. Guilt comes in when the child does not trust in what they do. As the nurse, one has to establish the boundary and help the child balance their emotions, communication, and cognition. The aim is to help the child gain initiative, a sense of responsibility, self-confidence, and purpose. Parents should be fully involved to give a history of the child, guide the child, and avoid misgivings that will lead the child to lose purpose and feeling guilt.

On the side of school age, Erikson brings in the concept of industry vs. inferiority. Here, children compare with others. Industry has to do with activity and involvement in all aspects. The active ones feel proud and accomplished (Kropf & Greene, 2017). Their counterparts feel inferior because they do not match their friends. This is a delicate stage because a child may end up in the inferiority complex, and if this crosses over to adolescence, it might be disastrous. The feeling of pride and accomplishment may also lead to overconfidence, and hence failure. As the pediatric nurse, one has to keenly understand the standpoint of the child and help them move in the right direction.

References

Chiocca, E. M. (2019). Advanced Pediatric Assessment Set. Springer Publishing Company.

Dersch-Mills, D. (2019). Assessment Considerations in Pediatric Patients. In Patient Assessment in Clinical Pharmacy (pp. 387-401). Springer, Cham.

Kropf, N. P., & Greene, R. R. (2017). Erikson’s eight stages of development: Different lenses. In Human Behavior Theory (pp. 75-92). Routledge.