What influences development for children and young people?

[TODO: what do we mean by “development”?]

Development is a process, a dynamic, transactional and social process. Most babies are born with the potential to make typical developmental progress in all areas of their development, but to do so they have to be able to interact with the world, to move, explore, and to have people around them who talk to them and react to their behaviours.

At each step, the baby has to be able to store the information that they are gaining from the world and to be able to practise the new skills. Later steps in development are built on earlier ones. A baby who is placed in a barren orphanage with no toys and little human contact will not sit up, smile or talk at the usual ages. At any age, therefore, the development of a particular child, including those with Down syndrome, is the result of an interaction between that child’s biology and innate learning potential and the social and learning opportunities that they have experienced. It is not fixed in any simple way by genes at birth.

Development is an interactive process

While much development from birth to five years is not explicitly taught, there is much evidence that it is influenced by the sensitivity and responsiveness of parents and carers, and by the quality and range of the learning opportunities available to children. While parents and carers may not be aware that they are teaching children as they talk to them, play with them and read to them, parents and carers are often engaged in explaining the world to their children as they talk or read to them and scaffolding their learning as they play. Scaffolding means supporting a child to succeed at a task that they cannot yet complete on their own. This is often done when helping children to find out what a new toy can do, helping them to complete a jigsaw or to count for example. The adult does not take over, they join in with the child, just supporting and demonstrating as necessary when the child is not sure what to do next, so that the child is able to see how to succeed. Therefore, development is socially mediated - that is, children learn in social interactions with more competent others in their world, such as parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, friends and teachers.

Curiosity, motivation and self-esteem

Children’s learning is also influenced by their curiosity and motivation. Children are usually active explorers of their world from the first months of life and in their play, they seek to find out what toys can do.

As they develop spoken language, children learn by asking as well as investigating. Children’s learning is influenced by their self-confidence and self-esteem. Children who are confident explore and learn faster than those who lack confidence. Confidence may be influenced by success but it is also influenced by children’s sense of self-esteem (self-worth), which comes from being secure, loved and valued.

Brain and behaviour

Further, while brain development and brain function underpins all that children do, brain development is also a dynamic and ongoing process after birth and it is influenced by input and activity. As children learn and develop, so the brain stores that information, and brain structure and function change as new learning takes place. This means that intervention should take account of normal developmental milestones and try to ensure that a child who cannot engage in some of the age-appropriate activities independently is being assisted to experience them and helped towards achieving them with support and practice. This will ensure that they are at least gaining some of the brain stimulation that would be typical for their age. It is also necessary to be very cautious when interpreting studies of brain structure and function in children and adults with Down syndrome. Any apparent abnormalities described could be the result of the extra chromosome material and the way that it has affected the brain’s development but they could also be the result of delayed and different progress in learning and mastering new skills.

Summary

For all children, including those with Down syndrome, their developmental progress at any age is influenced by their biological make-up and their opportunities to learn and develop throughout their lives. In infancy, much learning is influenced by the social relationships experienced in families and then by social learning with other children and adults outside the family. It is also influenced by children’s self-confidence and self-esteem. Brain development is a process which continues through life and brain function and structure are influenced by learning and progress.