Unit 2: Promote Child and Young Person Development
1.1 Explain the factors that need to be taken into account when assessing development
When undertaking an assessment of any child or young person’s development needs, we need to ensure that it is completed accurately but with sensitivity, being mindful of the following factors:
* Confidentiality and Consent – Confidentiality is very fundamental, especially for safety of a child or young person. When assessing a child we must be careful to take into account all the issues of confidentiality before carrying out the observation. We need to ensure any notes we are taking, any recording or any register about the child is out of the reach of anyone who is not ourselves, the parent and someone who is involved with the child’s education and needs to have access to this. If we need to show our notes to someone duo to our own education process, someone like a tutor for example, then we need to protect the identity of the child by not using their names.
An assessment needs to be consistent if they are to produce reliable results, during re-occurring trials. It is essential that standards are maintained and the assessments and the findings are accurate and dependable, as incorrect data can impact severely on the child’s development. This can be achieved by ensuring that the same data is assessed on separate occasions over a period of time. If the results are confirmed to be primarily similar, we can then affirm that the assessment is consistent.
* A child’s wishes and feelings – There will be times when it will not be appropriate to observe a child, and during these times, the best thing to do is to step aside and carry on with it on another opportunity. If a child is upset, if a child doesn’t want to be assessed for any reason, or basically if a child is not on a good mood, then the observation would be pointless anyway as it wont be accurate and we obviously aim for the welfare and wellbeing of children...