Hi, a very warm welcome to the site.
Children's development is holistic, it happens as a whole, all aspects or areas working together. To make it easier to support children's development professionals break it up into categories that we are more familiar with and usually laid out in a framework ie. the seven areas of EYFS (Priime and Specific) Doing this is useful as it provides eveidence that all needs are being met. But we can sometimes lose sight of the fact that the areas will always remain interlinked ot interconnected. For example have you have ever observed an activity that children are engaged with and seen or heard different aspects of their development being supported?
ie.
snack time where children have been provided with food, spoons, knives and forks and can be seen holding and cutting (
physical development)? Children remember to wash their hands and can decide which cutlery to take and where to sit (
cognitive development)? Do they seek out friends and wait patiently to serve themself or others a drink (
social & emotional development)? Talking and listening to others during snack time using words or body language to communicate what they want and what they are feeling (
language and communcation development).
You'll need to use the
EYFS framework (if you work in England) so that you can get to know the separate areas of children's development. It would also be good to know the ways in which your setting/work placement monitors children's development - how do they track a child's progress? You might also find
Development Matters guidance useful.
To research the interconnected nature of children's development
pages 286+ of this EYE handbook looks at cognitive development.
Page 319 looks at
how physical development is interlinked or interconnected.
Quote:
Physical development > Emotional development
As children learn to do things for themselves, such as dress and feed themselves, they are likely to gain in confidence and feel less frustrated.
Physical development > cognitive development:
Children need to touch, move and explore in order to learn concepts, build ideas and develop memories.
Physical development > communication and language
As children move and touch, they are likely to want to talk about what they can see and do.
Physical development > Social development
Being able to move, touch and hold things enables children to join in play with others eg. playing a board game, playing hide and seek.
Page 344 looks at
how personal and emotional development is interlinked or interconnected:
Managing feelings and behaviours: Children are more likely to find it easier to learn if they can controk their behaviour as they will be less distracted. They are also likely to be allowed to explore more challenging materials and activities if adults know they will respect the rules and boundaries.
Friendships and relationships: Children's learning is often linked to how settled and happy they feel. When children hhave friends, they are likely to be able to concentrate and gain confidence. Children hwho cannot formn strong relationships may not join in group play or later discussions. They will also miss out on opportunities to learn from each other.
Self-confidence and self-efficiacy: confidence and self-efficiacy make a lot of difference to children's holistic development. When children have strong levels of confidence and self-efficiacy, they are more likely to be happy and popular and to participate in new opportunities.
and
page 341 also looks at personal, social and emotional development and the benefits.
Prime area of EYFS
Page 298 explores how Language and communication interlinks with other areas of development.
Hope this helps a little xx