Summarise the key factors that influence the health of children today free essay sample

There are plenty of factors that can influence childs development today, its important to be able to try and give your child all the main stuff like food, shelter, warmth etc. for them to develop and grow up correctly. One of the factors is Diet/exercise. Good nutrition and plenty of exercise are the building blocks for strong growth, healthy development and lifelong well-being for children. However many children today dont receive proper meals and the exercise that they need to grow up strong and healthy. Children that don’t receive proper meals (at least 3 meals a day) can be affected physically and mentally, they wont have the energy to do physical activities which then affects their exercise, and wont be able to function properly at school by being too tired because lack of food provides lack of energy for the body to function. Parents that have low income or cant provide for the child to have proper meals can apply or free school meals at school, and sign the child up for breakfast club as well. That way children will get their breakfast, snack, and dinner which should give them enough energy for the day at school. Once children receive the right amount of food and exercise they will be able to feel good about themselves/their bodies and their abilities, they will be able to cope with stress and emotions better, also they will avoid feelings of low self esteem, anxiety and depression. https://www. apa. org/topics/children/healthy-eating. aspx Another factor is genetics which influence the health and development of the child. This is because some illnesses are inherited through genes. For example Downs Syndrome, this has resulted from a chromosomal abnormality. The child can have problems such as heart defects and chest infections. Illnesses such as meningitis can cause epilepsy and hearing problems. These kind of illnesses must run in the family, and its a 50/50 chance that the child will be born with one of the genetic illnesses. http://www. nhs. uk/Conditions/Genetics/Pages/Facts. aspx Income is a big factor that can influence plenty of children today especially in poor areas of Britain. Parents that find it hard to provide and fulfil the needs of their children limit their development and achievements. Having low income will not only affect the childs eating, dressing and overall well being but also their education. Children that come from low income families, cant afford to go on school trips, buy better school equipment or new school uniform, therefore sometimes this might result in children getting bullied because children with more income will notice the less fortunate and will begin to pick on them. Its important for the teachers to treat all children the same no matter what their income is or if they cant afford certain things. Generally people with a high level of earning enjoy a better lifestyle, with better housing, better food, warm clothes and own transport Meggit C. (2001:9) http://www. jrf. org. uk/publications/does-money-affect-childrens-outcomes UnStable family is another important factor which might influence childrens health and well-being. Children that come from a broken home (their parents have separated or they live with their other family instead of parents) will find it hard to cope at school because they might get bullied for the simple reason that they dont live with both of their parents. For example, if a child isn’t able to live with both of their parents and lives with their grandparents or other family members because of certain reasons, other children at school might be curious and ask questions to why the child doesn’t live with their parents etc. young children don’t realise how cruel or nasty they might sound when they ask questions so without thinking about how the other child might feel, they ask what they want. Broken family can affect the childs emotional development especially at young age if the child used to live with both parents and then all of the sudden theyve separated because they didn’t get on, the child wont be able to understand why this has happened and might become depressed or very emotional. http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC3171291/ Different countries also affect the way children live and develop especially countries such as Africa or Pakistan where they have different policies that enable access to basic services and rights for children. For example An uneducated teenage mother living in rural areas of Africa where there is no hospital nearby, without clean water, proper meals, shelter or little income will find it difficult to care for her child. The country that children live in can affect them big time, for example in Pakistan the children go to work at very young age so they don’t have time for education which will limit their chances of getting a better job in the future. They have to work long hours for little money that wont even get the food on their table. As well as this, children that live in rural countries are more immune to catch any dangerous diseases from dirty water or animals etc. http://www. unicef. org. uk/ E2. Describe how immunisation programmes aim to prevent disease in children. Immunisation is a way to protect small children against serious diseases. Once children have been immunised, their bodies can fight those diseases if they end up catching them. If a child is not immunised they will be at risk from catching the disease and will rely on other people immunising their children to avoid becoming infected. An immunisation programme protects people against specific diseases by reducing the number of people getting the disease and preventing it from being passes on. With some disease like smallpox or polio its possible to eliminate them completely. Reason for immunisation against disease. As a parent it might be hard to watch your baby get an injection, however vaccination is an important step toward getting your child protected from serious and dangerous diseases. Vaccinations are quick easy and extremely effective. Not every disease can be immunised against, disease such as chicken pox or scarlet fewer are two of many that children cant be immunised against. How are they carried out? Immunisations are usually carried out in childs health clinics. The doctor will discuss any fears the parent might have about particular vaccines. No vaccine is completely risk free, and parents are asked to sign a consent form to give permission for the immunisation. Immunisations are only given if the child is well, and might be postponed if the child has a reaction to any previous immunisations or if the child is taking any medicine that might interfere with their ability to fight infections. Care of children after immunisation. Children should be observed closely after immunisation: -if fever occurs, keep the child cool, offer plenty of fluids and give childrens paracetamol -if the temperature remains high or if there are any other symptoms, such as convulsion call a doctor immediately. Children are usually very sensitive after their vaccines, so its important to keep a very close eye on them all the time to make sure theyre fine and no symptoms occur. http://www. nhs. uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/reasons-to-have-your-child-vaccinated. aspx E3. Describe the signs and symptoms of the chosen childhood infectious disease. German Measles. What is it? Rubella, also known as German Measles is an infectious disease caused by the rubella virus. The virus passes from person to person via droplets in the air expelled when infected people cough or sneeze, the virus may also be present in the urine, face and on the skin. The hallmark symptom of rubella are an elevated body temperature and pink rash. German measles are contagious for 2-3 weeks. The disease starts a week before the rash develops and is contagious for a week after the rash has disappeared. Its most contagious while the rash is visible. Its important to keep your child off school for six days from the start of their rash. There is no specific treatment for the rubella infection. The condition is usually mild and improves without treatment. Although paracetamol or ibuprofen can be used to reduce the fever and treat any aches or pains. Liquid infant paracetamol can be used for young children. If the child has a high temperature, its important to keep the child cool by using a damp flannel, also making sure that the child has plenty of fluids to prevent the child from dehydration. Cough medicine can be used to help your child with their cough. If youre a woman and get infected with the rubella when youre pregnant it may lead to complications such as miscarriage or cause the baby to be born with serious birth defects. The birth defect can be cataracts and other eye problems, deafness, heart and lung problems, a less developed brain, low birth weight and inflammation of the brain, lungs, liver and bone marrow. http://www. netdoctor. co. uk/diseases/facts/germanmeasles. htm Meningitis. Meningitis is an infection of the meninges (protective membranes) that surround the brain and spinal cord. The infection causes the meninges to become inflamed (swollen) which in some cases can damage the nerves and brain. There are two types of meningitis: -Bacterial meningitis: which is caused by bacteria such as Neisseria meningitides or Streptococcus pneumonia and spread through close contact. -Viral meningitis: this is caused by viruses that can be spread through coughing, sneezing and poor hygiene. Viral meningitis is the most common and less serious type of meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is spread by: -sneezing -coughing -kissing -sharing utensils -sharing personal possessions such as a toothbrush. Symptoms. Bacterial meningitis. It has a number of early warning signs that usually occur before the other symptoms, these are: -floppy and unresponsive -cold hands and feet, shivering -pale or blotchy skins with blue lips. The early symptoms os bacterial meningitis are similar to those of many other conditions and include: -staring expressions -fever -vomiting and refusing feeds -unusual crying and becoming irritable (not wanting to be held) As the condition gets worse it may cause: -very sleepy, hard to wake up -seizures -unable to tolerate brightness -red rash Viral meningitis -vomiting -diarrhoea -fever -headaches -photo phobia How is it treated. As in the case of bacterial meningitis, vaccinations programmes have successfully eliminated the threat from many viruses that used to cause viral meningitis. This is the MMR vaccine which provides children with immunity against mumps, once a leading cause of viral meningitis. Viral meningitis usually gets better within couple of weeks, with plenty of rest and pain killers for the headache. Bacterial meningitis is treated with antibiotics. These will be given intravenously (through a vein in arm) Treatment will require trips to the hospital with serve cases treated in an intensive care unit so the bodys vital functions can be supported. Bacterial meningitis can place tremendous strain on the body and the brain. It is estimated that the quoter of people with meningococcal disease (the combination on meningitis and blood poising) will have complications. COMMON CHILDHOOD INFECTIOUS DISEASES ILLNESSES. Complied by DCE group B 2013. http://www. meningitis. org/symptoms E4. Explain how the practitioner can respond to the particular needs of a child with the chosen infectious disease. Its important that support given to the child and family is family centred. This means that the childrens parents have a key role in making decisions about the sort of care their child receives, where the care takes place and how they can establish networks of supports. Professionals carers such as doctors, nursers, social workers and early years workers should recognise the needs of the child and the whole family and aim to meet those in an honest, caring and supportive manner. Care plans should be drawn up with the parents involvement, and should take account of the physical, emotional and social needs of the whole family. Whether you are working in a family home as a nanny, in a nursery or in a school, you should be informed of everything that goes on, so you are able to offer appropriate help. You can help by -offering practical and emotional support to the child and their family -developing a strong emotional bond with the child and provide a safe, trusting relationship which will help the child and the parents. There should always be a back up person in case the childs key person is away. -always finding time to listen to the child -observing the child closely and try to see if the child is experiencing any areas of difficulty. -allowing the child to express their feelings. Encourage children to use play as a form of therapy, to realise feelings of tension, frustration and sadness. You could offer activities such as playing with play dough, bubble blowing, water play, small world play and home corner play. -reassure them that they are very much loved by their family and their carers. Children who are ill often regardless and may want to play with toys that they have long since outgrown. They may have short attention span and tire quickly, so toys and materials should be changed frequently. A child with measles shouldn’t be present at the setting for at least 6 days because other children are at risk of catching the disease. On the other hand children that has meningitis should be also kept at home or in hospital for closer care. CACHE Level 3 Child care and Education Diploma written in July 2012. Published by Meggit C. Bruce T. Grenier J. E5 +E6 + C1. Describe one common long term childhood condition and explain the support available in an early years setting for parents and families caring for a child with this condition. Epilepsy. Epilepsy is a condition of the nervous system affecting 150,000 children in the UK. Its not a mental illness and cant be caught of another child. A child with epilepsy experiences seizures of fits. A seizure is caused by a sudden burst of excess electrical activity in the brain, causing a temporary disruption in the normal message passing between brain cells. A type of seizure a child has depends on which area of the brain is affected. Some seizures involve convulsions, or strange and confused behaviour, but others such as absences may be harder to recognise. Treatment. The aim of medical treatment is to control the childs tenancy to have seizures, so that they can get on with their life with as little seizures happening possible. Avoiding the things that disturb seizures and taking anti-epileptic drugs are the main treatment methods. Each anti-epileptic drug is selected to different kind of seizures that the child is experiencing. Even though the drugs help control seizures, there isn’t a cure that gets rid of it completely. Children with epilepsy should be treated as any other child. Epilepsy is not an illness and children should be encouraged to take part in all activities and daily routine, unless otherwise advised by the childs parents or doctor. Teachers and practitioners should be aware of the childs individual needs and what is best for them if they have a seizure, for example, what kind of seizure the child has, what starts it off, how long the seizure normally lasts, if the child needs any rest/sleep after the seizure or if they need to go home, is the child normally confused after the seizure, does the setting have a medical room where the child can recover, and is there a nursery nurse that can help the child in case there’s any additional help needed. The practitioner needs to make sure that all the details of any GPs or doctors the child has are up to date e. g. telephone number, address etc. in case they need to make contact with any other professionals. Also they should take a record of exactly what happened during the seizure, this will help to build up a picture of the childs condition. The parents should be called straight after any seizures, in case they want to come and pick the child up or come over and make sure their child is okay. Epilepsy can affect children in educational way due to children having them in settings. Children usually cant detect when theyre going to have a seizure, so if they have one while playing with another child, the other child might freak out and wont be able to understand whats going on. Practitioner should then explain to the other child what happened and make sure the other child is okay. Guidelines for helping a child who is experiencing a seizure. Do: -protect the child from injury by moving any furniture or other solid objects out of the way during a seizure -make space around the child and keep other children away -loosen the clothing around the childs neck and chest and cushion their head -stay with the child until the recovery is complete -be calmly reassuring Do not: -restrain the child in any way -try to put anything in their mouth -try to move them unless they are in danger -give the child anything to eat or drink until they are fully recovered -attempt to bring them around Call an ambulance if: -if its the childs first seizure and you do not know why it happened -it follows a blow to the head -the child is injured during the seizure -the seizure is continuous and shows no signs of stopping. CACHE Level 3 Child care and Education Diploma written in July 2012. Published by Meggit C. Bruce T. Grenier J. http://www. epilepsysociety. org. uk/about-epilepsy#. Uwnw7Pl_voA E6. The key person that the child has will be able to help a lot, not only emotionally but also physically and verbally. The key person will look after the child in the setting so if the child has a seizure the key person will know what to do. To help and make the childs life a little bit easier the key person should know what triggers the seizures and try and do everything to avoid these things, for example, if flicking lights set off the seizures, the key person would make sure there are no flicking lights in the room that theyre in. As well as the child, the key person is able to speak to their family and give out any verbal support if theyre struggling with their childs condition. If that’s not enough, the key person can transfer the family to health clinics or support groups so the family can get their questions answered if theyve got any, and can make their lives easier to live with this condition. Another source of help available is Epilepsy Society which is a group that helps children and families that suffer from epilepsy. This group helps with getting the right amount of stuff that the families are entitled to such as: free prescription to your epilepsy drugs, financial help towards the travel to your medical appointments and work/setting, welfare benefits and tax credits, also if the child needs any daily equipment the group offers to cover the costs. The entitlements that the child gets depends on how bad their epilepsy is and how they cope with it on the daily basis. http://www. epilepsysociety. org. uk/what-help-available#. Uwi8UPl_voA C1. Its important to work as a team to be able to support the child with a long term illness as well as his/hers family. By working as a team, youre able to share important information with other professionals such as the childs doctor, GPs, counsellor etc. as to how the child is getting on in the setting or at home and how you could improve their development. You need to keep in contact with the childs doctor to let them know if theres any changes that occurred or if the childs development has improved. Sharing information like this will help practitioners as well as the childs family and doctors be able to plan the next steps theyre going to take to help the child in the future. Another advantage to why working as a team is important because youre able to plan in order to help the childs development. For example, if a practitioner spoke to the childs doctor and the doctor advised them to make sure the child receives enough physical movement, the practitioner could plan an activity that will involve some physical movement and also can ask for advice from other team members about their chosen activity. This will help the childs development and how they get on in the setting. Holistic approach is important as well, if the practitioner is able to observe the child and identify what the child needs or what would help them get on in the setting easier, they can consider different approaches. For example, instead of using the same resources that they would normally use while carrying out a certain activity, the practitioner could see what other resources they can gather and use something new instead of the old things that the child can get bored of easily. Holistic approach means looking at the childs full development, their emotional, physical, verbal, mind etc. and being able to work on developing these aspects to help the child progress further. E7 +B1 Children aged 4 wont like to be separated from their parents or carers while going to the hospital thats why its important for the practitioners to prepare children before they go and make sure you know how they feel. One of the games the practitioner could carry out is a simple game like snap,uno, or happy families. This game is a good way for the practitioner to talk to the child and find out how they feel about the current situation. Once the child opens up about their feelings, the practitioner can reassure them and explain what will happen. Its important to reassure the children because of the fact that theyre only young they wont understand whats going on, and will only get the negative point of view. Another game that can be helpful is Jigsaw puzzles, the child can start with simple puzzles and progress to more challenging ones, perhaps with family help. Its important that not only the practitioner but also the family is able to prepare the child before they go into the hospital. The child will be more open and will trust the family more, so its important that the family is involved. As well as this, the family can be more reassuring and calming so the child doesn’t feel under pressure, or isn’t scared about whats going to happen. Its important that the child knows where they going and why. http://boardgamegeek. com/geeklist/17609/definitive-list-of-games-suitable-for-kids-4-years D1. Explain why it is important to identify and respond appropriatly when children are unwell. Its important to identify and respond to children when theyre unwell simply to show that you care. Children don’t understand what we do and why we do it, theyre too young to understand, but if as a practitioner youre able to gain their trust by showing that you care about them and giving them enough attention so they feel comfortable around you then youre able to progress and get on with the child easier. Its easy to identify if a child is unwell, every child is different therefore they will show their signs and symptoms differently, however you should know the child and how they normally would act and behave around the placement, so when theyre unwell youll be able to notice that something is wrong. For example, if there’s a child in the setting that normally is very bubbly and happy, and one day they come in and act out of character by sitting on their own, or not playing with toys etc. the practitioner is able to identify that theres something wrong so they could go and talk to them and find out what’s wrong. If the child is seriously ill its the childs right to get looked after properly, the practitioner should ask other professionals if theres certain things they should do. For example if a child is very sleepy and theyre not normally like this, the practitioner could ask other staff members if there’s anything in particular that they should do like put the child to sleep for a while or ring their parents to come pick them up etc.