Development

1.2. Explain the difference between sequence of development and rate of development and why the difference is important

Within this piece of work you will find research on the difference between the sequence and rate of development and why that difference is so important.

Sequence of development is simply the sequence, pattern or order that development follows. For example, a baby’s physical development will begin with being able to supports its head then sitting up without support, to crawling, walking and running. This however is not saying that a baby has to do all of those things or they won’t be able continue developing, many babies miss the crawling step of development and go straight to walking. It would still be a sequence of development that the baby is following.

Rate of development is the speed or pace that a baby/child is developing at. For example, one baby may be able to walk unaided at 9 months of age, where as another may do this at 11 months. This does not mean that if one child is developing at a much higher speed than another child that one child is more advance and the other has delays. It is simply how fast the body is comfortable developing at. However if a child is 18 months of age and shows no signs of attempting or wanting to walk then you may have cause for concern.

It is therefore important to know the difference between sequence and rate of development as it help determine if a child has any significant delays in there development and how to then meet that child’s individual needs based on that by providing them with support plans, referral to professions and making parents aware of any concerns that they may have missed or not know about.