Strands of Development - Ages and Stages.

Small Group Task

As we grow from birth, through adulthood and on into old age, we move through a series of  'ages'.  These are Infancy (0-2 years), Early Childhood (2 - 6 years), Childhood (6 - 12 years), Adolescence (13 - 19 years), Early Adulthood (19 - 40 years), Middle Adulthood (40 - 60 years) and Mature Adulthood (60 years +).


We could also think of these as the 'stages' of life ... infancy, early childhood, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and 'old age', although many 60 year olds wouldn't appreciate this, so we tend to refer to it as 'mature adulthood' ! 

With each of these ages and stages it is anticipated that our development will have reached a certain 'point'.  For example, we would expect that a 6 month old can start to hold their own head up, that by about 2 years old, a child would be on the way to managing stairs, and at the age of 10-12 years, a child should be entering puberty.  These are examples of normal 'expected' development - in other words, the individual should be meeting their developmental milestones.

We have, typically, 5 areas of development ... 

Social Development, Physical development,  Intellectual development,  Cultural development,  Emotional development.

You will sometimes see these referred to as the SPICE strands of development.

This task is about trying to identify at where, in each of these strands of development, we would expect people to be at certain points in their lives.

For this task, read (or listen to) the biographies of all the members of the family, AND the health visitor, as she has information which will help you.

Task 1 : Having read them all, concentrate on Joe, Dawn and Ryan, and write a paragraph for each of them describing where would expect they would 'be' in relation to their physical, emotional, intellectual, social and cultural development.

To help, you will find guidance on the these different 'strands' of development in the red box in this page.

You can also access information on developmental milestones in childhood (which will help you a lot !) by clicking THIS link, or you can use any source to conduct some research.

Task 2 : Now, for the same 3 members of the family, discuss and make notes about events in their lives that may have had an impact on them, either in a good way or in a bad way, and which might have affected their development in some way.


Work together as a team, and try to  make sure everyone is involved.  These tasks are excellent opportunities to develop your confidence speak in groups, an essential skill in a career in care.

Nominate someone in your group to feedback to the whole class.

Understanding the SPICE strands of development is important. 

If we know where somebody SHOULD be developmentally, and it is clear they are NOT there, as care providers we should be asking ourselves why.  If a child, for example, has developmental delay, we will only know this if we know where they SHOULD be.  We should be exploring things to work out what has prevented them from developing as we would expect someone to have developed.  We should have a ‘professional curiosity’, and the confidence and mechanisms within the organisation to explore and ask questions (remember the video we watched in the dementia care unit ?)

Also … if we understand where people ‘are’ developmentally, according to this ages and stages model, we can better meet their needs and support them.  We can prepare better individualised care plans.  Simple examples like ‘memory joggers’ for the elderly (because we know they are more forgetful).

The strands of human development, for the purposes of this unit are ...


Physical Development : Think about thing like fine motor skills, gross motor skills, balance, coordination, muscle development, strength, sexual development, growth rate, stamina, body fat and mobility, and, in later years, the gradual 'slowing down' of the body in general.


Emotional Development : Think about things like ... Ability to cope with challenge, the development of 'self concept' or identity - knowing 'who you are', crises of confidence, self esteem, emotional resilience, changing roles and the impact that has on our self concept.


Intellectual Development : Think about development of language,  sensory awareness and sensory abilities, ability and rate of learning,  concentration span, understanding of conceptual  things like like calendars, time, etc, or the ability for abstract thought, creativity, curiosity and problem solving, goal setting, and the development of general cognitive skills.  Think, also, about the 'slowing' of the mind in later years.


Social Development : Think about things like how (and when) children play together, how they respond to authority figures (remember the 'terrible twos' ?)  Play, imaginary play, the value of friendships, getting involved in groups, importance of social life over family life, sense of belonging, promotion of self esteem, sense of purpose, development of intimate relationships, life partners, worklife, work/life balance, etc.  Think about retirement ... more time to socialise, less pressure to 'be' someone, but the elderly may also experience isolation and loneliness.


Cultural Development : Think about learning about the 'culture' within the family unit or within social groups ... learning what is and isn't acceptable within that particular group's culture,  how we learn this, and how it 'looks' those round about.  Think about roles within cultures ... male, female, leader, follower.  Think about rebelling, taking a non-conformist stance against culture.  Culture and belonging ... as we get older, is our culture something that brings comfort ?  A sense of security in 'who we are' ?   And what about teaching others about our culture ?   Who does that, and when ?


Created by Simon Watson.  April 2020.   
All images used under creative commons licenses.