I believe that everything about a child should be
measured, physical, mental, cognitive, etc. Yes of course all children are
different but there has to be a standard level that can be used for measuring. There
is a program called Ages and Stages tells parents and caregivers where a child
should be in relation to their age. Now this is not to say that if your child
is not doing everything that is at the level displayed that they are delayed
but it does give a guide for things that you should look for children to be
doing around that time. Ages and Stages is a guide for what is developmentally
appropriate for children from birth through adulthood. It talks about things
such as when children, should start holding their head up then to when they
should be walking and other developmental aspects. Ages and Stages measures the
physical, social and cognitive skills of children and gives a baseline for
where children should be developing. Like I said before do not think that just
because your child is not writing as well as others in kindergarten that something
is wrong but if the child is approaching the end of kindergarten and not
progressing, then help is needed. We have to have some sort of guide for
figuring out what developmental area that a child is exceeding or lacking in and
use that for benefit.
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I looked for assessment
of children in Africa and I couldn’t find anything close to ages and stages but
I did find that they assessed children’s participation in a family setting.
Here is the link and
summary I found from Save the Children website:
An assessment of child participation in the family in
South Africa
This publication (65 pages) intends to explore child
participation, specifically in the family setting in South Africa and compare
levels of participation in different cultural and religious contexts. It shares
details on the methodology and findings from a systematic, informative
assessment of children’s participation in the family. Save the Children Sweden
commissioned an assessment in order to explore the wide range of cultural and
religious practices that may impact on levels of participation in families in
South Africa, to identify factors that hinder or enhance children’s
participation. Possible links between the level of child participation in the
family and the disciplinary practices used in the home were also explored
during the assessment which was undertaken by the Community Agency for Social
Enquiry (C A S E). The assessment includes a literature review, a site based
survey in 6 geographic sites (involving 1200 interviews with children of
different age groups and adults) and focus groups with children and adults in 2
out of the 6 geographic sites. Key findings from the literature review are
shared in this report and include: reflection on children’s constitutional
rights in South Africa, as well as consequences of State signatories to the
UNCRC and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; lessons
learnt from similar research on children’s participation in families in the
South and Central Asia region; and research into corporal punishment in South
Africa.
