This course is recommended for Early Childhood educators and can be used to earn annual inservice hours. This module will introduce you to the development of the School Aged Child. The module will review overall characteristics in this age group and go in-depth to the domains of Social/Emotional, Cognitive, and Physical development. Understanding how youth develop will better enable adults to set appropriate expectations and develop engaging learning experiences for them. This module covers Nebraska School-Age and Youth Development Core Competency Areas:

A. Growth and Development

B. Health E. Professionalism

Unit 1: Development of School Age Children Objectives:
To become familiar of Overall Developmental Characteristics of the School Aged Child
To become familiar with Social, Emotional, Cognitive, and Physical developmental domains
To become familiar with approaches used to positively influence overall development

Unit 2: Positive Youth Development Objectives:
To become familiar with Positive Youth Development characteristics and how to promote them
To become familiar with the 5Cs and how they impact Positive Youth Development in youth programming
To become familiar with strategies for encouraging Youth Leadership within the program and community

Unit 3: Special Needs Objectives:
To become familiar with best practices associated with inclusion of children with special needs
To assess individual and program needs for inclusion of children with special needs

Unit 4: Valuing Diversity Objectives:
To become familiar with multiculturalism and diversity
To become familiar with best practices associated with teaching acceptance of diversity
To assess individual and program needs for multiculturalism and diversity

Unit 5: Extending Your Practice Objectives:
To become familiar with outside resources (books, websites, videos) to assist in understanding the content within the module
To apply information from outside resources to individual practices