Childcare and Education Essay

B) Evaluate the role of play in meeting the meeting the individual needs of children who are ill Role play is one way in which you can meet the individual needs of children who are ill as it allows the children to freely express themselves and their feelings without the worry of being told what to do and how to do it in a safe environment free from harm an example from one of my day nursery placements was when the room supervisor had the role play area changed to a doctors surgery because quite a lot of children where ill with the chickenpox, so that they weren’t worried about going to the doctors and could act out different scenarios with their friends. Role play is very adaptable and can be changed to meet each individual child’s specific needs an example would be if one of the children in the practitioners care had to go through very serious treatment at the hospital then the practitioner would change the role play area to a mock hospital set up so that the child can express themselves and find out information on what going to hospital is like and for them to be able to explain to their friends what is going on with themselves. Child-led activities and Adult-led activities are another way in which the practitioner can meet the individual needs of a child who is ill, this type of activity allows the child who is ill some control on what their role is in the activity and how they go about completing that role throughout the activity an example from my current primary school placement would be when we did a science experiment on materials. The teacher explained what the children needed to do and showed them a visual demonstration, then the children split into groups of three on separate tables about the classroom. The children then following what the teacher had said carried out the experiment with the different roles split between themselves. One would record the information and draw around the surface splat, another would be dropping the plasticine and the last one would be holding the three different length rulers. Observation and planning helps in meeting the needs of a child who is ill because as a practitioner it allows them to be able to see where the child needs further assistance and for the practitioner to plan the further assistance.