Interviewing Children – Activity Sheet 1.2
Activity 1.2 Child Development Profile
When forming an understanding about a child’s level of development, it is useful to consider several
aspects of their development.
Below there is an explanation of these aspects of child development.
Aspects of Child Development
Area of development
Brief explanation and guide
Physical / Motor
This area is about how a child can move and have physical
control over his/her body.
development
Gross motor development – the coordination of large muscles
of the body so that the child can do such things as to walk,
run, hop, jump, kick, throw, climb etc.
Fine motor development – the child’s ability to move the fine
or smaller muscles of the body for example when using tools
and materials to draw, write, pick up/put down, eat with a
spoon etc.
Emotional / Social
development
This area is about how the child interacts with others, how
they play with peers, their attitude towards others, their
ability to share & cooperate, their social manners etc.
It includes a child’s ability to learn the rules of society, to build
relationships and their development of a self identity with
regards to gender, culture, ability and ambitions.
It is about the child’s ability to express and manage feelings
and emotions, to establish a level of trust in relationships, to
cope with fear, to know what is right and wrong and to feel
empathy.
Cognitive / Language
development
This area is about is about thinking - the child’s ability to
understand concepts and organise the world into
understandable parts. It includes perception, memory,
judgement, problem-solving, attention-span, the ability to
reason and understand.
It is also about language development – how the child
communicates with others: the child’s ability to listen, speak,
write, read, hear and their, speech, grammar etc.
Page 1 of 3
Interviewing Children – Activity Sheet 1.2
Activity 1.2 Child Development Profile
Directions:
1. Look at the three main areas of Child Development and complete the Child Profile on page 3
on a child that you know.
2. Check your completed Child Profile against the Child Developmental Checklist, that
is generally used at your workplace and attach it to your profile.
(You could download and use one of the Checklists on a website listed below)

Guide to Children’s growth and development (pdf), which may be found at the
Department of Community Services (NSW) website at:
www.community.nsw.gov.au
Path: parents, carers & families > parenting > resources for parents

Child Development & Trauma Guide (pdf), at the
Department of Human Services (VIC) website at:
www.cyf.vic.gov.au
Path: Children Youth & Families > every child every chance > Library > publications > best
interests series
Using a checklist
Start by looking at items at the child’s age.
For example, for a child of three and a half, start in the three to five year age range.
You may also need to look at items in the age range below or above the child’s actual age.
NOTE: Use a Child Developmental Checklist only as a guide to help you to communicate
and interact with the child at their appropriate level when interviewing.
Using the
checklist >
Page 2 of 3
Interviewing Children – Activity Sheet 1.2
Child Development Profile
Student name: …………................………………………………
Date: ………………………………
Child’s name: ................................................................. (Do not write child’s surname for this exercise)
Area of development
Brief description
Physical / Motor
development
Emotional / Social
development
Cognitive / Language
development
Page 3 of 3